"Why not do as this little lady suggests?" interrupted Tora, for he could see that Dorothy was weary as well as hungry. "Let's have breakfast together and then talk things over."
"Well, don't start until I come back," called the little boy, as Dorothy settled comfortably down beside the tailor. In a moment Snip had returned with another breakfast and, while Humpy looked on curiously, they opened the silver dishes Snip had picked from the breakfast bush. What could be cozier? Bacon, eggs, toast and a small sealed cup of coffee grew neatly in each one, but it never occurred to Dorothy, Snip or the tailor to be surprised at this, for breakfast bushes are quite common in Oz. Humpy, however, had seen nothing like this in the movies and kept up a low muttering to himself, as he watched them eat one and then another dainty from the dishes.
"Now then," smiled the tailor, after he had taken a long sip of coffee, "suppose you begin." He looked expectantly at Dorothy. "I think you must be the little girl my ears were telling me of a while back, but where is the elephant?"
"Mercy!" spluttered Dorothy, nearly choking on her coffee. "Do your ears tell you everything?"
"Oh no, just odds and ends of things," answered Tora, reaching up to touch them affectionately.
"Well, did they tell you about me?" inquired Humpy, straightening his crown importantly.
"No," smiled the old man. "That's just what we're waiting to hear, though I declare I have seen you somewhere before. Have you ever seen me?"
Humpy shook his head very positively and Dorothy, settling back against a tree, proceeded with her story. Introducing herself modestly and beginning with Wish Way, she related every single thing that had happened since her fall into California.
Snip was especially interested in Dorothy's sudden change in size. "Is that what tore your dress?" he asked curiously.
The little girl nodded and Tora, ruffling up his silver locks and looking first at Dorothy and then at Humpy, murmured over and over: "Well, I can hardly believe my ears, I can hardly believe my ears!"
Dorothy could not help thinking that the tailor's ears were hard for anyone to believe, but feeling it would be rude to say so, went hurriedly on with her adventures, telling of her meeting with the Scooters and with the Elegant Elephant, whom she described at some length.