Chapter 11
Queen Coo-ee-oh dropped the rope, tottered and fellheadlong into the water, sinking beneath the surface,while the Skeezers in the submarine assist her and onlystared at the ripples in the water where she haddisappeared. A moment later there arose to the surfacea beautiful White Swan. This Swan was of large size,very gracefully formed, and scattered all over itswhite feathers were tiny diamonds, so thickly placedthat as the rays of the morning sun fell upon them theentire body of the Swan glistened like one brilliantdiamond. The head of the Diamond Swan had a bill ofpolished gold and its eyes were two sparklingamethysts.
"Hooray!" cried the Su-dic, dancing up and down withwicked glee. "My poor wife, Rora, is avenged at last.You made her a Golden Pig, Coo-ee-oh, and now I havemade you a Diamond Swan. Float on your lake forever, ifyou like, for your web feet can do no more magic andyou are as powerless as the Pig you made of my wife!
"Villain! Scoundrel!" croaked the Diamond Swan. "Youwill be punished for this. Oh, what a fool I was to letyou enchant me!
"A fool you were, and a fool you are!" laughed theSu-dic, dancing madly in his delight. And then hecarelessly tipped over the other copper vessel with hisheel and its contents spilled on the sands and werelost to the last drop.
The Su-dic stopped short and looked at the overturnedvessel with a rueful countenance.
"That's too bad -- too bad!" he exclaimedsorrowfully. "I've lost all the poison I had to killthe fishes with, and I can't make any more because onlymy wife knew the secret of it, and she is now a foolishPig and has forgotten all her magic."
"Very well," said the Diamond Swan scornfully, as shefloated upon the water and swam gracefully here andthere. I'm glad to see you are foiled. Your punishmentis just beginning, for although you have enchanted meand taken away my powers of sorcery you have still thethree magic fishes to deal with, and they'll destroyyou in time, mark my words."
The Su-dic stared at the Swan a moment. Then heyelled to his men:
"Shoot her! Shoot the saucy bird!"
They let fly some arrows at the Diamond Swan, but shedove under the water and the missiles fell harmless.When Coo-ce-oh rose to the surface she was far from theshore and she swiftly swam across the lake to where noarrows or spears could reach her.
The Su-dic rubbed his chin and thought what to donext. Near by floated the submarine in which the Queenhad come, but the Skeezers who were in it were puzzledwhat to do with themselves. Perhaps they were not sorrytheir cruel mistress had been transformed into aDiamond Swan, but the transformation had left themquite helpless. The under-water boat was not operatedby machinery, but by certain mystic words uttered byCoo-ee-oh. They didn't know how to submerge it, or howto make the water-tight shield cover them again, or howto make the boat go back to the castle, or make itenter the little basement room where it was usuallykept. As a matter of fact, they were now shut out oftheir village under the Great Dome and could not getback again. So one of the men called to the SupremeDictator of the Flatheads, saying:
"Please make us prisoners and take us to yourmountain, and feed and keep us, for we have nowhere togo."
Then the Su-dic laughed and answered:
"Not so. I can't be bothered by caring for a lot ofstupid Skeezers. Stay where you are, or go wherever youplease, so long as you keep away from our mountain." Heturned to his men and added: "We have conquered QueenCoo-ee-oh and made her a helpless swan. The Skeezersare under water and may stay there. So, having won thewar, let us go home again and make merry and feast,having after many years proved the Flatheads to begreater and more powerful than the Skeezers."
So the Flatheads marched away and passed through therow of palms and went back to their mountain, where theSu-dic and a few of his officers feasted and all theothers were forced to wait on them.
"I'm sorry we couldn't have roast pig," said the Su-dic, "but as the only pig we have is made of gold, wecan't eat her. Also the Golden Pig happens to be mywife, and even were she not gold I am sure she would betoo tough to eat."