k-eek! And now, tell me; aren't you getting tired of
trying to injure us?"

"Eh--heh," said the Nome King. "I see now that your magic can protect
you from all my arts. But is the boy Inga as, well protected as Your
Majesty and the goat?'

"Why do you ask?" inquired Rinkitink, uneasy at the question because he
remembered he had not seen the little Prince of Pingaree that morning.

"Because," said Kaliko, "the boy has been undergoing trials far greater
and more dangerous than any you have encountered, and it has been
hundreds of years since anyone has been able to escape alive from the
perils of my Three Trick Caverns."

King Rinkitink was much alarmed at hearing this, for although he knew
that Inga possessed the Blue Pearl, that would only give to him
marvelous strength, and perhaps strength alone would not enable him to
escape from danger. But he would not let Kaliko see the fear he felt
for Inga's safety, so he said in a careless way:

"You're a mighty poor magician, Kaliko, and I'll give you my crown if
Inga hasn't escaped any danger you have threatened him with."

"Your whole crown is not worth one of the valuable diamonds in my
crown," answered the Nome King, "but I'll take it. Let us go at once,
therefore, and see what has become of the boy Prince, for if he is not
destroyed by this time I will admit he cannot be injured by any of the
magic arts which I have at my command."

He left the room, accompanied by Klik, who had now rejoined his master,
and by Rinkitink riding upon Bilbil. After traversing several of the
huge caverns they entered one that was somewhat more bright and
cheerful than the others, where the Nome King paused before a wall of
rock. Then Klik pressed a secret spring and a section of the wall
opened and disclosed the corridor where Prince Inga stood facing them.

"Tarts and tadpoles!" cried Kaliko in surprise. "The boy is still
alive!"

Chapter Twenty

Dorothy to the Rescue

One day when Princess Dorothy of Oz was visiting Glinda the Good, who
is Ozma's Royal Sorceress, she was looking through Glinda's Great Book
of Records--wherein is inscribed all important events that happen in
every part of the world--when she came upon the record of the
destruction of Pingaree, the capture of King Kitticut and Queen Garee
and all their people, and the curious escape of Inga, the boy Prince,
and of King Rinkitink and the talking goat. Turning over some of the
following pages, Dorothy read