"Then," said the little man, "you cannot consider us wicked for eating each other. Of course, we never eat anyone who is not broken; but when a man breaks himself into seventeen parts, it is considered quite a compliment to him for the neighbors who feast upon his pieces." This did not seem quite right to Dot, but she did not know how to reply; and to add to her confusion, the candy man suddenly held up his left hand, which he had placed behind him as he talked, and showed her that his thumb and two of the fingers were missing. "Why, what can have happened to them?" she asked, in real distress. The candy man looked at his hand carefully, and then quickly turned and looked at Tot. "There are marks of teeth on my hand," said he, "and no one in this Valley has teeth except you two children." "Tot!" cried Dot; "did you bite off this gentleman's fingers?" Tot hung his head. "Answer me!" said the girl. "Have you been eating our friend?" "Well," said Tot, slowly, "he said the folks here were good to eat; an'--an'--he held his hand behind his back--right in front of my mouth; an'--so I took one of little bite off his fingers, an'--" "Tot," said Dot, "I'm ashamed of you! The idea of eating one who has been so kind to us, and so soon after luncheon, too!" "Pray, do not scold him," said the candy man. "He says I am good to eat, and that makes me so proud that I shall not mind the loss of my fingers. When I have time I can get some new ones patched on; so it does not matter much in the least." Still, Dot was hurt and angry at the occurrence, and Tot walked behind them with hanging head. Very soon they saw, sitting by the roadside, a child who was so exceedingly black in color that Dot exclaimed: "Surely, that baby isn't made of chocolate!" "No," said her friend, "that's a licorice child. We have a few of them in the Valley and they are much admired. But here is our stream of pink lemonade, and we will cross it by this little bridge." The bridge was remarkably pretty, being made of pea-green and orange-colored candy, twisted together and ornamented with dainty frosted work such as bakers put upon wedding cakes. Upon reaching the other side of the stream they found themselves near the mountains, which shut in the far side of the Valley. Dot looked up at these mountains and asked, curiously, "Who are all those people sitting on the rocks?" At the question, Tot looked up also and saw long rows of candy men and women sitting close together at the foot of the mountains. "Those people are the gum chewers," replied their guide. "What are they doing there?" inquired the girl. "They are being punished," returned the candy man, gravely. "If you look over yonder, to the left, you will see a number of low bushes. On these grow all kinds of chewing gums, and sometimes those who are naughty go out there and pick the sticks of gum." "But I thought they had no teeth," said Dot.