But Sir Hokus could not be got off the subject of giants. "To Ev!" thundered the Knight, raising his sword. "To-morrow I'm off to Ev to conquer this terrible monster. Large as a mountain, you say, Tik Tok? Well, what care I for mountains I, Sir Hokus of Pokes, will slay him!"
"Hurrah for the giant killer!" giggled Scraps, turning a somersault and nearly falling in the fire.
"Let's go to bed!" said Dorothy uneasily. She had for the last few minutes been hearing strange rumbles. Of course it could not be giants; still the conversation, she concluded, had better be finished by sunlight.
But it never was, for at that moment there was a deafening crash. The lights went out; the whole castle shivered; furniture fell every which way. Down clattered Sir Hokus, falling with a terrible clangor on top of the Copper Man. Down rolled the little girls and the Scarecrow and Scraps. Down tumbled everybody.
"Cyclone!" gasped Dorothy, who had experienced several in Kansas.
"Giants!" stuttered Betsy Bobbin, clutching Trot.
The Wizard of Oz tried to reassure the agitated company. He told them there was no cause for alarm, and that they would soon find out what was the trouble.
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