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Chapter Nine


on the wall. Every hair on his head had become an iron spike and the result was so terrible that it frightened even the old gnome. He flung the bottle angrily on the ground. But stop! He could butt his enemies with the sharp spikes! Comforting himself with this cheerful thought, Ruggedo returned to the magic box.

"Instantaneous Expanding Extract," muttered the gnome, turning the bottle over carefully. "That ought to make me larger—and if I were larger—if I were larger!" He snapped his fingers and began hopping up and down. He was about to empty the bottle over his head when he suddenly reflected that it might be safer to try this powerful extract on someone else. But on whom?

Ruggedo glanced quickly around the cave and then remembered the wooden doll. He would try a little onn Peg Amy and see how it worked. Turning the key he stepped softly into Wag's room. Without wakening the rabbit, Ruggedo dragged out the wooden doll. Propping her up against the wall, the gnome uncorked the bottle of expanding fluid and dropped two drops on Peg Amy's head. Peg was about ten inches high, but no sooner had the expanding fluid touched her than she shot up four feet and with such force that she

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