refused to go back to the earth's surface and let me
alone. I'm very tender-hearted, as a matter of fact,
and I like you immensely, and would enjoy having you as
a friend, but --" Here he pressed a button on the arm
of his throne chair and the section of the floor where
Rinkitink stood suddenly opened and disclosed a black
pit beneath, which was a part of 'the terrible
Bottomless Gulf.

But Rinkitink did not fall into the pit; his body
remained suspended in the air until he put out his foot
and stepped to the solid floor, when the opening
suddenly closed again.

"I appreciate Your Majesty's friendship," remarked
Rinkitink, as calmly as if nothing had happened, "but I
am getting tired with standing. Will you kindly send
for my goat, Bilbil, that I may sit upon his back to
rest?"

"Indeed I will!" promised Kaliko. "I have not yet
completed my test of your magic, and as I owe that goat
a slight grudge for bumping my head and smashing my
second-best crown, I will be glad to discover if the
beast can also escape my delightful little sorceries."

So Klik was sent to fetch Bilbil and presently
returned with the goat, which was very cross this
morning because it had not slept well in the
underground caverns.