been through; but he’s a couple of yards past it now, and if he follow the lode it will be a week before it leads him in. You see it back there—a long way. Still, perhaps, in case of accident it would be as well to be getting out of this. Helfer, you’ll take the great chest. That’s your business, you know.”
“Yes, dad,” said a third voice. “But you must help me to get it on my back. It’s awfully heavy, you know.”
“Well, it isn’t just a bag of smoke, I admit. But you’re as strong as a mountain, Helfer.”
“You say so, dad. I think myself I’m all right. But I could carry ten times as much if it wasn’t for my feet.”
“That is your weak point, I confess, my boy.”
“Ain’t it yours too, father?”
“Well, to be honest, it’s a goblin weakness. Why they come so soft, I declare I haven’t an idea.”
“Specially when your head’s so hard, you know, father.”
“Yes my boy. The goblin’s glory is his head. To think how the fellows up above there have to put on helmets and things when they go fighting! Ha! ha!”
“But why don’t we wear shoes like them, father? I should like it—especially when I’ve got a chest like that on my head.”
“Well, you see, it’s not the fashion. The king never wears shoes.”
“The queen does.”
“Yes; but that’s for distinction. The first queen, you see—I mean the king’s first wife—wore shoes, of course, because she came from upstairs;