dog in an anxious tone.

"They won't mind if you can't growl at them, I'm sure," said Dorothy.
"I'm sorry for you, of course, Toto, for it's just those things we
can't do that we want to do most of all; but before we get back, you
may find your growl again."

"Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?"

Dorothy smiled.

"Perhaps, Toto."

"Then he's a scoundrel!" cried the little dog.

"Anyone who would steal Ozma is as bad as bad can be," agreed Dorothy,
"and when we remember that our dear friend, the lovely Ruler of Oz, is
lost, we ought not to worry over just a growl."

Toto was not entirely satisfied with this remark, for the more he
thought upon his lost growl, the more important his misfortune became.
When no one was looking, he went away among the trees and tried his
best to growl--even a little bit--but could not manage to do so. All
he could do was bark, and a bark cannot take the place of a growl, so
he sadly returned to the others.

Now Button-Bright had no idea that he was lost at first. He had merely
wandered from tree to tree seeking the finest fruit until he discovered
he was alone in the great orchard. But that didn't worry him just
then, and seeing some apricot trees farther on, he went to them. Then
he discovered some cherry trees; just beyond these were some
tangerines. "We've found 'most ev'ry kind of fruit but peaches," he
said to himself, "so I guess there are peaches here, too, if I can find
the trees."

He searched here and there, paying no attention to his way, until he
found that the trees surrounding him bore only nuts. He put some
walnuts in his pockets and kept on searching, and at last--right among
the nut trees--he came upon one solitary peach tree. It was a
graceful, beautiful tree, but although it was thickly leaved, it bore
no fruit except one large, splendid peach, rosy-cheeked and fuzzy and
just right to eat.

In his heart he doubted this statement, for this was a solitary peach
tree, while all the other fruits grew upon many trees set close to one
another; but that one luscious bite made him unable to resist eating
the rest of it, and soon the peach was all gone except the pit.
Button-Bright was about to throw this peach pit away when he noticed
that it was of pure gold. Of course, this surprised him, but so many
things in the Land of Oz were surprising that he did not give much
thought to the golden peach pit. He put it in his pocket, however, to
s