"Wake up, Quox!" she cried. "It is time for you
to act."
But Quox did not wake up. He lay as one in a
trance, absolutely motionless, with his enormous
eyes tight closed. The eyelids had big silver
scales on them, like all the rest of his body.
Polychrome might have thought Quox was dead had
she not known that dragons do not die easily or
had she not observed his huge body swelling as he
breathed. She picked up a piece of rock and
pounded against his eyelids with it, saying:
"Wake up, Quox--wake up!" But he would not waken.
"Dear me, how unfortunate!" sighed the
lovely Rainbow's Daughter. "I wonder what is
the best and surest way to waken a dragon. All
our friends may be captured and destroyed
while this great beast lies asleep."
She walked around Quox two or three times,
trying to discover some tender place on his body
where a thump or a punch might he felt; but he lay
extended along the rocks with his chin flat upon
the ground and his legs drawn underneath his body,
and all that one could see was his thick sky-blue
skin--thicker than that of a rhinoceros--and his
silver scales.
Then, despairing at last of wakening the beast,
and worried over the fate of her friends,
Polychrome again ran down to the entrance and
hurried along the passage into the Nome King's
cavern.
Here she found Ruggedo lolling in his throne and
smoking a long pipe. Beside him stood General Guph
and Kaliko, and ranged before the King were the
Rose Princess, Files and the Shaggy Man.
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