lied; "but
I'll get along somehow until we reach a straw-stack. Don't laugh at me,
please, because I'm a little ashamed of myself and I don't want to
regret a good action."

They started at once in the direction of Mount Munch, and as the
Scarecrow proved very clumsy in his movements, Woot took one of his
arms and the Tin Woodman the other and so helped their friend to walk
in a straight line.

And the Rainbow's Daughter, as before, danced ahead of them and behind
them and all around them, and they never minded her odd ways, because
to them she was like a ray of sunshine.

Chapter Twenty

Over Night

The Land of the Munchkins is full of surprises, as our travelers had
already learned, and although Mount Munch was constantly growing larger
as they advanced toward it, they knew it was still a long way off and
were not certain, by any means, that they had escaped all danger or
encountered their last adventure.

The plain was broad, and as far as the eye could see, there seemed to
be a level stretch of country between them and the mountain, but toward
evening they came upon a hollow, in which stood a tiny blue Munchkin
dwelling with a garden around it and fields of grain filling in all the
rest of the hollow.

They did not discover this place until they came close to the edge of
it, and they were astonished at the sight that greeted them because
they had imagined that this part of the plain had no inhabitants.

"It's a very small house," Woot declared. "I wonder who lives there?"

"The way to find out is to knock on the door and ask," replied the Tin
Woodman. "Perhaps it is the home of Nimmie Amee."

"Is she a dwarf?" asked the boy.

"No, indeed; Nimmie Amee is a full sized woman."

"Then I'm sure she couldn't live in that little house," said Woot.

"Let's go down," suggested the Scarecrow. "I'm almost sure I can see a
straw-stack in the back yard."

They descended the hollow, which was rather steep at the sides, and
soon came to the house, which was indeed rather small. Woot knocked
upon a door that was not much higher than his waist, but got no reply.
He knocked again, but not a sound was heard.

"Smoke is coming out of the chimney," announced Polychrome, who was
dancing lightly through the garden, where cabbages and beets and
turnips and the like were growing finely.

"Then someone surely lives here," said Woot, and knocked again.

Now a window at the side of the house opened and a queer hea