Tititi-Hoochoo would not allow them to remain in his
kingdom, of course, and so I've been expecting them back for some time.
That was a very foolish action of yours, Rug."

"What, to throw them down the Tube?"

"Yes. Tititi-Hoochoo has forbidden us to throw even rubbish into the
Tube."

"Pooh! what do I care for the Jinjin?" asked Ruggedo scornfully. "He
never leaves his own kingdom, which is on the other side of the world."

"True; but he might send some one through the Tube to punish you,"
suggested Kaliko.

"I'd like to see him do it! Who could conquer my thousands of nomes?"

"Why, they've been conquered before, if I remember aright," answered
Kaliko with a grin. "Once I saw you running from a little girl named
Dorothy, and her friends, as if you were really afraid."

"Well, I was afraid, that time," admitted the Nome King, with a deep
sigh, "for Dorothy had a Yellow Hen that laid eggs!"

The King shuddered as he said "eggs," and Kaliko also shuddered, and so
did the Long-Eared Hearer; for eggs are the only things that the nomes
greatly dread. The reason for this is that eggs belong on the earth's
surface, where birds and fowl of all sorts live, and there is something
about a hen's egg, especially, that fills a nome with horror. If by
chance the inside of an egg touches one of these underground people, he
withers up and blows away and that is the end of him--unless he manages
quickly to speak a magical word which only a few of the nomes know.
Therefore Ruggedo and his followers had very good cause to shudder at
the mere mention of eggs.

"But Dorothy," said the King, "is not with this band of invaders; nor
is the Yellow Hen. As for Tititi-Hoochoo, he has no means of knowing
that we are afraid of eggs."

"You mustn't be too sure of that," Kaliko warned him. "Tititi-Hoochoo
knows a great many things, being a fairy, and his powers are far
superior to any we can boast."

Ruggedo shrugged impatiently and turned to the Hearer.

"Listen," said he, "and tell me if you hear any eggs coming through the
Tube."

The Long-Eared one listened and then shook his head. But Kaliko laughed
at the King.

"No one can hear an egg, Your Majesty," said he. "The only way to
discover the truth is to look through the Magic Spyglass."

"That's it!" cried the King. "Why didn't I think of it before? Look at
once, Kaliko!"

So Kaliko went to the Spyglass and by uttering a mumbled charm he
caused the other end of it to twist a