Although the journey through the Tube was longer,this time, than before, it was so much morecomfortable that none of our friends minded it atall. They talked together most of the time and asthey found the dragon good-natured and fond of thesound of his own voice they soon became wellacquainted with him and accepted him as acompanion.

"You see," said Shaggy, in his frank way, "Quoxis on our side, and therefore the dragon is a goodfellow. If he happened to be an enemy, instead ofa friend, I am sure I should dislike him verymuch, for his breath smells of brimstone, he isvery conceited and he is so strong and fierce thathe would prove a dangerous foe."

"Yes, indeed," returned Quox, who had listenedto this speech with pleasure; "I suppose I amabout as terrible as any living thing. I am gladyou find me conceited, for that proves I know mygood qualities. As for my breath smelling ofbrimstone, I really can't help it, and I once meta man whose breath smelled of onions, which Iconsider far worse."

"I don't," said Betsy; "I love onions.

"And I love brimstone," declared the dragon, "sodon't let us quarrel over one another'speculiarities."

Saying this, he breathed a long breath and shota flame fifty feet from his mouth. The brimstonemade Betsy cough, but she remembered about theonions and said nothing.

They had no idea how far they had gone throughthe center of the earth, nor when to expect thetrip to end. At one time the little girl remarked:

"I wonder when we'll reach the bottom of thishole. And isn't it funny, Shaggy Man, that what isthe bottom to us now, was the top when we fell theother way?"

"What puzzles me," said Files, "is that we areable to fall both ways.

"That," announced Tik-Tok, "is because the worldis round."

"Exactly," responded Shaggy. "The machinery inyour head is in fine working order, Tik-Tok. Youknow, Betsy, that there is such a thing as theAttraction of Gravitation, which draws everythingtoward the center of the earth. That is why wefall out of bed, and why everything clings to thesurface of the earth."

"Then why doesn't everyone go on down tothe center of the earth?" inquired the little girl.

"I was afraid you were going to ask me that,"replied Shaggy in a sad tone. "The reason, mydear, is that the earth is so solid that other solidthings can't get through it. But when there's ahole, as there is in this case, we drop right downto the center of the world."

"Why don't we stop there?" asked Betsy.

"Because we go so fast that we acquire speedenough to carry us right up to the other end."

"I don't understand that, and it makes myhead ache to try to figure it out," she said aftersome thought. "One thing draws us to the centerand another thing pushes us away from it.But--"

"Don't ask me why, please," interrupted theShaggy Man. "If you can't understand it, let it goat that."

"Do you understand it?" she inquired.

"All the magic isn't in fairyland," he saidgravely. "There's lots of magic in all Nature,and you may see it as well in the United States,where you and I once lived, as you can here."

"I never did," she replied.

"Because you were so used to it all that youdidn't realize it was magic. Is anything morewonderful than to see a flower grow and blossom,or to get light out of the electricity in the air?The cows that manufacture milk for us must havemachinery fully as remarkable as that in Tik-Tok'scopper body, and perhaps you've noticed that--"

And then, before Shaggy could finish his speech,the strong light of day suddenly broke upon them,grew brighter, and completely enveloped them. Thedragon's claws no longer scraped against the metalTube, for he shot into the open air a hundred feetor more and sailed so far away from the slantinghole that when he landed it was on the peak of amountain and just over the entrance to the manyunderground caverns of the Nome King.

Some of the officers tumbled off their seatswhen Quox struck the ground, hut most of thedragon's passengers only felt a slight jar. Allwere glad to be on solid earth again and they atonce dismounted and began to look about them.Queerly enough, as soon as they had left thedragon, the seats that were strapped to themonster's back disappeared, and this probablyhappened because there was no further use for themand because Quox looked far more dignified in justhis silver scales. Of course he still wore theforty yards of ribbon around his neck, as well asthe great locket, but these only made him look"dressed up," as Betsy remarked.

Now the army of nomes had gathered thicklyaround the mouth of the Tube, in order to be readyto capture the band of invaders as soon as theypopped out. There were, indeed, hundreds of nomesassembled, and they were led by Guph, their mostfamous General. But they did not expect the dragonto fly so high, and he shot out of the Tube sosuddenly that it took them by surprise. When thenomes had rubbed the astonishment out of theireyes and regained their wits, they discovered thedragon quietly seated on the mountainside farabove their heads, while the other strangers werestanding in a group and calmly looking down uponthem.

General Guph was very angry at the escape, whichwas no one's fault but his own.

"Come down here and be captured!" he shouted,waving his sword at them.

"Come up here and capture us--if you dare!"replied Queen Ann, who was winding up theclockwork of her Private Soldier, so he couldfight more briskly.

Guph's first answer was a roar of rage at thedefiance; then he turned and issued a command tohis nomes. These were all armed with sharp spearsand with one accord they raised these spears andthrew them straight at their foes, so that theyrushed through the air in a perfect cloud offlying weapons.

Some damage might have been done had not thedragon quickly crawled before the others, his bodybeing so big that it shielded every one of them,including Hank. The spears rattled against thesilver scales of Quox and then fell harmlessly tothe ground. They were magic spears, of course, andall straightway bounded back into the hands ofthose who had thrown them, but even Guph could seethat it was useless to repeat the attack.

It was now Queen Ann's turn to attack, so theGenerals yelled "For-ward march!" and theColonels and Majors and Captains repeated thecommand and the valiant Army of Oogaboo,which seemed to be composed mainly of Tik-Tok, marched forward in single column towardthe nomes, while Betsy and Polychrome cheeredand Hank gave a loud "Hee-haw!" and Shaggyshouted "Hooray!" and Queen Ann screamed:"At 'em, Tik-Tok-at 'em!"

The nomes did not await the Clockwork Man'sattack but in a twinkling disappeared into theunderground caverns. They made a great mistake inbeing so hasty, for Tik-Tok had not taken a dozensteps before he stubbed his copper toe on a rockand fell flat to the ground, where he cried: "Pickme up! Pick me up! Pick me up!" until Shaggy andFiles ran forward and raised him to his feetagain.

The dragon chuckled softly to himself as hescratched his left ear with his hind claw, but noone was paying much attention to Quox just then.

It was evident to Ann and her officers thatthere could be no fighting unless the enemy waspresent, and in order to find the enemy they mustboldly enter the underground Kingdom of the nomes.So bold a step demanded a council of war.

"Don't you think I'd better drop in on Ruggedoand obey the orders of the Jinjin?" asked Quox.

"By no means!" returned Queen Ann. "We havealready put the army of nomes to flight and allthat yet remains is to force our way into thosecaverns, and conquer the Nome King and all hispeople.'

"That seems to me something of a job," saidthe dragon, closing his eyes sleepily. "But goahead, if you like, and I'll wait here for you.Don't be in any hurry on my account. To onewho lives thousands of years the delay of a fewdays means nothing at all, and I shall probablysleep until the time comes for me to act.

Ann was provoked at this speech.

"You may as well go back to Tititi-Hoochoo now,"she said, "for the Nome King is as good asconquered already."

But Quox shook his head. "No," said he; "I'll wait."