"I hope you won't hurt any of the girls," said
Kaliko.
"I'll hurt 'em all!" roared the angry Metal
Monarch. "And that braying Mule I'll make into
hoof-soup, and feed it to my nomes, that it may
add to their strength."
"Why not be good to the strangers and release
your prisoner, the Shaggy Man's brother?"
suggested Kaliko.
"Never!"
"It may save you a lot of annoyance. And you
don't want the Ugly One."
"I don't want him; that's true. But I won't
allow anybody to order me around. I'm King of the
Nomes and I'm the Metal Monarch, and I shall do as
I please and what I please and when I please!"
With this speech Ruggedo threw his sceptre at
Kaliko's head, aiming it so well that the Royal
Chamberlain had to fall flat upon the floor in
order to escape it. But the Hearer did not see the
sceptre coming and it swept past his head so
closely that it broke off the tip of one of his
long ears. He gave a dreadful yell that quite
startled Ruggedo, and the King was sorry for the
accident because those long ears of the Hearer
were really valuable to him.
So the Nome King forgot to be angry with Kaliko
and ordered his Chamberlain to summon General Guph
and the army of nomes and have them properly
armed. They were then to march to the mouth of the
Tube, where they could seize the travelers as soon
as they appeared.
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