During this time Ruggedo, the Metal Monarch andKing of the Nomes, was trying to amuse himself inhis splendid jeweled cavern. It was hard work forRuggedo to find amusement to day, for all thenomes were behaving well and there was no one toscold or to punish. The King had thrown hissceptre at Kaliko six times, without hitting himonce. Not that Kaliko had done anything wrong. Onthe contrary, he had obeyed the King in every waybut one: he would not stand still, when commandedto do so, and let the heavy sceptre strike him.

We can hardly blame Kaliko for this, and eventhe cruel Ruggedo forgave him; for he knew verywell that if he mashed his Royal Chamberlain hecould never find another so intelligent andobedient. Kaliko could make the nomes work whentheir King could not, for the nomes hated Ruggedoand there were so many thousands of the quaintlittle underground people that they could easilyhave rebelled and defied the King had they daredto do so. Sometimes, when Ruggedo abused themworse than usual, they grew sullen and threw downtheir hammers and picks. Then, however hard theKing scolded or whipped them, they would not workuntil Kaliko came and begged them to. For Kalikowas one of themselves and was as much abused bythe King as any nome in the vast series ofcaverns.

But today all the little people were workingindustriously at their tasks and Ruggedo, havingnothing to do, was greatly bored. He sent for theLong-Eared Hearer and asked him to listencarefully and report what was going on in the bigworld.

"It seems," said the Hearer, after listening forawhile, "that the women in America have clubs."

"Are there spikes in them?" asked Ruggedo,yawning.

"I cannot hear any spikes, Your Majesty," wasthe reply.

"Then their clubs are not as, good as mysceptre. What else do you hear?'

"There's a war.

"Bah! there's always a war. What else?"

For a time the Hearer was silent, bendingforward and spreading out his big ears to catchthe slightest sound. Then suddenly he said:

"Here is an interesting thing, Your Majesty.These people are arguing as to who shall conquerthe Metal Monarch, seize his treasure and drivehim from his dominions."

"What people?" demanded Ruggedo, sittingup straight in his throne.

"The ones you threw down the Hollow Tube."

"Where are they now?"

"In the same Tube, and coming back this way,"said the Hearer.

Ruggedo got out of his throne and began topace up and down the cavern.

"I wonder what can be done to stop them,"he mused.

"Well," said the Hearer, "if you could turnthe Tube upside down, they would be fallingthe other way, Your Majesty."

Ruggedo glared at him wickedly, for it wasimpossible to turn the Tube upside down andhe believed the Hearer was slyly poking funat him. Presently he asked:

"How far away are those people now?"

"About nine thousand three hundred and sixmiles, seventeen furlongs, eight feet and fourinches--as nearly as I can judge from the soundof their voices," replied the Hearer.

"Aha! Then it will be some time before theyarrive," said Ruggedo, "and when they get hereI shall be ready to receive them.

He rushed to his gong and pounded upon it sofiercely that Kaliko came bounding into the cavernwith one shoe off and one shoe on, for he was justdressing himself after a swim in the hot bubblinglake of the Underground Kingdom.

"Kaliko, those invaders whom we threw downthe Tube are coming back again!" he exclaimed.

"I thought they would," said the RoyalChamberlain, pulling on the other shoe. "Tititi-Hoo-choo would not allow them to remain in hiskingdom, of course, and so I've been expectingthem back for some time. That was a very foolishaction of yours, Rug."

"What, to throw them down the Tube?"

"Yes. Tititi-Hoochoo has forbidden us to throweven rubbish into the Tube."

"Pooh! what do I care for the Jinjin?" askedRuggedo scornfully. "He never leaves his ownkingdom, which is on the other side of the world."

"True; but he might send some one throughthe Tube to punish you," suggested Kaliko.

"I'd like to see him do it! Who could conquer mythousands of nomes?"

"Why, they've been conquered before, if Iremember aright," answered Kaliko with a grin."Once I saw you running from a little girl namedDorothy, and her friends, as if you were reallyafraid."

"Well, I was afraid, that time," admitted theNome King, with a deep sigh, "for Dorothy had aYellow Hen that laid eggs!"

The King shuddered as he said "eggs," and Kalikoalso shuddered, and so did the Long-Eared Hearer;for eggs are the only things that the nomesgreatly dread. The reason for this is that eggsbelong on the earth's surface, where birds andfowl of all sorts live, and there is somethingabout a hen's egg, especially, that fills a nomewith horror. If by chance the inside of an eggtouches one of these underground people, hewithers up and blows away and that is the end ofhim--unless he manages quickly to speak a magicalword which only a few of the nomes know. ThereforeRuggedo and his followers had very good cause toshudder at the mere mention of eggs.

"But Dorothy," said the King, "is not with thisband of invaders; nor is the Yellow Hen. As forTititi-Hoochoo, he has no means of knowing that weare afraid of eggs."

"You mustn't be too sure of that," Kaliko warnedhim. "Tititi-Hoochoo knows a great many things,being a fairy, and his powers are far superior toany we can boast."

Ruggedo shrugged impatiently and turned to theHearer.

"Listen," said he, "and tell me if you hear anyeggs coming through the Tube."

The Long-Eared one listened and then shookhis head. But Kaliko laughed at the King.

"No one can hear an egg, Your Majesty,"said he. "The only way to discover the truth is tolook through the Magic Spyglass."

"That's it!" cried the King. "Why didn't Ithink of it before? Look at once, Kaliko!"

So Kaliko went to the Spyglass and by uttering amumbled charm he caused the other end of it totwist around, so that it pointed down the openingof the Tube. Then he put his eye to the glass andwas able to gaze along all the turns and windingsof the Magic Spyglass and then deep into the Tube,to where our friends were at that time falling.

"Dear me!" he exclaimed. "Here comes a dragon."

"A big one?" asked Ruggedo.

"A monster. He has an electric light on the endof his tail, so I can see him very plainly. Andthe other people are all riding upon his back."

"How about the eggs?" inquired the King.

Kaliko looked again.

"I can see no eggs at all," said he; "but Iimagine that the dragon is as dangerous as eggs.Probably Tititi-Hoochoo has sent him here topunish you for dropping those strangers into theForbidden Tube. I warned you not to do it, YourMajesty."

This news made the Nome King anxious. For a fewminutes he paced up and down, stroking his longbeard and thinking with all his might. After thishe turned to Kaliko and said:

"All the harm a dragon can do is to scratch withhis claws and bite with his teeth."

"That is not all, but it's quite enough,"returned Kaliko earnestly. "On the other hand, noone can hurt a dragon, because he's the toughestcreature alive. One flop of his huge tail couldsmash a hundred nomes to pancakes, and with teethand claws he could tear even you or me into smallbits, so that it would be almost impossible to putus together again. Once, a few hundred years ago,while wandering through some deserted caverns, Icame upon a small piece of a nome lying on therocky floor. I asked the piece of nome what hadhappened to it. Fortunately the mouth was a partof this piece--the mouth and the left eye--so itwas able to tell me that a fierce dragon was thecause. It had attacked the poor nome and scatteredhim in every direction, and as there was no friendnear to collect his pieces and put him together,they had been separated for a great many years. Soyou see, Your Majesty, it is not in good taste tosneer at a dragon."

The King had listened attentively to Kaliko.Said he:

"It will only be necessary to chain this dragonwhich Tititi-Hoochoo has sent here, in order toprevent his reaching us with his claws and teeth."

"He also breathes flames," Kaliko reminded him.

"My nomes are not afraid of fire, nor am I,"said Ruggedo.

"Well, how about the Army of Oogaboo?"

"Sixteen cowardly officers and Tik-Tok! Why, Icould defeat them single-handed; but I won't tryto. I'll summon my army of nomes to drive theinvaders out of my territory, and if we catch anyof them I intend to stick needles into them untilthey hop with pain.

"I hope you won't hurt any of the girls," saidKaliko.

"I'll hurt 'em all!" roared the angry MetalMonarch. "And that braying Mule I'll make intohoof-soup, and feed it to my nomes, that it mayadd to their strength."

"Why not be good to the strangers and releaseyour prisoner, the Shaggy Man's brother?"suggested Kaliko.

"Never!"

"It may save you a lot of annoyance. And youdon't want the Ugly One."

"I don't want him; that's true. But I won'tallow anybody to order me around. I'm King of theNomes and I'm the Metal Monarch, and I shall do asI please and what I please and when I please!"

With this speech Ruggedo threw his sceptre atKaliko's head, aiming it so well that the RoyalChamberlain had to fall flat upon the floor inorder to escape it. But the Hearer did not see thesceptre coming and it swept past his head soclosely that it broke off the tip of one of hislong ears. He gave a dreadful yell that quitestartled Ruggedo, and the King was sorry for theaccident because those long ears of the Hearerwere really valuable to him.

So the Nome King forgot to be angry with Kalikoand ordered his Chamberlain to summon General Guphand the army of nomes and have them properlyarmed. They were then to march to the mouth of theTube, where they could seize the travelers as soonas they appeared.