helped him. When they had removed the harness, the Patchwork Girl told
them to take it all apart and buckle the straps together, end to end.
And after they had done this, they found they had one very long strap
that was stronger than any rope. "It would reach across the gulf
easily," said the Lion, who with the other animals had sat on his
haunches and watched this proceeding. "But I don't see how it could be
fastened to one of those dizzy mountains."

Scraps had no such notion as that in her baggy head. She told them to
fasten one end of the strap to a stout limb of the tree, pointing to
one which extended quite to the edge of the gulf. Button-Bright did
that, climbing the tree and then crawling out upon the limb until he
was nearly over the gulf. There he managed to fasten the strap, which
reached to the ground below, and then he slid down it and was caught by
the Wizard, who feared he might fall into the chasm. Scraps was
delighted. She seized the lower end of the strap, and telling them all
to get out of her way, she went back as far as the strap would reach
and then made a sudden run toward the gulf. Over the edge she swung,
clinging to the strap until it had gone as far as its length permitted,
when she let go and sailed gracefully through the air until she
alighted upon the mountain just in front of them.

Almost instantly, as the great cone continued to whirl, she was sent
flying against the next mountain in the rear, and that one had only
turned halfway around when Scraps was sent flying to the next mountain
behind it. Then her patchwork form disappeared from view entirely, and
the amazed watchers under the tree wondered what had become of her.
"She's gone, and she can't get back," said the Woozy.

"My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!" exclaimed the Lion.

"That was because they whirl so fast," the Wizard explained. "Scraps
had nothing to hold on to, and so of course she was tossed from one
hill to another. I'm afraid we shall never see the poor Patchwork Girl
again."

"I shall see her," declared the Woozy. "Scraps is an old friend of
mine, and if there are really Thistle-Eaters and Giants on the other
side of those tops, she will need someone to protect her. So here I
go!" He seized the dangling strap firmly in his square mouth, and in
the same way that Scraps had done swung himself over the gulf. He let
go the strap at the right moment and fell upon the first whirling
mounta