"All of our family have noble natures.
But is my dear brother well?" he added anxiously.
"He eats and sleeps very steadily," replied the
new King.
"I hope he doesn't work too hard," said Shaggy.
"He doesn't work at all. In fact, there is
nothing he can do in these dominions as well as
our nomes, whose numbers are so great that it
worries us to keep them all busy. So your brother
has only to amuse himself."
"Why, it's more like visiting, than being a
prisoner," asserted Betsy.
"Not exactly," returned Kaliko. "A prisoner
cannot go where or when he pleases, and is not
his own master."
"Where is my brother now?" inquired Shaggy.
"In the Metal Forest."
"Where is that?"
"The Metal Forest is in the Great Domed Cavern,
the largest in all our dominions," replied Kaliko.
"It is almost like being out of doors, it is so
big, and Ruggedo made the wonderful forest to
amuse himself, as well as to tire out his hard-
working nomes. All the trees are gold and silver
and the ground is strewn with precious stones, so
it is a sort of treasury."
"Let us go there at once and rescue my dear
brother," pleaded Shaggy earnestly.
Kaliko hesitated.
"I don't believe I can find the way," said he.
"Ruggedo made three secret passages to the Metal
Forest, but he changes the location of these
passages every week, so that no one can get to the
Metal Forest without his permission. However, if
we look sharp, we may be able to discover one of
these secret ways.
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