ame time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly.
This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of
breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more
of the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced
in a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them.

Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly
covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade
snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the
wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a
club until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they
clustered so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to
swing his arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even
Eureka assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched
and bit at them like a wild-cat.

But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things
wound their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast.
Dorothy was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles
clung to Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was
helpless. Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along
the ground like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and
grabbed her before she had gone very far.

All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their
surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them
far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a
wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square
and six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the
best of them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and
substantial.

To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only
one broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were
brought by their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the
opening, where there was a platform, and then flew away and left them.
As they had no wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they
jumped down from such a height they would surely be killed. The
creatures had sense enough to reason that way, and the only mistake
they made was in supposing the earth people were unable to overcome
such ordinary difficulties.

Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles
to carry the big bea