"Ah, that's important," answered the voice.

Then from out the hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of stuffed
bears, some carrying tin swords, some popguns and others long spears
with gay ribbons tied to the handles. There were hundreds of them,
altogether, and they quickly formed a circle around the Frogman and the
Cookie Cook but kept at a distance and left a large space for the
prisoners to stand in.

Presently this circle parted and into the center of it stalked a huge
toy bear of a lovely lavender color. He walked upon his hind legs, as
did all the others, and on his head he wore a tin crown set with
diamonds and amethysts, while in one paw he carried a short wand of some
glittering metal that resembled silver but wasn't.

"His Majesty the King!" shouted Corporal Waddle, and all the bears
bowed low. Some bowed so low that they lost their balance and toppled
over, but they soon scrambled up again and the Lavender King squatted on
his haunches before the prisoners and gazed at them steadily with his
bright pink eyes.

[Illustration]

The Little Pink Bear

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 16

"One Person and one Freak," said the big Lavender Bear, when he had
carefully examined the strangers.

"I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak,"
remonstrated the Frogman.

"She is the Person," asserted the King. "Unless I am mistaken, it is you
who are the Freak."

The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it.

"Why have you dared intrude in my forest?" demanded the Bear King.

"We didn't know it _was_ your forest," said Cayke, "and we are on our
way to the far east, where the Emerald City is."

"Ah, it's a long way from here to the Emerald City," remarked the King.
"It is so far away, indeed, that no bear among us has ever been there.
But what errand requires you to travel such a distance?"

"Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan," explained Cayke;
"and, as I cannot be happy without it, I have decided to search the
world over until I find it again. The Frogman, who is very learned and
wonderfully wise, has come with me to give me his assistance. Isn't it
kind of him?"

The King looked at the Frogman.

"What makes you so wonderfully wise?" he asked.

"I'm not," was the candid reply. "The Cookie Cook, and some others in
the Yip Country, think because I am a big frog and talk and act like a
man, that I must be very wise. I have learned more than a frog