es and plums
that grew there a soft voice suddenly said to them:

"There are bears near by. Be careful."

The Wizard got out his sword at once, and Zeb grabbed the horse-whip.
Dorothy climbed into the buggy, although Jim had been unharnessed from
it and was grazing some distance away.

The owner of the unseen voice laughed lightly and said:

"You cannot escape the bears that way."

"How CAN we 'scape?" asked Dorothy, nervously, for an unseen danger is
always the hardest to face.

"You must take to the river," was the reply. "The bears will not
venture upon the water."

"But we would be drowned!" exclaimed the girl.

"Oh, there is no need of that," said the voice, which from its gentle
tones seemed to belong to a young girl. "You are strangers in the
Valley of Voe, and do not seem to know our ways; so I will try to save
you."

The next moment a broad-leaved plant was jerked from the ground where
it grew and held suspended in the air before the Wizard.

"Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles of all
your feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water without
sinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not know, and
we people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we travel, and so
escape our enemies."

"Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a leaf upon
the soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The girl took a
leaf and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest of the plant
was handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own feet, carefully
rubbed it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon the tires of the
buggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task when a low
growling was suddenly heard and the horse began to jump around and kick
viciously with his heels.

"Quick! To the water or you are lost!" cried their unseen friend, and
without hesitation the Wizard drew the buggy down the bank and out upon
the broad river, for Dorothy was still seated in it with Eureka in her
arms. They did not sink at all, owing to the virtues of the strange
plant they had used, and when the buggy was in the middle of the stream
the Wizard returned to the bank to assist Zeb and Jim.

The horse was plunging madly about, and two or three deep gashes
appeared upon its flanks, from which the blood flowed freely.

"Run for the river!" shouted the Wizard, and Jim quickly freed himself
from his unseen tormenters by a few vicious kicks and