It did not take them long to regain the royalcavern of the Nome King, where Kaliko orderedserved to them the nicest refreshments the placeafforded.

Ruggedo had come trailing along after the restof the party and while no one paid any attentionto the old King they did not offer any objectionto his presence or command him to leave them. Helooked fearfully to see if the eggs were stillguarding the entrance, but they had nowdisappeared; so he crept into the cavern after theothers and humbly squatted down in a corner of theroom.

There Betsy discovered him. All of the littlegirl's companions were now so happy at the successof Shaggy's quest for his brother, and thelaughter and merriment seemed so general, thatBetsy's heart softened toward the friendless oldman who had once been their bitter enemy, and shecarried to him some of the food and drink.Ruggedo's eyes filled with tears at thisunexpected kindness. He took the child's hand inhis own and pressed it gratefully.

"Look here, Kaliko," said Betsy, addressing thenew King, "what's the use of being hard onRuggedo? All his magic power is gone, so he can'tdo any more harm, and I'm sure he's sorry he actedso badly to everybody."

"Are you?" asked Kaliko, looking down at hisformer master.

"I am," said Ruggedo. "The girl speaks truly.I'm sorry and I'm harmless. I don't want to wanderthrough the wide world, on top of the ground, forI'm a nome. No nome can ever be happy any placebut underground."

"That being the case," said Kaliko, "I will letyou stay here as long as you behave yourself;but, if you try to act badly again, I shall driveyou out, as Tititi-Hoochoo has commanded, andyou'll have to wander."

"Never fear. I'll behave," promised Ruggedo. "Itis hard work being a King, and harder still to bea good King. But now that I am a common nome I amsure I can lead a blameless life."

They were all pleased to hear this and to knowthat Ruggedo had really reformed.

"I hope he'll keep his word," whispered Betsy toShaggy; "but if he gets bad again we will be faraway from the Nome Kingdom and Kaliko will have to'tend to the old nome himself."

Polychrome had been a little restless during thelast hour or two. The lovely Daughter of the Rainhow knew that she had now done all in her power toassist her earth friends, and so she began to longfor her sky home.

"I think," she said, after listening intently,"that it is beginning to rain. The Rain King is myuncle, you know, and perhaps he has read mythoughts and is going to help me. Anyway I musttake a look at the sky and make sure."

So she jumped up and ran through the passage tothe outer entrance, and they all followed afterher and grouped themselves on a ledge of themountain-side. Sure enough, dark clouds had filledthe sky and a slow, drizzling rain had set in.

"It can't last for long," said Shaggy, lookingupward, "and when it stops we shall lose the sweetlittle fairy we have learned to love. Alas," hecontinued, after a moment, "the clouds are alreadybreaking in the west, and--see!--isn't that theRainbow coming?"

Betsy didn't look at the sky; she looked atPolychrome, whose happy, smiling face surelyforetold the coming of her father to take her tothe Cloud Palaces. A moment later a gleam ofsunshine flooded the mountain and a gorgeousRainbow appeared.

With a cry of gladness Polychrome sprang upon apoint of rock and held out her arms. Straightwaythe Rainbow descended until its end was at hervery feet, when with a graceful leap she sprangupon it and was at once clasped inthe arms of her radiant sisters, the Daughters ofthe Rainbow. But Polychrome released herselfto lean over the edge of the glowing arch andnod, and smile and throw a dozen kisses to herlate comrades.

"Good-bye!" she called, and they all shouted"Good-bye!" in return and waves their hands totheir pretty friend.

Slowly the magnificent bow lifted and meltedinto the sky, until the eyes of the earnestwatchers saw only fleecy clouds flitting acrossthe blue.

"I'm dreadful sorry to see Polychrome go,"said Betsy, who felt like crying; "but I s'poseshe'll be a good deal happier with her sisters inthe sky palaces."

"To be sure," returned Shaggy, noddinggravely. "It's her home, you know, and thosepoor wanderers who, like ourselves, have nohome, can realize what the means to her."

"Once," said Betsy, "I, too, had a home. Now,I've only--only--dear old Hank!"

She twined her arms around her shaggy friend whowas not human, and he said: "Hee-haw!" in a tonethat showed he understood her mood. And the shaggyfriend who was human stroked the child's headtenderly and said: "You're wrong about that,Betsy, dear. I will never desert you."

"Nor I!" exclaimed Shaggy's brother, in earnesttones.

The little girl looked up at them gratefully,and her eyes smiled through their tears.

"All right," she said. "It's raining again, solet's go back into the cavern."

Rather soberly, for all loved Polychrome andwould miss her, they reentered the dominions ofthe Nome King.