'I'll keep you wound up, Tik-Tok,' promised Betsy.
'Why, it isn't a bad idea,' said Shaggy. 'Tik– Tok will make an ideal soldier, for nothing can injure him except a sledge hammer. And, since a private soldier seems to be necessary to this Army, Tik-Tok is the only one of our party fitted to undertake the job.'
'What must I do?' asked Tik-Tok.
'Obey orders,' replied Ann. 'When the officers command you to do anything, you must do it; that is all.'
'And that's enough, too,' said Files.
'Do I get a salary?' inquired Tik-Tok.
'You get your share of the plunder,' answered the Queen.
'Yes,' remarked Files, 'one-half of the plunder goes to Queen Ann, the other half is divided among the officers, and the Private gets the rest.'
'That will be sat-is-fac-tor-y,' said Tik-Tok, picking up the gun and examining it wonderingly, for he had never before seen such a weapon.
Then Ann strapped the knapsack to Tik-Tok's copper back and said: 'Now we are ready to march to Ruggedo's Kingdom and conquer it. Officers, give the command to march.'
'Fall – in!' yelled the Generals, drawing their swords.
'Fall – in!' cried the Colonels, drawing their swords.
'Fall – in!' shouted the Majors, drawing their swords.
'Fall – in!' bawled the Captains, drawing their swords.
Tik-Tok looked at them and then around him in surprise.
'Fall in what? The 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,' replied Files. 'There is not a breath of wind stirring. But these lovely blossoms are indeed your cousins and answered your question at once, as I knew they would.'
Chapter Nine
Ruggedo's Rage is Rash and Reckless
The way taken by the adventurers led up hill and down dale and wound here and there in a fashion that seemed aimless. But always it drew nearer to a range of low mountains and Files said more than once that he was certain the entrance to Ruggedo's cavern would be found among these rugged hills.
In this he was quite correct. Far underneath the nearest mountain was a gorgeous chamber hollowed from the solid rock, the walls and roof of which glittered with thousands of magnificent jewels. Here, on a throne of virgin gold, sat the famous Nome King, dressed in splendid robes and wearing a superb crown cut from a single blood-red ruby.
Ruggedo, the Monarch of all the Metals and Precious Stones of the Underground World, was a round little man with a flowing white beard, a red face, bright eyes and a scowl that covered all his forehead. One would think, to look at him, that he ought to be jolly; one might think, considering his enormous wealth, that he ought to be happy; but this was not the case. The Metal Monarch was surly and cross because mortals had dug so much treasure out of the earth and kept it above ground, where all the power of Ruggedo and his nomes was unable to recover it. He hated not only the mortals but also the fairies who live upon the earth or above it, and instead of being content with the riches he still possessed he was unhappy because he did not own all the gold and jewels in the world.
Ruggedo had been nodding, half asleep, in his chair when suddenly he sat upright, uttered a roar of rage and began pounding upon a huge gong that stood beside him.
The sound filled the vast cavern and penetrated to many caverns beyond, where countless thousands of nomes were working at their unending tasks, hammering out gold and silver and other metals, or melting ores in great furnaces, or polishing glittering gems. The nomes trembled at the sound of the King's gong and whispered fearfully to one another that something unpleasant was sure to happen; but none dared pause in his task,
The heavy curtains of cloth-of-gold were pushed aside and Kaliko, the King's High Chamberlain, entered the royal presence.
'What's up, Your Majesty?' he asked, with a wide yawn, for he had just wakened.
'Up?' roared Ruggedo, stamping his foot viciously. 'Those foolish mortals are up, that's what! And they want to come down.'
'Down here?' inquired Kaliko.
'Yes!'
'How do you know?' continued the Chamberlain, yawning again.
'I feel it in my bones,' said Ruggedo. 'I can always feel it when those hateful earth-crawlers draw near to my Kingdom. I am positive, Kaliko, that mortals are this very minute on their way here to annoy me – and I hate mortals more than I do catnip tea!'
'Well, what's to be done?' demanded the nome.
'Look through your spyglass, and see where the invaders are,' commanded the King.
So Kaliko went to a tube in the wall of rock and put his eye to it. The tube ran from the cavern up to the
