The stake was sticking
right through him, however, so he found a rock deeply set in the bank
and pressed the sharp point of the stake upon the surface of this rock
until he had driven it clear through his body. Then, by getting the
stake tangled among some thorny bushes, and wiggling his body, he
managed to draw it out altogether.
"There!" he exclaimed, "except for those two holes in me, I'm as
good as ever; but I must admit that that old wooden-legged fellow
saved both himself and the girl by making me a prisoner."
Now the Kalidahs, although the most disagreeable creatures in the
Land of Oz, were nevertheless magical inhabitants of a magical
Fairyland, and in their natures a certain amount of good was mingled
with the evil. This one was not very revengeful, and now that his late
foes were in danger of perishing, his anger against them faded away.
"Our own Kalidah King," he reflected, "has certain magical powers of
his own. Perhaps he knows how to fill up these two holes in my body."
So without paying any more attention to Trot and Cap'n Bill than
they were paying to him, he entered the forest and trotted along a
secret path that led to the hidden lair of all the Kalidahs.
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