[Illustration: WAS SITTING WITH ONE ANKLE ACROSS THE KNEE OF HIS OTHER LEG] The Historian was sitting with one ankle across the knee of his other leg, and had rolled round his thin calf the manuscript upon which he had been working. This manuscript was trained to roll itself up slowly round his leg whilst he wrote it. Smaly looked carefully all round him. The Hen was sleeping, the two Fish slept also, the Historian slept profoundly without snoring. He had always wanted to be able to snore; but he could never succeed because of his beak, and therefore he had invented a sort of little suction-pump run by a motor, which he kept beside him, and which snored quite as well as a man. Except Smaly and Redy every one was sleeping in the house of the Historian. Outside in the sun-baked square the Chief Contractor, the Confectioner, Mistigris, the Young Stork, and the Crow slept also, heaped one upon the other in a casual manner, only the Despoiler, who was always afraid that some one would find out that he was only made of cardboard, never slept in public. He always retired to rest in a little room under the roof of his house. When Smaly had made quite sure that there was no one to see them, he took Redy by the hand and began gently to unroll the Historian's manuscript. Smaly and Redy began to read it to each other in low voices, word by word, like children who go upstairs one leg at a time. This is what they read: [Illustration: THE DESPOILER, WHO WAS ALWAYS AFRAID THAT SOME ONE WOULD FIND OUT THAT HE WAS ONLY MADE OF CARDBOARD, NEVER SLEPT IN PUBLIC] "Thursday, half-past three. "All buildings except the cherry-tart destroyed in the market square. "The Prisoner crossed the river while it was dry. "Rolled across the park of chocolate-moulds, crushing everything beneath him. "He then rolled on over the great kitchen, which was happily empty. "(The two little people made of suet have been shut in with me.) "Up past the public square, and the two little people tried to talk to him. "The Rats worked hard at keeping the prison together; but there are cries everywhere. "Every one is calling out 'The Prisoner is coming.'" "How annoying this is," said Redy, "we're reading it backwards." "Annoying," said a deep voice which came from the closed beak of the Historian. He had forgotten that he was asleep, and lifting up his foot he kicked the two inquisitive little people to the other end of the room. But the sight of the Flying-Fish and the Hen sleeping reminded him that he, too, was not really awake, so he closed his eyes and did not move again. Smaly was able to go on unrolling the whole of the manuscript. CHAPTER VIII Redy and Smaly read of the childhood of the Prisoner. They read as follows: "THE STORY OF DJORAK "This is what I, the Historian, have been able to discover about the life of Djorak, called The Prisoner, before he came to us. He told it to me himself before he was placed in his prison of sugar-canes.