hrome, dancing near to the guard, suddenly
reached out her hand and slapped his face, the next instant whirling
away from him quickly to rejoin her friends.

The angry Scoodler at once picked off his head and hurled it at the
Rainbow's Daughter; but the shaggy man was expecting that, and caught
the head very neatly, putting it in the sack, which he tied at the
mouth. The body of the guard, not having the eyes of its head to guide
it, ran here and there in an aimless manner, and the shaggy man easily
dodged it and opened the door. Fortunately there was no one in the big
cave at that moment, so he told Dorothy and Polly to run as fast as they
could for the entrance, and out across the narrow bridge.

[Illustration: THE SHAGGY MAN CAUGHT THE HEADS AND TOSSED THEM INTO THE
GULF BELOW]

"I'll carry Button-Bright," he said, for he knew the little boy's legs
were too short to run fast.

Dorothy picked up Toto, and then seized Polly's hand and ran swiftly
toward the entrance to the cave. The shaggy man perched Button-Bright on
his shoulders and ran after them. They moved so quickly and their escape
was so wholly unexpected that they had almost reached the bridge when
one of the Scoodlers looked out of his house and saw them.

The creature raised a shrill cry that brought all its fellows bounding
out of the numerous doors, and at once they started in chase. Dorothy
and Polly had reached the bridge and crossed it when the Scoodlers began
throwing their heads. One of the queer missiles struck the shaggy man on
his back and nearly knocked him over; but he was at the mouth of the
cave now, so he set down Button-Bright and told the boy to run across
the bridge to Dorothy.

Then the shaggy man turned around and faced his enemies, standing just
outside the opening, and as fast as they threw their heads at him he
caught them and tossed them into the black gulf below. The headless
bodies of the foremost Scoodlers kept the others from running close up,
but they also threw their heads in an effort to stop the escaping
prisoners. The shaggy man caught them all and sent them whirling down
into the black gulf. Among them he noticed the crimson and yellow head
of the Queen, and this he tossed after the others with right good will.

Presently every Scoodler of the lot had thrown its head, and every head
was down in the deep gulf, and now the helpless bodies of the creatures
were mixed together in the cave and wriggling around in a vain a