182 PRINCE RICARDO.

 

shabby little miscreant; however, I’ll risk it.
And now I must make my preparations.”

The king did not ask what they were; as a
tule, they were simple. But, being in the shop
of the optician that day, standing with his back
to the door, he heard Dick come in and order
a pair of rose-coloured spectacles, with which
he was at once provided. The people of Pan-
touflia were accustomed to wear them, saying
that they improved the complexions of ladies
whom they met, and added cheerfulness to
things in general.

“Just plain rose-coloured glass, Herr Spex,”
said Dick, ‘‘I’m not short-sighted.”

‘““The boy is beginning to show some sense,”
said the king to himself, knowing the nature
and the difficulties of the expedition.

Ricardo did not disguise his intention of
taking with him a Dandie Dinmont terrier,
named Pepper, and the king, who understood
the motive of this precaution, silently approved.

“The lad has come to some purpose and
forethought,” the king said, and he gladly
advanced a considerable sum for the purchase
of crocodiles’ eggs, which can rarely be got
quite fresh. When Jaqueline had made the
crocodiles’ eggs, with millet-seed and sugar-
candy, into a cake for the Dwarf’s lions, Ricardo
announced that his preparations were com-
plete.

Not to be the mere slave of custom, he made