Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-06

of the Wheel-ers," said Tiktok. the
words coming more slowly than be-
fore
why mote" she asked
Because they are as-e-s-gr-sr-
r-r-"
He gave a sort of gurgle and stop
ped short, waving his hands franti-
cally until suddenly he became mo-
tionltss. with one arm in the air and
the other held stiff1y before him with
all the copper fingers of the hand
spread out like fan
Dear me-" said Dorothy, in
frightened tone. What can the mat
ter be-
Hes run down. l suppose" said the
hen. calmly. You couldn't have
wound him up very tight"
II didn't know how much to wind
him" replied the girl; but III try to
do better next time"
She ran around the copper man to
take the key from the peg at the back
of his neck. but it was not there.
ITS gone" cried Dorothy. in dis
may.
whats gone?" asked Billina.
''The key"
at probably fell off when he made
that low bow to you" returned the
hen. Look around and see if you
cannot find it again"
Dorothy looked. and the hen helped
her. and by and by the girl discovered
the rInrk-key which had fallen into
a crack of the rock.
AT once she wound up Tiktoks
voice. taking care to give the key
as many turns as it would go around.
She found this quite task, as you
may imagine il you have ever tried
to wind clock. but the machine
mans first words were to .ssure
Dorothy that he would now run for
at least twenty-four hours.
you did not wind me much at
first" he calmly said. land I told
you that long STORY about King
Ev-ol do. so it is no wonder that |
ran down"
She heXt rewound the action clock
work. and then Billina advised her
to carry the key to Tiktok in her
pocket. so it would not get lost again.
and now" said Dorothy. when all
this was accomplished, tell me what
you "ere going to say about the
Wheelers."
why. they are nothing to be
frightened at" said the machine.
They try to make folks be -lievc that
they are very TERRIBLE, but as
matter OF fact, the Wheel-ers are
harmless enough to any one that
dares to fight them. They might
try to hurt a little girl like you.
perhaps because they are very
miscellaneous. But if had club
they would run away as soon as
they saw me-"
"Haven't you a cub" asked Dor
othy.
mo. said Tiktok
"And you won't find such thing
among these rocks, either" declared
the yellow hen.
"Then what shall we do?" asked
the girl.
Wind up my think works tight -ly,
and | will try to think of some other
err plan" said Tiktok.
So Dorothy rewound his thought
machinery, and while he was think
ing she decided to eat her dinner.
Billina was already pecking away at
the cracks in the rocks. to find some
thing to eat, so Dorothy sat down
and opened her tin dinner pail
In the cover she found small tank
that was full of very nice lemonade.
1t was covered by cup, which
might also. when removed be used
to drink the lemonade from. Within
the pail were three slices of turkey,
two slices of cold tongue. some lob
ster salad, four slices of bread and
butter, small custard pie, an or
ange and nine large Strawberries,
and some nuts and raisins. Singu-
- larly enough, the nuts in this dinner
pail grew already cracked so that
Dorothy had no trouble in picking
out their meats to eat.
She spread the feast upon the rock
beside her and began her dinner.
first offering some Of it to Tiktok
who declined because. as he said he