Page:The Floating Prince - Frank R Stockton.djvu/211

196 Everybody looked severely at the Ninkum, and Loris was very angry, but her father patted her on the head, and went on with his story. He would have followed the Ninkum and his daughter, but he did not know what road they had taken, and as they were on a horse he could not in any case, expect to catch up with them. So he waited, hoping they would soon return, but, before long he was very glad that Loris was away.

The wicked Laub, who, in some manner, had found out that he had been made to work in the dwarfs' mine instead of Jorn, who had been considered too good for such disagreeable labor, had become so enraged, that he broke his contract with the dwarfs, and, instead of continuing his work in the mine, had collected a few of his depraved companions, and had made an attack upon Jorn's house.

The doors had been forced, poor Jorn had been dragged forth, beaten, and forced to fly, while Laub and his companions took possession of the house, and everything in it.

"But how could you wander so far, dear father?" asked Loris.

"It is not far," said Jorn, "our home is not many miles away."

"Then you have been going in a circle," said the citizen to the Ninkum, "and you are now very near the point you started from."

"That seems to be the case," said the Ninkum, smiling.

"But we won't talk about it now," said the citizen. "We must see what we can do for this poor man. He must have his house again."

"I would have asked the dwarfs to help me," said Jorn, "but I believe they would have killed Laub and the others if they had resisted, and I didn't want any blood shed."