The Prince Bulbo still seemed to take the matter very coolly. ‘Of course, Captain,’ says he, ‘you are come about that affair with Prince Giglio?’ ‘Precisely,’ says Hedzoff, ‘that affair of Prince Giglio.’ ‘Is it to be pistols, or swords, Captain?’ asks Bulbo. ‘I’m a pretty good hand with both, and I’ll do for Prince Giglio as sure as my name is My Royal Highness Prince Bulbo.’ ‘There’s some mistake, my Lord,’ says the Captain. ‘The business is done with AXES among us.’ ‘Axes? That’s sharp work,’ says Bulbo. ‘Call my Chamberlain, he’ll be my second, and in ten minutes, I flatter myself, you’ll see Master Giglio’s head off his impertinent shoulders. I’m hungry for his blood Hoooo, aw!’ and he looked as savage as an ogre. ‘I beg your pardon, sir, but by this warrant I am to take you prisoner, and hand you over to--to the executioner.’ ‘Pooh, pooh, my good man!--Stop, I say,--ho!--hulloa!’ was all that this luckless Prince was enabled to say, for Hedzoff’s guards seizing him, tied a handkerchief over his mouth and face, and carried him to the place of execution. The King, who happened to be talking to Glumboso, saw him pass, and took a pinch of snuff and said, ‘So much for Giglio. Now let’s go to breakfast.’ The Captain of the Guard handed over his prisoner to the Sheriff, with the fatal order, ‘AT SIGHT CUT OFF THE BEARER’S HEAD. ‘VALOROSO XXIV.’ ‘It’s a mistake,’ says Bulbo, who did not seem to understand the business in the least. ‘Poo--poo--pooh,’ says the Sheriff. ‘Fetch Jack Ketch instantly. Jack Ketch!’ And poor Bulbo was led to the scaffold, where an executioner with a block and a tremendous axe was always ready in case he should be wanted. But we must now revert to Giglio and Betsinda. XI. WHAT GRUFFANUFF DID TO GIGLIO AND BETSINDA Gruffanuff, who had seen what had happened with the King, and knew that Giglio must come to grief, got up very early the next morning, and went to devise some plans for rescuing her darling husband, as the silly old thing insisted on calling him. She found him walking up and down the garden, thinking of a rhyme for Betsinda (TINDER and WINDA were all he could find), and indeed having forgotten all about the past evening, except that Betsinda was the most lovely of beings. ‘Well, dear Giglio,’ says Gruff. ‘Well, dear Gruffy,’ says Giglio, only HE was quite satirical. ‘I have been thinking, darling, what you must do in this scrape. You must fly the country for a while.’ ‘What scrape?--fly the country? Never without her I love, Countess,’ says Giglio. ‘No, she will accompany you, dear Prince,’ she says, in her most coaxing accents. ‘First, we must get the jewels belonging to our royal parents. and those of her and his present Majesty. Here is the key, duck; they are all yours, you know, by right, for you are the rightful King of Paflagonia, and your wife will be the rightful Queen.’ ‘Will she?’ says Giglio.