And as soon as the great cave was again empty Kaliko returned with his visitors to his own royal chamber, where he once more seated himself upon his ivory throne.
"I have shown you," said he to Inga, "a part of my bodyguard.

The royal armies, of which this is only a part, are as numerous as the sands of the ocean, and live in many thousands of my underground caverns.

You have come here thinking to force me to give up the captives of King Gos and Queen Cor, and I wanted to convince you that my power is too mighty for anyone to oppose.

I am told that you are a wizard, and depend upon magic to aid you; but you must know that the nomes are not mortals, and understand magic pretty well themselves, so if we are obliged to fight magic with magic the chances are that we are a hundred times more powerful than you can be.

Think this over carefully, my boy, and try to realize that you are in my power.