his Barrier is the

LAND OF OZ

But no one can Reach that Beautiful Country because of these
Destroying Sands

"Oh," said Dorothy, when the shaggy man had read this sign aloud; "I've
seen this desert before, and it's true no one can live who tries to walk
upon the sands."

"Then we mustn't try it," answered the shaggy man, thoughtfully. "But as
we can't go ahead and there's no use going back, what shall we do
next?"

[Illustration]

"Don't know," said Button-Bright.

"I'm sure I don't know, either," added Dorothy, despondently.

"I wish father would come for me," sighed the pretty Rainbow's Daughter,
"I would take you all to live upon the rainbow, where you could dance
along its rays from morning till night, without a care or worry of any
sort. But I suppose father's too busy just now to search the world for
me."

"Don't want to dance," said Button-Bright, sitting down wearily upon the
soft grass.

"It's very good of you, Polly," said Dorothy; "but there are other
things that would suit me better than dancing on rainbows. I'm 'fraid
they'd be kind of soft an' squnshy under foot, anyhow, although they're
so pretty to look at."

This didn't help to solve the problem, and they all fell silent and
looked at one another questioningly.

"Really, I don't know what to do," muttered the shaggy man, gazing hard
at Toto; and the little dog wagged his tail and said "Bow-wow!" just as
if he could not tell, either, what to do. Button-Bright got a stick and
began to dig in the earth, and the others watched him for a while in
deep thought. Finally the shaggy man said:

"It's nearly evening, now; so we may well sleep in this pretty place and
get rested; perhaps by morning we can decide what is best to be done."

There was little chance to make beds for the children, but the leaves of
the trees grew thickly and would serve to keep off the night dews, so
the shaggy man piled soft grasses in the thickest shade and when it was
dark they lay down and slept peacefully until morning.

Long after the others were asleep, however, the shaggy man sat in the
starlight by the spring, gazing thoughtfully into its bubbling waters.
Suddenly he smiled and nodded to himself as if he had found a good
thought, after which he, too, laid himself down under a tree and was
soon lost in slumber. [Illustration]

In the bright morning sunshine, as they ate of the strawberries and
sweet juicy pears, Dorothy said:

"Poll