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Transcriber's notes

Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently corrected. A list of
other changes made can be found at the end of the book.

  Mark-up: _italics_




  The King _of_ Gee-Whiz




[Illustration: They flew on and on _Page 128_]




  The King _of_ Gee-Whiz


  _By_ Emerson Hough

  Author of The Mississippi Bubble The Law of the Land, etc.


  With Lyrics by

  Wilbur D. Nesbit

  Author of The Trail to Boyland, etc.


  Illustrated by

  Oscar E. Cesare


  Indianapolis

  The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers




  Copyright 1906 By Emerson Hough


  PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y.




Contents


  CHAPTER                                                 PAGE

       I The Widow Pickle's Twins and Their Peculiar Hair  1

      II The Widow Pickle's Strange Visitor                4

     III The Enchanted Banjo                               9

      IV The Search in the Cupboard                        12

       V The Gee-Whiz Submarine Express                    18

      VI The Journey Through the Air                       22

     VII The Journey Through the Water                     27

    VIII The Explosion of the Submarine Express            37

      IX The Arrival at the Island                         41

       X The King of Gee-Whiz                              44

      XI The Royal Hereditary Twins                        49

     XII The Gold Waffle-Iron                              57

    XIII The Fairy Telephone                               66

     XIV Jankow the Dragon                                 72

      XV The Golden Ladder to Fairy-Land                   79

     XVI The King and the Wicked Fairy                     85

    XVII The King and the Rubber Tree                      92

   XVIII The King Loses His Shadow                         97

     XIX Troubles at the Royal Palace                     103

      XX The Disappearance of the Royal Twins             109

     XXI The Journey to Fairy-Land                        114

    XXII The Bumblebee Express                            120

   XXIII To the Valley of the Fairies                     127

    XXIV The Royal and Official Council                   131

     XXV The Fairy City of Almalena                       141

    XXVI The Journey to Candy-Town                        149

   XXVII The Valley of Gold                               163

  XXVIII The Mother of Gold                               173

    XXIX The Secret Wish of the Fairy Queen               179

     XXX The Queen Recovers the Shadow                    184

    XXXI The Messengers of the Fairy Queen                191

   XXXII The Return to the Island                         196

  XXXIII The Happy Ending of the Story                    201




The King _of_ Gee-Whiz




[Illustration]

CHAPTER I

THE WIDOW PICKLE'S TWINS AND THEIR PECULIAR HAIR


Once, several years ago, there lived in a city far from the sea-shore a
widow by the name of Mrs. Pickle, who had Twins named Zuzu Pickle and
Lulu Pickle. At first glance, these Twins seemed much like ordinary
twins in appearance. Both had blue eyes, pretty curved lips, and rosy
cheeks; and as they were quite alike in size, it may seem that, like
many other twins, they must have been hard to tell apart. Such, however,
was not the case. Indeed, they could not well be confused with each
other, for, aside from the fact that Zuzu was a boy and Lulu a girl,
one had green hair and the other blue. This peculiar color of their hair
made them quite different from most twins, and led to a great many
strange circumstances, some of which are described in this story.

The father of these Twins was Aurelius Pickle, an innocent and good man,
who for many years was known as a very skilful chemist. Like many other
chemists, he wasted a great deal of time in doing things which did not
bring in any money. For instance, he worked many years on a compound
intended to change a person's hair from any color to a rich, dark brown
or to a deep and shining auburn, at will. Aurelius Pickle was a poor
man, and hence did not have the means for his researches that he
desired. He often told his wife that it was fortunate they had Twins
with such long hair, for thus he could make all the experiments for the
Twofold-tint Compound, which was what he intended to call the
hair-coloring fluid on which he was working. Whenever he made a new
kettleful of this, he would try it on the long rich hair of the Twins.

At last he hit upon two new mixtures, one or the other of which he felt
sure would be just the thing. He tried one on the hair of Lulu and the
other on that of Zuzu. To his great surprise, the hair of Zuzu became a
fine pale green, while that of Lulu turned at the same time to a pale
blue, much the color of the ribbons around the neck of a new baby.

The Twins, seeing themselves in the glass, were much pleased with their
appearance, and said they felt sure no one in town had hair like theirs;
which in all likelihood was true. With their father, however, it was
quite otherwise. Indeed, what he thought was never fully known. He was
taken suddenly ill, and sank back upon his couch, where he rapidly
became worse, and could get no further than to ask his children to call
their mother. When she appeared, Aurelius Pickle smiled feebly and
motioned her toward the cupboard where he kept his Chemical Substances.
He could do no more.

This, in brief, is how there came to be such a person as the Widow
Pickle. It is not unusual for widows to have Twins, but seldom could be
found such Twins as these.

[Illustration: Aurelius Pickle]




[Illustration]

CHAPTER II

THE WIDOW PICKLE'S STRANGE VISITOR


So badly did the Widow Pickle feel over the peculiar color of her Twins'
hair that for a long time she forgot to obey her husband's last wish and
look in the cupboard. At last, however, she bethought herself of this
request and hastened to the place where Aurelius Pickle had kept his
Chemical Substances.

She found several strange-looking boxes, with all sorts of powders and
pastes in them, but with no names on the backs to tell what were their
contents. She feared to make any experiments, lest she might stain her
own hair either blue or green or some other unfashionable color; so all
she could do was to look and wonder what was in the boxes. After several
days, she concluded to mix some different powders together. She took one
small box with a red cover and another that had a black cover, and,
pouring small portions of the powder from each of these on a plate, she
began to stir the two together.

Nothing happened for some moments. "Chemistry is rather hard, after
all," said the Widow Pickle to herself. "I thought that all there was to
it was stirring things together. I formerly noticed that when my poor
dear husband did that, something nearly always happened."

At last, disappointed that nothing had happened, she went to the
match-box. "Perhaps," said she, "if I touch a match to it something will
happen." She did so, and, to her great surprise, something did happen,
and that at once.

A cloud of heavy vapor filled the room, and as it cleared away the Widow
Pickle saw standing there, bowing and smiling very pleasantly, a little
dark man, whom at first she took to be a Japanese. He had black hair,
rolled very tight on the top of his head; small feet, incased in boots
with long up-turned toes; and a loose flowing mantle of red satin. His
hands were small, and his little black eyes twinkled merrily.

"Madam, I believe you have sent for me," he remarked.

"Indeed, I did not," said the Widow Pickle. "Moreover, I don't know who
you are. Whence do you come, sir, and why do you intrude without
invitation?"

"Who should I be," said the little man