good as theirs, and I have heard that they possessed the island before
the Huggermuggers came into it? No! I am weary of the Huggermuggers. I
have more right to the island than they. But they have grown by
enchantment, while my race only grew to a certain size, and then we
stopped and grew crooked. But the Huggermuggers, if there should be
any more of them, will grow till they are like the trees of the
forest.

"Then as to the way I discovered their mystery. I was taking home a
pair of shoes for the giantess, and was just about to knock at the
door, when I heard the giant and his wife talking. I crept softly up
and listened. They have great voices--not difficult to hear
_them_. They were talking about a secret door in the wall, and of
something precious which was locked up within a little closet. As soon
as their voices ceased, I knocked, and was let in. I assumed an
appearance as if I had heard nothing, and they did not suspect me. I
went and told Hammawhaxo, the carpenter--a friend of mine, and a dwarf
like me. I knew he didn't like Huggermugger much. Hammawhaxo was
employed at the time to repair the bottom of a door in the giant's
house, where the rats had been gnawing. So he went one morning before
the giants were up, and tapped all around the wainscoting of the walls
with his hammer, till he found a hollow place, and a sliding panel,
and inside the wall he discovered an old manuscript in the ancient
Hugger language, in which was written the secret I have told you. And
now we will see if the old fortune-teller's prophecy is to come true
or not."