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Gazing around the hall in bewilderment they saw that it was filled with hundreds of men and women, all with beautiful faces and staring blue eyes and all wearing scarlet robes and jeweled crowns upon their heads. In fact, these people seemed exact duplicates of Tubekins and it was difficult to find any mark by which to tell them apart.
"He was some builder, I must say," remarked Betsy, when she had read the inscription; "but if he had known about that star I guess he'd have spent his time playing solitaire." "Well, what are we waiting for?" inquired Shaggy, who was impatient to start. "Quox," replied Tubekins. "But I think I hear him coming."
He looked thoughtfully from one to another of them for a while and then he turned his head over his shoulder and said: "Never mind the fire and pincers, my good brothers. It will be best to take these strangers to the Private Citizen." "Very well, Tubekins," responded a Voice, deep and powerful, that seemed to come out of the air, for the speaker was invisible.
He had one blue leg and one pink one, while both his feet which showed through the open sandals he wore were jet black. Betsy could not decide whether these gorgeous colors were dyes or the natural tints of the skin, but while she was thinking it over the man who had been called "Tubekins" said: "Follow me to the Residence all of you!"
From the crown which he wore, Betsy had thought this man must be the King of the country they were in, yet after he had seated all the strangers upon benches that were ranged in a semicircle before a high throne, Tubekins bowed humbly before the vacant throne and in a flash became invisible and disappeared. The hall was an immense place, but there seemed to be no one in it beside themselves.
These seats were double, with curved backs, so that two could sit in them, and there were twelve of these double seats, all strapped firmly around the dragon's thick body and placed one behind the other, in a row that extended from his shoulders nearly to his tail. "Aha!" exclaimed Tubekins; "I see that Tititi-Hoochoo has transformed Quox into a carryall." "I'm glad of that," said Betsy.
Therefore I have selected Quox as my royal Instrument of Vengeance and he shall go through the Tube with these people and inflict upon Ruggedo the punishment I have decreed." All had listened quietly to this speech and now the Kings and Queens bowed gravely to signify their approval of the Jinjin's judgment. Tititi-Hoochoo turned to Tubekins.
"Is the young dragon invisible?" asked Ann, who had never seen a live dragon and was a little fearful of meeting one. "No, indeed," replied the King of the Tube. "You'll see him in a minute; but before you part company I'm sure you'll wish he was invisible." "Is he dangerous, then?" questioned Files. "Not at all. But Quox tires me dreadfully," said Tubekins, "and I prefer his room to his company."
Had Quox been at all bashful I am sure he would have felt uncomfortable at the astonished stare of every eye in the group except Tubekins, of course, who was not astonished because he had seen Quox so often. Betsy had thought a "young" dragon must be a small dragon, yet here was one so enormous that the girl decided he must be full grown, if not overgrown.
"I command you," said he, "to escort these strangers to the Tube and see that they all enter it." The King of the Tube, who had first discovered our friends and brought them to the Private Citizen, stepped forward and bowed. As he did so, the Jinjin and all the Kings and Queens suddenly disappeared and only Tubekins remained visible.
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