This servant was not so long-legged as Ghip-Ghisizzle, and his head was thicker and his nose flatter.  But that pleased the Boolooroo all the more.  He realized that when the great knife had sliced the prisoners in two and their halves were patched together, they would present a ridiculous sight and all the Blueskins would laugh at them and avoid them.  So on the very morning that the Pinkies arrived, the Boolooroo had ordered his two prisoners brought into the room of the palace where the Great Knife stood, and his soldiers were getting ready to perform the operation of patching Ghip-Ghisizzle with Tingle when a messenger came running to say that a great army of the Pinkies had broken through the Fog Bank.

“Never mind,” said the Boolooroo, “I’ll attend to them in a minute.  I’m busy now.”

“They are marching on the City,” said the frightened messenger.  “If you delay, Most High and Mighty One, we shall all be captured.  You’d better save your City first and do your patching afterward.”

“What!” roared the Boolooroo.  “Dare you dictate to me?” But he was impressed by the man’s logic.  After locking the prisoners, who were still bound, in the Room of the Great Knife, the Ruler hurried away to assemble his soldiers.  By this time the Pinkies had advanced halfway to the walls of the City, so the first thing the Boolooroo did was to order all the gates closed and locked, and then he placed a line of soldiers on the wall to prevent any of the Pinkies from climbing over.  Therefore, when Cap’n Bill’s army reached the wall, he was obliged to halt his ranks until he could find a way to enter the City.

Now when the Boolooroo looked through the blue-steel bars of the main gate and saw the enemy armed with sharp-pointed sticks, he began to tremble; and when he thought how painful it would be to have his body and arms and legs prodded and pricked by such weapons, he groaned aloud and was very miserable.  But the thought occurred to him that if he could avoid being caught by the Pinkies, they would be unable to harm him.  So he went among his people and reminded them how horrible it would feel to be punched full of holes by the invaders and urged them to fight desperately and drive the Pinkies back into the Fog Bank.

Only a few of the Blueskins were soldiers, and these all belonged to the King’s bodyguard, but the citizens realized that they must indeed fight bravely to save themselves from getting hurt, so they promised the Boolooroo to do all they could.  They armed themselves with long cords having weights fastened to the ends and practiced throwing these weights in such a manner that the cords would wind around their enemies.  Also, they assembled in the streets in small groups and told each other in frightened whispers that all their trouble was due to the Boolooroo’s cruel treatment of the Earth people.  If he had received them as friends instead of making them slaves, they would never have escaped to the Pinkies and brought an army into the Blue Country that they might be revenged.  The Blueskins had not liked their Boolooroo before this, and now they began to hate him, forgetting they had also treated the strangers in a very disagreeable manner.