The children hugged their parents, and Paul bowed, and kissed Mrs. Arnold’s hand. She laughed and gave him a squeeze. “Goodbye, little Paul. Mind you don’t lead my four into trouble! Jack, look after everyone. Mike, take care of your sisters. Nora and Peggy, see that the boys don’t get up to mischief!”

“Goodbye, Mummy! Goodbye, Daddy! Write to us. Come and fetch us when the hols are nearly over!”

“Goodbye, Captain Arnold! Goodbye, Mrs. Arnold!”

The roar of the aeroplane drowned everything. Pilescu was at the controls. Ranni was beside him. The children were sitting behind in comfortable armchairs. The engine roared more loudly.

“R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r! R-r-r-r-r-r-r —!” The big machine taxied slowly over the runway — faster — faster — and then, light as a bird, it left the ground, skimmed over the hedges and the trees, and was up in the sky in two minutes.

“Off to Baronia!” said Mike, thrilled.

“Adventuring again,” said Jack. “Isn’t this fun?”

“The runway looks about one inch long!” said Nora, peering out of the window.

“In half an hour we shall be over the sea,” said Paul. “Let’s look out for it.”

It was grand to be in the big aeroplane once more. All the children were used to flying, and loved the feeling of being high up in the sky. Sometimes clouds rolled below them, looking like vast snow-fields. The sun shone down on the whiteness, and the clouds below the plane became almost too dazzling to look at.

Suddenly there was a break in the clouds, and Mike gave a yell.

“The sea! Look — through the clouds. Hi, Ranni, Ranni, isn’t that the sea already?”

Ranni turned and nodded. “We are going very fast,” he shouted. “We want to be in Baronia by lunch time.”

“I’m so happy,” said Nora, her eyes shining. “I’ve always wanted to go to Baronia, Paul. And now we’re really going.”

“I am happy too,” said Paul. “I like your country, and I like you, too. But I like Baronia better. Maybe you also will like Baronia better.”

“Rubbish!” said Mike. “As if any country could be nicer than our own!”

“You will see,” said the little prince. “Have some more chocolate?”

The children helped themselves from Paul’s packet. “Well, I certainly think your chocolate is better than ours,” said Mike, munching contentedly. “Look, there’s the sea again. Doesn’t it look smooth and flat?”

It was fun watching for the sea to appear and reappear between the gaps in the clouds.. Then the plane flew over land again. The clouds cleared away, and the children could see the country below, spread out like an enormous, coloured map.

They flew over great towns, wreathed in misty smoke. They flew over stretches of green countryside, where farms and houses looked like toys. They watched the rivers, curling along like blue and silver snakes. They flew over tall mountains, and on some of them was snow.

“Funny to see that in the middle of summer,” said Mike. “How’s the time getting on? I say — twelve o’clock already! We shall be there in another hour or so.”

The plane roared along steadily. Ranni took Pilescu’s place after two hours had gone by. He sat and talked to the children for a while, gazing devotedly at the little prince. Mike thought he was like a big dog, worshipping his master! He thought Paul was very lucky to have such friends as Ranni and Pilescu.

“Soon we shall see the palace,” he said, looking down. “Now we are over the borders of Baronia, Paul! Look, there is the river Jollu! And there is the town of Kikibora.”

Paul began to look excited. It was three months since he had been home, and he was longing to see his father and mother, and his little brothers and sisters.

Mike and Jack fell silent. They wondered if Paul’s mother would be at the airfield to greet them. Would they have to kiss her hand? “I shall really feel an awful idiot,” thought Mike, uncomfortably.

“There is the palace!” cried Paul, suddenly. The children saw a palace standing on a hillside — a palace that almost seemed to have come straight from a fairytale! It was a beautiful place, with shining towers and minarets, and below it was a blue lake in which the reflection of the palace shone.

“Oh! It’s beautiful!” said Nora. “Oh, Paul — I feel rather grand. Fancy living in a palace! It may seem ordinary to you — but it’s wonderful to me!”

The aeroplane circled round and flew lower. Beside the palace was a great runway, on which the royal planes landed. Ranni’s plane swooped low like a bird, its great wheels skimmed the ground, the plane slowed down and came to a halt not far from a little crowd of people.

“Welcome to Baronia!” said Paul, his eyes shining. “Welcome to Baronia!”

The Palace in Baronia

Ranni and Pilescu helped the five children down from the plane. Paul ran straight to a very lovely lady smiling nearby. He bowed low, kissed her hand, and then flung himself on her, chattering quickly in Baronian. It was his mother, the queen. She laughed and cried at the same time, fondling the little prince’s hair, and kissing his cheeks.

Paul’s father was there, too, a handsome man, straight and tall, dressed in uniform. Paul saluted him smartly and then leapt into his arms. Then he turned to four smaller children standing nearby, his brothers and sisters. Paul kissed the hands of his little sisters and saluted his brothers. Then they kissed, all talking at once.

Soon it was the other children’s turn to say how-do-you-do. They had already met Paul’s father and liked him, but they had never seen the little prince’s mother. Nora and Peggy thought she looked a real queen, lovely enough to be in a fairy tale. She wore the Baronian dress beautifully, and her full red and blue skirt swung gracefully as she walked.

She kissed Nora and Peggy and spoke to them in English. “Welcome, little girls!” she said. “I am so glad to see Paul’s friends. You have been so good to him in England. I hope you will be very happy here.”

Then it was the boys’ turn to be welcomed. Both of them felt hot and bothered about kissing the Queen’s hand, but after all, it was quite easy! Mike stepped forward first, and the Queen held out her hand to him. Mike found himself bending down and kissing it quite naturally! Jack followed, and then they saluted Paul’s father.

“Come along to the palace now,” said the Queen. “You must be very hungry after your long journey. We have all Paul’s favourite dishes — and I hope you will like them too.”

The children were glad that Paul’s mother could speak English. They had been trying to learn the Baronian language from Paul, but he was not a good teacher. He would go off into peals of laughter at the comical way they pronounced the difficult words of the Baronian language, and it was difficult to get any sense out of him when he was in one of his giggling fits.

The children stared in awe at the palace. They had never seen one like it before, outside of books. It was really magnificent, though not enormous. With the great mountain behind it, and the shining blue lake below, it looked like a dream palace. They walked through a garden full of strange and sweet-smelling flowers and came to a long flight of steps. They climbed these and entered the palace through a wide-open door at which stood six footmen in a line, dressed in the Baronian livery of blue and silver.

After them clattered the little brothers and sisters of Paul, with their nurses. Peggy and Nora thought the small children were sweet. They were all very like Paul, and had big dark eyes.

“We shan’t be bothered much with these babies,” said Paul, in rather a lordly voice. “Of course, they wanted to welcome me. But they live in the nurseries. We shall have our own rooms, and Pilescu will wait on us.”

This was rather a relief to hear. Although the children liked the look of Paul’s father and mother very much, they had felt it might be rather embarrassing to live with a king and queen and have meals with them. It was good to hear that they were to be on their own.