u'd have been absolutely astonished."

"They say 'Time flies,'" laughed Button-Bright; "but Time never made a
quicker journey than that."

Just then, as Dorothy turned around to look at the whirling mountains,
she was in time to see tiny Trot come flying from the nearest hill to
fall upon the soft grass not a yard away from where she stood. Trot was
so dizzy she couldn't stand, at first, but she wasn't at all hurt and
presently Betsy came flying to them and would have bumped into the
others had they not retreated in time to avoid her.

Then, in quick succession, came the Lion, Hank and the Sawhorse,
bounding from mountain to mountain to fall safely upon the greensward.
Only the Wizard was now left behind and they waited so long for him that
Dorothy began to be worried. But suddenly he came flying from the
nearest mountain and tumbled heels over head beside them. Then they saw
that he had wound two of their blankets around his body, to keep the
bumps from hurting him, and had fastened the blankets with some of the
spare straps from the harness of the Sawhorse.

The Mysterious City

[Illustration]

CHAPTER 8

There they sat upon the grass, their heads still swimming from their
dizzy flights, and looked at one another in silent bewilderment. But
presently, when assured that no one was injured, they grew more calm and
collected and the Lion said with a sigh of relief:

"Who would have thought those Merry-Go-Round Mountains were made of
rubber?"

"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot.

"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not have
bounded so swiftly from one to another without getting hurt."

"That is all guesswork," declared the Wizard, unwinding the blankets
from his body, "for none of us stayed long enough on the mountains to
discover what they are made of. But where are we?"

"That's guesswork, too," said Scraps. "The shepherd said the
Thistle-Eaters live this side the mountains and are waited on by
giants."

"Oh, no," said Dorothy; "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, and the
Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots."

"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long tails,
which would get in the way of the chariot wheels."

"And, if the Herkus have conquered the giants," said Trot, "they must be
at least twice the size of giants. P'raps the Herkus are the biggest
people in all the world!"

"Perhaps they are," assented the Wizard, in a thoughtful ton