away."

Chapter Four

The Loons of Loonville

Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer a path to guide
them, and the purple hues of the grass and trees warned them that they
were now in the Country of the Gillikins, where strange peoples dwelt
in places that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz. The
fields were wild and uncultivated and there were no houses of any sort
to be seen. But our friends kept on walking even after the sun went
down, hoping to find a good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep; but
when it grew quite dark and the boy was weary with his long walk, they
halted right in the middle of a field and allowed Woot to get his
supper from the food he carried in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow
laid himself down, so that Woot could use his stuffed body as a pillow,
and the Tin Woodman stood up beside them all night, so the dampness of
the ground might not rust his joints or dull his brilliant polish.
Whenever the dew settled on his body he carefully wiped it off with a
cloth, and so in the morning the Emperor shone as brightly as ever in
the rays of the rising sun.

They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow saying to him:

"We have discovered something queer, and therefore we must counsel
together what to do about it."

"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes
with his knuckles and giving three wide yawns to prove he was fully
awake.

"A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign, and another path."

"What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy.

"It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow this Path to
Loonville,'" answered the Scarecrow, who could read very well when his
eyes had been freshly painted.

"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to get some
breakfast, "let us travel in some other direction."

But this did not seem to please either of his companions.

"I'd like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked the Tin Woodman.

"When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight," added
the Scarecrow.

"But a warning means danger," protested Woot the Wanderer, "and I
believe it sensible to keep out of danger whenever we can."

They made no reply to this speech for a while. Then said the Scarecrow:

"I have escaped so many dangers, during my lifetime, that I am not much
afraid of anything that can happen."

"Nor am I!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, swinging his glittering axe
around his t