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Oogaboo were now his firm friends, and there was
no more talk about conquering and binding any of
his party.
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"If you insist on conquering anyone," said
Shaggy, "you may march with me to the underground
Kingdom of Ruggedo. To conquer the world, as you
have set out to do, you must conquer everyone
under its surface as well as those upon its
surface, and no one in all the world needs
conquering so much as Ruggedo."
"Who is he?" asked Ann.
"The Metal Monarch, King of the Nomes."
"Is he rich?" inquired Major Stockings in an
anxious voice.
"Of course," answered Shaggy. "He owns all
the metal that lies underground--gold, silver,
copper, brass and tin. He has an idea he also
owns all the metals above ground, for he says all
metal was once a part of his kingdom. So, by
conquering the Metal Monarch, you will win all
the riches in the world."
"Ah!" exclaimed General Apple, heaving a
deep sigh, "that would be plunder worth our
while. Let's conquer him, Your Majesty."
The Queen looked reproachfully at Files, who was
sitting next to the lovely Princess and whispering
in her ear.
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"Alas," said Ann, "I have no longer an Army.
I have plenty of brave officers, indeed, but no
private soldier for them to command. Therefore
I cannot conquer Ruggedo and win all his
wealth."
"Why don't you make one of your officers the
Private?" asked Shaggy; but at once every officer
began to protest and the Queen of Oogaboo shook
her head as she replied:
"That is impossible. A private soldier must be a
terrible fighter, and my officers are unable to
fight. They are exceptionally brave in commanding
others to fight, but could not themselves meet
the enemy and conquer."
"Very true, Your Majesty," said Colonel Plum,
eagerly. "There are many kinds of bravery and one
cannot be expected to possess them all. I myself
am brave as a lion in all ways until it comes to
fighting, but then my nature revolts. Fighting is
unkind and liable to be injurious to others; so,
being a gentleman, I never fight."
"Nor I!" shouted each of the other officers.
"You see," said Ann, "how helpless I am. Had not
Private Files proved himself a traitor and a
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deserter, I would gladly have conquered this
Ruggedo; but an Army without a private soldier is
like a bee without a stinger."
"I am not a traitor, Your Majesty," protested
Files. "I resigned in a proper manner, not liking
the job. But there are plenty of people to take my
place. Why not make Shaggy Man the private
soldier?"
"He might be killed," said Ann, looking tenderly
at Shaggy, "for he is mortal, and able to die. If
anything happened to him, it would break my
heart."
"It would hurt me worse than that," declared
Shaggy. "You must admit, Your Majesty, that I am
commander of this expedition, for it is my brother
we are seeking, rather than plunder. But I and my
companions would like the assistance of your Army,
and if you help us to conquer Ruggedo and to
rescue my brother from captivity we will allow you
to keep all the gold and jewels and other
plunder you may find."
This prospect was so tempting that the officers
began whispering together and presently Colonel
Cheese said: "Your Majesty, by combining our
brains we have just evolved a most brilliant idea.
We will make the Clockwork Man the private
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soldier!"
"Who? Me?" asked Tik-Tok. "Not for a sin-gle
sec-ond! I can-not fight, and you must not for-get
that it was Rug-ge-do who threw me in the well."
"At that time you had no gun," said Polychrome.
"But if you join the Army of Oogaboo you will
carry the gun that Mr. Files used."
"A sol-dier must be a-ble to run as well as to
fight," protested Tik-Tok, "and if my works run
down, as they of-ten do, I could nei-ther run nor
fight."
"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 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] - zanotowane.pl
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