"Can't we use them to escape?"
"Not unless we can count seventeen by twos," answered the Tin Woodman. "But
our friend the Woggle-Bug claims to be highly educated, so he ought easily
to figure out how that can be done."
"It isn't a question of education," returned the Insect; "it's merely a
question of mathematics. I've seen the professor work lots of sums on the
blackboard, and he claimed anything could be done with x's and y's and a's,
and such things, by mixing them up with plenty of plusses and minuses and
equals, and so forth. But he never said anything, so far as
225
I can remember, about counting up to the odd number of seventeen by the even
numbers of twos."
"Stop! stop!" cried the Pumpkinhead. "You're making my head ache."
"And mine," added the Scarecrow. "Your mathematics seem to me very like a
bottle of mixed pickles the more you fish for what you want the less chance
you have of getting it. I am certain that if the thing can be accomplished
at all, it is in a very simple manner."
"Yes," said Tip. "old Mombi couldn't use x's and minuses, for she never went
to school."
"Why not start counting at a half of one?" asked the Saw-Horse, abruptly.
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