Here he was , restored to his position indeed , but by no means to the royal favour . For the king disliked him as much as ever , and was as angry as ever about the deaths of Enrico and Alphonso . Nay , he was even more angry ; and , perhaps , not without reason . He called up Prigio before the whole Court , and thereon the courtiers cheered like anything , but the king cried : `` Silence ! McDougal , drag the first man that shouts to the serpent-house in the zoological gardens , and lock him up with the rattlesnakes ! '' After that the courtiers were very quiet . `` Prince , '' said the king , as Prigio bowed before the throne , `` you are restored to your position , because I can not break my promise . But your base and malevolent nature is even more conspicuously manifest in your selfish success than in your previous dastardly contempt of duty . Why , confound you ! '' cried the king , dropping the high style in which he had been speaking , and becoming the father , not the monarch , -- `` why , if you could kill the Firedrake , did you let your poor little brothers go and be b -- b -- b -- broiled ? Eh ! what do you say , you sneak ? ` You did n't believe there were any Firedrakes ? ' That just comes of your eternal conceit and arrogance ! If you were clever enough to kill the creature -- and I admit that -- you were clever enough to know that what everybody said must be true . ` You have not generally found it so ? ' Well , you have this time , and let it be a lesson to you ; not that there is much comfort in that , for it is not likely you will ever have such another chance '' -- exactly the idea that had occurred to Benson . Here the king wept , among the tears of the lord chief justice , the poet laureate -LRB- who had been awfully frightened when he heard of the rattlesnakes -RRB- , the maids of honour , the chaplain royal , and everyone but Colonel McDougal , a Scottish soldier of fortune , who maintained a military reserve . When his majesty had recovered , he said to Prigio -LRB- who had not been crying , he was too much absorbed -RRB- : `` A king 's word is his bond . Bring me a pen , somebody , and my cheque-book . ''
The royal cheque-book , bound in red morocco , was brought in by eight pages , XXXXX ink and a pen .
If about among before by in of thereon to with