Notta took off his cap and scratched his ear, a habit he had when puzzled or embarrassed.
"Don't go yet!" begged Dorothy, seizing the clown's arm imploringly. As for Bob Up, he retired behind an emerald pillar so that no one could see that he was crying.
"Oh, yes," cawed Snorer, flapping down from the back of a tall chair where he had been enjoying a noisy little nap. "Oh, yes, we must go to America and make our fortune. I am going to have my nose patented and teach the people there how to snore properly."
"That's right," agreed Notta soberly. "I'm a family man now and must go back and earn enough to send Bob to college, and I must save up for my old age, for clowns can't be tumbling around the country forever."
"Why, it's nothing but fun," cried Scraps, who had been quiet as long as she could contain herself.
"Not always," sighed Notta. "Making people laugh is the hardest work in the world. Look how easy it is to make them cry? But come along, Bob Up. It's high time we were going, and if this little lady will just say the magic word we'll bid you all good-bye. I must be saving up for my old age," he repeated mournfully.
When Notta was sad, he always thought about his old age, and the idea of leaving the Cowardly Lion and all of this merry and childlike company made him sad indeed. And Ozma, who is the cleverest little mind and heart reader anywhere in the world or out—Ozma guessed his secret.
