how to the girls, and five minutes afterward had forgotten all about
it.

For now he realized that he was far separated from his companions, and
knowing that this would worry them and delay their journey, he began to
shout as loud as he could. His voice did not penetrate very far among
all those trees, and after shouting a dozen times and getting no
answer, he sat down on the ground and said, "Well, I'm lost again. It's
too bad, but I don't see how it can be helped."

As he leaned his back against a tree, he looked up and saw a Bluefinch
fly down from the sky and alight upon a branch just before him. The
bird looked and looked at him. First it looked with one bright eye and
then turned its head and looked at him with the other eye. Then,
fluttering its wings a little, it said, "Oho! So you've eaten the
enchanted peach, have you?"

"Was it enchanted?" asked Button-Bright.

"Of course," replied the Bluefinch. "Ugu the Shoemaker did that."

"But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who
eats it?" questioned the boy.

"Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows," said the bird, preening its
feathers with its bill.

"And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?"

"The one who enchanted the peach and placed it here--in the exact
center of the Great Orchard--so no one would ever find it. We birds
didn't dare to eat it; we are too wise for that. But you are
Button-Bright from the Emerald City, and you, YOU, YOU ate the
enchanted peach! You must explain to Ugu the Shoemaker why you did
that."

And then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flew
away and left him alone.

Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had eaten
was enchanted. It certainly had tasted very good, and his stomach
didn't ache a bit. So again he began to reflect upon the best way to
rejoin his friends. "Whichever direction I follow is likely to be the
wrong one," he said to himself, "so I'd better stay just where I am and
let THEM find ME--if they can."

A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a little way
off to look at him. "Don't be afraid," said Button-Bright. "I won't
hurt you."

"Oh, I'm not afraid for myself," returned the White Rabbit. "It's you
I'm worried about."

"Yes, I'm lost," said the boy.

"I fear you are, indeed," answered the Rabbit. "Why on earth did you
eat the enchanted peach?"

The boy looked at the excited little animal thoughtfully. "There were