ubject.

At night they all camped underneath the trees. The boy ate cream-puffs
for supper and offered Polychrome some, but she preferred other food
and at daybreak sipped the dew that was clustered thick on the forest
flowers. Then they tramped onward again, and presently the Scarecrow
paused and said:

"It was on this very spot that Dorothy and I first met the Tin Woodman,
who was rusted so badly that none of his joints would move. But after
we had oiled him up, he was as good as new and accompanied us to the
Emerald City."

"Ah, that was a sad experience," asserted the Tin Woodman soberly. "I
was caught in a rainstorm while chopping down a tree for exercise, and
before I realized it, I was firmly rusted in every joint. There I
stood, axe in hand, but unable to move, for days and weeks and months!
Indeed, I have never known exactly how long the time was; but finally
along came Dorothy and I was saved. See! This is the very tree I was
chopping at the time I rusted."

"You cannot be far from your old home, in that case," said Woot.

"No; my little cabin stands not a great way off, but there is no
occasion for us to visit it. Our errand is with Nimmie Amee, and her
house is somewhat farther away, to the left of us."

"Didn't you say she lives with a Wicked Witch, who makes her a slave?"
asked the boy.

"She did, but she doesn't," was the reply. "I am told the Witch was
destroyed when Dorothy's house fell on her, so now Nimmie Amee must
live all alone. I haven't seen her, of course, since the Witch was
crushed, for at that time I was standing rusted in the forest and had
been there a long time, but the poor girl must have felt very happy to
be free from her cruel mistress."

"Well," said the Scarecrow, "let's travel on and find Nimmie Amee. Lead
on, your Majesty, since you know the way, and we will follow."

So the Tin Woodman took a path that led through the thickest part of
the forest, and they followed it for some time. The light was dim here,
because vines and bushes and leafy foliage were all about them, and
often the Tin Man had to push aside the branches that obstructed their
way, or cut them off with his axe. After they had proceeded some
distance, the Emperor suddenly stopped short and exclaimed: "Good
gracious!"

The Scarecrow, who was next, first bumped into his friend and then
peered around his tin body, and said in a tone of wonder:

"Well, I declare!"

Woot the Wanderer pushed forward to see