rome; and then the others made haste
to congratulate the new King.

"Will you release my dear brother?" asked Shaggy.

"The Ugly One? Very willingly," replied Kaliko. "I begged Ruggedo long
ago to send him away, but he would not do so. I also offered to help
your brother to escape, but he would not go."

"He's so conscientious!" said Shaggy, highly pleased. "All of our
family have noble natures. But is my dear brother well?" he added
anxiously.

"He eats and sleeps very steadily," replied the new King.

"I hope he doesn't work too hard," said Shaggy.

"He doesn't work at all. In fact, there is nothing he can do in these
dominions as well as our nomes, whose numbers are so great that it
worries us to keep them all busy. So your brother has only to amuse
himself."

"Why, it's more like visiting, than being a prisoner," asserted Betsy.

"Not exactly," returned Kaliko. "A prisoner cannot go where or when he
pleases, and is not his own master."

"Where is my brother now?" inquired Shaggy.

"In the Metal Forest."

"Where is that?"

"The Metal Forest is in the Great Domed Cavern, the largest in all our
dominions," replied Kaliko. "It is almost like being out of doors, it
is so big, and Ruggedo made the wonderful forest to amuse himself, as
well as to tire out his hard-working nomes. All the trees are gold and
silver and the ground is strewn with precious stones, so it is a sort
of treasury."

"Let us go there at once and rescue my dear brother," pleaded Shaggy
earnestly.

Kaliko hesitated.

"I don't believe I can find the way," said he. "Ruggedo made three
secret passages to the Metal Forest, but he changes the location of
these passages every week, so that no one can get to the Metal Forest
without his permission. However, if we look sharp, we may be able to
discover one of these secret ways."

"That reminds me to ask what has become of Queen Ann and the Officers
of Oogaboo," said Files.

"I'm sure I can't say," replied Kaliko.

"Do you suppose Ruggedo destroyed them?"

"Oh, no; I'm quite sure he didn't. They fell into the big pit in the
passage, and we put the cover on to keep them there; but when the
executioners went to look for them they had all disappeared from the
pit and we could find no trace of them."

"That's funny," remarked Betsy thoughtfully. "I don't believe Ann knew
any magic, or she'd have worked it before. But to disappear like that
seems like magic; now, doesn't it?"

They agree