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"Us likewise!" cheered the soldiers: following which came a trembling voice from one of the castle windows which said:
"I also wish to add my cheer Upon this happy day; And if you"ll kindly come up here You"ll hear me cry "Hooray.""
"It"s Major Blueface"s voice!" cried the colonel. "Is the major ill?"
"No," said the sprite, motioning to Jimmieboy not to betray the major.
"Only a little worn-out by the fight we have had with Fortyforefoot."
"With Fortyforefoot?" echoed the colonel.
"Yes," said the sprite, modestly. "We three have got rid of him at last."
"Then the victory is won!" cried the colonel. "Do you know who Fortyforefoot really was?"
"No; who?" asked Jimmieboy, his curiosity aroused.
"The Parallelopipedon himself," said the colonel. "We found that out last night, and fearing that he might have captured our general and our major we came here to besiege him in his castle and rescue our officers."
"But I don"t see how Fortyforefoot could have been the Parallelopipedon," said Jimmieboy. "What would he want to be him for, when, all he had to do to get anything he wanted was to take sand and turn it into it?"
"Ah, but don"t you see," explained the colonel, "there was one thing he never could do as Fortyforefoot. The law prevented him from leaving this valley here in any other form than that of the Parallelopipedon. He didn"t mind his confinement to the valley very much at first, but after a while he began to feel cooped up here, and then he took an old packing box and made it look as much like a living Parallelopipedon as he could.
Then he got into it whenever he wanted to roam about the world. Probably if you will search the castle you will find the cast-off sh.e.l.l he used to wear, and if you do I hope you will destroy it, because it is said to be a most horrible spectacle--frightening animals to death and causing every flower within a mile to wither and shrink up at the mere sight of it."
"It"s all true, Jimmieboy," said the sprite. "I knew it all along. Why, he only gave us those cherries and peaches there in exchange for yourself because he expected to get them all back again, you know."
"It was a glorious victory," said the colonel. "I will now announce it to the soldiers."
This he did and the soldiers were wild with joy when they heard the news, and the band played a hymn of victory in which the soldiers joined, singing so vigorously that they nearly cracked their voices.
When they had quite finished the colonel said he guessed it was time to return to the barracks in the nursery.
"Not before the feast," said the sprite. "We have here all the provisions the general set out to get, and before you return home, colonel, you and your men should divide them among you."
So the table was spread and all went happily. In the midst of the feast the major appeared, determination written upon every line of his face.
The soldiers cheered him loudly as he walked down the length of the table, which he acknowledged as gracefully as he could with a stiff bow, and then he spoke:
"Gentlemen," he said, "I have always been a good deal of a favorite with you, and I know that what I am about to do will fill you with deep grief. I am going to stop being a man of war. The tremendous victory we have won to-day is the result entirely of the efforts of myself, General Jimmieboy and Major Sprite--for to the latter I now give the t.i.tle I have borne so honorably for so many years. Our present victory is one of such brilliantly brilliant brilliance that I feel that I may now retire with l.u.s.tre enough attached to my name to last for millions and millions of years. I need rest, and here I shall take it, in this beautiful valley, which by virtue of our victory belongs wholly and in equal parts to General Jimmieboy, Major Sprite and myself. Hereafter I shall be known only as Mortimer Carraway Blueface, Poet Laureate of Fortyforefoot Hall, Fortyforefoot Valley, Pictureland. As Governor-General of the country we have decided to appoint our ill.u.s.trious friend, Major Benjamin Bludgeonhead Sprite. General Jimmieboy will remain commander of the forces, and the rest of you may divide amongst yourselves, as a reward for your gallant services, all the provisions that may now be left upon this table. It is all yours. I demand but one condition. That is that you do not take the table. It is of solid mahogany and must be worth a very considerable sum.
Now let the saddest word be said, Now bend in sorrow deep the head.
Let tears flow forth and drench the dell: Farewell, brave soldier boys, farewell."
Here the major wiped his eyes sadly and sat down by the sprite who shook his hand kindly and thanked him for giving him his t.i.tle of major.
"We"ll have fine times living here together," said the sprite.
"Well, rather!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the major. "I"m going to see if I can"t have myself made over again, too, Spritey. I"ll be pleasanter for you to look at. What"s the use of being a tin soldier in a place where even the cobblestones are of gold and silver."
"You can be plated any how," said Jimmieboy.
"Yes, and maybe I can have a platinum sword put in, and a real solid gold head--but just at present that isn"t what I want," said the major.
"What I am after now is a piece of birthday cake with real fruit raisins in it and strips of citron two inches long, the whole concealed beneath a one inch frosting. Is there any?"
CHAPTER XIV.
HOME AGAIN.
"I don"t think we have any here," said Jimmieboy, who was much pleased to see the sprite and the major, both of whom he dearly loved, on such good terms. "But I"ll run home and see if I can get some."
"Well, we"ll all go with you," said the colonel, starting up and ordering the trumpeters to sound the call to arms.
"All except Blueface and myself," said the sprite. "We will stay here and put everything in readiness for your return."
"That is a good idea," said Jimmieboy. "And you"ll have to hurry for we shall be back very soon."
This, as it turned out, was a very rash promise for Jimmieboy to make, for after he and the tin soldiers had got the birthday cake and were ready to enter Pictureland once more, they found that not one of them could do it, the frame was so high up and the picture itself so hard and impenetrable. Jimmieboy felt so badly to be unable to return to his friends, that, following the major"s hint about sleep bringing forgetfulness of trouble, he threw himself down on the nursery couch, and closing his br.i.m.m.i.n.g eyes dozed off into a dreamless sleep.
It was quite dark when he opened them again and found himself still on the couch with a piece of his papa"s birthday cake in his hand, his sorrows all gone and contentment in their place. His papa was sitting at his side, and his mamma was standing over by the window smiling.
"You"ve had a good long nap, Jimmieboy," said she, "and I rather think, from several things I"ve heard you say in your sleep, you"ve been dreaming about your tin soldiers."
"I don"t believe it was a dream, mamma," he said, "it was all too real."
And then he told his papa all that had happened.
"Well, it is very singular," said his papa, when Jimmieboy had finished, "and if you want to believe it all happened you may; but you say all the soldiers came back with you except Major Blueface?"
"Yes, every one," said Jimmieboy.
"Then we can tell whether it was true or not by looking in the tin soldier"s box. If the major isn"t there he may be up in Fortyforefoot castle as you say."
Jimmieboy climbed eagerly down from the couch and rushing to the toy closet got out the box of soldiers and searched it from top to bottom.
The major was not to be seen anywhere, nor to this day has Jimmieboy ever again set eyes upon him.
THE END.