the goat, Bilbil, wandering among the marble blocks.

"What!" cried Inga. "Didn't the warriors get you,
either?"

"If they had," calmly replied Bilbil, "I shouldn't be
here."

"But how did you escape?" asked the boy.

"Easily enough. I kept my mouth shut and stayed away
from the rascals," said the goat. "I knew that the
soldiers would not care for a skinny old beast like me,
for to the eye of a stranger I seem good for nothing.
Had they known I could talk, and that my head contained
more wisdom than a hundred of their own noddles, I
might not have escaped so easily."

"Perhaps you are right," said the boy.

"I suppose they got the old man?" carelessly remarked
Bilbil.

"What old man?"

"Rinkitink."

"Oh, no! His Majesty is at the bottom of the well,"
said Inga, "and I don't know how to get him out again."