_that_ size," thought Dorothy, as
she hid behind a little pile of lead-pencils and watched him over the
top of them. "I suppose he's eaten something, or drunk something, to
make him grow, the way they do in fairy stories; because the Admiral
certainly said he wasn't any bigger than an ant. And, oh! I wish I knew
what it was," she added, mournfully, as the tears came into her eyes at
the thought of how small she was, "I _wish_ I knew what it was!"

"If I wasn't a little afraid of him," she went on, after she had had a
little cry, "I'd ask him. But likely as not he'd peck at me--old
peckjabber!" and here she laughed through her tears as she thought of
the Caravan in their little sunbonnets. "Or p'r'aps he'd snap me up!
I've often heard of snapping people up when they asked too many
questions, but seems to me it never meant anything so awful as that
before"; and she was rambling on in this way, laughing and crying by
turns, when at this moment Bob Scarlet came suddenly upon a fine brass
bird-cage, and, after staring at it in a stupefied way for an instant,
he dropped his little book, with an appearance of great agitation, and
hurried away without so much as looking behind him.

[Illustration: "HE DROPPED HIS LITTLE BOOK, WITH AN APPEARANCE OF GREAT
AGITATION, AND HURRIED AWAY."]

Dorothy ran after him, carefully keeping out of sight in case he should
turn around, and as she went by the bird-cage she saw that it was marked
"PERFECTLY SECURE" in large letters. "And _that's_ what took the conceit
out of you, mister," she said, laughing to herself, and hurried along
after the Robin.

As she caught sight of him again he was just scurrying by the grocer's
shop, and she could see the faces of the Caravan watching him, over the
top of a little half-blind in the window, with an expression of the
greatest concern, and the next moment a door at the back of the shop
opened and they all rushed out. They had on their sunbonnets and shawls,
and Dorothy saw that the Admiral was carrying the Camel under his arm;
but before she could say a word to them they had scampered away and were
out of sight.

[Illustration: "A DOOR AT THE BACK OF THE SHOP OPENED AND THEY ALL
RUSHED OUT."]

By this time the toy-shop itself was all in a commotion. Dolls were
climbing down from the shelves and falling over each other; the big
marbles had in some way got out of the basket and were rolling about in
all directions; and Dorothy could see the old dam