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29 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter twenty nine something concerning the many portals to the icy domain of King Galidas,
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  and the difficult task of choosing the right one, how Bulgar solved it.
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  Are farewell to the cold blooded Colti Corpse schnibules sorrow at losing us.
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  As Boulbrain had once remarked, when there are many doors, its wise man
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  who knows which is the right one to open. And this I found to
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  be the case when I attempted to take my departure from the icy domain of
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  his frigid majesty Galadas, king of the Colti Corps. For there was a
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  baker's dozen of galleries, in each of which, upon exploring it, I
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  came, after a tramp of half a mile or so, up against a
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  lofty gate of solid ice, curiously carved and fitting the end of the gallery
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  as a cork does a bottle. No doubt you are wondering why didn't make
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  my way out of the Coltiquorpian kingdom by following the river, for the very
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  good reason that it went no further than King Galadas's domain, emptying into a
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  vast reservoir which apparently had a subterranean outlet for its thick covering of ice always
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  remained at the same height. The king's quarrymen were ordered to hew an opening
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  through whichever door I should point out as the one that I wished to pass
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  through. But I was informed by Frosty Fez that according to the law of
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  the land, but one door could be opened during any one year, so
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  that if I found my way blocked and turned back again, it would mean
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  a delay of twelve months. Bulbrain, with all his wisdom, was powerless
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  to assist me, although I was half inclined to think that he might have
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  done so had he been permitted to investigate the secret records of the kingdom,
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  carved upon huge tablets of ice and stored away in the vaults of the palace.
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  The fact of the matter is King Gilidus was so desirous of having me
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  assist at the marriage feast of Princess Schnebule that he threw every obstacle in my
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  way that he could without openly showing his hand. And Schneeboulay herself, by
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  the dancing of her clear gray eyes, gave me to understand that she too,
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  was hoping that I would make a mistake. When I came to point
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  out the door which I wanted open. Bulgar saw that I was in trouble,
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  but he couldn't comprehend clearly what the trouble was. He kept his eyes
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  fastened upon me, however, watching my every movement, hoping no doubt to
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  solve the mystery. While sitting one day lost in thought over the very serious
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  problem which I found myself called upon to solve, an idea struck me.
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  I had noticed that in the meat quarries the workmen often made use of sounding
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  rods, which were long pieces of polished bone ending in flint tips. A
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  Cultiqorpian quarryman, by dexterously twisting his rod, was able to bore a hole
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  six feet deeper more into the solid bed of ice when desirous of ascertaining the
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  position of a carcass in the meat quarry. And it occurred to me that
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  by piercing the portals of ice which closed their various corridors I have spoken of,
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  possibly Bulgar's keen scent might recognize that current affair, which would have in
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  it the odor of earth and rock. In other words, make choice for
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  me of the portal which opened on that corridor leading away from the icy domain
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  of King Galidas, and not merely into some outlying chamber of his kingdom.
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  His frigid majesty could not object to such experiments, for the law only forbade
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  the hewing of openings large enough for the huer to pass through. King Gelidas
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  and half a dozen of his courtiers, looking stern and frigid and conversing in
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  freezing tones, were present to see the experiment tried, methought. Their icy
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  lips clacked together with satisfaction when, at my request, one portal after another
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  was pierced. But Bolger, after sniffing at the hole, turned away with
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  a bewildered look in his eyes, as if he didn't half understand why I
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  was ordering him to thrust his warm nose into such cold places. And so
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  we tramped from corridor to corridor until the quarrymen began to show signs of fatigue,
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  and the sounding rod turned slower and slower in their hands. Frosty Fizz
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  blinked his cold gray eyes as much as to say, little Baron, thou
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  must bide with us for another year. But I merely turned to the quarrymen
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  and ordered them to pierce one more portal of ice. Ere we abandoned the
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  task for the day. They went at the work of piercing the eleventh door
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  with the pace of pack mules up a mountain side. But at last the
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  sounding rod bored a way through, and at a wave of my hand,
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  the quarryman fell back. In an instant. Bulgar had his nose at the
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  hole and took three or four quick nervous sniffs, ending with a long,
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  deep, drawn one, and then breaking out into a string of sharp,
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  jerky, joyful barks. He began scratching furiously at the bottom of the portal.
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  Your frigid Majesty, said I, with a low and stately bend of
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  my body, such as only those born to the manor can make by this
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  portal. At the coming of to morrow's sun, I shall pass from your
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  Majesty's icy dominion. And when Frosty Fiz and glacier Boy heard these words of
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  mine, uttered so loftily their eyes gleamed cold as steel. Then they followed
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  the king in silence back to the Palace of Ice. Shinibu Ley met them
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  in the grand hallway, and when she had looked upon their face as she
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  began to weep, for she loved me, and she loved Bulgar too,
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  and her cold little heart could not bear the thought of our going. King
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  Gelidus, however, soon recovered his spirits and ordered a feast with song and
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  dance in honor of Bulgar, who during the festivity sat on the highest of
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  Anne with the softest pelt beneath him. And so many were the frozen tidbits
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  which the Culti Corps presented to him during the progress of the feast that I
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  grew alarmed lest he might overload his stomach and not be in a fit condition
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  to make the early start on our journey, of which I had given notice
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  to the Cultikorpian monarch. But his good sense saved him from doing so foolish
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  a thing. In fact, I was greatly amused to see that while he
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  accepted every tidbit handed to him, and solemnly went through the motions of chewing
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  it, yet watching his chance, he slyly dropped it out of his mouth
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  and flirted it aside with his paw. Thus was spent our last night at
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  the icy court of his frigid majesty. And on the morrow the Colti Corps
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  elected in gray crowds on the different terraces to say good bye. I pressed
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  a kiss on the cheek of Princess Schnebouleet when it had turned to ice crystals,
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  when of her men brushed it into an alabaster box. Prince Chilichops,
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  the former lamp trimmer, was on hand with the rest of the Coltiqorpian nobles.
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  But I flattered myself that Schneebulet loved me better than she did him.
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  However, I wished him joy and gripped his cold palm with such warmth that
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  he stood blowing it for a whole minute. When we reached the lofty portal,
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  we found that the quarryman had already hewn a passage through it, and
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  near by I observed a pile of massive blocks of ice crystal clear. These,
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  when Bulgar and I should pass through the opening, were to be used
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  in walling it up again. When I saw this pile of blocks and remembered
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  the solid workmanship of the Coultiqorpian quarrymen, the thought flitted through my mind.
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  Suppose Bulger hath not chosen wisely, what use would there be in turning back?
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  For my own weak hands would be powerless against a wall built of such
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  blocks, and knock I ever so loud. How could the sound ever traversed
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  this long and winding corridor and reach the ear of a Colti corp, No,
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  said I to myself, If Bulgar hath not chosen wisely, it will
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  be good bye to both upper and under worlds. And then, burying an
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  alabaster lamp in one hand and in the other holding the cord which I had
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  tied to Bulgar's collar, I stepped through the narrow passage hewn by the quarryman
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  and turned my back forever on the cold dominion of Galidus, king of the
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  Colti Corpse. Once I halted and looked back, I could see nothing,
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  but I could hear the sharp click of the flint axes as the quarryman closed
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  up the door that shut me out from so many cold but loving hearts.
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  And then I drew a long breath and went on my way again. And
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  that was the last I ever saw of the Colti Corpse, save in a
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  day dream or night vision. End of Chapter twenty nine,