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26 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter twenty six, how the quarrymen of King Gelidus cleft asunder the crystal prison
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  of the little man with a frozen smile my bitter disappointment, and how I
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  bore it wonderful happenings of the night that followed. Bulgar again proves himself to
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  be an animal of extraordinary sagacity. Bulgar and I had little appetite for the
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  dainty breakfast of stewed sweetbreads which the Colti corpse set before us next morning,
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  for I knew and he half suspected, that something important was going to happen,
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  being nothing less than the cleavness under of the crystal cell which had held
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  the little Chimpanzee a prisoner for so many centuries. Walking beside the merry Princess
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  Schnibulet, who was delighted to know that his frigid majesty her father had at
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  last yielded to my wishes, Bulgar and I set out for the beautiful ice
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  grotto. Behind us walked Frosty Fizz and Glacier Boy, with instructions from the
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  King to supervise the cleavingess under of the block of ice. And after them
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  came four of King Yeladas's quarrymen, two bearing flint axes with helves of polished
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  bone, and two carrying the flint wedges to be used in the work.
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  We soon entered Schneebula's grotto, and the task was at once entered upon.
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  It seemed to me I could almost see the little man with the frozen smile
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  wink as eyelids as the quarrymen set their wedges in place and began to mark
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  the line of fracture. But of course, dear friends, you know what
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  imagination I have, especially when I get worked up over anything. So you
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  must take what I say sometimes with a grain of salt, although as a
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  rule you may accept my statements with childlike confidence. With such wonderful skill did
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  the Cultiquorpian quarrymen use their axes and wedges that in a few moments, to
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  my great delight, the huge block of ice fell asunder in perfect halves,
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  in one of which the little manlike creature lay on his side, like a
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  casting in a mold. I made haste to lift him out and wrap him
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  in a soft pelt, which I had brought along for that purpose, And
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  then I turned to retrace my steps to my chamber, where I intended to
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  begin at once my study of whatever inscription should be found upon his curious caller.
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  Remember, little Baron, said glacier boy, by express command of his
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  frigid majesty, the little man with a frozen smile, must be returned to
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  his crystal cell to morrow morning. At this very hour I bowed assent,
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  and then, having accompanied Princess Schnebulet as far as the bottom of the grand
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  staircase leading to the Ice Palace, I turned away, and was soon in
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  the privacy of my own apartment. Now came for me one of the bitterest
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  disappointments of my life. But I submitted with a good grace, for it
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  was fit punishment visit upon me for my foolish vanity in striving to unearth some
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  older record of the human race than had yet been done by any of the
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  great searchers and philosophers, not even excepting that master of masters don Strefalo fijiquinarius
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  foon. No, then, dear friends, that the quaint collar, made
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  up of gold and silver, or disks cunningly linked together, which encircled the
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  animal's neck, contained not a single word or letter of any language. The
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  undersides being quite blank, and the upper merely having rough carved outlines of an
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  object which might possibly have been intended for the sun. Wrapping the animal up
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  in the soft pelt, I laid him away in the corner of my divan
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  and betook myself to the palace of his frigid Majesty, where I frankly informed
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  King Gelidus of my great disappointment in not finding some few words, or even
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  a single word of a language unknown to the wisest heads of the upper world.
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  Schnebole was so touched by my sadness that had I not skillfully kept out
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  of her way, I verily believed she would have thrown her arms around my
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  neck and imprinted upon my cheek the kiss which would have made me the king
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  of the Colti Corpse. But I had no longing to spend the rest of
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  my life in the icy domains of his frigid Majesty, even though my brow
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  would be crowned with the cold crown of the Colti corpse. If I had
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  been an old man with slow and feeble pulse, it would have been very
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  different. But my heart was too warm and my blood too hot to fill
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  such a position with agreeableness to myself or satisfaction to the people of this icy
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  underworld. So I kept the little princess busy enough I can assure you,
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  first with songs, then with dance, and then with story telling. That
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  night, King Gilidus ordered a magnificent fete to be held in my honor.
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  Five hundred more alabaster lamps were lighted, and the royal divans were laid with
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  the richest pelts in the palace. And after the dancing and singing had ended,
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  frozen tidbits from the royal kitchen were passed around on alabaster salvers, and
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  Bulgar and I ate until our teeth ached. It was late when we reached
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  our own apartment, and so full were my thoughts of the beautiful sights which
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  we had gazed upon in the throne room that I had quite forgotten about the
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  poor little man with a frozen smile, whom I had covered up and tucked
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  away on my divan. But Bulgar had not been so hard hearted. Twenty
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  times during the evening he had given me a sly tug at my sleeve,
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  as much as to say, well, little master, let's hurry back.
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  Does not remember that we left my poor little frozen brother, tucked away in
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  that icy chamber, all alone by himself. I was very weary, and
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  I fell off to sleep almost immediately. And yet I had an indistinct recollection
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  that Bulgar was not in his place against my breast. I remembered feeling for
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  him, but that's all never flashed upon me that he had gone and laying
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  down beside the poor little stranger whom I had so unfeelingly lifted from his last
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  resting place. And yet such must have been the case. For about midnight,
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  it seemed to me I was awakened by a gentle tugging at my sleeve.
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  It was my faithful Bulgar, but half awake and half asleep as I
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  was, I merely thought that he was only asking for a caress, as
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  was often his wont when he fell a thinking about home. So I reached
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  out and stroked his head several times, and dropped off again. But the
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  tugging began anew, and this time twas more vigorous, and with it came
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  an impatient whine, which meant, come cut my little master us. Thee
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  dost suppose I would break they rest unless I was good reason for it.
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  I didn't need a third reminder, But with a single bound landed on my
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  feet, and reaching out for one of the tiny tapers which the Coltiquips make
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  use of as lighters, I carried the flames from the single lamp burning on
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  the wall to the three others hanging here and there. The icy walls of
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  my chamber were now ablaze with light. There sat Bulgar on the fur covered
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  divan, beside the place where the little man with a frozen smile lay hidden
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  under the pelt. His tail was wagging nervously, and his large, lustrous
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  eyes were fixed first upon me and then upon the covering of his dead brother,
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  with an expression I never remembered having seen in them before. And then,
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  with a sudden movement, he laid hold of the pelt, and,
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  drawing it aside, showed me what think you, dear friends? What I
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  ask, in a tone of half whisper, half gasp. For now,
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  years after, I still can feel that one thrill which I felt then.
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  Why it was alive, that ape like creature had come to life after his
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  sleep of thousands of years. In that narrow crystal cell. Bulgar had lain
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  down beside his frozen brother and warmed him back to life again. Oh,
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  it was wondrously wonderful to see that pair of little eyes, bead like in
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  brightness, look up and blink at me. And then to hear that low
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  moaning voice, so human like as if it whimpered with a shake and a
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  shiver. Oh, how cold it is, How very cold it is.
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  Where's the sun? Where's a soft warm wind? And where are the cloudless
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  skies? So blue, oh, so beautifully blue that used to hang over
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  my head. Bidding Bulgar to lie down again beside him and snuggle up as
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  close as possible, I made haste to cover them both with the softest skins
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  I could find. In a few moments, there came from underneath the pile
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  a low contented cry of hoosia, hoozia, hoosia, followed by a cureus.
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  Additions sounded like fuff fuf fuff. So I put them all together and
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  name the strange newcomer to the icy domain of King Galadas fuff cuja sleep any
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  more? That night, not a wink. The same joy came over me
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  that I used to feel on Christmas morning long ago, when Chris Kringle brought
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  me some wonderful bit of mechanism, moved by a secret spring. For I
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  always scorned to accept ordinary toys like ordinary children. And oh how I longed
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  for the morning when it would be time for me to bundle up the little
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  man no longer him with a frozen smile, but fuff Guja, the live
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  boy from far away, with his curious little face screwed up into such a
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  funny look, and carry him to the palace. How delighted Schneeboo I will
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  be, thought I, and King Galadhus too, How he will unbend from
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  his frigid majesty as he watches the antics of fuff Guja. And how pleased
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  all the dignified cold ecorpions, including Frosty Fizz and Glacier Boy, will be
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  when I tell them that the little man with a frozen smile has come to
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  life again. What crowds of coldi corps men, women and children will rush
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  up the long flights of steps leading to the Ice Palace, begging, entreating
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  King Gelidas to let them have just a little look at Fuffcuja, the little
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  man set free from his icy cell by the famous traveler Baron Sebastian van Trump.
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  End of chapter twenty six