ne of the Scoodlers looked out of his house and saw them.

The creature raised a shrill cry that brought all of its fellows
bounding out of the numerous doors, and at once they started in chase.
Dorothy and Polly had reached the bridge and crossed it when the
Scoodlers began throwing their heads. One of the queer missiles struck
the shaggy man on his back and nearly knocked him over; but he was at
the mouth of the cave now, so he set down Button-Bright and told the
boy to run across the bridge to Dorothy.

Then the shaggy man turned around and faced his enemies, standing just
outside the opening, and as fast as they threw their heads at him he
caught them and tossed them into the black gulf below. The headless
bodies of the foremost Scoodlers kept the others from running close up,
but they also threw their heads in an effort to stop the escaping
prisoners. The shaggy man caught them all and sent them whirling down
into the black gulf. Among them he noticed the crimson and yellow head
of the Queen, and this he tossed after the others with right good will.

Presently every Scoodler of the lot had thrown its head, and every head
was down in the deep gulf, and now the helpless bodies of the creatures
were mixed together in the cave and wriggling around in a vain attempt
to discover what had become of their heads. The shaggy man laughed and
walked across the bridge to rejoin his companions.

"It's lucky I learned to play base-ball when I was young," he remarked,
"for I caught all those heads easily and never missed one. But come
along, little ones; the Scoodlers will never bother us or anyone else
any more."

Button-Bright was still frightened and kept insisting, "I don't want to
be soup!" for the victory had been gained so suddenly that the boy
could not realize they were free and safe. But the shaggy man assured
him that all danger of their being made into soup was now past, as the
Scoodlers would be unable to eat soup for some time to come.

So now, anxious to get away from the horrid gloomy cave as soon as
possible, they hastened up the hillside and regained the road just
beyond the place where they had first met the Scoodlers; and you may be
sure they were glad to find their feet on the old familiar path again.

11. Johnny Dooit Does It

"It's getting awful rough walking," said Dorothy, as they trudged
along. Button-Bright gave a deep sigh and said he was hungry. Indeed,
all were hungry, and th