"What does?"

"Why, the crack. So I think it must be a door of rock, although I do
not see any hinges."

"Oh, yes," said Dorothy, now observing for the first time the crack in
the rock. "And isn't this a key-hole, Billina?" pointing to a round,
deep hole at one side of the door.

"Of course. If we only had the key, now, we could unlock it and see
what is there," replied the yellow hen. "May be it's a treasure
chamber full of diamonds and rubies, or heaps of shining gold, or--"

"That reminds me," said Dorothy, "of the golden key I picked up on the
shore. Do you think that it would fit this key-hole, Billina?"

"Try it and see," suggested the hen.

So Dorothy searched in the pocket of her dress and found the golden
key. And when she had put it into the hole of the rock, and turned
it, a sudden sharp snap was heard; then, with a solemn creak that made
the shivers run down the child's back, the face of the rock fell outward,
like a door on hinges, and revealed a small dark chamber just inside.

"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back as far as the narrow
path would let her.

For, standing within the narrow chamber of rock, was the form of a
man--or, at least, it seemed like a man, in the dim light. He was
only about as tall as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a