"Look what you're doing!" spluttered his Majesty, returning the salute of the guards and waving for two small pages to approach. "Pray announce us to the Queen," he commanded grandly. "Here are the right brave and puissant Prince of the Ozure Isles and his friend and companion, the Medicine Man of Oz!" The pages immediately raised their golden trumpets and blew three shrill blasts, and while Philador secretly wondered what puissant might mean, called loudly: "His High and Mighty Majesty, the King! His brave and Puissant Highness the Prince of the Ozure Isles and the Medicine Man of Oz!" "How about me?" whinnied High Boy, shaking his mane and prancing along so skittishly that Herby threw his arms 'round Philador to keep from falling off. "And the High Horse!" shouted the pages joyously, at which the irrepressible beast rose on his hind legs and bowed to the left and right. The Uplanders, who had run to doors and windows at the pages' loud cries, clapped and cheered, first for the King, next for the visitors and lastly for High Boy himself, till the noise and confusion was simply tremendous. Whenever High Boy saw one of his friends leaning from an upper window, he'd stretch up his telescope legs. "Hello Mary!" he would snort, nudging the little girl or whoever it chanced to be with his soft nose. "Hello Jim!" Then down he would drop to greet an old gentleman in a basement doorway, so that his three riders had an exceedingly up and down time of it. But even so Philador managed to see a lot of Up Town. The streets of this strange mountain city were narrow and steep, the houses tall and towered. There were glimpses of gardens at the back, gardens sweet with hyacinth and lilac, and in the open spaces between, grew the tallest grass Philador had ever imagined. A purple haze hung in the air and the castle, rising majestically from the top of the town, seemed to rest on an airy embankment of clouds. In almost no time, they were in the courtyard of the castle itself, the pages tooting away for dear life. A dozen of the King's retainers rushed out and Philador, gazing upward, saw a lovely lady in a lavender lace dress leaning over the balcony. She wore an amethyst crown and he guessed at once that she must be the Queen. [Illustration: QUEEN HYACINTH] "Hi! Hi! Hyacinth!" Lengthening his legs till his body was on a level with the balcony, High Boy rested his head affectionately on the Queen's shoulder. "Did you miss me?" he whinnied hoarsely. "Of course! Of course!" smiled her Highness, nodding pleasantly to Herby and Phil.