"Let me see," cried the King, snatching the exspectacles back again. And for the next five minutes Kaliko and his Chief Chamberlain fought bitterly for possession of the magic glasses. As soon as Kaliko had them, Guph wanted to see how the travellers were progressing, and as soon as Guph had them Kaliko insisted on having them back.
"Well, shall we have a war?" grumbled Guph, as Kaliko seized the specs for the seventeenth time.
"Certainly not," answered the King. "Betsy's a good friend of mine. Don't you remember, she was here when Ruggedo was deposed? And I see no harm in these others."
"I thought it would be like this," muttered Guph in disgust. "You're such a goody-goody, you never let us have any fun at all. I suppose you'll end by inviting them all to lunch," he finished bitterly.
"Just what I was thinking of," admitted Kaliko cheerfully. "Pray go and conduct them the rest of the way and don't slam the door when you go out, either." Settling back on his throne with a little chuckle of anticipation, Kaliko continued to watch the progress of Betsy and her friends through the winding corridors of the Lost Labyrinth.
Betsy, herself, did not even know she was in the gnome King's dominions. After a terrible tumble through the dark, the four adventurers had plunged into the underground pool of a grim green grotto. While the water had broken their fall and saved them from serious injury, it had not added to their cheerfulness.
"This is not the ruby that protects me from water," sputtered Prince Evered, as Carter dragged him out of the pool. "Ugh! I'm nearly drowned!"
"Have you still got it?" asked Betsy. The Hungry Tiger had already pulled her out and was helping Carter fish his wheel-barrow from the pool. Feeling in his pocket, the Prince nodded. Then, picking up his sword, he looked around in huge disgust.
"Is this a Cave Inn?" he demanded indignantly.
"I wonder where this passageway leads," murmured Betsy, who had run to an opening in the grotto. "Maybe there's an inn after all." But there was no sign of an inn anywhere—only a maze of rocky corridors branching out in every direction. With Betsy and Reddy on his back, the Hungry Tiger stepped cautiously out of the grotto and started down the widest of the curious corridors. The floors were slippery with moss covered rocks, the ceiling was of glittering green stones, shaped like long, jagged icicles.