"Wherever you wish to go, I will go, and share your
dangers. During my wanderings I have found it more wise
to keep out of danger than to venture in, but at that
time I was alone, and now I have two powerful friends
to protect me."

So, when he had finished his breakfast, they all set
out along the path that led to Loonville.

"It is a place I have never heard of before,"
remarked the Scarecrow, as they approached a dense
forest. "The inhabitants may be people, of some sort,
or they may be animals, but whatever they prove to be,
we will have an interesting story to relate to Dorothy
and Ozma on our return."

The path led into the forest, but the big trees grew
so closely together and the vines and underbrush were
so thick and matted that they had to clear a path at
each step in order to proceed. In one or two places the
Tin Man, who went first to clear the way, cut the
branches with a blow of his axe. Woot followed next,
and last of the three came the Scarecrow, who could not
have kept the path at all had not his comrades broken
the way for his straw-stuffed body.

Presently the Tin Woodman pushed his way through some
heavy underbrush, and almost tumbled headlong into a
vast cleared space in the forest. The clearing was
circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the