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Flitter, cautiously following the dotted-line path of white stones,
discovered that it led them right through the thicket, and out on
the other side. As they emerged, they found themselves at the top
of a little slope, and paused to look curiously at the tidy, rolling
land which spread out before them.
It seemed to be one vast farm. Everywhere were orderly
plots
of fruit trees and berry bushes, and rows of little plants. All were
laden and ready for harvest. There was not a person, an animal,
or a bird to be seen anywhere, and not one sound to be heard,
but at first this seemed to be the only queer thing about the place.
Then Fess, hoping to pick some pears and apples to replenish
the lunchbasket, led the way down the slope and over to the
nearest tree. There he stopped in astonishment, and simply gaped.
"Signs!" he exclaimed-and even his hushed voice sounded
too loud in the silence. "Look here, Your Highness1. This tree
is growing signs, instead of fruit!"
"So is that one," whispered the Unicorn.
"They all are!" said the Prince.
It was true. Even the bushes and plants were loaded with
signs, which grew on stake-like stems amid leaves that on closer
inspection proved to be handbills and small posters. Some of the
signs were small and obviously still green, with their lettering
cramped and indistinct; some were ripe, and plain to read; still
others were withering, with their lettering half worn off and their
edges cracked and splitting.
They spelled out every sort of message. As the travelers fol-
lowed the dotted line they could read KEEP OUT, DO NOT
DISTURB, NO SMOKING, SCHOOL ZONE, STANDING
ROOM ONLY, and a hundred others. One whole group of trees
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bore nothing but STOP signs; another RAILROAD X-ING
signs; still another merchants' signs, such as FIRE SALE,
EVERYTHING MUST GO, SPECIAL CLEARANCE, and
$AVE! $AVE! $AVE! This last one seemed to fascinate the
FIittermouse, who stared at it wide-eyed at they passed, then kept
trying in a nervous whisper to pronounce it to himself.
"All the signs in the world must come from here!" Fess mur-
mured to the Unicorn as they passed a price-tag bush. "Isn't it
interesting?"
"Well, it's a nice place to visit, I suppose," she conceded
remotely. "But I wouldn't care to live here."
"I wouldn't have the country if you gave it to me in a silver
manger!" Fred grumbled, making very little attempt to keep his
voice down. "Nobody riding out to welcome us, everything or-
dering us around-look at that bush there! 'No Hunting.' 'No
Smoking.' 'No Trespassing'! Who'd want to trespass in this place
if they could bypass it? Furthermore-"
"There's a helpful one," Prince Gules interrupted, pointing
to a sign growing by itself at a place 'where the dotted line branched
and wandered off in several directions through the trees. "THIS
WAY IN" the sign directed, and below the words was an arrow
pointing out one of the many paths.
"Nice of them to tell us, I'm sure!" Fred commented. "Any
decent country would send an escort. After all, a party of our
consequence-
He broke off, shying slightly, as the sign suddenly changed
to "SHHHHHHHH!" Then he tossed his head disdainfully and
started along the path indicated- though without finishing his
sentence, Fess noticed. He also rolled a wary eye at the sign as
he went by, but it changed blandly to "No Smoking" and made
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no further comment.
There were a good many of these "talking" signs growing
beside the path at intervals. "Like sentries," Fess reflected Uncom-
fortably. "Or even spies." Certainly something was keeping a
sharp watch on the travelers. A KEEP OFF THE GRASS sign
changed to "PLEASE!" when Fred inadvertently placed one
hoof beyond the dotted line. A moment later, as the Unicorn
reached eagerly toward a clump of daisies, the sky-writing itself
broke off the lazy squiggles it was making, and scrawled angrily,
"DO NOT PICK THE FLOWERS!" The Unicorn had al-
ready spat the daisies out in distaste; Fess, retrieving one from the
corner of her mouth, discovered that they were made of card-
board, and each petal was neatly lettered, "He Loves Me" or
"He Loves Me Not."
"Everything Loves Us Not in this place," Flitter whispered
forlornly as he read the petals over Fess's shoulder. The little
creature seemed depressed by this silent country, and was huddled
inside Fess's collar with only his head sticking out.
"Never mind," Fess murmured, stroking the drooping, blue-
gray fur with one finger. "We'll find some people soon."
It seemed to him the dotted-line path was leading them toward
the source of the sky-writing-and perhaps the ruler of the coun-
try. There must be someone in charge of this strange place, he
reasoned, who could tell them how to get out of it. Prince Gules,
who had been riding along in silence, looking around with the
mildly entertained expression of a sight-seeing tourist, was appar-
ently of the same opinion, for he turned to smile at Fess, and whis-
pered, "Bound to come to the castle soon.
However. it was not a castle they came upon presently, when
the dotted line made a sharp turn between two groves of trees.
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It was merely a graveled clearing, with a small tool-shed in the
center. Nailed to the door of the shed was a sign reading, "Bill
Bored, Prop." Below the sign, a sleepy-faced gardener in a worn
straw hat was sitting in an old chair, smoking a pipe. It was the
smoke from this pipe that floated up into the air to form the
sky-writing-which at the moment was spelling out, in trailing,
bored-looking letters, "Good Morning-I Guess. Welcome To
Sign-Here-I Suppose."
The Unicorn gave an affronted gasp, while Fred-perhaps
fortunately-was rendered quite speechless by this unflattering
greeting. Prince Gules, too, raised a critical eyebrow, but his man-
ners were as excellent as the gardener's were bad.
"Thank you," he replied graciously.
At once the sign on the door changed to: QUIET! SPEAK
SIGN LANGUAGE ONLY!
The Prince favored it with a chilly look, remarking,
"I'm
afraid I don't know how."
Under his regal stare the sign faded a bit, then
grudgingly-
and with a slight air of embarrassment, Fess thought-reverted
to its former announcement.
"The signs in your country repeatedly say 'No
smoking',"
Prince Gules reminded the gardener severely.
For answer, the gardener put the pipe in his mouth and
puffed
out, in sky-writing, "I'm Different. I'm The Boss. Who Are You?
And Who Are Those Creatures With You? Signatures, Please."
Fred stamped indignantly at "creatures'; and the Unicorn ele-
vated her snow-white nose and looked down it at the gardener,
but the Prince merely became more courtly.
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"I am Gules, Prince of Halidom," he said. "Traveling with
me is the Unicorn, Emblem of Halidom and Unique Animal of the
World. My attendants are my Steed, Fr . . . Federigo; my page,
Fess of Troth; and his pet the Flittermouse."
Fred was much soothed by the quiet grandeur of this little
speech-and especially by the Prince's having remembered to
call him "Federigo"-but the gardener seemed unimpressed.
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