and he slapped Tik-Tok upon the back
in such a hearty manner that the copper man lost his balance and
tumbled to the ground in a heap. But the clockwork that enabled him to
speak had been wound up and he kept saying: "Pick-me-up! Pick-me-up!
Pick-me-up!" until they had again raised him and balanced him upon his
feet, when he added politely: "Ma-ny thanks!"

"He won't be self-supporting until we wind up his action," remarked
Shaggy; so Betsy wound it, as tight as she could--for the key turned
rather hard--and then Tik-Tok lifted his feet, marched around in a
circle and ended by stopping before the group and making them all a low
bow.

"How in the world did you happen to be in that well, when I left you
safe in Oz?" inquired Shaggy.

"It is a long sto-ry," replied Tik-Tok, "but I'll tell it in a few
words. Af-ter you had gone in search of your broth-er, Oz-ma saw you
wan-der-ing in strange lands when-ev-er she looked in her mag-ic
pic-ture, and she also saw your broth-er in the Nome King's cavern; so
she sent me to tell you where to find your broth-er and told me to help
you if I could. The Sor-cer-ess, Glin-da the Good, trans-port-ed me to
this place in the wink of an eye; but here I met the Nome King
him-self--old Rug-ge-do, who is called in these parts the Met-al
Mon-arch. Rug-ge-do knew what I had come for, and he was so an-gry that
he threw me down the well. Af-ter my works ran down I was help-less
un-til you came a-long and pulled me out a-gain. Ma-ny thanks."

"This is, indeed, good news," said Shaggy. "I suspected that my brother
was the prisoner of Ruggedo; but now I know it. Tell us, Tik-Tok, how
shall we get to the Nome King's underground cavern?"

"The best way is to walk," said Tik-Tok. "We might crawl, or jump, or
roll o-ver and o-ver until we get there; but the best way is to walk."

"I know; but which road shall we take?"

"My ma-chin-er-y is-n't made to tell that," replied Tik-Tok.

"There is more than one entrance to the underground cavern," said
Polychrome; "but old Ruggedo has cleverly concealed every opening, so
that earth dwellers can not intrude in his domain. If we find our way
underground at all, it will be by chance."

"Then," said Betsy, "let us select any road, haphazard, and see where
it leads us."

"That seems sensible," declared the Princess. "It may require a lot of
time for us to find Ruggedo, but we have more time than anything else."

"If you keep me wound up," said Tik-Tok