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glancing up at the tempting bunches of silver fruit.
"Besides, we may never have a chance to see this
many unicorns again."
"One is too many for me," grunted Snuffer, giving
himself a pleased shake as the Prime Patter finished
brushing his coat and turned his attention to Ojo.
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Pat used a smaller brush on the boy, and it was com-
ical indeed to have his hair brushed and his head
patted by a blue-whiskered dwarf. Ojo, like Realbad,
was quite willing to stay and see more of this singu-
lar forest kingdom. All his life, thought the boy, he
would remember the silver shadows cast by the giant
trees and the flashing, beautiful bodies of the uni-
corns moving about in their lovely and leafy enclo-
sure. Near the lantern bush there was a clear and
sparkling pool and Roganda's subjects seemed to
enjoy more than anything else gazing at their re-
flections in the still surface of its waters. But Snuf-
ferbux cared little for beauty. His years of roaming
with the gypsies had dulled his curiosity and made
him wary of danger. His one thought was to get
Ojo safely back to the Emerald City and return to a
life of comfort and ease.
Swinging his lantern impatiently while Pat whisked
the dust from Realbad's coat, he again urged them
to take lanterns and push out into the fog.
"Wait till we have sampled these famous apples,"
drawled Realbad, throwing his arm around Snuffer's
shoulder. "And we may pick up something else."
"Oh, you and your pickings," snarled Snuffer,
hardening his heart against the smiling outlaw.
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"Stay if you wish, but Ojo and I are pushing on."
"But Snuffer, I am hungry." Ojo looked up coax-
ingly. "Look! They're knocking down the apples.
now. Why shouldn't we stay and try some?"
The dwarfs, who all seemed to have the strength
of giants, were tapping the tree trunks with their
silver hammers, and silver apples and leaves were
tumbling down in a shining shower. Gathering them
up into wicker baskets the dwarfs set the baskets on
the tree stumps, and with little whinnies of anticipa-
tion and pleasure the unicorns began to nibble at
their appetizing fare.
Waiting no longer for Snuffer's consent Ojo ran
excitedly after Pat, who had hurried off to serve the
queen, and picking up one of the silver apples he
bit into it eagerly. It was firm and sweet and like
no other fruit he had ever tasted, so delicious, in
fact, that he ate five or six more. The leaves seemed
to be candied and seeing that the un~orns were
munching them with great relish, Ojo picked up a
handful and sampled them, too. They were crisp and
spicy and much better than candy, and with a little
sigh of content Ojo settled down on a tree stump
prepared to enjoy himself. Snuffer still stood stiffly
aloof, but after one bite of a silver apple, pressed
into his paw by a kind little dwarf, he, too, began
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to pick up and devour the delicious fruit as fast as he
could.
Realbad, walking fearlessly about among the uni-
corns, who seemed to accept him as one of them-
selves, had an apple in each hand and a cheery word
for everybody. The fog still hung like a heavy cur-
tam about the fairy-like enclosure and, as traveling
on for the moment was impossible, Realbad deter-
mined to extract as much pleasure from the ex-
perience as possible. The dwarfs, fascinated by the
huge size of the bandit, followed him in droves, and
Pat, the Prime Patter, showed him everything of
interest. Snufferbux, waddling behind them in great
disapproval, sniffed sarcastically as Pat pointed out
the Queen's Treasure Tree. When the dwarfs were
not busy serving the unicorns they worked in the
mines near Unicorners, Pat explained cheerfully, and
liked nothing so much as discovering new jewels for
their fleet-footed sovereign.
"A regular king's ransom, eh?" grunted the bear,
giving Realbad a malicious poke as the bandit
thrust his head into the tree. "Why go further?"
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