"Neither," croaked Snorer sorrowfully. "Only tied to a very forgetful friend." The disguises, concealed in various parts of Notta's apparel, were dragged down in disfiguring lumps about his knees. There were four bumps on his forehead and one was coming on the back of his head. Bob, though shivering and wet, was otherwise unhurt, so he and Nick helped Notta to the Cowardly Lion's back, and, dripping and shaken, the air-wrecked party started toward a little hut near which they had fallen.
"Where's the Fallaboutabus?" muttered Notta thickly, as the Cowardly Lion stumbled over the sill.
"I don't care where it is," groaned the lion. "I hope it's busted. I'm against flying in all its branches." He dropped panting on the hearth, and Notta did not even move from his back. The hut evidently belonged to some thrifty woodcutter. It was quite neat and comfortable and there was a fire all ready to light.
Bob, feeling very important, started a cheerful blaze, and though the rain still rattled on the roof, inside it was quite cozy and comfortable. Notta, with Bob's help, took out all of his disguises, and the three that had already been used he hung out in full view. But the clown was so down-hearted when Bob started to shake out the others, and seemed to attach so much importance to keeping them secret, that Snorer, without unrolling them, carried them into the next room and hung them on hooks to dry. Notta was quite thin and fallen without them, but when his suit had dried and he had powdered his nose with some of the woodcutter's flour he felt quite restored, and it was not until then that he discovered his feathers were gone. With a little shout he looked at the Cowardly Lion and Bob.
"We've all shed our feathers," he cried exultantly. "They must have washed away." The Cowardly Lion was so pleased that he jumped for joy, and started to run and look in the woodcutter's mirror, upsetting Notta as usual.
"It's because you're no longer unish," explained Snorer wisely, as Notta scrambled to his feet and hastened to accompany the lion to the mirror. "When you both stopped planning unwise and unfair things the feathers just naturally dropped out, and Bob's followed suit, for there isn't an unish bone in that boy's body," continued Snorer, rolling his eyes knowingly. "And now that we've all decided to stick together everything will be as happy as possible."
"We don't stick together very well," sighed the Cowardly Lion, hanging his head. "Did I hurt you, Notta, old fellow?"