ed
round in the wood, "is to grow to my right size again; and the next
thing is to find my way to that love-ly gar-den. I think that will be
the best plan."

It was a fine scheme, no doubt, and well planned, but the hard thing was
that she did not in the least know how she should start to work it out;
and while she peered round through the trees, a sharp bark just o-ver
her head made her look up in great haste.

[Illustration]

A great pup-py looked down at her with large round eyes, stretched out
one paw and tried to touch her. "Poor thing!" said Al-ice in a kind tone
and tried hard to show it that she wished to be its friend, but she was
in a sore fright, lest it should eat her up.

Al-ice could not think what to do next, so she picked up a bit of stick
and held it out to the pup-py. It jumped from the tree with a yelp of
joy as if to play with it; then Al-ice dodged round a large plant that
stood near, but the pup-py soon found her and made a rush at the stick
a-gain, but tum-bled head o-ver heels in its haste to get hold of it.
Al-ice felt that it was quite like a game with a cart horse, and looked
at each turn to be crushed 'neath its great feet. At last, to her joy,
it seemed to grow tired of the sport and ran a good way off and sat down
with its tongue out of its mouth and its big eyes half shut.

This seemed to Al-ice a good time to get out of its sight, so she set
out at once and ran till she was quite tired and out of breath, and till
the pup-py's bark sound-ed quite faint.

[Illustration]

"And yet what a dear pup-py it was," said Al-ice, as she stopped to rest
and fanned her-self with a leaf: "I should have liked so much to teach
it tricks, if--if I'd been the right size to do it! Oh dear! I've got to
grow up a-gain! Let me see--how am I to do it? I guess I ought to eat or
drink some-thing, but I don't know what!"

Al-ice looked all round her at the blades of grass, the blooms, the
leaves, but could not see a thing that looked like the right thing to
eat or drink to make her grow.

There was a large mush-room near her, a-bout the same height as she was,
and when she had looked all round it, she thought she might as well look
and see what was on the top of it. She stretched up as tall as she
could, and her eyes met those of a large blue cat-er-pil-lar that sat on
the top with its arms fold-ed, smok-ing a queer pipe with a long stem
that bent and curved round it like a hoop.

CHAPTER V.

A