"Ho--hum," said he. "I see 'em, Your Majesty."
"What do they look like?" inquired the Monarch.
"That's a hard question to answer, for a queerer
assortment of creatures I never yet beheld,"
replied the nome. "However, such a collection of
curiosities may prove dangerous. There's a copper
man, worked by machinery--"
"Bah! that's only Tik-Tok," said Ruggedo.
"I'm not afraid of him. Why, only the other day
I met the fellow and threw him down a well."
"Then some one must have pulled him out again,"
said Kaliko. "And there's a little girl--"
"Dorothy?" asked Ruggedo, jumping up in fear.
"No; some other girl. In fact, there are several
girls, of various sizes; but Dorothy is not with
them, nor is Ozma."
"That's good!" exclaimed the King, sighing in
relief.
Kaliko still had his eye to the spyglass.
"I see," said he, "an army of men from Oogaboo.
They are all officers and carry swords. And there
is a Shaggy Man--who seems very harmless--and a
little donkey with big ears."
"Pooh!" cried Ruggedo, snapping his fingers
in scorn. "I've no fear of such a mob as that. A
dozen of my nomes can destroy them all in a
jiffy."
"I'm not so sure of that," said Kaliko. "The
people of Oogaboo are hard to destroy, and I
believe the Rose Princess is a fairy. As for
Polychrome, you know very well that the Rainbow's
Daughter cannot be injured by a nome."
"Polychrome! Is she among them?" asked the King.
"Yes; I have just recognized her."
"Then these people are coming here on no
peaceful errand," declared Ruggedo, scowling
fiercely.
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