"Did you put your umbrellas down?" asked High Boy, nodding amiably to the Medicine Man.
"Why should we put them down?" questioned Herby, puckering up his forehead, "It was raining!"
"Of course it was raining. Wasn't I there too, but you must know that in our country, the storms come up and the thing to do is to put your umbrella down and jump in it. Like this," explained High Boy, swinging his umbrella tail expertly under his telescope legs and standing calmly in the center of it. "Then when the rain comes, you don't get wet or blown away. Always put your umbrella down when a storm comes up," he finished, jumping out of his umbrella and swinging it back into place.
Philador was too surprised to make any remark, but Herby, delighted to see the King's famous steed, put his foot into the stirrup and pulled up into the saddle.
"Do you know the way to the Emerald City?" he asked breathlessly.
"Two mountains and a couple of countries to the South," answered High Boy carelessly. "Up with you Princeling, four legs are better than two, especially when they are my kind." To this Philador could agree most heartily, and swinging himself up in front of Herby, he took the reins hanging loosely round High Boy's neck and begged him to start.
"I always did want to see the capital," confessed High Boy trotting smartly along the stony mountain path. "I hear that there is a saw horse at the Emerald City, and I want to see whether he is as handsome and as useful as I am."
"He couldn't possibly be as nice," sighed Philador, putting both arms round High Boy's neck. "You're even better than my sea horse."
"Hey! Hey! Well, what do you think of that?" With a snort of surprise and pleasure, the King's horse set off for the second mountain at such a pace that the wind whistled by like a hurricane.
"Hold on, boys," he neighed boisterously. "I'm your friend for life!"