On this morning, which ought to be the last of thisimportant journey, our friends started away as brightand cheery as could be, and Woot whistled a merry tuneso that Polychrome could dance to the music.

On reaching the top of the hill, the plain spread outbefore them in all its beauty of blue grasses andwildflowers, and Mount Munch seemed much nearer than ithad the previous evening. They trudged on at a briskpace, and by noon the mountain was so close that theycould admire its appearance. Its slopes were partlyclothed with pretty evergreens, and its foot-hills weretufted with a slender waving bluegrass that had atassel on the end of every blade. And, for the firsttime, they perceived, near the foot of the mountain, acharming house, not of great size but neatly paintedand with many flowers surrounding it and vines climbingover the doors and windows.

It was toward this solitary house that our travelersnow directed their steps, thinking to inquire of thepeople who lived there where Nimmie Amee might befound.

There were no paths, but the way was quite open andclear, and they were drawing near to the dwelling whenWoot the Wanderer, who was then in the lead of thelittle party, halted with such an abrupt jerk that hestumbled over backward and lay flat on his back in themeadow. The Scarecrow stopped to look at the boy.

"Why did you do that?" he asked in surprise.

Woot sat up and gazed around him in amazement.

"I -- I don't know!" he replied.

The two tin men, arm in arm, started to pass themwhen both halted and tumbled, with a great clatter,into a heap beside Woot. Polychrome, laughing at theabsurd sight, came dancing up and she, also, came to asudden stop, but managed to save herself from falling.

Everyone of them was much astonished, and theScarecrow said with a puzzled look:

"I don't see anything."

"Nor I," said Woot; "but something hit me, just thesame."

"Some invisible person struck me a heavy blow,"declared the Tin Woodman, struggling to separatehimself from the Tin Soldier, whose legs and arms weremixed with his own.

"I'm not sure it was a person," said Polychrome,looking more grave than usual. "It seems to me that Imerely ran into some hard substance which barred my way.In order to make sure of this, let me try another place."

She ran back a way and then with much cautionadvanced in a different place, but when she reached aposition on a line with the others she halted, her armsoutstretched before her.

"I can feel something hard - something smooth asglass," she said, "but I'm sure it is not glass."

"Let me try," suggested Woot, getting up; but when hetried to go forward, he discovered the same barrierthat Polychrome had encountered.

"No," he said, "it isn't glass. But what is it?"

"Air," replied a small voice beside him. "Solid air;that's all."

They all looked downward and found a sky-blue rabbithad stuck his head out of a burrow in the ground. Therabbit's eyes were a deeper blue than his fur, and thepretty creature seemed friendly and unafraid.

"Air!" exclaimed Woot, staring in astonishment intothe rabbit's blue eyes; "whoever heard of air so solidthat one cannot push it aside?"

"You can't push this air aside," declared the rabbit,"for it was made hard by powerful sorcery, and it formsa wall that is intended to keep people from getting tothat house yonder."

"Oh; it's a wall, is it?" said the Tin Woodman.

"Yes, it is really a wall," answered the rabbit, "andit is fully six feet thick."

"How high is it?" inquired Captain Fyter, the TinSoldier.

"Oh, ever so high; perhaps a mile," said the rabbit.

"Couldn't we go around it?" asked Woot.

"Of course, for the wall is a circle," explained therabbit. "In the center of the circle stands the house,so you may walk around the Wall of Solid Air, but youcan't get to the house."

"Who put the air wall around the house?" was theScarecrow's question.

"Nimmie Amee did that."

"Nimmie Amee!" they all exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes," answered the rabbit. "She used to live with anold Witch, who was suddenly destroyed, and when NimmieAmee ran away from the Witch's house, she took with herjust one magic formula --pure sorcery it was -- whichenabled her to build this air wall around her house --the house yonder. It was quite a clever idea, I think,for it doesn't mar the beauty of the landscape, solidair being invisible, and yet it keeps all strangersaway from the house."

"Does Nimmie Amee live there now?" asked the TinWoodman anxiously.

"Yes, indeed," said the rabbit.

"And does she weep and wail from morning till night?"continued the Emperor.

"No; she seems quite happy," asserted the rabbit.

The Tin Woodman seemed quite disappointed to hearthis report of his old sweetheart, but the Scarecrowreassured his friend, saying:

"Never mind, your Majesty; however happy Nimmie Ameeis now, I'm sure she will be much happier as Empress ofthe Winkies."

"Perhaps," said Captain Fyter, somewhat stiffly, "shewill be still more happy to become the bride of a TinSoldier."

"She shall choose between us, as we have agreed," theTin Woodman promised; "but how shall we get to the poorgirl?"

Polychrome, although dancing lightly back and forth,had listened to every word of the conversation. Now shecame forward and sat herself down just in front of theBlue Rabbit, her many-hued draperies giving her theappearance of some beautiful flower. The rabbit didn'tback away an inch. Instead, he gazed at the Rainbow'sDaughter admiringly.

"Does your burrow go underneath this Wall of Air?"asked Polychrome.

"To be sure," answered the Blue Rabbit; "I dug itthat way so I could roam in these broad fields, bygoing out one way, or eat the cabbages in Nimmie Amee'sgarden by leaving my burrow at the other end. I don'tthink Nimmie Amee ought to mind the little I take fromher garden, or the hole I've made under her magic wall.A rabbit may go and come as he pleases, but no one whois bigger than I am could get through my burrow."

"Will you allow us to pass through it, if we are ableto? " inquired Polychrome.

"Yes, indeed," answered the Blue Rabbit. "I'm noespecial friend of Nimmie Amee, for once she threwstones at me, just because I was nibbling some lettuce,and only yesterday she yelled 'Shoo!' at me, which mademe nervous. You're welcome to use my burrow in any wayyou choose."

"But this is all nonsense!" declared Woot theWanderer. "We are every one too big to crawl through arabbit's burrow."

"We are too big now," agreed the Scarecrow, "but youmust remember that Polychrome is a fairy, and fairieshave many magic powers."

Woot's face brightened as he turned to the lovelyDaughter of the Rainbow.

"Could you make us all as small as that rabbit?" heasked eagerly.

"I can try," answered Polychrome, with a smile. Andpresently she did it -- so easily that Woot was not theonly one astonished. As the now tiny people groupedthemselves before the rabbit's burrow the hole appearedto them like the entrance to a tunnel, which indeed itwas.

"I'll go first," said wee Polychrome, who had madeherself grow as small as the others, and into thetunnel she danced without hesitation. A tiny Scarecrowwent next and then the two funny little tin men.

"Walk in; it's your turn," said the Blue Rabbit toWoot the Wanderer. "I'm coming after, to see how youget along. This will be a regular surprise party toNimmie Amee."

So Woot entered the hole and felt his way along itssmooth sides in the dark until he finally saw theglimmer of daylight ahead and knew the journey wasalmost over. Had he remained his natural size, thedistance could have been covered in a few steps, but toa thumb-high Woot it was quite a promenade. When heemerged from the burrow he found himself but a shortdistance from the house, in the center of the vegetablegarden, where the leaves of rhubarb waving above hishead seemed like trees. Outside the hole, and waitingfor him, he found all his friends.

"So far, so good!" remarked the Scarecrow cheerfully.

"Yes; so far, but no farther," returned the TinWoodman in a plaintive and disturbed tone of voice. "Iam now close to Nimmie Amee, whom I have come ever sofar to seek, but I cannot ask the girl to marry such alittle man as I am now."

"I'm no bigger than a toy soldier!" said CaptainFyter, sorrowfully. "Unless Polychrome can make us bigagain, there is little use in our visiting Nimmie Ameeat all, for I'm sure she wouldn't care for a husbandshe might carelessly step on and ruin."

Polychrome laughed merrily.

"If I make you big, you can't get out of here again,"said she, "and if you remain little Nimmie Amee willlaugh at you. So make your choice."

"I think we'd better go back," said Woot seriously

"No," said the Tin Woodman, stoutly, "I have decidedthat it's my duty to make Nimmie Amee happy, in caseshe wishes to marry me."

"So have I," announced Captain Fyter. "A good soldiernever shrinks from doing his duty."

"As for that," said the Scarecrow, "tin doesn'tshrink any to speak of, under any circumstances. ButWoot and I intend to stick to our comrades, whateverthey decide to do, so we will ask Polychrome to make usas big as we were before."

Polychrome agreed to this request and in half aminute all of them, including herself, had beenenlarged again to their natural sizes. They thenthanked the Blue Rabbit for his kind assistance, and atonce approached the house of Nimme Amee.