"But you will pardon me if I am not yet satisfied that you are stronger than my famous magic.

However, I beg you to believe that I bear you no ill will, King Rinkitink; but it is my duty to destroy you, if possible, because you and that insignificant boy Prince have openly threatened to take away my captives and have positively refused to go back to the earth's surface and let me alone.
I'm very tender-hearted, as a matter of fact, and I like you immensely, and would enjoy having you as a friend, but--" Here he pressed a button on the arm of his throne chair and the section of the floor where Rinkitink stood suddenly opened and disclosed a black pit beneath, which was a part of 'the terrible Bottomless Gulf.
But Rinkitink did not fall into the pit; his body remained suspended in the air until he put out his foot and stepped to the solid floor, when the opening suddenly closed again.
"I appreciate Your Majesty's friendship," remarked Rinkitink, as calmly as if nothing had happened, "but I am getting tired with standing.

Will you kindly send for my goat, Bilbil, that I may sit upon his back to rest ?" "Indeed I will!" promised Kaliko.

"I have not yet completed my test of your magic, and as I owe that goat a slight grudge for bumping my head and smashing my second-best crown, I will be glad to discover if the beast can also escape my delightful little sorceries." So Klik was sent to fetch Bilbil and presently returned with the goat, which was very cross this morning because it had not slept well in the underground caverns.
Rinkitink lost no time in getting upon the red velvet saddle which the goat constantly wore, for he feared the Nome King would try to destroy Bilbil and knew that as long as his body touched that of the goat the Pink Pearl would protect them both; whereas, if Bilbil stood alone, there was no magic to save him.
Bilbil glared wickedly at King Kaliko, who moved uneasily in his ivory throne.

Then the Nome King whispered a moment in the ear of Klik, who nodded and left the room.
"Please make yourselves at home here for a few minutes, while I attend to an errand," said the Nome King, getting up from the throne.