'Sire, I would have held my peace, had I not known that I only knew
how near was the moment, to which the Chancellor had just referred.

In all probability, before another day is past, the enemy will have
broken through into my house - the partition between being even now
not more than a foot in thickness.'

'Not quite so much,' thought Curdie to himself.

'This very evening I have had to remove my household effects;
therefore the sooner we are ready to carry out the plan, for the
execution of which His Majesty has been making such magnificent
preparations, the better. I may just add, that within the last few
days I have perceived a small outbreak in my dining-room, which,
combined with observations upon the course of the river escaping
where the evil men enter, has convinced me that close to the spot
must be a deep gulf in its channel. This discovery will, I trust,
add considerably to the otherwise immense forces at His Majesty's
disposal.'

He ceased, and the king graciously acknowledged his speech with a
bend of his head; whereupon Glump, after a bow to His Majesty, slid
down amongst the rest of the undistinguished multitude. Then the
Chancellor rose and resumed.

'The information which the worthy Glump has given us,' he said,
'might have been of considerable import at the present moment, but
for that other design already referred to, which naturally takes
precedence. His Majesty, unwilling to proceed to extremities, and