ns my ways. So I think it will
be better to keep my Chopfyt, and I see no reason why you should object
to him. You two gentlemen threw him away when you became tin, because
you had no further use for him, so you cannot justly claim him now. I
advise you to go back to your own homes and forget me, as I have
forgotten you."

"Good advice!" laughed Polychrome, dancing.

"Are you happy?" asked the Tin Soldier.

"Of course I am," said Nimmie Amee; "I'm the mistress of all I
survey--the queen of my little domain."

"Wouldn't you like to be the Empress of the Winkies?" asked the Tin
Woodman.

"Mercy, no," she answered. "That would be a lot of bother. I don't care
for society, or pomp, or posing. All I ask is to be left alone and not
to be annoyed by visitors."

The Scarecrow nudged Woot the Wanderer.

"That sounds to me like a hint," he said.

"Looks as if we'd had our journey for nothing," remarked Woot, who was a
little ashamed and disappointed because he had proposed the journey.

"I am glad, however," said the Tin Woodman, "that I have found Nimmie
Amee, and discovered that she is already married and happy. It will
relieve me of any further anxiety concerning her."

"For my part," said the Tin Soldier, "I am not sorry to be free. The
only thing that really annoys me is finding my head upon Chopfyt's
body."

"As for that, I'm pretty sure it is _my_ body, or a part of it, anyway,"
remarked the Emperor of the Winkies. "But never mind, friend Soldier;
let us be willing to donate our cast-off members to insure the happiness
of Nimmie Amee, and be thankful it is not our fate to hoe cabbages and
draw water--and be chided--in the place of this creature Chopfyt."

"Yes," agreed the Soldier, "we have much to be thankful for."

Polychrome, who had wandered outside, now poked her pretty head through
an open window and exclaimed in a pleased voice:

"It's getting cloudy. Perhaps it is going to rain!"

Through the Tunnel

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 23

It didn't rain just then, although the clouds in the sky grew thicker
and more threatening. Polychrome hoped for a thunder-storm, followed by
her Rainbow, but the two tin men did not relish the idea of getting wet.
They even preferred to remain in Nimmie Amee's house, although they felt
they were not welcome there, rather than go out and face the coming
storm. But the Scarecrow, who was a very thoughtful person, said to his
friends:

"If we remain here until