Without stopping an instant the fierce beasts also began to cross the tree.

And the Lion said to Dorothy: "We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp claws.

But stand close behind me, and I will fight them as long as I am alive." "Wait a minute!" called the Scarecrow.

He had been thinking what was best to be done, and now he asked the Woodman to chop away the end of the tree that rested on their side of the ditch.

The Tin Woodman began to use his axe at once, and, just as the two Kalidahs were nearly across, the tree fell with a crash into the gulf, carrying the ugly, snarling brutes with it, and both were dashed to pieces on the sharp rocks at the bottom.
"Well," said the Cowardly Lion, drawing a long breath of relief, "I see we are going to live a little while longer, and I am glad of it, for it must be a very uncomfortable thing not to be alive.