n, women and children were all made of buns and bread. Some were
thin and others fat; some were white, some light brown and some very
dark of complexion. A few of the buns, which seemed to form the more
important class of the people, were neatly frosted. Some had raisins
for eyes and currant buttons on their clothes; others had eyes of
cloves and legs of stick cinnamon, and many wore hats and bonnets
frosted pink and green.

There was something of a commotion in Bunbury when the strangers
suddenly appeared among them. Women caught up their children and
hurried into their houses, shutting the cracker doors carefully behind
them. Some men ran so hastily that they tumbled over one another,
while others, more brave, assembled in a group and faced the intruders
defiantly.

Dorothy at once realized that she must act with caution in order not to
frighten these shy people, who were evidently unused to the presence of
strangers. There was a delightful fragrant odor of fresh bread in the
town, and this made the little girl more hungry than ever. She told
Toto and Billina to stay back while she slowly advanced toward the
group that stood silently awaiting her.

"You must 'scuse me for coming unexpected," she said, softly, "but I
really didn't know I was coming here until I arrived. I was lost in
the woods, you know, and I'm as hungry as anything."

"Hungry!" they murmured, in a horrified chorus.

"Yes; I haven't had anything to eat since last night's supper," she
exclaimed. "Are there any eatables in Bunbury?"

They looked at one another undecidedly, and then one portly bun man,
who seemed a person of consequence, stepped forward and said:

"Little girl, to be frank with you, we are all eatables. Everything in
Bunbury is eatable to ravenous human creatures like you. But it is to
escape being eaten and destroyed that we have secluded ourselves in
this out-of-the-way place, and there is neither right nor justice in
your coming here to feed upon us."

Dorothy looked at him longingly.

"You're bread, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes; bread and butter. The butter is inside me, so it won't melt and
run. I do the running myself."

At this joke all the others burst into a chorus of laughter, and
Dorothy thought they couldn't be much afraid if they could laugh like
that.

"Couldn't I eat something besides people?" she asked. "Couldn't I eat
just one house, or a side-walk or something? I wouldn't mind much what
i