traight for a
little way and then made a bend to the right and another sharp turn to
the left, after which it went straight again. But there were no side
passages, so they could not lose their way.

After proceeding some distance, Toto, who had gone on ahead, began to
bark loudly. They ran around a bend to see what was the matter and found
a man sitting on the floor of the passage and leaning his back against
the wall. He had probably been asleep before Toto's barks aroused him,
for he was now rubbing his eyes and staring at the little dog with all
his might.

There was something about this man that Toto objected to, and when he
slowly rose to his foot they saw what it was. He had but one leg, set
just below the middle of his round, fat body; but it was a stout leg and
had a broad, flat foot at the bottom of it, on which the man seemed to
stand very well. He had never had but this one leg, which looked
something like a pedestal, and when Toto ran up and made a grab at the
man's ankle he hopped first one way and then another in a very active
manner, looking so frightened that Scraps laughed aloud.

Toto was usually a well behaved dog, but this time he was angry and
snapped at the man's leg again and again. This filled the poor fellow
with fear, and in hopping out of Toto's reach he suddenly lost his
balance and tumbled heel over head upon the floor. When he sat up he
kicked Toto on the nose and made the dog howl angrily, but Dorothy now
ran forward and caught Toto's collar, holding him back.

"Do you surrender?" she asked the man.

"Who? Me?" asked the Hopper.

"Yes; you," said the little girl.

"Am I captured?" he inquired.

"Of course. My dog has captured you," she said.

"Well," replied the man, "if I'm captured I must surrender, for it's the
proper thing to do. I like to do everything proper, for it saves one a
lot of trouble."

"It does, indeed," said Dorothy. "Please tell us who you are."

"I'm Hip Hopper--Hip Hopper, the Champion."

"Champion what?" she asked in surprise.

"Champion wrestler. I'm a very strong man, and that ferocious animal
which you are so kindly holding is the first living thing that has ever
conquered me."

"And you are a Hopper?" she continued.

"Yes. My people live in a great city not far from here. Would you like
to visit it?"

"I'm not sure," she said with hesitation. "Have you any dark wells in
your city?"

"I think not. We have wells, you know, but they're all well