He seated himself quietly on the first rock of Ruggedo’s history, and began nibbling his carrot. “Get up! How dare you sit on my history?” Ruggedo stamped his foot and started threateningly toward Wag. “All right,” said the rabbit, “it’s too hard, anyway.” “Of course it’s hard,” stormed Ruggedo. “I’ve had a hard life; hard as those rocks. Everybody’s been against me from the very start, and all because I’m so little,” he finished bitterly. “No, because you are so wicked,” said the rabbit calmly. “Now, don’t throw your pipe at me, for you know it’s the truth.” Ruggedo glared at the rabbit for a minute, then rushed over to the wooden doll, and began shaking her furiously. He always vented his rage on the wooden doll. “Stop that,” screamed Wag, “or I’ll leave upon the spot. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You old scrabble-scratch.” “She’s not alive,” snapped Ruggedo sulkily. “How do you know?” retorted the rabbit. “Anyway, she’s a jolly creature. I’m not going to have her banged around. Here you’ve taken her away from her little mother, and she hasn’t even anyone to rock her to sleep.” “I’ll rock her to sleep,” screamed Ruggedo, maliciously. And flinging the doll on the floor he began hurling small rocks at the helpless little figure. Scrambling to his feet, Wag rescued the wooden doll again, and Ruggedo, who really was afraid the rabbit would leave him, subsided into his rocking chair. Then reaching up to a small shelf over his head, he pulled down an accordion. At the first doleful wheeze Wag gave a great hop, dropped Peg and disappeared into his room in the farthest corner of the cave. [Illustration: (unlabelled)] After his last attempt to capture Oz, the gnome had been given a small cottage to live in, just outside the Emerald City. But Ruggedo could not bear life above ground. The sunlight hurt his eyes, and the contented, happy faces of the people hurt his feelings, for he was exactly what Wag had called him—an old scrabble-scratch. So, while he pretended to live in the little cottage, according to Ozma’s orders, he really spent most of his time in this deep, dark cave. He entered it by a secret passage, opening from his cellar. Digging the long passage had been the hardest work Ruggedo had ever done in his bad little life. While toiling one day, he had bumped into the underground burrow of Wag, a wandering rabbit of Oz, and after a deal of bargaining, the rabbit had agreed to help him. Wag was to receive a ruby a month for his services, for the gnome still had a large bag of precious stones, which he had brought from the old Kingdom. After the bargain with Wag was made, the passage progressed rapidly, for the rabbit was an expert digger.