"There must surely be _something_ we can do," said Tom, thinking of Queen Curtain's threatening speech to Twink. "I must have time to think," said Twiffle. "At least we have discovered the whereabouts of the Shaggy Man and we know what has happened to him and all these other poor people. There must be some way to release them, if only I can hit upon it. I suggest we return to our rooms. We certainly don't want to be discovered here." "But what about Twink?" asked Tom with dismay. "I am hoping I can prevent Queen Curtain from making good her threat," replied Twiffle grimly. "Oh, don't worry about me," said Twink bravely. "If worst comes to worst and I don't make a better actress than the rest of these folks, I'll be awfully disappointed in myself." CHAPTER 13 Tom Goes to the Rescue Despite the late hour at which they had gone to bed, Tom awakened bright and early in the morning, hurried into his clothes and bounded into Twink's room. The bed was empty! Thinking that Twink might have risen before him, Tom dashed into the living room. There he found Twiffle alone, deep in thought. "Twiffle! Twiffle! Twink is gone!" exclaimed Tom. Twiffle nodded his head gravely. "I know," he said. "I looked for her about half an hour ago and she was gone. I was afraid this would happen." "But this is terrible!" protested Tom. "Think of poor Twink--one of those senseless dummies, just for the amusement of these wicked people." The boy was thoroughly incensed as he went on. "They call this the Valley of Romance! Why, they must be heartless. They don't even know what real romance or love is!" Twiffle let out a shout and leaped to his feet. "My boy, you've done it!" he cried. "Done what?" gasped the astonished Tom. "You've just given me the solution of all our problems. I now know how we can save not only Twink and the Shaggy Man, but all the other people enslaved by King Ticket and Queen Curtain!" "You do?" said Tom wonderingly. "Yes," responded Twiffle. "You were wrong about only one thing--King Ticket, Queen Curtain, and the Lords and Ladies are not heartless. They have hearts, all right. But you were very right when you said they don't know what real romance or love is. They don't. We're going to show them, and in the process we will rescue Twink and Shaggy!" Twiffle excitedly unfolded his plan. As Tom listened he grew more and more cheerful. When Twiffle finished, Tom picked up the little clown and danced exuberantly about the room with him. "Twiffle," the boy shouted, "you're a wonder!" Twiffle grinned from ear to ear. "It was you who gave me the idea," he reminded Tom modestly. "But we must plan very carefully," he went on, becoming serious. "Remember, there is only a slim chance that our plan will work. We must take that chance and hope for the best. As there is nothing we can do until tonight when the play is again presented, we should make use of this time to work out every single detail of our plan."