the children, the horse and the kitten, examined the
Gargoyles with the same silent attention.

"There's going to be trouble, I'm sure," remarked the horse. "Unhitch
those tugs, Zeb, and set me free from the buggy, so I can fight
comfortably."

"Jim's right," sighed the Wizard. "There's going to be trouble, and my
sword isn't stout enough to cut up those wooden bodies--so I shall have
to get out my revolvers."

He got his satchel from the buggy and, opening it, took out two deadly
looking revolvers that made the children shrink back in alarm just to
look at.

"What harm can the Gurgles do?" asked Dorothy. "They have no weapons to
hurt us with."

"Each of their arms is a wooden club," answered the little man, "and I'm
sure the creatures mean mischief, by the looks of their eyes. Even these
revolvers can merely succeed in damaging a few of their wooden bodies,
and after that we will be at their mercy."

"But why fight at all, in that case?" asked the girl.

"So I may die with a clear conscience," returned the Wizard, gravely.
"It's every man's duty to do the best he knows how; and I'm going to do
it."

"Wish I had an axe," said Zeb, who by now had unhitched the horse.

"If we had known we were coming we might have brought along several
other useful things," responded the Wizard. "But we dropped into this
adventure rather unexpectedly."

The Gargoyles had backed away a distance when they heard the sound of
talking, for although our friends had spoken in low tones their words
seemed loud in the silence surrounding them. But as soon as the
conversation ceased the grinning, ugly creatures arose in a flock and
flew swiftly toward the strangers, their long arms stretched out before
them like the bowsprits of a fleet of sail-boats. The horse had
especially attracted their notice, because it was the biggest and
strangest creature they had ever seen; so it became the center of their
first attack.

But Jim was ready for them, and when he saw them coming he turned his
heels toward them and began kicking out as hard as he could. Crack!
crash! bang! went his iron-shod hoofs against the wooden bodies of the
Gargoyles, and they were battered right and left with such force that
they scattered like straws in the wind. But the noise and clatter seemed
as dreadful to them as Jim's heels, for all who were able swiftly turned
and flew away to a great distance. The others picked themselves up from
the ground one by one and quic