He 'll be late for dinner , as usual , I daresay . I ca n't stand want of punctuality at meals , '' remarked his Majesty , which is a sign that he was growing old after all ; for where is the fun of being expected always to come home in time for dinner when , perhaps , you are fishing , and the trout are rising splendidly ? `` Young people will be young people , '' said the queen . `` If you are anxious about him , why do n't you look for him in the magic crystal ? '' Now the magic crystal was a fairy present , a great ball of glass in which , if you looked , you saw the person you wanted to see , and what he was doing , however far away he might be , if he was on the earth at all . -LCB- 21 -RCB- `` I 'll just take a look at it , '' said the king ; `` it only wants three-quarters of an hour to dinner-time . '' His Majesty rose , and walked to the crystal globe , which was in a stand , like other globes . He stared into it , he turned it round and round , and Queen Rosalind saw him grow quite pale as he gazed . `` I do n't see him anywhere , '' said the king , `` and I have looked everywhere . I do hope nothing has happened to the boy . He is so careless . If he dropped his Cap of Darkness in a fight with a giant , why who knows what might occur ? '' `` Oh , ` Gio , how you frighten me ! '' said the queen . King Prigio was still turning the crystal globe . `` Stop ! '' he cried ; `` I see a beautiful princess , fastened by iron chains to a rock beside the sea , in a lonely place . They must have fixed her up as a sacrifice to a sea-monster , like what 's - her-name . '' This proves how anxious he was , or , being so clever and learned , he would have remembered that her name was Andromeda . `` I bet Dick is not far off , where there is an adventure on hand .
But where XXXXX earth can he be ?
If about as at for in into on that to