although they looked on both sides of the palace wall
and in every possible crack and corner where a shoe
might lodge, they failed to find it.

After a half hour's careful search the boy said
sorrowfully:

"Someone must have passed by, as we slept, and taken
the precious shoe, not knowing its value. To us, King
Rinkitink, this will be a dreadful misfortune, for we
are surrounded by dangers from which we have now no
protection. Luckily I have the other shoe left, within
which is the magic power that gives me strength; so all
is not lost."

Then he told Rinkitink, in a few words, the secret of
the wonderful pearls, and how he had recovered them
from the ruins and hidden them in his shoes, and how
they had enabled him to drive King Gos and his men from
Regos and to capture the city. The King was much
astonished, and when the story was concluded he said to
Inga:

"What did you do with the other shoe?"

"Why, I left it in our bedroom," replied the boy.

"Then I advise you to get it at once," continued
Rinkitink, "for we can ill afford to lose the second
shoe, as well as the one I threw at the cat."