"
But Tik-Tok raised his gun and took aim and not
knowing what damage the gun might do the nomes
were afraid to face it.
While he was thus defying the Nome King and his
high officials, Betsy Bobbin rode calmly into the
royal cavern, seated upon the back of Hank the
mule. The little girl had grown tired of waiting
for "something to happen" and so had come to see
if Ruggedo had been conquered.
"Nails and nuggets!" roared the King; "how
dare you bring that beast here and enter my
presence unannounced?"
"There wasn't anybody to announce me," replied
Betsy. "I guess your folks were all busy. Are you
conquered yet?"
"No!" shouted the King, almost beside himself
with rage.
"Then please give me something to eat, for I'm
awful hungry," said the girl. "You see, this
conquering business is a good deal like waiting
for a circus parade; it takes a long time to get
around and don't amount to much anyhow."
The nomes were so much astonished at this speech
that for a time they could only glare at her
silently, not finding words to reply. The King
finally recovered the use of his tongue and said:
"Earth-crawler! this insolence to my majesty
shall be your death-warrant. You are an ordinary
mortal, and to stop a mortal from living is so
easy a thing to do that I will not keep you
waiting half so long as you did for my conquest."
"I'd rather you wouldn't stop me from living,"
remarked Betsy, getting off Hank's back and
standing beside him. "And it would be a pretty
cheap King who killed a visitor while she was
hungry.
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