For a time there was silence. Queen Ann and her army sat down upon the ground to rest. Betsy sat on Hank’s back. Polychrome danced lightly up and down the jeweled paths while Files and the Princess wandered through the groves arm in arm. Tik-Tok, who never tired, stood motionless.
By and by a noise sounded from within the hut.
“Are you ready?” asked Shaggy.
“Yes, Brother,” came the reply, and the door was thrown open to allow the Ugly One to step forth.
Betsy might have laughed aloud had she not remembered how sensitive to ridicule Shaggy’s brother was, for the handkerchief with which he had masked his features was a red one covered with big white polka dots. In this two holes had been cut—in front of the eyes—while two smaller ones before the nostrils allowed the man to breathe freely. The cloth was then tightly drawn over the Ugly One’s face and knotted at the back of his neck.
He was dressed in clothes that had once been good, but now were sadly worn and frayed. His silk stockings had holes in them, and his shoes were stub-toed and needed blackening. “But what can you expect,” whispered Betsy, “when the poor man has been a prisoner for so many years?”
Shaggy had darted forward, and embraced his newly found brother with both his arms. The brother also embraced Shaggy, who then led him forward and introduced him to all the assembled company.
“This is the new Nome King,” he said when he came to Kaliko. “He is our friend, and has granted you your freedom.”
“That is a kindly deed,” replied Ugly in a sad voice, “but I dread to go back to the world in this direful condition. Unless I remain forever masked, my dreadful face would curdle all the milk and stop all the clocks.”
“Can’t the enchantment be broken in some way?” inquired Betsy.