gled mass.

Kaliko rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stared hard at Rinkitink.

"I understand a good bit of magic," said he, "but Your Majesty has a
sort of magic that greatly puzzles me, because it is unlike anything of
the sort that I ever met with before."

"Now, see here, Kaliko," said Rinkitink; "if you are trying to harm me
or my companions, give it up, for you will never succeed. We're
harm-proof, so to speak, and you are merely wasting your time trying to
injure us."

"You may be right, and I hope I am not so impolite as to argue with a
guest," returned the Nome King. "But you will pardon me if I am not yet
satisfied that you are stronger than my famous magic. However, I beg you
to believe that I bear you no ill will, King Rinkitink; but it is my
duty to destroy you, if possible, because you and that insignificant boy
Prince have openly threatened to take away my captives and have
positively refused to go back to the earth's surface and let me alone.
I'm very tender-hearted, as a matter of fact, and I like you immensely
and would enjoy having you as a friend, but--" Here he pressed a button
on the arm of his throne chair and the section of the floor where
Rinkitink stood suddenly opened and disclosed a black pit beneath, which
was a part of the terrible Bottomless Gulf.

[Illustration]

But Rinkitink did not fall into the pit; his body remained suspended
in the air until he put out his foot and stepped to the solid floor,
when the opening suddenly closed again.

"I appreciate Your Majesty's friendship," remarked Rinkitink, as calmly
as if nothing had happened, "but I am getting tired with standing. Will
you kindly send for my goat, Bilbil, that I may sit upon his back to
rest?"

"Indeed I will!" promised Kaliko. "I have not yet completed my test of
your magic, and as I owe that goat a slight grudge for bumping my head
and smashing my second-best crown, I will be glad to discover if the
beast can also escape my delightful little sorceries."

So Klik was sent to fetch Bilbil and presently returned with the goat,
which was very cross this morning because it had not slept well in the
underground caverns.

Rinkitink lost no time in getting upon the red velvet saddle which the
goat constantly wore, for he feared the Nome King would try to destroy
Bilbil and knew that as long as his body touched that of the goat the
Pink Pearl would protect them both; whereas, if Bilbil stood alone,
there was no magic to sa