Presently they came upon another sign which read: "BEWARE THE CAPTIVE YOOP." "Why, as for that," remarked Dorothy, "if Yoop is a captive there's no need to beware of him.

Whatever Yoop happens to be, I'd much rather have him a captive than running around loose." "So had I," agreed the Scarecrow, with a nod of his painted head.
"Still," said Scraps, reflectively: "Yoop-te-hoop-te-loop-te-goop! Who put noodles in the soup?
We may beware but we don't care, And dare go where we scare the Yoop." "Dear me! Aren't you feeling a little queer, just now ?" Dorothy asked the Patchwork Girl.
"Not queer, but crazy," said Ojo.

"When she says those things I'm sure her brains get mixed somehow and work the wrong way.
"I don't see why we are told to beware the Yoop unless he is dangerous," observed the Scarecrow in a puzzled tone.
"Never mind; we'll find out all about him when we get to where he is," replied the little girl.
The narrow canyon turned and twisted this way and that, and the rift was so small that they were able to touch both walls at the same time by stretching out their arms.

Toto had run on ahead, frisking playfully, when suddenly he uttered a sharp bark of fear and came running back to them with his tail between his legs, as dogs do when they are frightened.
"Ah," said the Scarecrow, who was leading the way, "we must be near Yoop." Just then, as he rounded a sharp turn, the Straw man stopped so suddenly that all the others bumped against him.
"What is it ?" asked Dorothy, standing on tip-toes to look over his shoulder.

But then she saw what it was and cried "Oh!" in a tone of astonishment.
In one of the rock walls--that at their left--was hollowed a great cavern, in front of which was a row of thick iron bars, the tops and bottoms being firmly fixed in the solid rock.