y more trouble than is necessary. I'll feed you all the bread
and cheese you want, and that must satisfy you."

"All right; I'll promise," said the Woozy, cheerfully. "And when I
promise anything you can depend on it, 'cause I'm square."

"I don't see what difference that makes," observed the Patchwork Girl,
as they found the path and continued their journey. "The shape doesn't
make a thing honest, does it?"

"Of course it does," returned the Woozy, very decidedly. "No one could
trust that Crooked Magician, for instance, just because he is crooked;
but a square Woozy couldn't do anything crooked if he wanted to."

"I am neither square nor crooked," said Scraps, looking down at her
plump body.

"No; you're round, so you're liable to do anything," asserted the
Woozy. "Do not blame me, Miss Gorgeous, if I regard you with suspicion.
Many a satin ribbon has a cotton back."

Scraps didn't understand this, but she had an uneasy misgiving that she
had a cotton back herself. It would settle down, at times, and make her
squat and dumpy, and then she had to roll herself in the road until her
body stretched out again.

Chapter Ten

Shaggy Man to the Rescue

They had not gone very far before Bungle, who had run on ahead, came
bounding back to say that the road of yellow bricks was just before
them. At once they hurried forward to see what this famous road looked
like.

It was a broad road, but not straight, for it wandered over hill and
dale and picked out the easiest places to go. All its length and
breadth was paved with smooth bricks of a bright yellow color, so it
was smooth and level except in a few places where the bricks had
crumbled or been removed, leaving holes that might cause the unwary to
stumble.

"I wonder," said Ojo, looking up and down the road, "which way to go."

"Where are you bound for?" asked the Woozy.

"The Emerald City," he replied.

"Then go west," said the Woozy. "I know this road pretty well, for I've
chased many a honey-bee over it."

"Have you ever been to the Emerald City?" asked Scraps.

"No. I am very shy by nature, as you may have noticed, so I haven't
mingled much in society."

"Are you afraid of men?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.

"Me? With my heart-rending growl--my horrible, shudderful growl? I
should say not. I am not afraid of anything," declared the Woozy.

"I wish I could say the same," sighed Ojo. "I don't think we need be
afraid when we get to the Emerald C