"Alas! my dear little ape, behold thee dead then," cried the Princess, "without my life being ensured by the sacrifice of thine!" "It is for me that honour is reserved," interrupted the Moor, snatching up as she spoke the knife that had been used upon Grabugeon, and plunging it into her bosom. The captain of the guards would have taken her tongue, but it was so black that he could not flatter himself he could cheat the king with it.
"Am I not most unfortunate!" said the Princess weeping. "I lose all those I love, and yet my lot remains unchanged." "If you would have accepted my offer," said Tintin, "you would only have had to regret my loss, and I should have had the satisfaction of being the only one regretted." Merveilleuse kissed her little dog, weeping so bitterly over him that she was quite exhausted. She turned hastily away, and when she ventured again to look round, her conductor was gone, and she found herself alone with the dead bodies of her Moor, her ape, and her little dog. She could not quit the spot till she had buried them in a hole which she found by chance at the foot of a tree, upon which she afterwards scratched these words:—
"Three faithful friends lie buried in this grave,
Who sacrificed themselves my life to save."
She then began to think of her own safety, and as there was none for her in that forest, which was so close to her father's castle that the first person who saw her would recognise her, or where she might be eaten like a chicken by the lions and wolves that infested it, she set off walking as fast as she could. But the forest was so extensive, and the sun so powerful, that she was soon ready to die with heat, fear, and weariness. She gazed about her everywhere, without being able to see the termination of the wood. Everything alarmed her. She fancied continually the King was in pursuit of her, to kill her. It is impossible to repeat all the lamentations she naturally gave utterance to.
She walked on without following any particular path, the thickets tearing her beautiful dress, and scratching her white skin. At length she heard a sheep bleat. "No doubt," said she, "there are some shepherds here with their flocks. They may direct me to some village where I may conceal myself in the dress of a peasant. Alas!" continued she, "sovereigns
