Dorothy
Gale, who was going with her Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some
relatives they had never before seen. Uncle Henry, you must know, was
not very well, because he had been working so hard on his Kansas farm
that his health had given way and left him weak and nervous. So he
left Aunt Em at home to watch after the hired men and to take care of
the farm, while he traveled far away to Australia to visit his cousins
and have a good rest.

Dorothy was eager to go with him on this journey, and Uncle Henry
thought she would be good company and help cheer him up; so he decided
to take her along. The little girl was quite an experienced traveller,
for she had once been carried by a cyclone as far away from home as the
marvelous Land of Oz, and she had met with a good many adventures in
that strange country before she managed to get back to Kansas again.
So she wasn't easily frightened, whatever happened, and when the wind
began to howl and whistle, and the waves began to tumble and toss, our
little girl didn't mind the uproar the least bit.

"Of course we'll have to stay in the cabin," she said to Uncle Henry
and the other passengers, "and keep as quiet as possible until the
storm is over. For the Captain says if we go on deck we may be blown
overboard."

No one wanted to risk such an accident as that, you may be sure; so all
the passengers stayed huddled up in the dark cabin, listening to the
shrieking of the storm and the creaking of the masts and rigging and
trying to keep from bumping into one another when the ship tipped
sidewise.

Dorothy had almost fallen asleep when she was aroused with a start to
find that Uncle Henry was missing. She couldn't imagine where he had
gone, and as he was not very strong she began to worry about him, and
to fear he might have been careless enough to go on deck. In that case
he would be in great danger unless he instantly came down again.

The fact was that Uncle Henry had gone to lie down in his little
sleeping-berth, but Dorothy did not know that. She only remembered
that Aunt Em had cautioned her to take good care of her uncle, so at
once she decided to go on deck and find him, in spite of the fact that
the tempest was now worse than ever, and the ship was plunging in a
really dreadful manner. Indeed, the little girl found it was as much
as she could do to mount the stairs to the deck, and as soon as she got
there the wind struck her so fiercely that it almost tore a