e up and eager to start, and after
a good breakfast they bade their host good-bye and climbed into the red
wagon, to which the Sawhorse had been hitched all night. Being made of
wood, this horse never got tired nor cared to lie down. Dorothy was
not quite sure whether he ever slept or not, but it was certain that he
never did when anybody was around.

The weather is always beautiful in Oz, and this morning the air was
cool and refreshing and the sunshine brilliant and delightful.

In about an hour they came to a place where another road branched off.
There was a sign-post here which read:

THIS WAY TO FUDDLECUMJIG

"Oh, here is where we turn," said Dorothy, observing the sign.

"What! Are we going to Fuddlecumjig?" asked the Captain General.

"Yes; Ozma thought we might enjoy the Fuddles. They are said to be
very interesting," she replied.

"No one would suspect it from their name," said Aunt Em. "Who are
they, anyhow? More paper things?"

"I think not," answered Dorothy, laughing; "but I can't say 'zactly,
Aunt Em, what they are. We'll find out when we get there."

"Perhaps the Wizard knows," suggested Uncle Henry.

"No; I've never been there before," said the Wizard. "But I've often
heard of Fuddlecumjig and the Fuddles, who are said to be the most
peculiar people in all the Land of Oz."

"In what way?" asked the Shaggy Man.

"I don't know, I'm sure," said the Wizard.

Just then, as they rode along the pretty green lane toward
Fuddlecumjig, they espied a kangaroo sitting by the roadside. The poor
animal had its face covered with both its front paws and was crying so
bitterly that the tears coursed down its cheeks in two tiny streams and
trickled across the road, where they formed a pool in a small hollow.

The Sawhorse stopped short at this pitiful sight, and Dorothy cried
out, with ready sympathy:

"What's the matter, Kangaroo?"

"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!" wailed the Kangaroo; "I've lost my mi--mi--mi--Oh,
boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"--

"Poor thing," said the Wizard, "she's lost her mister. It's probably
her husband, and he's dead."

"No, no, no!" sobbed the kangaroo. "It--it isn't that. I've lost my
mi--mi--Oh, boo, boo-hoo!"

"I know," said the Shaggy Man; "she's lost her mirror."

"No; it's my mi--mi--mi--Boo-hoo! My mi--Oh, Boo-hoo!" and the
kangaroo cried harder than ever.

"It must be her mince-pie," suggested Aunt Em.

"Or her milk-toast," proposed Uncle Henry.

"I've lost my m