You haven't made us laugh, not once!"
The Queen nodded emphatically at this and, glaring scornfully at the two intruders, swept out of the throne room.
"Last rule," whispered Notta, winking at Bob—for out of the tail of his eye, he could see the King signaling Slammer. Rushing forward impetuously he flung up his hand. "Could your Majesty tell me a word to rhyme with toboggan?" he asked pleadingly. Immediately King Theodore's face lit up with pleasure. He closed his eyes and began to drum with one hand on the arm of his throne. If there was one thing he adored it was rhyming.
He forgot to finish his directions to Slammer and instead mumbled hurriedly under his breath, "Choggin, foggin, doggon, noggin, loggin, joggin. Ah, I have it—joggin!" He opened his eyes and looked around triumphantly, but the clown and Bob Up were nowhere to be seen. In fact they had run as soon as the King's eyes closed. For Notta, while endeavoring to make their Majesties laugh, had discovered that one of the doors said "Out." And out they went, bowling over doormen like ten pins in their headlong flight. As the door slammed they slid down a steep dark passageway and in about two minutes shot out into the middle of a dusty road. Above them on a high hill rose the grey walls of the singular Kingdom of Doorways.
"Toboggan was right," muttered the clown, rising stiffly. "This country grows odder and odder, Bob. What do they call it now—Oz? But never mind, we shall have lots to tell each other on stormy nights when we reach the states. Lots and lots!"
Bob did not answer. Instead he clutched Notta's wide pantaloon and pointed toward a large clump of bushes. Looking out from the leaves was the head of a huge, shaggy lion. A shudder ran down the clown's back. He tried to remember the procedure of Bill, the old lion tamer in the circus. "Subdue the creature with your eye," Bill said. Yes, that was what he had said. Notta's knees rattled like castanets, but with a frightened gulp he stared the lion straight in the eye. For a moment nothing happened, then with a gusty sigh the lion began to speak.
"What have they done with the rest of me?" it roared mournfully.
