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"Why, I had no idea anything could live that long!" "My respected Ancestor, whom I would call a stupid old humbug if I had not reformed, is so old that I am a mere baby compared with him," said Quox. "He dates from the beginning of the world, and insists on telling us stories of things that happened fifty thousand years ago, which are of no interest at all to youngsters like me.
Because you were sleeping instead of conquering, the lovely Rose Princess has become a fiddle without a bow, while poor Shaggy sits there a cooing dove!" "Don't worry," replied Quox. "Tititi-Hoochoo knows his business, and I have my orders from the Great Jinjin himself. Bring the fiddle here and touch it lightly to my pink ribbon."
Nor had any among their followers or servants done any wrong. But finally I came to the Dragon Family, which we highly respect, and then it was that I discovered the error of Quox. "Quox, as you well know, is a young dragon who has not yet acquired the wisdom of his race.
As for Polychrome, as soon as she saw that trouble had overtaken Shaggy she turned and ran lightly back through the passage and out of the entrance. Then she easily leaped from rock to rock until she paused beside the great dragon, who lay fast asleep. "Wake up, Quox!" she cried. "It is time for you to act." But Quox did not wake up.
"You see," said Shaggy, in his frank way, "Quox is on our side, and therefore the dragon is a good fellow. If he happened to be an enemy, instead of a friend, I am sure I should dislike him very much, for his breath smells of brimstone, he is very conceited and he is so strong and fierce that he would prove a dangerous foe."
Then Quox yawned and stretched himself and ambled over to the Tube, into which he slid headforemost and disappeared. They really felt as if they had lost a friend, for the dragon had been both kind and sociable during their brief acquaintance with him; but they knew it was his duty to return to his own country.
The great dragon still had his eyes closed and was even snoring in a manner that resembled distant thunder; but Polychrome was now desperate, because any further delay meant the destruction of her friends. She seized the pearl necklace, to which was attached the great locket, and jerked it with all her strength. The result was encouraging. Quox stopped snoring and his eyelids flickered.
"What keeps it going?" Betsy inquired. "I've no idea. I only know it's there," said Quox. "The fire keeps me alive and enables me to move; also to think and speak." "Ah! You are ver-y much like my-self," said Tik-Tok. "The on-ly dif-fer-ence is that I move by clock-work, while you move by fire." "I don't see a particle of likeness between us, I must confess," retorted Quox, gruffly.
When all had mounted to their places the dragon looked very like one of those sightseeing wagons so common in big cities only he had legs instead of wheels. "All ready?" asked Quox, and when they said they were he crawled to the mouth of the Tube and put his head in.
But Quox shook his head. "No," said he; "I'll wait." The Naughty Nome Shaggy Man had said nothing during the conversation between Queen Ann and Quox, for the simple reason that he did not consider the matter worth an argument. Safe within his pocket reposed the Love Magnet, which had never failed to win every heart.
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