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puffing, they dragged it down into the center of the cellar and dropped it
down before Kabumpo.
"See what we have now!" Dusting off his clothes, Randy surveyed it proudly.
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"Humph! A DRUM!" The Elegant Elephant moved his ears forward and then back.
"Well, what grumpy use is a drum? Am I in a parade? Do you expect me to
beat it?"
"Beat the drum?" Planetty looked surprised and shocked. "Is that for what a
drum is for, Bumpty, dear?"
"Well, yes, in a way." A bit ashamed of himself, Kabumpo drew out one of the
sticks. "It goes like this," he said, raising the drumstick high in his
trunk.
"Oh no! Kabumpo, NO! Don't do that or you'll have Gludwig down here! It
would make too much noise."
"What if it does?" Kabumpo shrugged his great shoulders. "We may as well
perish now as tomorrow. I'm perishing of hunger, anyway." Before Randy
could interfere, he brought the drumstick down with a thump that split the
taut surface of the drum from edge to edge. The loud rip and BONG made the
rafters ring, and scarcely had they recovered from that shock before a
small black boy in an enormous turban sprang out of the drum itself and
began sobbing and spluttering and hugging Kabumpo as if he never would let
him go.
"Good Gillikens! It's Ginger!" panted Randy as Planetty caught him anxiously
by the sleeve. "It's the slave of the magic dinner bell. He can bring us
dinners and whatever one wants when Jinnicky rings for him. Hi C4 who shut
you up in that drum, boy?"
"That big old Red Wig," sniffed Ginger, drying his tears on Kabumpo's robe.
"Oh, how can I ever thank you, Mister Elephant so Elegant! I remember you!
I remember him!" The bell boy jerked his thumb delightedly at Randy. "And
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many times I thank you C4 fifty times eleven, I thank you. You see, if I
am shut up in a drum, it is impossible for me to answer the Master's ring
if he needs me. And he needs me now, I know it, I know it!"
"But how can he call you unless he has the dinner bell?" asked Randy, edging
closer. "Did Jinnicky take the bell with him when C4 when C4" To save
himself, Randy could not finish the dismal sentence.
"When Gludwig pushed him into the sea, you mean?" Ginger's brown face
puckered up again, but controlling his sobs with a great effort, he sat
down on the edge of the drum and told them the whole story of Jinnicky's
mischance and misfortunes. "The Master, as you know," explained Ginger, his
eyes rolling sideways as he caught sight of Planetty and Thun, whose like
he had never seen in his entire magic existence, "the Master is always kind
and jolly and unsuspecting. This Gludwig was the manager of our ruby mines
and one of Jinnicky's most trusted officers. But all the time this viper,
this snake, this villainous black snake C4" Ginger clenched his fists and
kicked his heels angrily against the drum "C4 was planning to steal our
Red Jinn's throne and magic, in addition to his own splendid mansion and
fortune. One evening, seven moons ago, having trained his miners into an
army of rebellion, Gludwig marched upon our castle and drove everybody
out."
"Everybody?" The Elegant Elephant, picking Ginger up in his trunk, looked
earnestly into his face.
"Every EV body!" repeated the little bell boy, wagging his turban
sorrowfully. "Alibabble, the Grand Advizier, all the members of the court
and household were sent to the mines under the cruel rule of Glubdo,
Gludwig's brother, and they are there now, working without rest, hope or
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reward. He marched the Master to the head of the highest cliff and pushed
him violently into the sea with his OWN hands!" Ginger began to tremble
with grief and anger at the memory of it all. "He ordered the bandsmen to
seal me up in this drum, knowing a drum is the only place from which I
cannot escape, and hoping I would shrivel up and perish. But I C4"
asserted the little black triumphantly "C4 I am the best part of
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