PRINCE CHIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2059, 10 August 1893, Page 45

PRINCE CHIP.

AND HIS ADVENTURES IN SEARCH OF THE STOLEN PRINCESS AND THE INVISIBLE CROWN. By Habbt How, in the Million. I Chapter lll.— Continued. "I'll make him sib up," cried our hero merrily, and reaching out his sword he gently touched a peculiarly fleshy part of the giant fish's surf-produoing appendage, which did indeed make him sib up. With a mighty splashing and a terrible roar of pain the Giant Talking Fish was, bo to speak, on his feet ; that is, he rose up— for he had previously been indulging in a quiet constitutional swim — he rose up to his full height and sat down in the shape of a half j moon, his head towering a hundred feet in the ( air. He was truly a monster merman. While his body resembled— on a gigantic soale— rthat of the mermaids', his face was that of a man s, possessing the most hideous countenance it is possible to imagine. It was the colour of a lobster after undergoing the process ofboihng— a striking, never-to-be-matched brilliant ted. His eyes were grey and twinkled terribly, his nose was altogether out of proportion with his other huge features, and his great ears flapped about continuously. His head was perfeotly bald. And what a story those wrinkles on his brow told ! They were like furrows in a ploughed field. Chip had evidently touched him on a sore point, and that point was his tail. # Then the ocean monster spoke. His voice almost made as much noise as the splashing of his tail, and Chip for a moment trembled at the prospect of climbing to the giant's awful head. "What is it that darest to trespass in the Silver Valley ? " he asked. " I am Prince Chipjof Britain, and I come in search of the fair Princess and our Crown, which thy Royal Master has caused to be stolen," was Chip's heroic reply. The Giant Fish laughed. Oh ! what a laugh —it shook the waters ! '•Ho, ho, ho!" shouted the laughing one, "it's you, is it? Well, I admire jour pluck. I'd give you a chance to go back if I could, but I can't. I have my orders, signed, sealed, and delivered. Here you are" and here you remain." . . ; •• Yes," replied Chip, " you are quite right. Here I remain, until I recover that which has brought me here." Again the hilarity of the giant broke oat more heartily than before. The scales which covered his body shook in unison as he relieved himself in boisterous mirth. Then his laughter ceased, and, turning angrily on Chip, he said : " Look here, young fellow, I guard this way. I'm good to fight any fish in the ocean, from a whale downwards. I'm not likely to swim away from a sprat likeyou. Ho, ho, ho! I've caused many a vessel with hundreds suoh as, .you on board to sink down below, and have captured the treasure and taken every man on board a prisoner. Oh! we've got many suoh young fellows down here in our State gaol-house. And I've no doubt we can find a spare room for you. Come along ! Ho, ho ! Come along," and the giant twisted his tail round and caught Chip in it. He was just going to hurl poor Chip over the watery wall which surrounded the realms of King Walrustus, when once again the Prince tried the effect of his blade upon his tail. There was no questioning the efficacy of the touch of the tip of that fairy weapon. A howl more horrible and deep than the other tokens of rage came forth from the monster's ugly lips. He splashed his tail in agony, and with the first splash threw Chip high into the air. Chapter IV. Now— as will have been readily imagined— the monster' possessed a mighty fine thing in tails. It was calculated to give anybody who came in contact with it a decided, though unexpected, lift in the world— that is, in the kingdom of the estimable King Walrustus. Up went Chip. It was not a gradual "up" at all —not a up— up— up. It was UP; and as it would have occurred to any ordinary human being as to where the possibility of the fall might be, so it did to Chip. The rapidity of his rise prevented him from taking in all the beauties of the ocean firmament. Here he was in that part of the land governed by Walrustus, a portion of an unknown kingdom over which Neptune reigned solely and supreme. The waters above the ocean cutting which formed the Silver Valley became converted into a glorious sky of ever-varying colour as the tide above it flowed on towards the earth, and the sun by day and th^noon by night cast their beams upon its face. The ocean sky w,as as a huge transparent sheet of glass. So" long as Chip remained in the valley.he would be able to tell exactly when it was day and when it was night in the outer world by merely looking above him. He could see the countless glories of the sunset-rthe crimson slowly striving with the goMen beams for supremacy ; the thousand beauties of a perfect nightly birth of the moon, with, its shafts of blue and silver playing with and chasing the other. Chip could be thankful for all this— it would seem to bring him closer to his people, and nearer to the home he loved which he had left for a time. ' - i But, with the great shake of that tail, he ascended with a speed which allowed 'no time for noting these beauties, or his heart would have been brightened and his spirit cheered. No, when Chip landed in the midst of absolutely nothing the thought forcibly occurred to him— to speak somewhat paradoxically, seeing where he was— "Where shall I larid when I go down again ? " N There are some good folk whose advice is so continuous, whose counsel is so unceasing, that it is apt to grow into an annoyance. There are other good folk who have a happy kpack of always speaking at the right moment' the needful word. Now, our own dear little friend, Nineteen Ninety-Two, belonged to the latter class. . . 1 ' Whist ! whist ! " he whispered in Chip s ear, for he was still comfortably quartered;there ; " whist ! I'll put on the brake. You won't go down half so fast as what you came up. That's where you'll prove the exception to -the generality of thinks when my day comes. I don'fc want to moralise under such circumstances as these, but— and by a little patent of- my own— I'm going to reverse the order of events which will happen long before I appear. Now, we'll call that gentleman's tail — who has gratuitously hoisted you into your present position — ' misunderstood luck.' It sends people up with a rush. They don't know why it happened, and the unexpected lift they have had in the world makes them enemies to themselves and easy prey to the knowing ones. They never think that there's a chance of coming down again — eh, do they ? But you did. Oh, I know you did. You're wise. You were trying to prepare your-

self for the tumble when you knew you had gone up aB high as you could, and must go down again. Oh! I'm getting disgustingly moral, ain't I ? As you've got to drop it, I'll drop it too. Ha ! ha ! Oh, I'm a regular joker when ! you know me ! Ha ! ha ! Steady ! Steady !" Nineteen Ninety-two vouchsafed all this information with a far greater rapidity than it takes to tell. One of our little friend's peouliar characteristics was that he was excessively talkaI tive, and it became a sort of conversational shorthand, so quickly did his tiny tongue chronicle his ideas. He had thus relieved himself just as Prince Chip had reached the height to which the monster's tail had allotted him, and was— as will be readily inferred— decidedly out of breath by his hurried flight. Chip's small adviser for the first time crawled out of his hiding place. His eyes were shining brighter than ever, his little pug nose positively turned up with more than its accustomed ascendancy, whilst the ever-present smile played about his thin ruby lips more pleasantly than before. .... " Here's a cloud just below us," he said, in his customary confidential whisper. "We'll perch on that for a moment. Here we go." An ocean cloud was gently floating below them as Chip and his companion prepared for their tumble. This was probably the " brake " which "The Distant Year" had promised; at any rate, they settled quite safely upon it. Their landing place resembled a frozen wave ! It was about the length of Chip and half as broad, and our young Prince was just about to convert his sword into a species of alpenstock in order to afford him a firmer footing. "Don't— don't do that," shrieked his companion in alarm. " You'll melt it, and a very nice state we shall be in. Just wait a minute and I'll show you how you can go down comfortably. See, our landing has proved a check to this cloud's floating propensities— it h&i become ; conveniently stationary. Just keep a firm footing and you'll be all right." Chip silently looked around him in wonderment. He saw that the clouds of the ocean firmament which gently moved above the Silver Valley were of frozen water. The one on which he was standing appeared smaller than all the others — many of the surroundimgi • • clouds " were as huge ice-bound lakes, with a surface as smooth as crystal, and apparently only waiting for the inhabitants of the depths to bring out I their marine skates and revel in the sport they offered. They floated along easily, and when they joined they did so without the faintest whisper or noise occasioned by the collision. As Chip stood there silently surveying the. scene his whole soul filled with rapture. . He appeared to be far away from the bottom of the ocean, and its depths seemed lost in the icy clouds that were peacefully gliding on their way. Then bis eyes wandered above him — and for the first time he looked upon the ocean sky, he saw the great transparent glass, his heart leapt as he watched the sparkling waters— ay, it bounded as he saw the sun shining through the huge glass, and as its rays penetrated the waters which washed the

skores of his kingdom, and fell upon his face, he shouted aloud for joy. He was lost in the vision presented to him. His silent admiration, however, was not for long. Suddenly a tremendous crash was heard. Chip turned and saw the breaking up of the icy clouds into myriads of atoms, and falling like a shower of diamonds upon the pathway below. It was a dazzling sight — bewildering to Chip. " Ha ! ha ! " cried the irresistible one, who had once more found a place on Chip's shoulder. "I expect they're having a hailstorm down below. We've got something up above that even they can't stand down here. Our sun makes it pretty warm for them occasionally. See what it's done for them and see what it's done for us ! " ' The noonday sun— which was shining at its height on the earth above— had sent its piercing beams through the waters with such burning power that its warmth had scattered the frozen clouds and broken them up. "Wonderful, wonderful! " cried the Prince. "Not so wonderful as this, though," said Nineteen Ninety-two, with a very perceptible wink. "Don't move— turn your head very gently or— well, you'll break up our temporary restiDg place. Look where you are standing." Chip could but obey. He moved his eyes in the direction of the ground. The sun, shining through the great water glass, had caused Chip to cast a shadow of himself upon the frozen piece of water on which he was standing ! "Wonderful! wonderful!" he exclaimed again. i "Nothing of the sort," said the Year in Prospect, with a distinct upturning of his nose and a slightly disgusted tone. '> That's the luck which attends the giving of an attentive ear to wisdom. You won't think me egotistical if I remark that lam wisdom's germ— a germ that grows bigger and bigger, and bigger »nd ; bigger, until when I appear in all my glory in years to come, those people who live in my day will become so wise that all the honours and glorifications will be reserved for the fools. It j Willie a big novelty then to be a fool ! Why i —why |do I talk like this ? Beoause, my dear sir — I beg your pardon, your Royal Highness — because, my dear sir—about a hundred years before 1 look in, that is in 1892, or at the very latest 1893— every inhabitant of the world will think he is the wisest man on earth, that none knows better than he. He will snap his fingers at advice, and think he is the Great Knowall—none can talk to, or suggest, or offer advice to him. Their children and children's children will all grow up so wonderfully and wof ully wise that when I appear they will be so stuck up and proud that none will speak to the other ! Think of it —a Silent World at last —nobody 6n speaking terms ! Ha ! ha ! ha ! Then the fools will step in and make their money by charging the biggest coin in the realm to those people who want to shake hands with them, and hear them say, • How d'ye do ? ' Moral again ? Very sorry ; very sorry. Can't I help it. I have to burst out occasionally or you might possibly think Nineteen Hundred and

Ninety-two suoh a huge joke that you would strive your hardest to prevent the chance of any of your descendants living in his time— eh? With these remarks the small and early year climbed down from Chip's shoulder— as a boy does down a tree, bough by bough, branch by branch, so he scrambled down button by button, and laid himself on the cold ground— or, rather, ice. " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " he shrieked. " What do you say ? " said Chip, for the tiny voice, though used to its utmost limit, did not reach the Prince's ear. Nineteen Ninety-two rose to his feet. " I said • Hurrah ! ' " he repeated, somewhat annoyed. " I'll climb up again, if you don't mind, and then I'll tell you what to do." Up went the " year," up Chip's silken hose, to the hem of his tunic. Button by button once more, until he reached his own favourite perch —the Prince's shoulder. The sun shining upon the outer world had evidently hidden itself behind a cloud, so Chip— who had hitherto remained motionless— had no fear of any danger through the sudden removal of his shadow. Following his young friend's advice he laid down and stretched himself out upon the icy resting place. Peering through it he saw that the ice formed a magnificent magnifying glass. He could just distinguish the Giant Talking Fish ljing at full length in the bed of the ocean. The giant was evidently slumbering; and Chip saw from his perilous position that he must be standing immediately above the monster's body. "D'ye see?" cried Nineteen Ninety-two exultantly. "D'ye see?" " Oh, yes," replied Chip ; " I can see with a vengeance. But how am I going to get down there ? If I give a plunge I shall be dashed to pieces. What's your advice ? " "The advice to a promissory note ! I gave you a note of promise— now I'm going to honour it. That's the advice. See ? Ha ! ha ! ha ! He 1 he ! he ! Can't I make 'em ? All promises will be kept when I look in— kept by those who make 'cm — because they'll never be given away. I told you that you shouldn't go down as fast as you came up. Listen to me ; but, first of all, listen to him. Can you hear ? " " I can hear • a buzzing,' " answered Chip. "That's our friend below snoring," remarked the Coming Year. " Just now you were going to plunge the point of your sword into the ice. If you had it would have been 'all down' with us, for its electric tip would have done to it just what the sun did to the other fellows a little time ago. Take out your sword. Here, I'll get down first." Nineteen Ninety-two began creeping down that convenient ladder of buttons again. As he neared the middle button of Chip's tunic he looked up at Chip and said : " By the laws of gravitation this piece of ice remains stationary. Cut it in two, melt it down the middle with your sword point— the electric tip will do that— and it will drop down very gently without the slightest noise, and, if I mistake not, land us within a few yards of the

silver-clad sentry below. Just you cut exactly where I crawl." Nineteen Ninety-two scrambled down Chip s legs in safety. He then went on his diminutive hands and knees, crept slowly across the surface, and Chip followed his course with the tip of his sword. As he drew its point over the glistening ground, wherever it touched the ice broke up and distributed itself into flashing hailstones, as the other clouds had done before. At last Chip got to the end, and as he did so the piece of ice on which he was standing began to gradually move downwards. Chip's companion climbed up again. Slowly, slowly, slowly they descended, and as they went down the ice gradually broke up, scattering itself in diamonds by the thousand. Chip saw they were fast nearing the bed of the ocean again — a few more moments and the last of the icy crystals would have released themselves, and he would land on some part of the giant's slumbering form. But where ? Where ? Faster, faster, faster ! The diamond ice-stones which were pouring down upon the monster in no way disturbed him. Only a few more yards— only a few more feet only a dozen inches — and Chip landed on the bald head of the Giant Talking Fish ! (To be continued.)