at as well as any sailor. All you need do is sit still in your
places."

[Illustration]

Dorothy got in, Toto in her arms, and sat on the bottom of the boat just
in front of the mast. Button-Bright sat in front of Dorothy, while Polly
leaned over the bow. The shaggy man knelt behind the mast. When all were
ready he raised the sail half way. The wind caught it. At once the
sand-boat started forward--slowly at first, then with added speed. The
shaggy man pulled the sail way up, and they flew so fast over the
Deadly Desert that every one held fast to the sides of the boat and
scarcely dared to breathe.

The sand lay in billows, and was in places very uneven, so that the boat
rocked dangerously from side to side; but it never quite tipped over,
and the speed was so great that the shaggy man himself became frightened
and began to wonder how he could make the ship go slower.

"If we're spilled in this sand, in the middle of the desert," Dorothy
thought to herself, "we'll be nothing but dust in a few minutes, and
that will be the end of us."

But they were not spilled, and by-and-bye Polychrome, who was clinging
to the bow and looking straight ahead, saw a dark line before them and
wondered what it was. It grew plainer every second, until she discovered
it to be a row of jagged rocks at the end of the desert, while high
above these rocks she could see a tableland of green grass and beautiful
trees.

"Look out!" she screamed to the shaggy man. "Go slowly, or we shall
smash into the rocks."

He heard her, and tried to pull down the sail; but the wind would not
let go of the broad canvas and the ropes had become tangled.

Nearer and nearer they drew to the great rocks, and the shaggy man was
in despair because he could do nothing to stop the wild rush of the
sand-boat.

[Illustration: "LOOK OUT!" SCREAMED POLYCHROME]

They reached the edge of the desert and bumped squarely into the rocks.
There was a crash as Dorothy, Button-Bright, Toto and Polly flew up in
the air in a curve like a skyrocket's, one after another landing high
upon the grass, where they rolled and tumbled for a time before they
could stop themselves.

The shaggy man flew after them, head first, and lighted in a heap beside
Toto, who, being much excited at the time, seized one of the donkey ears
between his teeth and shook and worried it as hard as he could, growling
angrily. The shaggy man made the little dog let go, and sat up to look
around him.