r way," she answered.

"How heartless!" wailed the Giant, shaking the bars again. "Consider how
many years it is since I've eaten a single plump little girl! They tell
me meat is going up, but if I can manage to catch you I'm sure it will
soon be going down. And I'll catch you if I can."

With this the Giant pushed his big arms, which looked like tree-trunks
(except that tree-trunks don't wear pink velvet) between the iron bars,
and the arms were so long that they touched the opposite wall of the
rock passage. Then he extended them as far as he could reach toward our
travelers and found he could almost touch the Scarecrow--but not quite.

"Come a little nearer, please," begged the Giant.

"I'm a Scarecrow."

"A Scarecrow? Ugh! I don't care a straw for a scarecrow. Who is that
bright-colored delicacy behind you?"

"Me?" asked Scraps. "I'm a Patchwork Girl, and I'm stuffed with cotton."

"Dear me," sighed the Giant in a disappointed tone; "that reduces my
dinner from four to two--and the dog. I'll save the dog for dessert."

Toto growled, keeping a good distance away.

"Back up," said the Scarecrow to those behind him. "Let us go back a
little way and talk this over."

So they turned and went around the bend in the passage, where they were
out of sight of the cave and Mister Yoop could not hear them.

"My idea," began the Scarecrow, when they had halted, "is to make a dash
past the cave, going on a run."

"He'd grab us," said Dorothy.

"Well, he can't grab but one at a time, and I'll go first. As soon as he
grabs me the rest of you can slip past him, out of his reach, and he
will soon let me go because I am not fit to eat."

They decided to try this plan and Dorothy took Toto in her arms, so as
to protect him. She followed just after the Scarecrow. Then came Ojo,
with Scraps the last of the four. Their hearts beat a little faster than
usual as they again approached the Giant's cave, this time moving
swiftly forward.

It turned out about the way the Scarecrow had planned. Mister Yoop was
quite astonished to see them come flying toward him, and thrusting his
arms between the bars he seized the Scarecrow in a firm grip. In the
next instant he realized, from the way the straw crunched between his
fingers, that he had captured the non-eatable man, but during that
instant of delay Dorothy and Ojo had slipped by the Giant and were out
of reach. Uttering a howl of rage the monster threw the Scarecrow after
them