"Boo-hoo!" he cried, just once, and then peeped round the edge of the handkerchief to see if that was enough. Apparently, it was not quite enough, for he covered his eyes again and boo-hooed once more, when, perceiving that the Admiral and the courtiers had all let go their noses again and were smiling away as usual, he threw the handkerchief into the box, and holding out the skirts of his long cloak with a finger and thumb of each hand, he went skipping round in a circle, the bell about his neck going _clink-clank_ at every step. "Good!" cried the King, clapping his hands. "Jump for joy!" Thereupon all the courtiers took hands and jumped up and down and back and forth, coming so close up to the throne that Margaret and Frances and the King had to tuck up their feet for fear of having their toes trodden on. "Oh, bother!" exclaimed His Majesty. "I wish they wouldn't crowd so"; and so saying, he jumped up into the seat of his throne and shouted as loud as he possibly could: "DINNER!" At this, the whole company of courtiers, gentlemen and ladies as well, turned their backs on the throne, and led by the Court Crier, they leaped off the platform, raced up the center pathway and rushed, pell-mell, through the glass doors at the other end; when the Admiral, who had followed close behind, slammed the doors and locked them. Having done so, the Admiral came smiling back again, twirling the key on his finger. "What's that for?" asked Margaret. "Do you always lock the doors for dinner?" "There isn't any dinner," replied the King, slyly screwing up one eye. "It's just a trick of mine to get rid of them whenever they crowd too much." "Do you do it often, then?" asked Margaret. "Oh, yes. Two or three times a day sometimes." "But, don't they ever learn?" cried Frances in surprise. "I shouldn't have thought you could have played the same trick on them more than once--or twice." "Learn!" cried the King. "They never learn! They are the most wooden-headed lot you ever saw. It isn't all fun, being a king," taking off his crown and hanging it over one of the knobs on the back of the throne, "not even a monarch of the Woods--especially the Hardwoods. They _are_ such blockheads!" The jovial little King looked almost melancholy, which, of course, was against the laws of the Island, but he recovered again in a moment when the Admiral tactfully poked him in the ribs with the door-key and cried, "Cheer up, Rex!" "Ha! Ha!" laughed the King. "No tickling! Come along, Ladies. Let's go and see the dragon. We'll take the children with us." "Oh, yes. Do!" cried Margaret, feeling that if the children went, too, it must be perfectly safe. "How many children are there?" "Six, I think," replied the King. "It is six isn't it, Admiral?" "I believe it is," assented the Admiral. "Though I'm not quite sure whether the carpenter has finished the last one yet." "The carpenter!" cried both little girls, opening their eyes very wide.