They were a nervous, restless people, and their
egg-shaped heads, set on the ends of long, thin necks, seemed so
grotesque to the strangers that they could scarcely forbear laughing
at them. The bodies of these people were short and round and their
legs exceptionally long, so when a Blueskin walked, he covered twice
as much ground at one step as Cap'n Bill or Button-Bright did. The
women seemed just as repellent as the men, and Button-Bright began
to understand that the Six Snubnosed Princesses were, after all,
rather better looking than most of the females of the Blue Country
and so had a certain right to be proud and haughty.
There were no horses nor cows in this land, but there were plenty of
blue goats, from which the people got their milk. Children tended
the goats--wee Blueskin boys and girls whose appearance was so
comical that Button-Bright laughed whenever he saw one of them.
Although the natives had never seen before this any human beings
made as Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill were, they took a strong
dislike to the strangers and several times threatened to attack
them. Perhaps if Ghip-Ghisizzle, who was their favorite, had not
been present, they would have mobbed our friends with vicious
ill-will and might have seriously injured them. But Ghip-Ghisizzle's
friendly protection made them hold aloof.
By and by they passed through a City gate, and their guide showed
them the outer walls, which protected the City from the country
beyond.
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