“You are all condemned to death! Your only chance to escape is to leave here instantly.”
This startled little Betsy, but the Shaggy Man merely waved the Magnet toward the Gardener, who, seeing it, rushed forward and threw himself at Shaggy’s feet, murmuring in honeyed words:
“Oh, you lovely, lovely man! How fond I am of you! Every shag and bobtail that decorates you is dear to me—all I have is yours! But for goodness’ sake get out of here before you die the death.”
“I’m not going to die,” declared Shaggy Man.
“You must. It’s the Law,” exclaimed the Gardener, beginning to weep real tears. “It breaks my heart to tell you this bad news, but the Law says that all strangers must be condemned by the Ruler to die the death.”
“No Ruler has condemned us yet,” said Betsy.
“Of course not,” added Shaggy. “We haven’t even seen the Ruler of the Rose Kingdom.”
“Well, to tell the truth,” said the Gardener, in a perplexed tone of voice, “we haven’t any real Ruler, just now. You see, all our Rulers grow on bushes in the Royal Gardens, and the last one we had got mildewed and withered before his time. So we had to plant him, and at this time there is no one growing on the Royal Bushes who is ripe enough to pick.”
“How do you know?” asked Betsy.