"But is it not a clever one?" persisted the Red Spirit. "See, kind master, I can either compress or expand myself at will." As he spoke he shrank to practical insignificance, and then almost immediately afterward swelled out until it seemed that he would burst. "Capital!" said Dragonfel encouragingly. "You can be of great assistance to me. I have a mean task for you to do." "The meaner the better, kind master!" Dragonfel raised his arm, and pointed toward a window that gave a vista of the far-off, smiling sea. "Go, Human Octopus," he commanded, "and spy upon the Brownies and fairies!" Without another word the hideous object started to crawl off by means of his myriad tentacles, and all who were present watched his convulsive, eccentric movements with malicious satisfaction. [Illustration] CHAPTER V PRINCE FLORIMEL MEETS THE BROWNIES [Illustration] Prince Florimel gave a great shudder of fright when the gift of his ex-fairy godmother so utterly failed him in that moment of terrible danger. As the savage beasts, screaming for his blood, came toward him, he turned and fled, without relaxing his hold upon the treacherous bow. He made a frantic leap for the trunk of the tree, and grasping one of the low branches pulled himself up with desperate haste as far as he could. The beasts with thunderous roars and sharp teeth showing sprang up at him, and a lion with knife-like claws just grazed the skin of one of his legs, and tore off a portion of his garment. Florimel climbed up further, and still further, for safety, while the animals roaring their defeat continued to hurl themselves at the tree until it shook and shook again. [Illustration] Finally they took to fighting among themselves, with outcries that were terrible, and finished by slinking or limping away discomfited. [Illustration] The eaglets disturbed by all this clamor perched on the edges of their nest as though deliberating upon the hazard of trying for the first time their wings in the dizzy space of blue. High overhead their angry parents soared screaming their protests at what seemed to them an unwarrantable intrusion. Still retaining the bow, Florimel climbed out toward the nest, intending to usurp possession of it, and with timid flaps of their untried wings the eaglets essayed flight. Finding they could fly, they soon gained confidence, and joined the parent-birds who led them a mad aerial chase. Soon Florimel was the sole tenant of the nest, and, after he had established himself comfortably in his new quarters, he set about to repair the damage to the bow. He tied the broken cord securely, and drew it taut, pulling it back as far as he could repeatedly, but he did not waste in a trial one of the remaining arrows in his quiver. For, though it had already brought to him one grievous disappointment, he still had faith in his ex-fairy godmother's gift. [Illustration]