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

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Chapter twenty two, The Palace of Ice in the golden sunlight, and what
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I imagined it might contain, how we were halted by a couple of quaintly
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clad sentinels, the coltiquerps his frigid majesty King Gelidus. More about the Ice
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Palace, together with the description of the throne room, our reception by the
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King and his daughter Schnimuleh brief mention of Bulbrain or Lord Hothead. Scarcely had
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I advanced a hundred yards beyond the portal where I had halted, When happening
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to turn my eyes to the other side, a sight met them, which
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sent a thrill of wonder and delight through my form. Thereupon the highest terrace
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stood a palace of ice, its slender minarets, its high lifted towers,
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its rounded turrets, its spacious platform, and its broad flights of steps,
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all glittering in the sunlight, as if gem studded and jewel set. It
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was a spectacle to stir them most indifferent heart, let alone one so full
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of ardor and buoyancy as mine. But ah, dear friends, even admitting
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that I can succeed in awakening in your minds, even a faint conception of
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the beauty of this ice palace, as the sunlight fell full upon it at
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that moment. How can I ever hope to give you an idea of the
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unearthly beauty of this palace of ice and its glorious surroundings. When the moon
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went up in the outer world at a later hour, and its pale,
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mysterious light was poured through the mighty lens in the mountain side and fell with
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celestial shimmer upon these walls of ice. But the one thought that oppressed me
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now was can this beautiful bode be without a tenant, without a living soul
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within its wonderful halls and chambers? Or may not its dwellers, overtaken by
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the pitiless cold, sit with wide opened eyes and icy glare stark as marble,
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in chairs of ice, white frosted hair pressed against ice see cushions,
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and hands stiffened around crystal cups filled with frozen wine of topaz hue, while
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the harper's fingers cling cramped to the wires, stiff as the wires themselves,
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and the last tones of the singer's voice lie in feathery crystals of frozen breath,
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white at his feet, Come what may? I resolved to lift the
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crystal knocker that might hang on the outer door of this palace of ice,
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and awaken the Castellan, if his slumber were not that of death. In
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a few moments, I had crossed the level space between me and the first
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terrace, which it would be necessary for me to scale in order to reach
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the second, and then third, upon which stood the palace of ice.
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Imagine my more than surprise upon finding myself now at the foot of a magnificent
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flight of steps hewn into the ice with a master hand, and leading to
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the terrace above. Springing lightly up this flight with vulgar close at my heels,
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I suddenly set eyes upon two of the quaintest looking humans beans that I
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ever remembered seeing in all my travels. They looked, for all the world
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like two big animated snowballs, being clad from top to toe in garments made
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of snow white fleece, their skull caps likewise of white fur, leaving only
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their faces visible. In his right hand, each of them carried a very
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prettily shaped flint axe mounted upon a helve of polished bone. Striding up to
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me and swinging their axes over my head, in altogether too close proximity to
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my pole to be particularly pleasant. One of them cries out, halt,
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sir, Unless his frigid Majesty Gelidus, king of the Cully Corpse awaits they
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coming. His guards will let a signal from us roll a few thousand tons
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of ice down upon thee. If thou darest proceed another step. Therefore,
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stand fast and tell us who thou art and whether thou art expected, gentlemen,
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said, I kindly lower those axes of yours, and I will convince
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you that his frigid Majesty hath nothing to dread in me, for I am
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none other than the very small, but very noble and very famous Sebastian von
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Trump, commonly known as the Little Baron. Never heard of thee in all
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my life, said both of the guards, as with one voice. But
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I have of you, gentlemen, I continued, for now I recollected what
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the learned Don Fume had said about the frozen land of the Colli Corps or
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cold bodies, And as proof of my peaceful intent, like a true knight,
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I now offer you my hand and beg that you will conduct me into
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the presence of his frigid majesty. No sooner had the guards standing next to
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me drawn off his glove and grasped my hand, than he let it loose
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again with a cry of fright zounds. Man art thou on fire? Why
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thy hand burned me like a flame of a lamp? Why no, my
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friend, I said quietly, that's my ordinary temperature. And thy companion hath
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even a warmer heart than I have? Was my reply. Well, our
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word for it, little baron, exclaimed one of the guards with a chuckle.
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There will be no place for thee except in the meat quarry. Possibly
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after thou hast been cooled off for a week or so, his frigid majesty
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will be able to have thee about. This was not a very cheerful prospect,
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for I had no particular desire to be laid away in the royal ice
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box for a week or so. Anyway, the only thing to be done
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was to insist upon being conducted at once into the presence of the King of
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the Colti Corps, and abide by his decision. One of the guards,
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having saluted me by presenting his battle axe in real military style, faced about
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and began to ascend the grand staircase with intent to announce my arrival to his
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frigid majesty, while the other informed me that he would conduct me as far
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as the palace. I was wonder struck with the beauty of the three staircases
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leading up to the ice Palace, massive bolustrades with curiously carved bolasters springing from
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towering pedestals, crowned with beautiful lamps. All all, I say, all
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in everything to the crystal clear sides of the lamps themselves was fashioned from blocks
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of ice. It proved to be a good climb to the top of the
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third terrace, and I was not put out when the guard solemnly lowered his
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battle axe of flint to bring me to its standstill. The sun in the
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upper world was, no doubt nearing the horizon for a deep and beautiful twilight
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suddenly sank upon the icy dominions of King Gelidus, and to my surprise and
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delight, through the great slabs of crystal clear ice which served for windows to
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the palace, streamed a soft radiance, as if a thousand wax tapers were
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burning in the chambers and galleries indoors. It was a sight to gladden the
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eyes of any mortal. But if I had been spellbound by the beauty of
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its exterior, how shall I tell you, dear friends, of the curious
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splendor of the interior of Galadus's Palace of Ice as it burst upon me when
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I had crossed its threshold. Hallway led into hallway chain mber, opened into
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chamber, through portals, gracefully arched and winding staircases, climbing to upper rooms.
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While hanging from lofty ceilings or resting on graceful pedestals, were a thousand
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alabaster lamps shedding light and perfume upon this glorious home of his frigid majesty,
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Galileus, King of the Colti corpse, long rows of retainers, all in
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snow white fur, lying the wide hallway. As the guards conducted Bulgar and
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me into the palace and bowed in silence as we passed, to my more
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than wonder I saw that the inner rooms were most sumptuously furnished, chairs and
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divans being scattered here and there, all covered with superb skins of white fur,
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while the floor, too was carpeted with them. And as the soft
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radiance of the alabaster lamps fell upon these magnificent pelts, and set ten thousand
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jewels in the walls and ceilings of ice. I was ready to admit that
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I had never seen anything half so beautiful, and yet I was still outside
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the throne room of his frigid magic. At length we came to one end
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of a broad hallway, which seemed shut off from the rest of the palace
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by a wall thickly encrusted with strings of great diamonds, each as big as
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a goose egg, extending from the ceiling to the floor, and turning back
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the shimmer of the lamps with such a flood of crystalline radiance that my eyes
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involuntarily closed before it. Think of my amazement when the two guards, laying
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hold of this wall of jewels, as I deemed it, drew it to
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the right and left till there was room for me to pass. What I
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had taken for a wall of jewels was but a curtain made up of round
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bits of ice, strung upon strings, and hanging like a shower of diamonds
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there before me, as they glittered in the light of the lamps each side
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of them. I now stood in the throne room of his frigid majesty,
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the King of the Colti corpse. Now I realized that what I had seen
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elsewhere in his palace of Ice was, in reality but a sample of its
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magnificence. For here the splendor of King Gelidas's castle burst upon me in its
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fullest strength. Imagine a great round chamber lighted with the soft flames of perfumed
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oil streaming from a hundred alabaster lamps, the walls lined with broad divans covered
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with snow white pelts, the floors thickly carpeted with the same glorious rugs.
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While on one side, glittering in the shimmer of the hundred massive lamps,
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stands the icy throne of the King of the coltiqrks, decked with snow white
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skins, and he upon it with schniebouleeh his fair daughter sitting at his feet,
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and all around and about him, group wise a hundred coultiquorks, the
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King, the princess, and the courtiers, all clad in skins whiter than
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the driven snow. And you, dear friends, will have some faint idea
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of the splendor of the scene which burst upon me. As the two guards
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drew aside the strands of ice jewels at the end of the hallway in the
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Palace of Ice. Like all his subjects, King Gelidas looked out through the
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round window of his fur hood, just as a big, good natured boy
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does through his skating cap. The Colti Corps were not much taller than I,
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but were very stocky built, so that when broadened out by their thick
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fur suits, they really took on at times the appearance of animated snowballs.
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It would be hard for the fingers of the deftest hand to draw faces fuller
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of kindliness and good nature than those of the Colti corpse. Their small,
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honest gray eyes sparkled with a boniform glint, and so broad were their smiles
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that they were only about half visible through the round holes of their fur hoods.
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I was delighted with them from the very start, and the more so
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when I heard King Galidas cry out in a cheery voice, a right crisp
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and cold welcome to our icy court, little barren But from what our people
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jell us, thou earnest a pair of hands so hot that we beg thee
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to take a few days to cool off before thou touchest palms with any of
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the Colti corps. And we also beg thee to be careful and not to
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lean against any of our richly carved panels, or to slide down any of
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our highly polished railings, or to handle the strands of our jewels, or
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sit down for any length of time on the front steps of our palace.
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And we make the same request of thy four footed companion, who is said
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to be of even warmer disposition than thou. I bowed and kissed my hand
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to his frigid majesty, and assured him that I should make every effort to
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lower my temperature as speedily as possible, and in the meantime that I should
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be extremely careful not to come into contact with any of the artistic carving of
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his palace of ice. As I pronounced these words, the whole company began
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to clap their hands, and as they did so, a cold shiver ran
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down my back, for there was a sound, methought, very much like
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the rattling of dry bones to that applause. But I took good care not
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to let King Gelidus notice my fright. His frigid magicine now presented me to
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his daughter Shniboule, a pretty little maid of about sixteen crystal winters, with
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cheeks round as apples and as deeply dimpled as the furrows of a cross bun.
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Her eyes twinkled as she looked upon Vulgar and me, and turning to
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her frigid papa, she asked for leave to touch the tip end of my
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thumb, which, being done, she gave a squeaky little scream and began
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to blow on her tiny finger, as if I had blistered it. King
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Galidas also presented me to several of his court favorites, all men of the
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coldest blood in the nation. Their names were Jellikin, prostifs Icicle, and
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Glacier Boy. They were all dreadfully slow fingers when you questioned them very closely
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on any subject. It didn't take me very long to discover this. In
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fact, they requested me to be less warm in my manner and not to
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ask them any posers, as they invariably found that deep thought caused a rise
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in their temperature. This was, to be honest about it, very annoying
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to me, for you know, dear friends, what a load stone my
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mind is never asleep, always in a quiver like a mariner's compass, pointing
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this way and that, in search of the pole or star of wisdom.
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Upon making all my trouble to his frigid majesty, King Galidas, he most
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gracefully ordered one of his trusty attendants to conduct me to the triple walled ice
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cell of a certain Culti corp by the name of Bulabrain, that is literally
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boiling brain, a man who had been born with a hot head and consequently
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with a very active brain. For fifty years, King Gelidas had been doing
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his very best to refrigerate this subject of his, but without success. And
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as I was just bursting with impatience to ask a whole stirring of questions concerning
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the Colti corpse, you may imagine how delighted I was to make the acquaintance
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of Bulbraine, or Lord hot Head, as he was called among the Colti
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Corps. But dear friends, you must excuse me if I make this the
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end of the chapter and stop here for a brief rest. End of Chapter twenty two