efore we're done, Toto."

"Never mind that," said Toto, wagging his tail. "I'm hungry, Dorothy."

"Breakfas'll soon be ready, and then you shall have your share,"
promised his little mistress, who was really glad to have her dog with
her. She and Toto had traveled together before, and she knew he was a
good and faithful comrade.

When the food was cooked and served, the girls invited the old shepherd
to join them in the morning meal. He willingly consented, and while
they ate he said to them, "You are now about to pass through a very
dangerous country, unless you turn to the north or to the south to
escape its perils."

"In that case," said the Cowardly Lion, "let us turn, by all means, for
I dread to face dangers of any sort."

"What's the matter with the country ahead of us?" inquired Dorothy.

"Beyond this Rolling Prairie," explained the shepherd, "are the
Merry-Go-Round Mountains, set close together and surrounded by deep
gulfs so that no one is able to get past them. Beyond the
Merry-Go-Round Mountains it is said the Thistle-Eaters and the Herkus
live."

"What are they like?" demanded Dorothy.

"No one knows, for no one has ever passed the Merry-Go-Round
Mountains," was the reply, "but it is said that the Thistle-Eaters
hitch dragons to their chariots and that the Herkus are waited upon by
giants whom they have conquered and made their slaves."

"Who says all that?" asked Betsy.

"It is common report," declared the shepherd. "Everyone believes it."

"I don't see how they know," remarked little Trot, "if no one has been
there."

"Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news,"
suggested Betsy.

"If you escaped those dangers," continued the shepherd, "you might
encounter others still more serious before you came to the next branch
of the Winkie River. It is true that beyond that river there lies a
fine country inhabited by good people, and if you reached there, you
would have no further trouble. It is between here and the west branch
of the Winkie River that all dangers lie, for that is the unknown
territory that is inhabited by terrible, lawless people."

"It may be, and it may not be," said the Wizard. "We shall know when
we get there."

"Well," persisted the shepherd, "in a fairy country such as ours, every
undiscovered place is likely to harbor wicked creatures. If they were
not wicked, they would discover themselves and by coming among us
submit to Ozma's rule and be go