"Is there no command Your Majesty would lay upon us?"

"No, please," said Polly, in a failing voice.

"Is there anything Your Majesty has lost? Think again! Will Your
Majesty deign to cast your royal eyes on this?"

He drew from under his buffalo robe what seemed like a long tress of
blond hair, and held it aloft. Polly instantly recognized the
missing scalp of her hapless doll.

"If you please, Sir, it's Lady Mary's. She's lost it."

"And lost it--Your Majesty--only to find something more precious!
Would Your Majesty hear the story?"

A little alarmed, a little curious, a little self-anxious, and a
little induced by the nudges and pinches of her companions, the
Queen blushingly signified her royal assent.

"Enough. Bring refreshments. Will Your Majesty prefer winter-green,
peppermint, rose, or accidulated drops? Red or white? Or perhaps
Your Majesty will let me recommend these bull's eyes," said the
leader, as a collection of sweets in a hat were suddenly produced
from the barrel labelled "Gunpowder" and handed to the children.

"Listen," he continued, in a silence broken only by the gentle
sucking of bull's eyes. "Many years ago the old Red Rovers of these
parts locked up all their treasures in a secret cavern in this