"I've no idea. I only know it's there," said
Quox. "The fire keeps me alive and enables me
to move; also to think and speak."
"Ah! You are ver-y much like my-self," said
Tik-Tok. "The on-ly dif-fer-ence is that I move
by clock-work, while you move by fire."
"I don't see a particle of likeness between us,
I must confess," retorted Quox, gruffly. "You are
not a live thing; you're a dummy."
"But I can do things, you must ad-mit," said
Tik-Tok.
"Yes, when you are wound up," sneered the
dragon. "But if you run down, you are helpless."
"What would happen to you, Quox, if you ran
out of gasoline?" inquired Shaggy, who did not
like this attack upon his friend.
"I don't use gasoline."
"Well, suppose you ran out of fire."
"What's the use of supposing that?" asked
Quox. "My great-great-great-grandfather has
lived since the world began, and he has never
once run out of fire to keep him going. But I
will confide to you that as he gets older he shows
more smoke and less fire. As for Tik-Tok, he's
well enough in his way, but he's merely copper.
And the Metal Monarch knows copper through
and through. I wouldn't be surprised if Ruggedo
melted Tik-Tok in one of his furnaces and made
copper pennies of him."
"In that case, I would still keep going,"
remarked Tik-Tok, calmly.
"Pennies do," said Betsy regretfully.
"This is all nonsense," said the Queen, with
irritation. "Tik-Tok is my great Army--all but the
officers--and I believe he will be able to conquer
Ruggedo with ease.
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