congratulate you,” said Mr. Noah, “and I am happy to announce that your fifth deed is now accomplished. You remember our empty silver fruit-dishes? Your fifth deed was to be the supplying of Polistarchia with fruit. This island is the only place in the kingdom where fruit grows. The ark will serve to convey the fruit to the mainland, and the performance of this deed raises you to the rank of Duke.”
“Philip, you’re a dear,” said Lucy in a whisper.
“Shut up,” said Philip fiercely.
“Three cheers,” said a familiar voice, “for the Duke of Donors.”
“Three cheers,” repeated the Lord High Islander, “for the Duke of Donors.”
What a cheer! All the islanders cheered and the M.A.’s and Lucy and Mr. Perrin and Mr. Noah, and from the inside of the ark came enthusiastic barkings and gruntings and roarings and squeakings—as the animals of course joined in as well as they could. Thousands of gulls, circling on white wings in the sun above, added their screams to the general chorus. And when the sound of the last cheer died away, a little near familiar voice said:
“Well done, Philip! I’m proud of you.”
It was the parrot who, perched on the rigging of the Lightning Loose, had started the cheering.
“So that’s all right,” it said, fluttered on to Philip’s shoulder and added, “I’ve heard you calling for me on the island all the week. But I felt I needed a rest. I’ve been talking too much. And that Pretenderette. And that cage. I assure you I needed a little time to get over my adventures.”
“We have all had our adventures,” said Mr. Noah gently. And Helen said:
“Won’t you land and take possession of the island? I’m sure we are longing to hear each other’s adventures.”
“You first,” said Mr. Noah to the Lord High Islander, who stepped ashore very gravely.
When Helen saw him come forward, she suddenly kissed Philip, and as the Lord High Islander’s foot touched the shore of that enchanted island, she simply and suddenly vanished.
“Oh!” cried Philip, “I wish I hadn’t.” And his mouth trembled as girls’ mouths do if they are going to cry.
“The more a present costs you, the more it’s worth,” said Mr. Noah. “This has cost you so much, it’s the most splendid present in the world.”
“I know,” said Philip; “make yourselves at home, won’t you?” he just managed to say. And then he found he could not say any more. He just turned and went into the forest. And when he was alone in a green glade, he flung himself down on his face and lay a long time without moving. It had been such a happy week. And he was so tired of adventures.
When at last he sniffed with an air of finality and raised his head, the first thing he saw was Lucy, sitting quite still with her back to him.
“Hullo!” he said rather crossly, “what are you doing here?”
“Saying the multiplication table,” said Lucy promptly and turned her head, “so as not even to think about you. And I haven’t even once turned round. I knew you wanted to be alone. But I wanted to be here when you’d done being alone. See? I’ve got something to say to you.”
“Fire ahead,” said Philip, still grumpy.
“I think you’re perfectly splendid,” said Lucy very seriously, “and I want it to be real pax for ever. And I’ll help you in the rest of the adventures. And if you’re cross, I’ll try not to mind. Napoleon was cross sometimes, I believe,” she added pensively, “and Julius Caesar.”
“Oh, that’s all right,” said Philip very awkwardly.
“Then we’re going to be real chums?”
“Oh yes, if you like. Only—I don’t mind just this once; and it was decent of you to come and sit there with your back to me—only I hate gas.”
“Yes,” said Lucy obediently, “I know. Only sometimes you feel you must gas a little or burst of admiration. And I’ve got your proper clothes in a bundle. I’ve been carrying them about ever since the islanders’ castle was washed away. Here they are.”
She produced the bundle. And this time Philip was really touched.
“Now I do call that something like,” he said. “The seaweed dress is all right here, but you never know what you may have to go through when you’re doing adventures. There might be thorns or snakes or anything. I’m jolly glad to get my boots back too. I say, come on. Let’s go to Helen’s palace and get a banquet ready. I know there’ll have to be a banquet. There always is, here. I know a first-rate bun-tree quite near here.”
“The cocoa-nut-ice plants looked beautiful as I came along,” said Lucy. “What a lovely island it is. And you made it!”
“No gas,” said Philip warningly. “Helen and I made it.”
“She’s the dearest darling,” said Lucy.
“Oh, well,” said Philip with resignation, “if you must gas, gas about her.”
The banquet was all that you can imagine of interesting and magnificent. And Philip was, of course, the hero of the hour. And when the banquet was finished and the last guest had departed to its own house—for the houses on the island were of course all ready to be occupied, furnished to the last point of comfort, with pin-cushions full of pins in every room, Mr. Noah and Lucy and Philip sat down on the terrace steps among the pink roses for a last little talk.
“Because,” said Philip, “we shall start the first thing in the morning. So please will you tell me now what the next deed is that I have to do?”
“Will you go by ark?” Mr. Noah asked, rolling up his yellow mat to make an elbow rest and leaning on it; “I shall be delighted.”
“I thought,” said Philip, “we might go in the Lightning Loose. I’ve never sailed her yet, you know. Do you think I could?”
“Of course you can,” said Mr. Noah; “and if not, Lucy can show you. Your charming yacht is steered on precisely the same principle as the ark. And in this land all the winds are favourable. You will find the yacht suitably provisioned. And I may add that you can go most of the way to your next deed by water—first the sea and then the river.”
“And what,” asked Philip, “is the next deed?”
“In the extreme north of Polistarchia,” said Mr. Noah instructively, “lies a town called Somnolentia. It used to be called Briskford in happier days. A river then ran through the town, a rapid river that brought much gold from the mountains. The people used to work very hard to keep the channel clear of the lumps of gold which continually threatened to choke it. Their fields were then well-watered and fruitful, and the inhabitants were cheerful and happy. But when the Hippogriff was let out of the book, a Great Sloth got out too. Evading all efforts to secure him, the Great Sloth journeyed northward. He is a very large and striking animal, and by some means, either fear or admiration, he obtained a complete ascendancy over the inhabitants of Briskford. He induced them to build him a temple of solid gold, and while they were doing this the river bed became choked up and
