cross and grumpy.

"I know what you've come for," said he, before Inga could speak. "You
want to get the captives from Regos away from me; but you can't do it,
so you'd best go away again."

"The captives are my father and mother, and I intend to liberate them,"
said the boy firmly.

The King stared hard at Inga, wondering at his audacity. Then he turned
to look at King Rinkitink and said:

"I suppose you are the King of Gilgad, which is in the Kingdom of
Rinkitink."

"You've guessed it the first time," replied Rinkitink.

"How round and fat you are!" exclaimed Kaliko.

"I was just thinking how fat and round you are," said Rinkitink.
"Really, King Kaliko, we ought to be friends, we're so much alike in
everything but disposition and intelligence."

Then he began to chuckle, while Kaliko stared hard at him, not knowing
whether to accept his speech as a compliment or not. And now the nome's
eyes wandered to Bilbil, and he asked:

"Is that your talking goat?"

Bilbil met the Nome King's glowering look with a gaze equally surly and
defiant, while Rinkitink answered: "It is, Your Majesty."

"Can he really talk?" asked Kaliko, curiously.

"He can. But the best thing he does is to scold. Talk to His Majesty,
Bilbil."

But Bilbil remained silent and would not speak.

"Do you always ride upon his back?" continued Kaliko, questioning
Rinkitink.

"Yes," was the answer, "because it is difficult for a fat man to walk
far, as perhaps you know from experience.

"That is true," said Kaliko. "Get off the goat's back and let me ride
him a while, to see how I like it. Perhaps I'll take him away from you,
to ride through my caverns."

Rinkitink chuckled softly as he heard this, but at once got off
Bilbil's back and let Kaliko get on. The Nome King was a little
awkward, but when he was firmly astride the saddle he called in a loud
voice: "Giddap!"

When Bilbil paid no attention to the command and refused to stir,
Kaliko kicked his heels viciously against the goat's body, and then
Bilbil made a sudden start. He ran swiftly across the great cavern,
until he had almost reached the opposite wall, when he stopped so
abruptly that King Kaliko sailed over his head and bumped against the
jeweled wall. He bumped so hard that the points of his crown were all
mashed out of shape and his head was driven far into the
diamond-studded band of the crown, so that it covered one eye and a
part of his nose. Perhaps this saved Kaliko's