PRINCE RICARDO. 227

 

The king drew a long breath.

*‘Stupidity has saved the world,’ he said;
and, with only strength to draw back one step
from the abyss, he fell down, hiding his face in
his hands.

But Jaqueline’s arms were round his neck,
and the maidens brought him water from an
ice-cold spring; and soon King Prigio was
himself again, and ready for anything. But
afterwards he used to say that the moment
when the Earthquaker stirred was the most
dreadful in his life.

Now, in Manoa, where all the firm founda-
tions of the city had trembled once, when the
sun just touched the Earthquaker, the people,
seeing that the shadow of the sacred column
had crept to its foot, and yet Manoa stood
firm again, and the Temple of the Sun
was not overthrown, raised such a cry that
it echoed even through the halls within the
hollow hill.

Who shall describe the joy of the maidens,
and how often Jaqueline and Ricardo kissed
each other ?

“You have saved me!” she cried to the king,
throwing her arms round him again. ‘‘ You
have saved Manoa!”

“And you have saved the Hope of Pan-
touflia, not once or twice,” said his Majesty,
grandly.

And he told Dick how much he had owed to