"What!" exclaimed the Prince, with a startled expression.
"When," repeated the Chairman, "would you like your head cut off?"
"Never," shouted Pranc, as loud as he could.
"Never," repeated the Chairman of the Exterminating Committee, looking rather pained. "Oh, but I say that won't do at all. You must fix a time. We can't cut your head off unless you do. It wouldn't be legal."
"Indeed," said Pranc, with a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm very glad to hear it."
And though every member of the Committee on Extermination argued with him, and the First Lord of the Keyhole shook his fist at him and sputtered like a fire-cracker, he simply would not say when he would like his head cut off.
"Well," said the First Lord of the Keyhole to the Chairman of the Exterminating Committee, "we'll have to appeal to the King about the matter. This boy doesn't know what he wants."
"Oh, yes, he does," said the Snooping Bug.
"He does not," thundered the First Lord of the Keyhole.
"He does, too," retorted the Snooping Bug, "and if you see the King, we'll see him, too."