ead couldn't see the
body with either pair of its eyes, because the dog was in the way, so
the headless Scoodler stumbled around over the rocks and tripped on them
more than once in its effort to regain its top. Toto was trying to get
outside the rocks and roll the head down the hill; but some of the other
Scoodlers came to the rescue of their unfortunate comrade and pelted the
dog with their own heads until he was obliged to drop his burden and
hurry back to Dorothy.

The little girl and the Rainbow's Daughter had both escaped the shower
of heads, but they saw now that it would be useless to try to run away
from the dreadful Scoodlers.

"We may as well submit," declared the shaggy man, in a rueful voice, as
he got upon his feet again. He turned toward their foes and asked:

"What do you want us to do?"

"Come!" they cried, in a triumphant chorus, and at once sprang from the
rocks and surrounded their captives on all sides. One funny thing about
the Scoodlers was they could walk in either direction, coming or going,
without turning around; because they had two faces and, as Dorothy
said, "two front sides," and their feet were shaped like the letter T
upside down (_|_). They moved with great rapidity and there was
something about their glittering eyes and contrasting colors and
removable heads that inspired the poor prisoners with horror, and made
them long to escape.

[Illustration]

But the creatures led their captives away from the rocks and the road,
down the hill by a side path until they came before a low mountain of
rock that looked like a huge bowl turned upside down. At the edge of
this mountain was a deep gulf--so deep that when you looked into it
there was nothing but blackness below. Across the gulf was a narrow
bridge of rock, and at the other end of the bridge was an arched opening
that led into the mountain.

Over this bridge the Scoodlers led their prisoners, through the opening
into the mountain, which they found to be an immense hollow dome lighted
by several holes in the roof. All around the circular space were built
rock houses, set close together, each with a door in the front wall.
None of these houses was more than six feet wide, but the Scoodlers were
thin people sidewise and did not need much room. So vast was the dome
that there was a large space in the middle of the cave, in front of all
these houses, where the creatures might congregate as in a great hall.

It made Dorothy shudder to