"Hurrah!" cried Shaggy, joyfully, and he slapped
Tik-Tok upon the back in such a hearty manner that
the copper man lost his balance and tumbled to the
ground in a heap. But the clockwork that enabled
him to speak had been wound up and he kept saying:
"Pick-me-up! Pick-me-up! Pick-me-up!" until they
had again raised him and balanced him upon his
feet, when he added politely: "Ma-ny thanks!"

"He won't be self-supporting until we wind
up his action," remarked Shaggy; so Betsy
wound it, as tight as she could--for the key
turned rather hard--and then Tik-Tok lifted his
feet, marched around in a circle and ended by
stopping before the group and making them all
a low bow.

"How in the world did you happen to be in
that well, when I left you safe in Oz?" inquired
Shaggy.

"It is a long sto-ry," replied Tik-Tok, "but
I'll tell it in a few words. Af-ter you had gone
in search of your broth-er, Oz-ma saw you wan-der-
ing in strange lands when-ev-er she looked in her
mag-ic pic-ture, and she also saw your broth-er in
the Nome King's cavern; so she sent me to tell you
where to find your broth-er and told me to help you
if I could. The Sor-cer-ess, Glin-da the Good,
trans-port-ed me to this place in the wink of an