HROUGH THIS STRANGE
FOREST."]

As the sideboard slowly floated along through this strange forest,
Dorothy presently discovered that each tree had a little door in it,
close to the water's edge, with a small platform before it by way of a
door-step, as if the people who lived in the trees had a fancy for going
about visiting in boats. But she couldn't help wondering who in the
world, or, rather, who in the trees, the people went to see, for all the
little doors were shut as tight as wax, and had notices posted up on
them, such as "No admittance," "Go away," "Gone to Persia," and many
others, all of which Dorothy considered extremely rude, especially one
notice which read, "Beware of the Pig," as if the person who lived in
that particular tree was too stingy to keep a dog.

Now all this was very distressing, because, in the first place, Dorothy
was extremely fond of visiting, and, in the second place, she was
getting rather tired of sailing about on the sideboard; and she was
therefore greatly pleased when she presently came to a door without any
notice upon it. There was, moreover, a bright little brass knocker on
this door, and as this seemed to show that people were expected to call
there if they felt like it, she waited until the sideboard was passing
close to the platform and then gave a little jump ashore.

The sideboard took a great roll backward and held up its front feet as
if expressing its surprise at this proceeding, and as it pitched forward
again the doors of it flew open, and a number of large pies fell out
into the water and floated away in all directions. To Dorothy's
amazement, the sideboard immediately started off after them, and began
pushing them together, like a shepherd's dog collecting a flock of
runaway sheep; and then, having got them all together in a compact
bunch, sailed solemnly away, shoving the pies ahead of it.

Dorothy now looked at the door again, and saw that it was standing
partly open. The doorway was only about as high as her shoulder, and as
she stooped down and looked through it she saw there was a small winding
stairway inside, leading up through the body of the tree. She listened
for a moment, but everything was perfectly quiet inside, so she squeezed
in through the doorway and ran up the stairs as fast as she could go.

[Illustration: DOROTHY MAKES A CALL IN THE TREE-TOP COUNTRY.]

The stairway ended at the top in a sort of trap-door, and Dorothy popped
up through it like