teous in manner and
so kind and gentle that everyone loved him. The Emperor greeted Ojo and
Scraps with cordial hospitality and ushered the entire party into his
handsome tin parlor, where all the furniture and pictures were made of
tin. The walls were paneled with tin and from the tin ceiling hung tin
chandeliers.

The Tin Woodman wanted to know, first of all, where Dorothy had found
the Patchwork Girl, so between them the visitors told the story of how
Scraps was made, as well as the accident to Margolotte and Unc Nunkie
and how Ojo had set out upon a journey to procure the things needed for
the Crooked Magician's magic charm. Then Dorothy told of their
adventures in the Quadling Country and how at last they succeeded in
getting the water from a dark well.

While the little girl was relating these adventures the Tin Woodman sat
in an easy chair listening with intense interest, while the others sat
grouped around him. Ojo, however, had kept his eyes fixed upon the body
of the tin Emperor, and now he noticed that under the joint of his left
knee a tiny drop of oil was forming. He watched this drop of oil with a
fast-beating heart, and feeling in his pocket brought out a tiny vial
of crystal, which he held secreted in his hand.

Presently the Tin Woodman changed his position, and at once Ojo, to the
astonishment of all, dropped to the floor and held his crystal vial
under the Emperor's knee joint. Just then the drop of oil fell, and the
boy caught it in his bottle and immediately corked it tight. Then, with
a red face and embarrassed manner, he rose to confront the others.

"What in the world were you doing?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"I caught a drop of oil that fell from your knee-joint," confessed Ojo.

"A drop of oil!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman. "Dear me, how careless my
valet must have been in oiling me this morning. I'm afraid I shall have
to scold the fellow, for I can't be dropping oil wherever I go."

"Never mind," said Dorothy. "Ojo seems glad to have the oil, for some
reason."

"Yes," declared the Munchkin boy, "I am glad. For one of the things the
Crooked Magician sent me to get was a drop of oil from a live man's
body. I had no idea, at first, that there was such a thing; but it's
now safe in the little crystal vial."

"You are very welcome to it, indeed," said the Tin Woodman. "Have you
now secured all the things you were in search of?"

"Not quite all," answered Ojo. "There were five things I had