Indeed, Button-Bright had no desire to waken the Boolooroo, whom he
found snoring lustily with the curtains of his high-posted bed drawn
tightly around him. The boy had taken off his own shoes after he
passed the guard and now he tiptoed carefully into the room, set
down the royal shoes very gently and then crept to the chair where
his Majesty's clothes were piled. Scarcely daring to breathe for
fear of awakening the terrible monarch, the boy searched in the
royal pockets until he found a blue-gold key attached to a blue-gold
chain. At once he decided this must be the key to the Treasure
Chamber, but in order to make sure he searched in every other
pocket--without finding another key.
Then Button-Bright crept softly out of the room again, and in one of
the outer rooms he sat down near a big cabinet and put on his shoes.
Poor Button-Bright did not know that lying disregarded beneath that
very cabinet at his side was the precious umbrella he was seeking,
or that he was undertaking a desperate adventure all for nothing. He
passed the long-necked guard again, finding the man half asleep, and
then made his way to the Treasure Chamber. Facing Jimfred, he said
to the patched man in a serious tone, "His Majesty commands you to
go at once to the corridor leading to the apartments of the Six
Snubnosed Princesses and to guard the entrance until morning.
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