"I cannot imagine," answered Prince Redmond. "It is a shocking surprise to me; why they act as if they were all half asleep and do not seem to recognize us at all." They passed through a beautiful park, and on the other side the palace, surrounded by laurel hedges and backed by a very high wooded hill, appeared to their view. Two guards were stationed at the palace gates. They drew their swords in a dazed kind of way and refused to let anyone pass. "I am your Crown Prince," said Tasmir, "and here is my brother Redmond. You must let us pass instantly." The guards looked at them stupidly and shook their heads. "We have no princes," said one, "our King is not married." "Where is he?" asked Redmond. "Don't know," answered the guard sleepily, as his head nodded forward a couple of times. "Went away on the new ship." "But when will he return?" asked Tasmir, shaking the man to wake him up, for he was certainly going to sleep. "Don' know, don' know," returned the guard, shaking his head slowly. He kept on shaking it, and although they asked him several other questions he did not seem to hear them at all. The other guard was even worse, for all he could say was, "Who goes there?" whenever they addressed him. "Don't bother with them," said Prince Redmond impatiently, "let us go into the palace and see if father is still alive." Daimur ordered the marines to advance, and as the two guards did nothing but blink at them, and no other defenders appeared it only took them a few seconds to reach the palace door. Prince Tasmir bounded up the steps, turned the big handle and dashed into the hall with Prince Redmond and Daimur close at his heels. They met with no opposition from the servants, who appeared to be as sleepy as the guards, and immediately began a search for the poor old King. Upstairs and down they went and even into the dungeons, but could find no trace of him. Prince Redmond at length stopped and began to weep, for they all felt that he was dead, and had perhaps been murdered. Daimur tried to comfort the princes by telling them that they must search the kingdom through before thinking the worst and suggested that they go out into the city again and see if his cap would not tell him something about it. They left the palace and walked over the lawn and past the Royal gardens, and finally crossed a rustic bridge over a pretty stream which wound in and out through the grounds. "Where does that river flow?" asked Daimur, stopping suddenly. He had on his cap. "Oh, that," said Tasmir, "is the Laurel River. It flows right through the kingdom, down to the sea on the other side of the island." "Does anybody drink its waters?" asked Daimur, taking out his spectacles and putting them on. "Why of course," said Prince Redmond proudly. "It is the source of water supply for nearly the whole of the kingdom. There isn't purer water anywhere in the world."