It was not long before they left the passage andcame to a great cave, so high that it must havereached nearly to the top of the mountain withinwhich it lay. It was a magnificent cave, illuminedby the soft, invisible light, so that everythingin it could be plainly seen. The walls were ofpolished marble, white with veins of delicatecolors running through it, and the roof was archedand fantastic and beautiful.

Built beneath this vast dome was a prettyvillage--not very large, for there seemed not morethan fifty houses altogether--and the dwellingswere of marble and artistically designed. No grassnor flowers nor trees grew in this cave, so theyards surrounding the houses carved in designsboth were smooth and bare and had low walls aroundthem to mark their boundaries.

In the streets and the yards of the houseswere many people all having one leg growingbelow their bodies and all hopping here andthere whenever they moved. Even the childrenstood firmly upon their single legs and neverlost their balance.

"All hail, Champion!" cried a man in the firstgroup of Hoppers they met; "whom have youcaptured?"

"No one," replied the Champion in a gloomyvoice; "these strangers have captured me."

"Then," said another, "we will rescue you, andcapture them, for we are greater in number."

"No," answered the Champion, "I can't allow it.I've surrendered, and it isn't polite to capturethose you've surrendered to."

"Never mind that," said Dorothy. "We will giveyou your liberty and set you free."

"Really?" asked the Champion in joyous tones.

"Yes," said the little girl; "your people mayneed you to help conquer the Horners."

At this all the Hoppers looked downcast and sad.Several more had joined the group by this time andquite a crowd of curious men, women and childrensurrounded the strangers.

"This war with our neighbors is a terriblething," remarked one of the women. "Some one isalmost sure to get hurt."

"Why do you say that, madam?" inquired theScarecrow.

"Because the horns of our enemies are sharp,and in battle they will try to stick those hornsinto our warriors," she replied.

"How many horns do the Horners have?" askedDorothy.

"Each has one horn in the center of his forehead," was the answer.

"Oh, then they're unicorns," declared theScarecrow.

"No; they're Horners. We never go to war withthem if we can help it, on account of theirdangerous horns; but this insult was so great andso unprovoked that our brave men decided to fight,in order to be revenged," said the woman.

"What weapons do you fight with?" the Scarecrowasked.

"We have no weapons," explained the Champion."Whenever we fight the Horners, our plan is topush them back, for our arms are longer thantheirs."

"Then you are better armed," said Scraps.

"Yes; but they have those terrible horns, andunless we are careful they prick us with thepoints," returned the Champion with a shudder."That makes a war with them dangerous, and adangerous war cannot be a pleasant one."

"I see very clearly," remarked the Scarecrow,"that you are going to have trouble in conqueringthose Horners--unless we help you."

"Oh!" cried the Hoppers in a chorus; "canyou help us? Please do! We will be greatlyobliged! It would please us very much!" and bythese exclamations the Scarecrow knew that hisspeech had met with favor.

"How far is it to the Horner Country?" he asked.

"Why, it's just the other side of the fence,"they answered, and the Champion added:

"Come with me, please, and I'll show you theHorners."

So they followed the Champion and severalothers through the streets and just beyond thevillage came to a very high picket fence, builtall of marble, which seemed to divide the greatcave into two equal parts.

But the part inhabited by the Horners was in noway as grand in appearance as that of the Hoppers.Instead of being marble, the walls and roof wereof dull gray rock and the square houses wereplainly made of the same material. But in extentthe city was much larger than that of the Hoppersand the streets were thronged with numerous peoplewho busied themselves in various ways.

Looking through the open pickets of the fenceour friends watched the Horners, who did not knowthey were being watched by strangers, and foundthem very unusual in appearance. They were littlefolks in size and had bodies round as balls andshort legs and arms. Their heads were round, too,and they had long, pointed ears and a horn set inthe center of the forehead. The horns did not seemvery terrible, for they were not more than sixinches long; but they were ivory white and sharppointed, and no wonder the Hoppers feared them.

The skins of the Horners were light brown, butthey wore snow-white robes and were bare footed.Dorothy thought the most striking thing about themwas their hair, which grew in three distinctcolors on each and every head--red, yellow andgreen. The red was at the bottom and sometimeshung over their eyes; then came a broad circle ofyellow and the green was at the top and formed abrush-shaped topknot.

None of the Horners was yet aware of thepresence of strangers, who watched the littlebrown people for a time and then went to thebig gate in the center of the dividing fence. Itwas locked on both sides and over the latch wasa sign reading:

"WAR IS DECLARED"

"Can't we go through?" asked Dorothy.

"Not now," answered the Champion.

"I think," said the Scarecrow, "that if I couldtalk with those Horners they would apologize toyou, and then there would be no need to fight."

"Can't you talk from this side?" asked theChampion.

"Not so well," replied the Scarecrow. "Do yousuppose you could throw me over that fence?It is high, but I am very light."

"We can try it," said the Hopper. "I am perhapsthe strongest man in my country, so I'll undertaketo do the throwing. But I won't promise you willland on your feet."

"No matter about that," returned the Scarecrow."Just toss me over and I'll be satisfied."

So the Champion picked up the Scarecrowand balanced him a moment, to see how muchhe weighed, and then with all his strengthtossed him high into the air.

Perhaps if the Scarecrow had been a trifleheavier he would have been easier to throw andwould have gone a greater distance; but, as itwas, instead of going over the fence he landedjust on top of it, and one of the sharp picketscaught him in the middle of his back and held himfast prisoner. Had he been face downward theScarecrow might have managed to free himself, butlying on his back on the picket his hands waved inthe air of the Horner Country while his feetkicked the air of the Hopper Country; so there hewas.

"Are you hurt?" called the Patchwork Girlanxiously.

"Course not," said Dorothy. "But if he wig-glesthat way he may tear his clothes. How can we gethim down, Mr. Champion?"

The Champion shook his head.

"I don't know," he confessed. "If he couldscare Horners as well as he does crows, it mightbe a good idea to leave him there."

"This is terrible," said Ojo, almost ready tocry. "I s'pose it's because I am Ojo the Unluckythat everyone who tries to help me gets intotrouble."

"You are lucky to have anyone to help you,"declared Dorothy. "But don't worry. We'll rescuethe Scarecrow somehow."

"I know how," announced Scraps. "Here, Mr.Champion; just throw me up to the Scarecrow. I'mnearly as light as he is, and when I'm on top thefence I'll pull our friend off the picket and tosshim down to you."

"All right," said the Champion, and he picked upthe Patchwork Girl and threw her in the samemanner he had the Scarecrow. He must have usedmore strength this time, however, for Scrapssailed far over the top of the fence and, withoutbeing able to grab the Scarecrow at all, tumbledto the ground in the Horner Country, where herstuffed body knocked over two men and a woman andmade a crowd that had collected there run likerabbits to get away from her.

Seeing the next moment that she was harmless,the people slowly returned and gathered around thePatchwork Girl, regarding her with astonishment.One of them wore a jeweled star in his hair, justabove his horn, and this seemed a person ofimportance. He spoke for the rest of his people,who treated him with great respect.

"Who are you, Unknown Being?" he asked.

"Scraps," she said, rising to her feet andpatting her cotton wadding smooth where it hadbunched up.

"And where did you come from?" he continued.

"Over the fence. Don't be silly. There's noother place I could have come from," she replied.

He looked at her thoughtfully.

"You are not a Hopper," said he, "for youhave two legs. They're not very well shaped,but they are two in number. And that strangecreature on top the fence--why doesn't he stopkicking?--must be your brother, or father, or son,for he also has two legs."

"You must have been to visit the Wise Donkey,"said Scraps, laughing so merrily that the crowdsmiled with her, in sympathy. "But that remindsme, Captain--or King--"

"I am Chief of the Horners, and my name is Jak."

"Of course; Little Jack Horner; I might haveknown it. But the reason I volplaned over thefence was so I could have a talk with you aboutthe Hoppers."

"What about the Hoppers?" asked the Chief,frowning.

"You've insulted them, and you'd better begtheir pardon," said Scraps. "If you don't, they'llprobably hop over here and conquer you.

"We're not afraid--as long as the gate islocked," declared the Chief. "And we didn't insultthem at all. One of us made a joke that the stupidHoppers couldn't see."

The Chief smiled as he said this and the smilemade his face look quite jolly.

"What was the joke?" asked Scraps.

"A Horner said they have less understanding thanwe, because they've only one leg. Ha, ha! You seethe point, don't you? If you stand on your legs,and your legs are under you, then--ha, ha, ha!--then your legs are your under-standing. Hee, bee,hee! Ho, ho! My, but that's a fine joke. And thestupid Hoppers couldn't see it! They couldn't seethat with only one leg they must have lessunder-standing than we who have two legs. Ha, ha,ha! Hee, bee! Ho, ho!" The Chief wiped the tearsof laughter from his eyes with the bottom hem ofhis white robe, and all the other Horners wipedtheir eyes on their robes, for they had laughedjust as heartily as their Chief at the absurdjoke.

"Then," said Scraps, "their understanding of theunderstanding you meant led to themisunderstanding."

"Exactly; and so there's no need for us toapologize," returned the Chief.

"No need for an apology, perhaps, but much needfor an explanation," said Scraps decidedly. "Youdon't want war, do you?"

"Not if we can help it," admitted Jak Horner."The question is, who's going to explain the joketo the Horners? You know it spoils any joke to beobliged to explain it, and this is the best joke Iever heard."

"Who made the joke?" asked Scraps.

"Diksey Horner. He is working in the mines, justnow, but he'll be home before long. Suppose wewait and talk with him about it? Maybe he'll bewilling to explain his joke to the Hoppers."

"All right," said Scraps. "I'll wait, if Dikseyisn't too long."

"No, he's short; he's shorter than I am. Ha,ha, ha! Say! that's a better joke than Diksey's.He won't be too long, because he's short. Hee,hee, ho!"

The other Horners who were standing by roaredwith laughter and seemed to like their Chief'sjoke as much as he did. Scraps thought it was oddthat they could be so easily amused, but decidedthere could be little harm in people who laughedso merrily.