und that it contained a quantity of water. "Where's the
gold flask, Dorothy?" he asked, and the little girl handed him the
flask, which she had brought with her.

Ojo knelt again and by feeling carefully in the dark managed to fill
the flask with the unseen water that was in the well. Then he screwed
the top of the flask firmly in place and put the precious water in his
pocket.

"All right!" he said again, in a glad voice; "now we can go back."

They returned to the mouth of the tunnel and began to creep cautiously
up the incline. This time they made Scraps stay behind, for fear she
would slip again; but they all managed to get up in safety and the
Munchkin boy was very happy when he stood in the Horner city and
realized that the water from the dark well, which he and his friends
had traveled so far to secure, was safe in his jacket pocket.

Chapter Twenty-Five

They Bribe the Lazy Quadling

"Now," said Dorothy, as they stood on the mountain path, having left
behind them the cave in which dwelt the Hoppers and the Horners, "I
think we must find a road into the Country of the Winkies, for there is
where Ojo wants to go next."

"Is there such a road?" asked the Scarecrow.

"I don't know," she replied. "I s'pose we can go back the way we came,
to Jack Pumpkinhead's house, and then turn into the Winkie Country; but
that seems like running 'round a haystack, doesn't it?"

"Yes," said the Scarecrow. "What is the next thing Ojo must get?"

"A yellow butterfly," answered the boy.

"That means the Winkie Country, all right, for it's the yellow country
of Oz," remarked Dorothy. "I think, Scarecrow, we ought to take him to
the Tin Woodman, for he's the Emp'ror of the Winkies and will help us
to find what Ojo wants."

"Of course," replied the Scarecrow, brightening at the suggestion. "The
Tin Woodman will do anything we ask him, for he's one of my dearest
friends. I believe we can take a crosscut into his country and so get
to his castle a day sooner than if we travel back the way we came."

"I think so, too," said the girl; "and that means we must keep to the
left."

They were obliged to go down the mountain before they found any path
that led in the direction they wanted to go, but among the tumbled
rocks at the foot of the mountain was a faint trail which they decided
to follow. Two or three hours walk along this trail brought them to a
clear, level country, where there were a few farms and some scattere