"Six," echoed Teddy, faintly, "I--I don't think I could kill six, I'm not sure I could kill _one_, alone." "_Not_ kill the six giants," said the gnome, in a voice of anger and surprise, "then why did you come?" "I don't know," and Teddy began to wish heartily that he had never found the trap door, and never visited Gnome-land. There was a long silence, in which Teddy shifted his feet, twisted his cap into a string, and felt very unhappy and awkward. Then the silence was broken by the biggest gnome, who came a little closer to Teddy, and said, calmly, but firmly; "You expressed a wish to kill a giant, here there are six, who come every night, when we are asleep and cannot sing, and when our elephants are obliged to leave us to attend to their other duties. When we wake in the morning, we find our work all undone and broken, our tools made useless, and often many of our number killed. You must rid us of these pests, and if you cannot think of a way now, you must remain here in captivity until you do." So speaking he led Teddy to a cave in the side of the hill, and pushed him in. "When you are ready," he said, "you have only to blow this whistle loudly, twice, and you will be released," then the door closed, and Teddy found himself alone. For a few minutes all he heard was the pattering of hundreds of little feet, going down the hill, then the chanting song commenced again, and he knew that they had gone back to their work. Teddy was thoroughly frightened; he had no idea how to kill giants, though he had often thought about it, but now that the chance had come he couldn't think of a single way to accomplish it, and after a while he began to cry. While he was crying very hard, he heard a scratchy sound, and looking up, saw a little red squirrel, coming in through a crack in the cave. The squirrel winked very solemnly with one bright eye, and then remarked, "I wouldn't cry if I were you." "What would you do?" said Ted, rather put out by the squirrel's tone. "I'd go to work," was the answer, delivered with another wink. "I don't know how to," said Teddy, "and I can't get out if I did know." "You must find Mamma Know-all," said the squirrel whisking his tail, "she will help you, she knows you well, she is in your house a lot of the time." "At my house?" said Teddy, much surprised, "whereabouts?" "That would be telling," and the squirrel winked again. Teddy rose to his feet, "Let us go and find her at once," he said, "if I have to do this thing there is no use in waiting any longer." "Now you are acting with some sense," said the squirrel, "blow your whistle and tell them you must be let out any way, that you can't think locked up, and then start to your left, thro' the woods and I will join you," with that he scurried into the darkness, and disappeared.