LITMIR.BIZ

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      They had not walked far across the flower-strewn meadows when they came upon a fine road leading toward the northwest and winding gracefully among the pretty yellow hills.

      “That way,” said Dorothy, “must be the direction of the Emerald City. We’d better follow the road until we meet some one or come to a house.”

      The sun soon dried Button-Bright’s sailor suit and the shaggy man’s shaggy clothes, and so pleased were they at regaining their own heads that they did not mind at all the brief discomfort of getting wet.

      “It’s good to be able to whistle again,” remarked the shaggy man, “for those donkey lips were so thick I could not whistle a note with them.” He warbled a tune as merrily as any bird.

      “You’ll look more natural at the birthday celebration, too,” said Dorothy, happy in seeing her friends so happy.

      Polychrome was dancing ahead in her usual sprightly manner, whirling gaily along the smooth, level road, until she passed from sight around the curve of one of the mounds. Suddenly they heard her exclaim “Oh!” and she appeared again, running toward them at full speed.

      “What’s the matter, Polly?” asked Dorothy, perplexed.

      There was no need for the Rainbow’s Daughter to answer, for turning the bend in the road there came advancing slowly toward them a funny round man made of burnished copper, gleaming brightly in the sun. Perched on the copper man’s shoulder sat a yellow hen, with fluffy feathers and a pearl necklace around her throat.

      “Oh, Tik-tok!” cried Dorothy, running forward. When she came to him, the copper man lifted the little girl in his copper arms and kissed her cheek with his copper lips.

      “Oh, Billina!” cried Dorothy, in a glad voice, and the yellow hen flew to her arms, to be hugged and petted by turns.

      The others were curiously crowding around the group, and the girl said to them:

      “It’s Tik-tok and Billina; and oh! I’m so glad to see them again.”

      “Welcome to Oz,” said the copper man in a monotonous voice.

      Dorothy sat right down in the road, the yellow hen in her arms, and began to stroke Billina’s back. Said the hen:

      “Dorothy, dear, I’ve got some wonderful news to tell you.”

      “Tell it quick, Billina!” said the girl.

      Just then Toto, who had been growling to himself in a cross way, gave a sharp bark and flew at the yellow hen, who ruffled her feathers and let out such an angry screech that Dorothy was startled.

      “Stop, Toto! Stop that this minute!” she commanded. “Can’t you see that Billina is my friend?” In spite of this warning had she not grabbed Toto quickly by the neck the little dog would have done the yellow hen a mischief, and even now he struggled madly to escape Dorothy’s grasp. She slapped his ears once or twice and told him to behave, and the yellow hen flew to Tik-tok’s shoulder again, where she was safe.

      “What a brute!” croaked Billina, glaring down at the little dog.

      “Toto isn’t a brute,” replied Dorothy, “but at home Uncle Henry has to whip him sometimes for chasing the chickens. Now look here, Toto,” she added, holding up her finger and speaking sternly to him, “you’ve got to understand that Billina is one of my dearest friends, and musn’t be hurt—now or ever.”

      Toto wagged his tail as if he understood.

      “The miserable thing can’t talk,” said Billina, with a sneer.

      “Yes, he can,” replied Dorothy; “he talks with his tail, and I know everything he says. If you could wag your tail, Billina, you wouldn’t need words to talk with.”

      “Nonsense!” said Billina.

      “It isn’t nonsense at all. Just now Toto says he’s sorry, and that he’ll try to love you for my sake. Don’t you, Toto?”

      “Bow-wow!” said Toto, wagging his tail again.

      “But I’ve such wonderful news for you, Dorothy,” cried the yellow hen; “I’ve—”

      “Wait a minute, dear,” interrupted the little girl; “I’ve got to introduce you all, first. That’s manners, Billina. This,” turning to her traveling companions, “is Mr. Tik-tok, who works by machinery ‘cause his thoughts wind up, and his talk winds up, and his action winds up—like a clock.”

      “Do they all wind up together?” asked the shaggy man.

      “No; each one separate. But he works just lovely, and Tik-tok was a good friend to me once, and saved my life—and Billina’s life, too.”

      “Is he alive?” asked Button-Bright, looking hard at the copper man.

      “Oh, no, but his machinery makes him just as good as alive.” She turned to the copper man and said politely: “Mr. Tik-tok, these are my new friends: the shaggy man, and Polly the Rainbow’s Daughter, and Button-Bright, and Toto. Only Toto isn’t a new friend, ‘cause he’s been to Oz before.”

      The copper man bowed low, removing his copper hat as he did so.

      “I’m ve-ry pleased to meet Dor-o-thy’s fr-r-r-r—-” Here he stopped short.

      “Oh, I guess his speech needs winding!” said the little girl, running behind the copper man to get the key off a hook at his back. She wound him up at a place under his right arm and he went on to say:

      “Par-don me for running down. I was a-bout to say I am pleased to meet Dor-o-thy’s friends, who must be my friends.” The words were somewhat jerky, but plain to understand.

      “And this is Billina,” continued Dorothy, introducing the yellow hen, and they all bowed to her in turn.

      “I’ve such wonderful news,” said the hen, turning her head so that one bright eye looked full at Dorothy.

      “What is it, dear?” asked the girl.

      “I’ve hatched out ten of the loveliest chicks you ever saw.”

      “Oh, how nice! And where are they, Billina?”

      “I left them at home. But they’re beauties, I assure you, and all wonderfully clever. I’ve named them Dorothy.”

      “Which one?” asked the girl.

      “All of them,” replied Billina.

      “That’s funny. Why did you name them all with the same name?”

      “It was so hard to tell them apart,” explained the hen. “Now, when I call ‘Dorothy,’ they all come running to me in a bunch; it’s much easier, after all, than having a separate name for each.”

      “I’m just dying to see ‘em, Billina,” said Dorothy, eagerly. “But tell me, my friends, how did you happen to be here, in the Country of the Winkies, the first of all to meet us?”

      “I’ll tell you,” answered Tik-tok, in his monotonous voice, all the sounds of his words being on one level—“Princess Oz-ma saw you in her mag-ic picture, and knew you were com-ing here; so she sent Bil-lin-a and me to welcome you as she could not come herself; so that—fiz-i-dig-le cum-so-lut-ing hy-ber-gob-ble in-tu-zib-ick—”

      “Good gracious! Whatever’s the matter now?” cried Dorothy, as the copper man continued to babble these unmeaning words, which no one could understand at all because they had no sense.

      “Don’t know,” said Button-Bright, who was half scared. Polly whirled away to a distance and turned to look at the copper man in a fright.

      “His thoughts have run down, this time,” remarked Billina composedly, as she sat on Tik-tok’s shoulder and pruned her sleek feathers. “When he can’t think, he can’t talk properly, any more than you can. You’ll have to wind up his thoughts,

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