The King of Gee-Whiz Read online

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  Transcriber's notes

  Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected. A list ofother changes made can be found at the end of the book.

  Mark-up: _italics_

  The King _of_ Gee-Whiz

  They flew on and on _Page 128_]

  The King _of_ Gee-Whiz

  _By_ Emerson Hough

  Author of The Mississippi Bubble The Law of the Land, etc.

  With Lyrics by

  Wilbur D. Nesbit

  Author of The Trail to Boyland, etc.

  Illustrated by

  Oscar E. Cesare

  Indianapolis

  The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers

  Copyright 1906 By Emerson Hough

  PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.

  Contents

  CHAPTER PAGE

  I The Widow Pickle's Twins and Their Peculiar Hair 1

  II The Widow Pickle's Strange Visitor 4

  III The Enchanted Banjo 9

  IV The Search in the Cupboard 12

  V The Gee-Whiz Submarine Express 18

  VI The Journey Through the Air 22

  VII The Journey Through the Water 27

  VIII The Explosion of the Submarine Express 37

  IX The Arrival at the Island 41

  X The King of Gee-Whiz 44

  XI The Royal Hereditary Twins 49

  XII The Gold Waffle-Iron 57

  XIII The Fairy Telephone 66

  XIV Jankow the Dragon 72

  XV The Golden Ladder to Fairy-Land 79

  XVI The King and the Wicked Fairy 85

  XVII The King and the Rubber Tree 92

  XVIII The King Loses His Shadow 97

  XIX Troubles at the Royal Palace 103

  XX The Disappearance of the Royal Twins 109

  XXI The Journey to Fairy-Land 114

  XXII The Bumblebee Express 120

  XXIII To the Valley of the Fairies 127

  XXIV The Royal and Official Council 131

  XXV The Fairy City of Almalena 141

  XXVI The Journey to Candy-Town 149

  XXVII The Valley of Gold 163

  XXVIII The Mother of Gold 173

  XXIX The Secret Wish of the Fairy Queen 179

  XXX The Queen Recovers the Shadow 184

  XXXI The Messengers of the Fairy Queen 191

  XXXII The Return to the Island 196

  XXXIII The Happy Ending of the Story 201

  The King _of_ Gee-Whiz

  CHAPTER I

  THE WIDOW PICKLE'S TWINS AND THEIR PECULIAR HAIR

  Once, several years ago, there lived in a city far from the sea-shore awidow by the name of Mrs. Pickle, who had Twins named Zuzu Pickle andLulu Pickle. At first glance, these Twins seemed much like ordinarytwins in appearance. Both had blue eyes, pretty curved lips, and rosycheeks; and as they were quite alike in size, it may seem that, likemany other twins, they must have been hard to tell apart. Such, however,was not the case. Indeed, they could not well be confused with eachother, for, aside from the fact that Zuzu was a boy and Lulu a girl,one had green hair and the other blue. This peculiar color of their hairmade them quite different from most twins, and led to a great manystrange circumstances, some of which are described in this story.

  The father of these Twins was Aurelius Pickle, an innocent and good man,who for many years was known as a very skilful chemist. Like many otherchemists, he wasted a great deal of time in doing things which did notbring in any money. For instance, he worked many years on a compoundintended to change a person's hair from any color to a rich, dark brownor to a deep and shining auburn, at will. Aurelius Pickle was a poorman, and hence did not have the means for his researches that hedesired. He often told his wife that it was fortunate they had Twinswith such long hair, for thus he could make all the experiments for theTwofold-tint Compound, which was what he intended to call thehair-coloring fluid on which he was working. Whenever he made a newkettleful of this, he would try it on the long rich hair of the Twins.

  At last he hit upon two new mixtures, one or the other of which he feltsure would be just the thing. He tried one on the hair of Lulu and theother on that of Zuzu. To his great surprise, the hair of Zuzu became afine pale green, while that of Lulu turned at the same time to a paleblue, much the color of the ribbons around the neck of a new baby.

  The Twins, seeing themselves in the glass, were much pleased with theirappearance, and said they felt sure no one in town had hair like theirs;which in all likelihood was true. With their father, however, it wasquite otherwise. Indeed, what he thought was never fully known. He wastaken suddenly ill, and sank back upon his couch, where he rapidlybecame worse, and could get no further than to ask his children to calltheir mother. When she appeared, Aurelius Pickle smiled feebly andmotioned her toward the cupboard where he kept his Chemical Substances.He could do no more.

  This, in brief, is how there came to be such a person as the WidowPickle. It is not unusual for widows to have Twins, but seldom could befound such Twins as these.

  Aurelius Pickle]

  CHAPTER II

  THE WIDOW PICKLE'S STRANGE VISITOR

  So badly did the Widow Pickle feel over the peculiar color of her Twins'hair that for a long time she forgot to obey her husband's last wish andlook in the cupboard. At last, however, she bethought herself of thisrequest and hastened to the place where Aurelius Pickle had kept hisChemical Substances.

  She found several strange-looking boxes, with all sorts of powders andpastes in them, but with no names on the backs to tell what were theircontents. She feared to make any experiments, lest she might stain herown hair either blue or green or some other unfashionable color; so allshe could do was to look and wonder what was in the boxes. After severaldays, she concluded to mix some different powders together. She took onesmall box with a red cover and another that had a black cover, and,pouring small portions of the powder from each of these on a plate, shebegan to stir the two together.

  Nothing happened for some moments. "Chemistry is rather hard, afterall," said the Widow Pickle to herself. "I thought that all there was toit was stirring things together. I formerly noticed that when my poordear husband did that, something nearly always happened."

  At last, disappointed that nothing had happened, she went to thematch-box. "Perhaps," said she, "if I touch a match to it something willhappen." She did so, and, to her great surprise, something did happen,and that at once.

  A cloud of heavy vapor filled the room, and as it cleared away the WidowPickle saw standing there, bowing and smiling very pleasantly, a littledark man, whom at first she took to be a Japanese. He had black hair,rolled very tight on the top of his head; small feet, incased i
n bootswith long up-turned toes; and a loose flowing mantle of red satin. Hishands were small, and his little black eyes twinkled merrily.

  "Madam, I believe you have sent for me," he remarked.

  "Indeed, I did not," said the Widow Pickle. "Moreover, I don't know whoyou are. Whence do you come, sir, and why do you intrude withoutinvitation?"

  "Who should I be," said the little man, still smiling pleasantly, "butthe Private Secretary and Court Musician of the royal monarch of theIsland, the King of Gee-Whiz?"

  "The King of Gee-Whiz?" said the Widow Pickle. "I never heard of such aperson."

  "Then, madam," replied the little man sternly, "grant me leave to tellyou that you must be an extraordinarily ignorant person. Every one ofconsequence knows of his Royal Highness, who rules our Island."

  "And, pray, what do you have in your Island, little man?" asked theWidow Pickle scornfully.

  "Many things," replied the strange little man, "more than I should liketo tell you all at once."

  "Gold, perhaps?" asked the Widow.

  "I believe it is called gold--a very common metal, indeed."

  "Pray, then, what do you use for rings?" asked the Widow, hiding herhands under her apron.

  "We usually make them out of our smaller diamonds," replied the littleman carelessly. "There are, however, more precious stones. For instance,there is Lapis Malazite, a very fashionable blue gem; and LapisCorazine, an emerald-green jewel. Blue and green, madam, are ourfavorite colors."

  "How strange!" exclaimed the Widow Pickle. And then she told of themanner in which the hair of her Twins had been permanently colored bysome of her husband's Chemical Substances.

  "That is very singular," said the little man. "All I can say is that iftheir hair is the real malazite blue and the correct corazine green,they could have anything they like in the Land of Gee-Whiz; for theseare the Royal Hereditary Colors. But, really, I must be going. I rarelyever stay away more than an hour at a time."

  As he spoke, he stepped toward the window, but in doing so he gave hismantle a slight twitch to one side. As he did this, he displayed to thecurious gaze of the Widow Pickle a strangely-carved Banjo, whosesupporting ribbon was swung over his shoulders. The Banjo was of ivoryand gold, and the pegs for tightening the strings were of shining gold.

  "Stay!" cried the Widow. "I have never seen so beautiful an instrumentas that. I am sure you play it well; and as for me, I dote upon thebanjo."

  "Madam," smiled the little man, "I see your taste is excellent."

  The Private Secretary]

  CHAPTER III

  THE ENCHANTED BANJO

  The Widow Pickle asked the stranger to allow her to examine the Banjo,and he did so willingly. About this time, the Twins, Lulu and Zuzu, raninto the room; and very soon they were leaning at their mother's knee,with their chins in their hands, ready to listen to the music. At first,the stranger did not look at them intently, but when he did so hestarted back with an exclamation of surprise. At that moment, also,something strange seemed to happen in the Banjo. The Widow Pickle lookeddown at it suddenly. She felt the strings move beneath her fingers. Atthis, she arose and almost flung the instrument upon the table. To hergreat surprise, it began playing gaily and cheerfully, just as well,and, indeed, perhaps better, than it would have done had it beenoperated by the Widow Pickle herself. The song which the Banjo sang wassomething like this:

  MALAZITE BLUE AND CORAZINE GREEN

  O, Malazite Blue and Corazine Green! Such wonderful colors I never have seen, Except, in the sky At a million miles high Is the Malazite Blue for delighting the eye.

  And Corazine Green is splendidly fair When tinting the ringlets and curls of your hair-- It comes, if you please, From the leaves of the trees When they are made bright by the brush of the breeze.

  Oh, barrels and barrels of Malazite Blue, And barrels of Corazine Green, it is true Are used every year Just to keep the sky clear And to tint all the leaves when they have to appear.

  "Well, I never heard anything in the world like that," said the WidowPickle. "An Enchanted Banjo, that can play by itself! Surely, this houseis haunted, my children, since your poor father died! But what asituation for a lone widow to be in here in a great city, with blue- andgreen-haired Twins, an utter stranger, and an Enchanted Banjo, whichplays by itself, and sings about the peculiar hair of my dear Twins! Ialways said that your poor dear father, although good, was not apractical man."

  She looked at the Banjo as it lay upon the table. To her great surprise,she saw it take itself apart before her eyes. It lay there in twopieces, the neck quite apart from the head. Of course, in that positionit ceased playing, and, indeed, one could have expected nothing else,for even an Enchanted Banjo can not play when it is in two pieces.

  CHAPTER IV

  THE SEARCH IN THE CUPBOARD

  Now, presently, a very strange thing happened. The Twins, Lulu and Zuzu,stood at the edge of the table grieving very much that the Banjo wasbroken. Each put out a hand, Lulu touching the neck of the instrument,where, in her opinion, the music was, and Zuzu the round part or head,where he thought that the music was situated. To their great surprise,as they did this the Banjo again began to play, the two parts joiningthemselves together as good as new. So long as they held it in this way,it played the most beautiful and wonderful music. Stranger still, afterit had finished playing, it began also to talk.

  "I am the Enchanted Banjo of the King of Gee-Whiz," it said in a small,distinct, and quite unmistakable voice. "I only take myself apart torest myself; but if you put me together again, of course I feel obligedto play for you, as that is only common politeness on my part."

  "Is that indeed the truth, sir?" asked the Widow Pickle of the littledark man.

  "It is," said he; "and I myself am the Court Musician, as I have said.It is my duty to furnish music for the King every day at half-past twoin the afternoon, and I find a self-playing instrument a greatconvenience. Now, I am sorry to disturb you, but, by the way, it isnearly time for us to be returning."

  "Excuse me, my children," remarked the Enchanted Banjo, "but you areholding my neck very tight."

  At this, Lulu and Zuzu released their hold, and with a sigh of reliefthe Banjo again lay in two pieces on the table.

  "Now, children, see what you have done!" exclaimed the Widow Pickle."The Banjo is broken again."

  "Never mind," said the Private Secretary, "it will always play when thetwo hold it together. Besides, it can not resist the Royal HereditaryColors, madam, for these are very powerful in our Island."

  "In truth," said the Widow Pickle, "I am of a mind myself to go to thiswonderful place of which you talk. I would like to seek my fortune andthat of my Twins. Have you credibly informed me that Twins withmalazite-and corazine-colored hair would have a good chance in thatcountry?"

  "I have told you the truth," said the little dark man; "but I must sayit is very far from here to the Island of Gee-Whiz, some hundreds ofthousands of miles across the seas."

  "Then, sir, how did you come here yourself?"

  "I came by the Gee-Whiz Submarine Express," replied the PrivateSecretary. "How else should I come?"

  "Alas! I don't know what you mean," said the Widow Pickle at this.

  "Not know, madam? Why, you have all the means for summoning theSubmarine Express directly at your command."

  "Where? where?" asked the Widow excitedly.

  The little man pointed at the cupboard where the late Aurelius Picklehad been accustomed to keep his Chemical Substances.

  "Why, to be sure," said the Widow Pickle, "it must be in the cupboard,for it was there I found the two strange powders which went off with aflash."

  By this time, the Twins were dancing around the room in excitement,running toward the cupboard, which had never seemed so full of interestbefore, even in their hungriest moments.

  "Are you ready for your journey, madam?" asked the Private Secretary.

  "I declare, I've more than ha
lf a mind to learn what all this means,"said the Widow Pickle.

  "Get us ready for the journey, mamma," cried the Twins, as though itwere all settled.

  "Very well," said the Widow, "we may as well be prepared for anythingthat may happen. First let me comb your Royal Hereditary Hair. Lulu, gofetch me the blue comb, and you, Zuzu, get the pale-green one, on top ofthe dresser, at the right hand as you go in. I can not help feeling,"said the Widow Pickle, as she combed the long, wavy hair of her twochildren, "as though something was going to happen."

  At that moment the Enchanted Banjo, held once more by the joyful Twins,began this remarkable song:

  SOMETHING'S GOING TO HAPPEN

  Such a squidgy feeling in my bones! Such a tingling tangling of my hair! Something whispers now in warning tones That it will be best if I take care. I keep looking out on either side, Watching for just what I do not know-- Will it sit, or stand, or walk, or ride? Wonder will it come, or will it go?

  Something's sure to happen-- Oh, what can it be? Something, something, something Keeps on warning me. I shiver and I quiver, I tremble and I bow-- Something's sure to happen! When? And where? And how?

  Don't know how I know it! But I know By the creepy feeling of my skin, By my eyes that keep on winking so, By the shaky shiver of my chin. Something tells me to be looking out; Something will not tell me what to do-- Something's sure to happen; there's no doubt! Wonder will it be to me, or you?