“Oh, no!” cried Fluff; “it would be wicked to injure Queen Zixi and her people. Let us wish the Roly-Rogues back where they came from.”
“That would be folly!” said the dog Ruffles, with an accent of scorn. “For they could easily return again to our city of Nole, having once learned the way there.”
“That is true,” agreed Aunt Rivette. “The safest thing to do is to wish them all dead.”
“But it would be an awful job to bury so many great balls,” objected Bud. “It would keep all our people busy for a month, at least.”
“Why not wish them dead and buried?” asked Ruffles. “Then they would be out of the way for good and all.”
“A capital idea!” responded Tallydab.
“But I haven’t seen these curious creatures yet,” said Bud; “and if I now wish them all dead and buried, I shall never get a glimpse of one of them. So let’s walk boldly into the city, and when they appear to interfere with us I’ll make the wish and the Roly-Rogues will instantly disappear.”
So the entire party returned to the city of Nole; Bud and Fluff riding their ponies, Aunt Rivette fluttering along beside them, and the lord high steward walking behind with his dog.
The Roly-Rogues were so much surprised to see this little party boldly entering the streets of the city, and showing no particle of fear of them, that they at first made no offer to molest them.
Even when Bud roared with laughter at their queer appearance, and called them “mud-turtles” and “foot-balls,” they did not resent the insults; for they had never heard of either a turtle or a foot-ball before.