Then they tramped onward again, and presently the Scarecrow paused and said: "It was on this very spot that Dorothy and I first met the Tin Woodman, who was rusted so badly that none of his joints would move.

But after we had oiled him up, he was as good as new and accompanied us to the Emerald City." "Ah, that was a sad experience," asserted the Tin Woodman soberly.

"I was caught in a rainstorm while chopping down a tree for exercise, and before I realized it, I was firmly rusted in every joint.

There I stood, axe in hand, but unable to move, for days and weeks and months! Indeed, I have never known exactly how long the time was; but finally along came Dorothy and I was saved.

See! This is the very tree I was chopping at the time I rusted." "You cannot be far from your old home, in that case," said Woot.
"No; my little cabin stands not a great way off, but there is no occasion for us to visit it.