Of course he still wore the
forty yards of ribbon around his neck, as well as
the great locket, but these only made him look
"dressed up," as Betsy remarked.
Now the army of nomes had gathered thickly
around the mouth of the Tube, in order to be ready
to capture the band of invaders as soon as they
popped out. There were, indeed, hundreds of nomes
assembled, and they were led by Guph, their most
famous General. But they did not expect the dragon
to fly so high, and he shot out of the Tube so
suddenly that it took them by surprise. When the
nomes had rubbed the astonishment out of their
eyes and regained their wits, they discovered the
dragon quietly seated on the mountainside far
above their heads, while the other strangers were
standing in a group and calmly looking down upon
them.
General Guph was very angry at the escape, which
was 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 the
clockwork of her Private Soldier, so he could
fight more briskly.
Guph's first answer was a roar of rage at the
defiance; then he turned and issued a command to
his nomes. These were all armed with sharp spears
and with one accord they raised these spears and
threw them straight at their foes, so that they
rushed through the air in a perfect cloud of
flying weapons.
Some damage might have been done had not the
dragon quickly crawled before the others, his body
being so big that it shielded every one of them,
including Hank.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116