fact, no one ever comes here on a
peaceful errand. I hate everybody, and everybody hates me!"

"Very true," said Kaliko.

"I must in some way prevent these people from reaching my dominions.
Where are they now?"

"Just now they are crossing the Rubber Country, Your Majesty."

"Good! Are your magnetic rubber wires in working order?"

"I think so," replied Kaliko. "Is it your Royal Will that we have some
fun with these invaders?"

"It is," answered Ruggedo. "I want to teach them a lesson they will
never forget."

Now, Shaggy had no idea that he was in a Rubber Country, nor had any of
his companions. They noticed that everything around them was of a dull
gray color and that the path upon which they walked was soft and
springy, yet they had no suspicion that the rocks and trees were rubber
and even the path they trod was made of rubber.

Presently they came to a brook where sparkling water dashed through a
deep channel and rushed away between high rocks far down the
mountain-side. Across the brook were stepping-stones, so placed that
travelers might easily leap from one to another and in that manner
cross the water to the farther bank.

Tik-Tok was marching ahead, followed by his officers and Queen Ann.
After them came Betsy Bobbin and Hank, Polychrome and Shaggy, and last
of all the Rose Princess with Files. The Clockwork Man saw the stream
and the stepping stones and, without making a pause, placed his foot
upon the first stone.

The result was astonishing. First he sank down in the soft rubber,
which then rebounded and sent Tik-Tok soaring high in the air, where he
turned a succession of flip-flops and alighted upon a rubber rock far
in the rear of the party.

General Apple did not see Tik-Tok bound, so quickly had he disappeared;
therefore he also stepped upon the stone (which you will guess was
connected with Kaliko's magnetic rubber wire) and instantly shot upward
like an arrow. General Cone came next and met with a like fate, but the
others now noticed that something was wrong and with one accord they
halted the column and looked back along the path.

There was Tik-Tok, still bounding from one rubber rock to another, each
time rising a less distance from the ground. And there was General
Apple, bounding away in another direction, his three-cornered hat
jammed over his eyes and his long sword thumping him upon the arms and
head as it swung this way and that. And there, also, appeared General
Cone, who