Alice had been sprinkling water on his face and fanning him with her straw hat for several minutes, and still the Red Knight lay there quite motionless. He looked so wan and pale it made Alice's heart ache. But just when she had decided that a doctor must be sent for, the Red Knight opened his eyes and sighed.
"Where are we?" he said.
"We are still in North Dakota," said Alice.
"And our opponents?"
"They have gone somewhere else."
"I knew it," said the Red Knight. "They have left the field to me. I knew it would be like that. I always win. Did you see me charge?"
"I did," said Alice. "It made me so sad to see you go over your horse's head so many times."
"I did that to disconcert them," said the Red Knight. "As long as I stayed in the saddle they would keep on fighting. But as soon as I fell off they would naturally be at a loss as to what to do next."
"But you frightened me horribly," said Alice. "Every time you went over you landed on your head."
"Oh, that was all right," said the Red Knight. "My head has always been the strongest part of me. Besides, I always think very well on my head. It stimulates me. Some of the very best ideas I have had—like the recall of the judges, for instance—came to me in that position. The thing to do now is to follow up our victory."
"You must not bother about that now," said Alice. "You must really rest up. Talking isn't very good for you."
"It never hurts me to talk," said the Red Knight. "It is no strain whatever. I can do it without thinking."
A tired look came into Alice's face.
"You are not discouraged, are you?" asked the Red Knight, a little wistfully. "You mustn't be, you know. If I gave up the fight who else would there be to carry it on?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said Alice.
"There is no one else," said the Red Knight. "I'll prove it to you." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a collapsible foot-measure of the kind carpenters use in their business. He handed it to Alice and asked her to open it out.
"This is a very funny rule," said Alice. "I thought all these pocket-measures ran up to six feet, but this one stops short at five feet ten inches."
"Exactly," said the Red Knight. "Now would you mind taking my measure, just as I lie here."
Alice wondered, but complied.
"Why," she said, "it is just your height."
"Of course it is," said the Red Knight. "This, you see, is the rule of the people. I always carry it about with me. It is a very good rule, because it works only one way."