officers and Queen Ann. After them came Betsy
Bobbin and Hank, Polychrome and Shaggy, and last
of all the Rose Princess with Files. The Clockwork
Man saw the stream and the stepping stones and,
without making a pause, placed his foot upon the
first stone.

The result was astonishing. First he sank
down in the soft rubber, which then rebounded
and sent Tik-Tok soaring high in the air, where
he turned a succession of flip-flops and alighted
upon a rubber rock far in the rear of the party.

General Apple did not see Tik-Tok bound, so
quickly had he disappeared; therefore he also
stepped upon the stone (which you will guess was
connected with Kaliko's magnetic rubber wire) and
instantly shot upward like an arrow. General Cone
came next and met with a like fate, but the others
now noticed that something was wrong and with one
accord they halted the column and looked back
along the path.

There was Tik-Tok, still bounding from one
rubber rock to another, each time rising a less
distance from the ground. And there was General
Apple, bounding away in another direction, his
three-cornered hat jammed over his eyes and his
long sword thumping him upon the arms and head as
it swung this way and that. And there, also,