. But
they are said to be so strong that if they had any other place to stand
upon they could lift the world."

"All of them together?" asked Button-Bright wonderingly.

"Any one of them could do it," said the High Coco-Lorum.

"Have you heard of any magicians being among them?" asked the Wizard,
knowing that only a magician could have stolen Ozma in the way she had
been stolen.

"I am told it is quite a magical country," declared the High
Coco-Lorum, "and magic is usually performed by magicians. But I have
never heard that they have any invention or sorcery to equal our
wonderful auto-dragons."

They thanked him for his courtesy, and mounting their own animals rode
to the farther side of the city and right through the Wall of Illusion
out into the open country. "I'm glad we got away so easily," said
Betsy. "I didn't like those queer-shaped people."

"Nor did I," agreed Dorothy. "It seems dreadful to be lined with sheets
of pure gold and have nothing to eat but thistles."

"They seemed happy and contented, though," remarked the Wizard, "and
those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing more to wish
for."

CHAPTER 10

TOTO LOSES SOMETHING

For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, for
beyond the thistle fields they again found themselves upon the
turning-lands, which swung them around one way and then another. But
by keeping the City of Thi constantly behind them, the adventurers
finally passed the treacherous turning-lands and came upon a stony
country where no grass grew at all. There were plenty of bushes,
however, and although it was now almost dark, the girls discovered some
delicious yellow berries growing upon the bushes, one taste of which
set them all to picking as many as they could find. The berries
relieved their pangs of hunger for a time, and as it now became too
dark to see anything, they camped where they were.

The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets--all in a row--and
the Wizard covered them with the other blanket and tucked them in.
Button-Bright crawled under the shelter of some bushes and was asleep
in half a minute. The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone and
looked at the stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerous
adventure they had undertaken, wondering if they would ever be able to
find their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in a group by
themselves, a little distance from the others.

"I've