he well?" he asked.

"No," said Queen Ann, "you must fall in marching order."

"Can-not I march without fall-ing in-to it?" asked the Clockwork Man.

"Shoulder your gun and stand ready to march," advised Files; so Tik-Tok
held the gun straight and stood still.

"What next?" he asked.

The Queen turned to Shaggy.

"Which road leads to the Metal Monarch's cavern?"

"We don't know, Your Majesty," was the reply.

"But this is absurd!" said Ann with a frown. "If we can't get to
Ruggedo, it is certain that we can't conquer him."

"You are right," admitted Shaggy; "but I did not say we could not get
to him. We have only to discover the way, and that was the matter we
were considering when you and your magnificent Army arrived here."

"Well, then, get busy and discover it," snapped the Queen.

That was no easy task. They all stood looking from one road to another
in perplexity. The paths radiated from the little clearing like the
rays of the midday sun, and each path seemed like all the others.

Files and the Rose Princess, who had by this time become good friends,
advanced a little way along one of the roads and found that it was
bordered by pretty wild flowers.

"Why don't you ask the flowers to tell you the way?" he said to his
companion.

"The flowers?" returned the Princess, surprised at the question.

"Of course," said Files. "The field-flowers must be second-cousins to a
Rose Princess, and I believe if you ask them they will tell you."

She looked more closely at the flowers. There were hundreds of white
daisies, golden buttercups, bluebells and daffodils growing by the
roadside, and each flower-head was firmly set upon its slender but
stout stem. There were even a few wild roses scattered here and there
and perhaps it was the sight of these that gave the Princess courage to
ask the important question.

She dropped to her knees, facing the flowers, and extended both her
arms pleadingly toward them.

"Tell me, pretty cousins," she said in her sweet, gentle voice, "which
way will lead us to the Kingdom of Ruggedo, the Nome King?"

At once all the stems bent gracefully to the right and the flower heads
nodded once--twice--thrice in that direction.

"That's it!" cried Files joyfully. "Now we know the way."

Ozga rose to her feet and looked wonderingly at the field-flowers,
which had now resumed their upright position.

"Was it the wind, do you think?" she asked in a low whisper.

"No, indeed," rep