On the same evening that Trot and her companions were arriving at the Emerald City, Cheeriobed and his councilors sat talking in the great blue throne room of the palace. All day the King had watched for the coming of Ozma and the return of Philador, and as the hours dragged on he had become more and more restless and uneasy. Shortly after lunch, as he was pacing anxiously up and down one of the garden paths, he was amazed to see Orpah hobbling rapidly toward him. It was nearly twenty years since the keeper of the King's sea horses had been carried off by Quiberon, and Cheeriobed had never expected to see his faithful servitor again. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming, the astounded monarch rushed forward to greet the old mer-man. After a hearty embrace, which wet His Majesty considerably, Orpah having stepped directly out of the water, they sat down on a sapphire bench and the King begged Orpah to tell him at once all that had happened. Brushing over his long weary imprisonment in Cave City, Orpah hurried on to the coming of Trot and her strange friends. His lively description of their encounter with the Cave Men, the way they had outwitted and trapped Quiberon in the narrow passageway, filled Cheeriobed with wonder and relief. And when the mer-man went on to tell him of the explosion of the blue ray that had carried them across the bottom of the lake to the mainland, Cheeriobed smiled for the first time since Quiberon had threatened his kingdom. "Now," declared the good King, slapping his knee happily, "we have nothing to worry us. Quiberon is a prisoner, the mortal child has escaped injury and Akbad has saved my son and persuaded Ozma to come here, save the kingdom, and restore the Queen." Here he stopped to tell Orpah how the Court Soothsayer had picked the golden pear and flown with Philador to the capital, invoking Ozma's aid and carrying the mortal maid to Quiberon's cavern.