Part 3 (2/2)
”Oh!” said Dot. Then she inquired, curiously, ”How many whiskers have you?”
”Well, answered the Watch-Dog of Merryland,” confidentially, ”there are either eighty-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-six, or else eighty-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-eight. Sometimes I make it one figure and sometimes the other, so I can't really tell which is right. I was engaged in counting my whiskers when I looked up and saw your boat. I had then counted sixty-nine thousand three hundred and fifty-four; but I was so surprised to see you that I missed the count, and now I shall have to begin all over again.”
”I'm sorry,” said Dot, sympathetically; ”I'd like to know just which is the right number.”
”If you will wait I'll count them,” he replied, eagerly. ”Perhaps then you can tell if I make a mistake.”
”How long will it take?” she asked.
”I can do it in about four months.”
”Oh, we couldn't possibly wait that long,” declared the girl. ”I really think we should be going now.”
”Where will you go?” he asked.
”There is only one way for us to go--through that archway into Merryland, as you call it. We are not strong enough to pull the boat upstream, so we must let it float where it will.”
”It will be a terrible disgrace to me,” said the Watch-Dog of Merryland, in a solemn voice, ”if you escape me. What will the Queen say when she knows I have watched here three hundred years without seeing anyone, and then allowed the first strangers who came along to pa.s.s through the archway?”
”I do not see that she can blame you,” returned Dot. ”You say yourself you would be unable to stop us if we decided not to mind you. So the Queen can only blame us for not minding you.”
”That is true,” said the old man, more cheerfully.
”Want somethin' t'eat?” inquired Tot, holding out a slice of jellycake.
”Dear me!” said the Watch-Dog, taking the cake in his hand and looking at it with much curiosity. ”What is it?”
”Eat it,” said Tot; ”it's good.”
”But I can't eat,” replied the old man. ”I don't know how. I've never eaten anything in my life.”
”Not even when you were a little boy?” Tot asked, in wonder.
”Well, I've forgotten what happened when I was a little boy, it's so long ago,” returned the man. ”But I certainly have no desire to eat now, and if I had there is nothing in the Valley to devour except stones. I suppose eating is a habit you have acquired. Why don't you break yourself of it?”
”I get hungry,” answered Tot.
”Hunger must be a habit, too,” remarked the old man, ”for I never have had it since I have been in this valley. However, if you will allow me to keep the cake, I will amuse myself by looking at it when I'm tired of counting my whiskers.”
”You are quite welcome to the cake,” said Dot. ”But now I must ask you to excuse us, for it is time we started upon our journey.”
”Oh, don't let me detain you,” replied the Watch-dog of Merryland, politely; ”that is, if you are determined to disobey my orders.”
”I fear we must,” said the girl. ”Is Merryland the other side of that archway?”
”Part of it is,” answered the old man. ”There are Seven Valleys in Merryland, connected by archways, for the river flows through them all.”
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