"That's going to be a ter'ble hard climb, Scarecrow. I wish we could find the dark well without so much trouble."
"Suppose," said Ojo, "you wait here and let me do the climbing, for it's on my account we're searching for the dark well. Then, if I don't find anything, I'll come back and join you."
"No," replied the little girl, shaking her head positively, "we'll all go together, for that way we can help each other. If you went alone, something might happen to you, Ojo."
So they began the climb and found it indeed difficult, for a way. But presently, in creeping over the big crags, they found a path at their feet which wound in and out among the masses of rock and was quite smooth and easy to walk upon. As the path gradually ascended the mountain, although in a roundabout way, they decided to follow it.
"This must be the road to the Country of the Hoppers," said the Scarecrow.
"Who are the Hoppers?" asked Dorothy.
"Some people Jack Pumpkinhead told me about," he replied.
"I didn't hear him," replied the girl.
"No; you were asleep," explained the Scarecrow. "But he told Scraps and me that the Hoppers and the Horners live on this mountain."
"He said in the mountain," declared Scraps; "but of course he meant on it."