Chapter Nine
"Neither do rabbits!" cried Wag stubbornly, boundirig after Ruggedo. "I'll pound his curly toes off, I tell you!"
The old gnome was sputtering like a firecracker. What chance had he now with two after him? Then suddenly he had an idea. Without stopping, he fumbled in the box which he still clutched under one arm and pulled out the bottle of Expanding Fluid. Uncorking the bottle he poured its contents over his head—every single drop!
This is what happened: First he shot out sideways, till Peg and Wag were almost crushed against the wall. With a h hoarse scream Wag dragged Peg Amy back into his room, which was now barely large enough to hold them. They were just in time, for Ruggedo was still spreading. Soon there was not an inch of space left to expand in. Then he shot up and grew up and grew and grew and groaned and grew till there wasn't any more room to grow in. So, he burst through the top of the cave, with a noise like fifty boilers exploding.
No wonder Dorothy thought it was a cyclone! For what was on the top of the cave but the royal palace of Oz? The next instant it was impaled fast on the spikes of Ruggedo's giant head and shooting up with
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