, for you are too big for our house, but the boy who
eats is welcome to all the carrots and turnips he wants. Make
yourselves at home in the garden and stay all night, if you like; but in
the morning you must go away, for we are quiet people and do not care
for company."

"May I have some of your straw?" asked the Scarecrow.

"Help yourself," replied Professor Swyne.

"For pigs, they're quite respectable," remarked Woot, as they all went
toward the straw-stack.

"I'm glad they didn't invite us in," said Captain Fyter. "I hope I'm not
too particular about my associates, but I draw the line at pigs."

The Scarecrow was glad to be rid of his hay, for during the long walk it
had sagged down and made him fat and squatty and more bumpy than at
first.

"I'm not specially proud," he said, "but I love a manly figure, such as
only straw stuffing can create. I've not felt like myself since that
hungry Hip-po ate my last straw."

Polychrome and Woot set to work removing the hay and then they selected
the finest straw, crisp and golden, and with it stuffed the Scarecrow
anew. He certainly looked better after the operation, and he was so
pleased at being reformed that he tried to dance a little jig, and
almost succeeded.

[Illustration]

"I shall sleep under the straw-stack tonight," Woot decided, after he
had eaten some of the vegetables from the garden, and in fact he slept
very well, with the two tin men and the Scarecrow sitting silently
beside him and Polychrome away somewhere in the moonlight dancing her
fairy dances.

At daybreak the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier took occasion to polish
their bodies and oil their joints, for both were exceedingly careful of
their personal appearance. They had forgotten the quarrel due to their
accidental bumping of one another in the invisible country, and being
now good friends the Tin Woodman polished the Tin Soldier's back for him
and then the Tin Soldier polished the Tin Woodman's back.

For breakfast the Wanderer ate crisp lettuce and radishes, and the
Rainbow's Daughter, who had now returned to her friends, sipped the
dewdrops that had formed on the petals of the wild-flowers.

As they passed the little house to renew their journey, Woot called out:

"Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Swyne!"

The window opened and the two pigs looked out.

"A pleasant journey," said the Professor.

"Have you any children?" asked the Scarecrow, who was a great friend of
children.

"We have