Dorothy and Billina understood them perfectly.

"Good morning, sir," they answered, politely.

"Thank you for res-cu-ing me," continued the machine, in the same
monotonous voice, which seemed to be worked by a bellows inside of him,
like the little toy lambs and cats the children squeeze so that they
will make a noise.

[Illustration]

"Don't mention it," answered Dorothy. And then, being very curious, she
asked: "How did you come to be locked up in this place?"

"It is a long sto-ry," replied the copper man; "but I will tell it to
you brief-ly. I was pur-chased from Smith & Tin-ker, my
man-u-fac-tur-ers, by a cru-el King of Ev, named Ev-ol-do, who used to
beat all his serv-ants un-til they died. How-ev-er, he was not a-ble to
kill me, be-cause I was not a-live, and one must first live in or-der to
die. So that all his beat-ing did me no harm, and mere-ly kept my
cop-per bod-y well pol-ished.

"This cru-el king had a love-ly wife and ten beau-ti-ful chil-dren--five
boys and five girls--but in a fit of an-ger he sold them all to the Nome
King, who by means of his mag-ic arts changed them all in-to oth-er
forms and put them in his un-der-ground pal-ace to or-na-ment the rooms.

"Af-ter-ward the King of Ev re-gret-ted his wick-ed ac-tion, and tried
to get his wife and chil-dren a-way from the Nome King, but with-out
a-vail. So, in de-spair, he locked me up in this rock, threw the key
in-to the o-cean, and then jumped in af-ter it and was drowned."

"How very dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"It is, in-deed," said the machine. "When I found my-self im-pris-oned I
shout-ed for help un-til my voice ran down; and then I walked back and
forth in this lit-tle room un-til my ac-tion ran down; and then I stood
still and thought un-til my thoughts ran down. Af-ter that I re-mem-ber
noth-ing un-til you wound me up a-gain."

"It's a very wonderful story," said Dorothy, "and proves that the Land
of Ev is really a fairy land, as I thought it was."

[Illustration: THE COPPER MAN WALKED OUT OF THE ROCKY CAVERN]

"Of course it is," answered the copper man. "I do not sup-pose such a
per-fect ma-chine as I am could be made in an-y place but a fair-y
land."

"I've never seen one in Kansas," said Dorothy.

"But where did you get the key to un-lock this door?" asked the
clock-work voice.

"I found it on the shore, where it was prob'ly washed up by the waves,"
she answered. "And now, sir, if you don't mind, I'll wind up your
a