"Will you permit me a word, kind master?" then spoke up the half-starved looking demon, as he unrolled a large sheet of paper. "He doesn't deserve a medal, or even honorable mention. I took a rough sketch of him when he had the Brownies at his mercy, and here it is."
Dragonfel stared at the effort in astonishment.
"You have missed your calling," he remarked. "You should be in the Academy of Design."
Titania had listened with fast increasing alarm, and now with Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil she advanced quickly toward him. "Of whom is this creature speaking?" she asked, in evident distress. "Of the Brownies?"
The Demon Usher uttered his disagreeable cackle as Dragonfel exultingly responded:
"Yes, the Brownies! They are prisoners like yourselves. Their nights of adventure are over, and they'll never more delight in harmless pranks and helpful deeds. Those who seek their aid will henceforth look for them in vain. They are doomed to slave in this mine for the rest of their lives!"
Then Grouthead came up running, and he cried in great excitement:
"Master, kind master, we have captured all the Brownies, and they are helpless. What shall we do with them?"
"Set them to work at once," spoke Dragonfel. "I will go back with you to gloat over them."
He started immediately, and Titania and her companions attempted to follow, but Mandrake barred the way, and held them back.
After the huge boulder had shut in the unsuspecting Brownies their only alternative was to follow the winding passage-way of the mine wherever it might take them. They could not remain where they were to perish miserably of hunger and thirst, so they crept cautiously along in the dark with the faint hope that in some way they might gain the open. But the passage they were forced to travel led them direct to the main-shaft where the mine-sprites were at work. Nearly all of Dragonfel's followers were there waiting to receive them. For the Demon Usher after imprisoning them had descended by the main entrance and gleefully imparted the news, claiming high honors.
Sheepishly the Brownies slunk in, with the Dude's white handkerchief fluttering at the end of his cane in token of the band's complete surrender, for King Stanislaus knew how useless it would be to offer any resistance.