He glanced timidly at the King.
"Hurrah!" shouted the people. "Long live the Prince. Long live John and his animals! Hurrah! Hurrah!"
"No more of this!" The King made a gesture, and the shouting stopped, changing into sullen murmurs. The King was not popular, it seemed.
"Let the performance proceed!" he commanded. "I do not like these interruptions."
Once more the Hermit saw him whisper to a servant, who went away quickly on some mysterious errand.
Now, with a happy face, John himself stepped forward and showed his skill and strength and grace. He turned somersaults backward and forward; he stood upon his head and danced upon his hands. He did all the old tricks which he had learned of the tumblers, and more of his own invention, till the people shouted rapturously, "Bravo! Bravo!
Hurrah for our John!"
With his eye on the Prince, John began to caper at his merriest. He danced high, leaping like a gra.s.shopper, and seeming to bound like thistledown. All the while his eyes twinkled, and the people laughed with delight.
"Bravo! John, bravo!" shouted the Prince, clapping his hands. "Come here and let me decorate you, my friend." And as John bowed before him the Prince placed upon his bosom a beautiful star of diamonds that gleamed and sparkled like a cobweb full of dew.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! Long life to John! John! John!" shouted the people, as if they loved the name.
And the Hermit saw that the King turned pale and shook with wrath at the sound. The next moment he grasped the arms of his chair and stared into the crowd eagerly.
Suddenly he arose, and, waving his sceptre, commanded silence. John bowed and turned to the King, waiting to hear his pleasure. But instead of the speech which every one expected, they saw the King gazing down into the crowd before him, and on his lips was a malicious smile. But he looked very old and sick, and he tottered as he held to the arm of his throne.
XXVI
THE TALISMAN
John turned his head to see at what the King was staring. There was a movement in the crowd. Men were being elbowed forward. A noise of harsh voices arose, and to the platform crowded three figures in rags and tatters.
They forced their way directly in front of the platform, and stood staring up. John stepped forward to see what it meant, and in a moment fell back with a cry of dismay. He was looking into the eyes of Cecco, Tonio and the Giant!
"Hi! Master Gigi!" cried Tonio"s hateful voice; "so here we find you setting up as a tumbler on your own account. Your Majesty," he cried, appealing to the King, who was listening with a wicked grin on his face, "this is our boy. We own him. He ran away, but he belongs to us. Give him to us again!"
The little Princess screamed and clung to the Hermit"s arm; but he sat motionless, watching. The people began to murmur and jostle the three strangers. But the King raised his hand, and they listened to him.
"We will hear these men," he said. Then, turning to John, he added smoothly, "And after that, sirrah, you shall answer for yourself."
The Hermit rose and took a step forward, still holding the little Princess by the hand. Brutus broke away from the page who held him, and crouched growling at John"s side.
Then Tonio raised his voice, and cried louder, pointing at John with his skinny hand. "He is our boy," he said. "We taught him his trade; let him deny it. Now he is robbing us of our fair dues. He is a runaway. Give him back to us!"
Still John stared at him, too dazed to answer. But the Hermit took another step forward, and said sternly:--
"He is your boy, you say. How did you come by him?"
"We bought him for a gold piece," they said in chorus. "That was years ago. For ten years he traveled with us. And then he ran away. His life is ours; let him deny it if he can!"
John stood silent, horrified at the fate which seemed to confront him.
For in those days children who were bought and sold in this cruel way were the slaves of the masters who had purchased them.
The Prince had fallen back, pale and trembling. But the King now spoke again, gazing with malicious eyes upon the two wood-folk whom he hated.
"What have you to say for yourselves?" he asked. "You who do not deny that you are a runaway; you, old man, who stole the lad and must be punished most severely therefor, have you any reason why I should not give the one of you up to these mountebanks, his lawful masters, and the other of you to punishment and death? Speak!" The King"s voice was harsh and cruel. His eyes glittered fiercely.
Still John was silent.
"Seize him!" commanded the King. "Seize them both! Off with them to prison!"
The guards stepped forward, unwillingly enough. But at that moment John drew himself up. His eyes flashed; he grasped in both hands the staff over which he had made the wolf leap, and braced himself for defense.
"They shall not take me!" he cried. "I will not go with them. I will die sooner. To me, my brothers!" and he gave a shrill, peculiar cry by which he and the Hermit were wont to call their pets.
[Ill.u.s.tration: To me, my brothers!]
Instantly the Hermit ranged himself at John"s side. At the same moment Brutus placed himself, barking and growling, before the twain.
Breaking from the leash by which he was held, the wolf came leaping towards them, and stood bristling beside the dog, showing his terrible fangs. With a savage growl Bruin burst his chain and came lumbering to the defense of his friends, and the three devoted animals made a stout and terrible wall about them. But this was not all. From the corners where they were crouched came running the other, gentler pets. Here scampered the cat and her kittens, mewing pitifully. Across the platform hopped the raven. The carrier pigeon fluttered to the Hermit"s shoulder. And from the trees all roundabout came winging, with a call answering to John"s, a flock of birds who had followed him from the forest, and who had been hidden in the forbidden trees of the King"s park until this very hour. They fluttered like a cloud about the heads of the pair, so that one could scarcely see them.
Every one stood amazed; even the King sank back in his seat, stupefied.
The guards fell back with lowered weapons. The crowd was silent, staring open-mouthed. Then a murmur arose, and words pa.s.sed from man to man.
"A miracle! It is a miracle! They must be G.o.d"s saints!"
But Tonio was not long silent. "Tricks! Tricks!" he cried. "Gigi has become an animal-trainer. But he is our boy still. Give him to us!"
"Seize them!" repeated the King in a choking voice.
Once more the guards made a rush forward. But the animals leaped up and stood at bay so fiercely that they dared not come nearer. The Hermit raised his hand, and there was sudden silence. He faced the King and spoke sternly.
"O King," he said, "you see that they will never take us alive. In sight of all these people will you add more deaths to your record?"
The murmur of the crowd grew louder. "Nay, all has not yet been said,"
he went on. "Listen, O King. You judge too quickly. There is not proof enough of the lad"s ownership."
"Not enough?" snarled the King. "I say there is enough and to spare.
Can this boy dispute the words of these men?"
John now looked at the Hermit eagerly. His heart beat with hope of something, he knew not what.
The King sneered. "You see!" he cried triumphantly.
But once more the Hermit held up his hand. "Will you not question these fellows further?" he asked. "Dare you hear more, O King?"
"Dare I!" bl.u.s.tered the King, "and why not, pray? If there be more to say, tell it," he commanded the mountebanks.
"Ay," they answered eagerly, "we can indeed prove that the boy is ours."
"Tell how you came by him," interrupted the Hermit, in a tone not to be disobeyed.
Tonio answered sullenly:--