can find anything among these
charms which will cure your leg."

Soon he discovered that one of the charms was labelled: "For flesh
wounds," and this the boy separated from the others. It was only a bit
of dried root, taken from some unknown shrub, but the boy rubbed it
upon the wound made by the quill and in a few moments the place was
healed entirely and the Shaggy Man's leg was as good as ever.

"Rub it on the holes in my patches," suggested Scraps, and Ojo tried
it, but without any effect.

"The charm you need is a needle and thread," said the Shaggy Man. "But
do not worry, my dear; those holes do not look badly, at all."

"They'll let in the air, and I don't want people to think I'm airy, or
that I've been stuck up," said the Patchwork Girl.

"You were certainly stuck up until we pulled out those quills,"
observed Ojo, with a laugh.

So now they went on again and coming presently to a pond of muddy water
they tied a heavy stone to the bundle of quills and sunk it to the
bottom of the pond, to avoid carrying it farther.

Chapter Thirteen

Scraps and the Scarecrow

From here on the country improved and the desert places began to give
way to fertile spots; still no houses were yet to be seen near the
road. There were some hills, with valleys between them, and on reaching
the top of one of these hills the travelers found before them a high
wall, running to the right and the left as far as their eyes could
reach. Immediately in front of them, where the wall crossed the
roadway, stood a gate having stout iron bars that extended from top to
bottom. They found, on coming nearer, that this gate was locked with a
great padlock, rusty through lack of use.

"Well," said Scraps, "I guess we'll stop here."

"It's a good guess," replied Ojo. "Our way is barred by this great wall
and gate. It looks as if no one had passed through in many years."

"Looks are deceiving," declared the Shaggy Man, laughing at their
disappointed faces, "and this barrier is the most deceiving thing in
all Oz."

"It prevents our going any farther, anyhow," said Scraps. "There is no
one to mind the gate and let people through, and we've no key to the
padlock."

"True," replied Ojo, going a little nearer to peep through the bars of
the gate. "What shall we do, Shaggy Man? If we had wings we might fly
over the wall, but we cannot climb it and unless we get to the Emerald
City I won't be able to find the things to restore Unc Nunki