“How shall we get down?” asked Dorothy.

They found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, so the Scarecrow fell off the wall and the others jumped down upon him so that the hard floor would not hurt their feet. Of course they took pains not to light on his head and get the pins in their feet.

When all were safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose body was quite flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again.

“We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side,” said Dorothy, “for it would be unwise for us to go any other way except due South.”

They began walking through the country of the china people, and the first thing they came to was a china