"Fall down the chimney! Fall down the chimney!" quavered the Out Keeper, dashing into a doorway. "And don't say I never warned you!" For a moment Trot thought His Majesty was going to follow Tighty's advice, but thinking better of it, the King called pompously: "I refuse to hear, see or believe such nonsense!" Shutting the slats in his shutters the King folded his arms and continued to sit defiantly on the chimney. "Shall I shove him down?" whispered High Boy, looking around at Philador. "If he cannot see or hear, perhaps he can feel." "No!" laughed the little Prince, "they've really done us no harm, so why should we hurt them? Look! Everything's shutting up, even the hedges!" The hedges surrounding the small, closely shuttered houses were real box hedges and as High Boy clattered through the streets they began slamming their lids as fast as they could. Even the flowers growing in the stiff little gardens, promptly shut up as the travelers passed and it was with real relief that they reached the other side of the town. Not a Shutter Face was in sight and the dingy houses, with their blue shuttered windows and doors, gave the town such a very gloomy appearance. "The poor silly things look half starved!" exclaimed Trot, glancing down and back at Shutter Town, as High Boy, without bothering to shorten his legs, stepped over the wall and briskly down the road on the other side. "They're worse than the Round-abouties," decided Benny, "and I suppose if we had stayed any longer they would have insisted upon us growing shutters, too!" "Not a bad idea, when you come to think of it," observed the Scarecrow. "With shutters one need never be bored or shocked." "Shutters would be extremely becoming to you," chuckled High Boy, with a vigorous shake of his umbrella tail. "Hush!" whispered Trot, who did not like anyone to make fun of her old friend. "You mean shut up, I suppose?" wheezed High Boy. "But remember I'm not a Shutter Face, my girl." "That's so," giggled Trot. "If anyone tells them to shut up, they really can. I'm going to bring Dorothy and Betsy back here some day and see what they do to us." "Here's a river," announced Philador, who was looking anxiously for the first signs of the Emerald City. "And I have a magic jumping rope to help us cross." Holding up the good witch's rope, the little Prince quickly explained how it worked. High Boy listened in silence, and when Philador finished tossed his head impatiently. "I've never jumped rope in my life," declared High Boy stubbornly, "and I'm not going to begin now. Besides it's not necessary. Stay where you are! Keep quiet and hold tight!"