The goblin nodded gravely; and said: “Yes, he said if I didn’t have you in Goblinland by to-morrow forenoon, he’d have my head cut off.”
“Why, he’s a cruel old tyrant!” the boy cried hotly.
“No, he isn’t,” the goblin protested; “he has to do what he said he’d do. It’s the law, you know; the law that when one agrees to do a certain thing by a certain time, he must do it or suffer death.”
“Well, such a fool law!” Bob muttered testily. “I don’t want to go to a country that has such laws; and I won’t.”
“Bob, remember—if you don’t go with me, I’ll be killed.”
The boy was silent for some moments. Then he said:
“Well, Fitz, I’ll go with you—to save your life; but I wish I hadn’t come with you at all.”
A few minutes later they were again off for Goblinland.