Aunt Rivette again took possession of her rooms at the top of the palace; and although Bud, grateful for her courage in saving him and his sister from the Roly-Rogues, would gladly have given her handsomer apartments, the old woman preferred to be near the roof, where she could take flight into the air whenever it pleased her to go out.
With her big wings and her power to fly as a bird, she was the envy of all the old gossips she had known in the days when she worked as a laundress; and now she would often alight upon the door-step of some humble friend and tell of the wonderful adventures she had encountered.
This never failed to surround her with an admiring circle of listeners, and Aunt Rivette derived far more pleasure from her tattle than from living in a palace with her nephew the king.
The kingdom of Noland soon took on a semblance of its former prosperity, and the Roly-Rogues were only remembered with shudders of repugnance, and spoken of in awed whispers.
And so the days wore away until late in the autumn, when, one morning, a mounted soldier from Queen Zixi dashed into Nole and rode furiously up to the palace gate.
“The sailorman is found!” he shouted, throwing himself from his horse and bowing low before little King Bud, who had come out to meet him.
“The Queen of Ix is even now riding to your Majesty’s city with a large escort surrounding the sailorman,” continued the soldier.
“And has he the necktie?” asked Bud, eagerly.
“He is wearing it, your Majesty,” answered the man; “but he refuses to give it to any one but the Princess Fluff.”
“That’s all right,” said the king; and, reëntering the palace, he ordered Jikki to make preparations to receive the witch-queen and her retinue.
[Illustration: “‘THE SAILORMAN IS FOUND!’ HE SHOUTED.”]
When Zixi came to the city gates she found General Tollydob, in a gorgeous new uniform, waiting to escort her to the palace. The houses were gay with flags and streamers; bands were playing; and on each side of the street along which the witch-queen rode were lines of soldiers to keep the way clear of the crowding populace.
Behind the queen came the sailorman, carefully guarded by Zixi’s most trusted soldiers. He looked uneasy at so great a reception, and rode his horse as awkwardly as a sailor might.