"Good news! Good advice! Good Intentions! Good Days! Good Night! Good Excuses! Good Riddance!" cried Peter, reading out the labels on the bottles and boxes. "How odd! Good Ideas! Good Tempers! Good Notions! Good Times!" "Come, come," muttered the old lady, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, "make up your minds. You may each choose one," she decided finally, as neither Peter nor Jack seemed able to decide. "Why don't you take a good excuse?" she suggested, turning to Peter. "Boys are always needing good excuses, and a fresh batch has just come in--good ones too!" "I think I'll take some good advice," announced Jack in a timid voice. "I'm not very bright and it might be useful." "But haven't you anything good to eat?" sighed Peter. "A good lunch or dinner, even a breakfast would do." With an impatient flounce the old lady reached up on a top shelf and handed Peter a small red box. Then giving Jack a red envelope, she shooed them out of her goody shop. "I wish I'd taken some good excuses," murmured Peter, as they walked slowly down the crooked path. "This box is too small to hold a good meal of any kind." "What does it say?" asked Jack inquisitively. "A good breakfast," answered Peter reading the red label. "Well, even if it's only a biscuit or just one sausage, I'll eat it." Eagerly Peter raised the lid. "Why it's bird seed," he exclaimed angrily, flinging the box with all his force into a red-berry bush. "What a cheat! I've a good notion to go right back and tell her what I think of her." "But she didn't charge you anything," observed Jack mildly, "and you'll have to admit it is a good breakfast!" "A good breakfast," roared Peter, glaring indignantly at his loose-jointed companion. "Well, it is a good breakfast," finished Jack Pumpkinhead apologetically, "for a bird." Peter looked closely at Jack to see whether he was poking fun at him, but quite soberly, Jack was opening his good advice. "What does yours say?" Crowding closer, Peter read the words on the thin slip of paper and then began to hop up and down with glee. "Keep your mouth shut," advised the red paper briefly. "Call that good advice?" sputtered Jack Pumpkinhead, tearing the paper into tiny pieces. "How can I keep my mouth shut when it's carved open? Of all the silly nonsense!" "But you'll have to admit that keeping your mouth shut is good advice," teased Peter, completely restored to good humor by this joke on Jack. "Then why don't you take it?" asked Jack stalking stiffly ahead. "Take it and welcome!" Smothering another chuckle, Peter hurried after Jack, reflecting to himself that this Pumpkinhead Man was not nearly so foolish as he appeared to be. CHAPTER 3 What the Green Tree Said "Won't Dorothy and Ozma be surprised when we turn up at the palace?" Taking a running jump, Peter cleared a tree and then hurried back to help Jack Pumpkinhead across.