the raft slowed down, stopped, and began drifting the
other way--in the direction it had first followed. After a time they
repassed the Quadling house and the man was still standing on the bank.
He cried out to them:

"Good day! Glad to see you again. I expect I shall see you a good many
times, as you go by, unless you happen to swim ashore."

By that time they had left him behind and were headed once more
straight toward the Winkie Country.

"This is pretty hard luck," said Ojo in a discouraged voice. "The Trick
River keeps changing, it seems, and here we must float back and forward
forever, unless we manage in some way to get ashore."

"Can you swim?" asked Dorothy.

"No; I'm Ojo the Unlucky."

"Neither can I. Toto can swim a little, but that won't help us to get
to shore."

"I don't know whether I could swim, or not," remarked Scraps; "but if I
tried it I'd surely ruin my lovely patches."

"My straw would get soggy in the water and I would sink," said the
Scarecrow.

So there seemed no way out of their dilemma and being helpless they
simply sat still. Ojo, who was on the front of the raft, looked over
into the water and thought he saw some large fishes swimming about. He
found a loose end of the clothesline which fastened the logs together,
and taking a gold nail from his pocket he bent it nearly double, to
form a hook, and tied it to the end of the line. Having baited the hook
with some bread which he broke from his loaf, he dropped the line into
the water and almost instantly it was seized by a great fish.

They knew it was a great fish, because it pulled so hard on the line
that it dragged the raft forward even faster than the current of the
river had carried it. The fish was frightened, and it was a strong
swimmer. As the other end of the clothesline was bound around the logs
he could not get it away, and as he had greedily swallowed the gold
hook at the first bite he could not get rid of that, either.

When they reached the place where the current had before changed, the
fish was still swimming ahead in its wild attempt to escape. The raft
slowed down, yet it did not stop, because the fish would not let it. It
continued to move in the same direction it had been going. As the
current reversed and rushed backward on its course it failed to drag
the raft with it. Slowly, inch by inch, they floated on, and the fish
tugged and tugged and kept them going.

"I hope he won't give up," said Ojo anxiously.