The Rolling Prairie was not difficult to travel over, although it wasall uphill and downhill, so for a while they made good progress. Noteven a shepherd was to be met with now, and the farther they advancedthe more dreary the landscape became. At noon they stopped for a"picnic luncheon," as Betsy called it, and then they again resumedtheir journey. All the animals were swift and tireless, and even theCowardly Lion and the Mule found they could keep up with the pace ofthe Woozy and the Sawhorse.

It was the middle of the afternoon when first they came in sight of acluster of low mountains. These were cone-shaped, rising from broadbases to sharp peaks at the tops. From a distance the mountainsappeared indistinct and seemed rather small--more like hills thanmountains--but as the travelers drew nearer, they noted a most unusualcircumstance: the hills were all whirling around, some in onedirection and some the opposite way.

"I guess these are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right," saidDorothy.

"They must be," said the Wizard.

"They go 'round, sure enough," agreed Trot, "but they don't seem verymerry."

There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to theright and to the left for miles and miles. How many rows there mightbe none could tell, but between the first row of peaks could be seenother peaks, all steadily whirling around one way or another.Continuing to ride nearer, our friends watched these hillsattentively, until at last, coming close up, they discovered there wasa deep but narrow gulf around the edge of each mountain, and that themountains were set so close together that the outer gulf wascontinuous and barred farther advance. At the edge of the gulf theyall dismounted and peered over into its depths. There was no tellingwhere the bottom was, if indeed there was any bottom at all. Fromwhere they stood it seemed as if the mountains had been set in onegreat hole in the ground, just close enough together so they would nottouch, and that each mountain was supported by a rocky column beneathits base which extended far down in the black pit below. From theland side it seemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeedingin that, to gain a foothold on any of the whirling mountains.

"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright.

"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.

"What, jump from here to that whirling hill?" cried the Lionindignantly. "I should say not! Even if I landed there and couldhold on, what good would it do? There's another spinning mountainbeyond it, and perhaps still another beyond that. I don't believe anyliving creature could jump from one mountain to another when both arewhirling like tops and in different directions."

"I propose we turn back," said the Wooden Sawhorse with a yawn of hischopped-out mouth as he stared with his knot eyes at theMerry-Go-Round Mountains.

"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square head.

"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the Mule.

The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the seriousproblem that confronted them, would not allow themselves to despair."If we once get over these mountains," said Button-Bright, "we couldprobably get along all right."

"True enough," agreed Dorothy. "So we must find some way, of course,to get past these whirligig hills. But how?"

"I wish the Ork was with us," sighed Trot.

"But the Ork isn't here," said the Wizard, "and we must depend uponourselves to conquer this difficulty. Unfortunately, all my magic hasbeen stolen, otherwise I am sure I could easily get over themountains."

"Unfortunately," observed the Woozy, "none of us has wings. And we'rein a magic country without any magic."

"What is that around your waist, Dorothy?" asked the Wizard.

"That? Oh, that's just the Magic Belt I once captured from the NomeKing," she replied.

"A Magic Belt! Why, that's fine. I'm sure a Magic Belt would takeyou over these hills."

"It might if I knew how to work it," said the little girl. "Ozmaknows a lot of its magic, but I've never found out about it. All Iknow is that while I am wearing it, nothing can hurt me."

"Try wishing yourself across and see if it will obey you," suggestedthe Wizard.

"But what good would that do?" asked Dorothy. "If I got across, itwouldn't help the rest of you, and I couldn't go alone among all thosegiants and dragons while you stayed here."

"True enough," agreed the Wizard sadly. And then, after lookingaround the group, he inquired, "What is that on your finger, Trot?"

"A ring. The Mermaids gave it to me," she explained, "and if ever I'min trouble when I'm on the water, I can call the Mermaids and they'llcome and help me. But the Mermaids can't help me on the land, youknow, 'cause they swim, and--and--they haven't any legs."

"True enough," repeated the Wizard, more sadly.

There was a big, broad, spreading tree near the edge of the gulf, andas the sun was hot above them, they all gathered under the shade ofthe tree to study the problem of what to do next. "If we had a longrope," said Betsy, "we could fasten it to this tree and let the otherend of it down into the gulf and all slide down it."

"Well, what then?" asked the Wizard.

"Then, if we could manage to throw the rope up the other side,"explained the girl, "we could all climb it and be on the other side ofthe gulf."

"There are too many 'if's' in that suggestion," remarked the littleWizard. "And you must remember that the other side is nothing butspinning mountains, so we couldn't possibly fasten a rope to them,even if we had one."

"That rope idea isn't half bad, though," said the Patchwork Girl, whohad been dancing dangerously near to the edge of the gulf.

"What do you mean?" asked Dorothy.

The Patchwork Girl suddenly stood still and cast her button eyesaround the group. "Ha, I have it!" she exclaimed. "Unharness theSawhorse, somebody. My fingers are too clumsy."

"Shall we?" asked Button-Bright doubtfully, turning to the others.

"Well, Scraps has a lot of brains, even if she IS stuffed withcotton," asserted the Wizard. "If her brains can help us out of thistrouble, we ought to use them."

So he began unharnessing the Sawhorse, and Button-Bright and Dorothyhelped him. When they had removed the harness, the Patchwork Girltold them to take it all apart and buckle the straps together, end toend. And after they had done this, they found they had one very longstrap that was stronger than any rope. "It would reach across thegulf easily," said the Lion, who with the other animals had sat on hishaunches and watched this proceeding. "But I don't see how it couldbe fastened to one of those dizzy mountains."

Scraps had no such notion as that in her baggy head. She told them tofasten one end of the strap to a stout limb of the tree, pointing toone which extended quite to the edge of the gulf. Button-Bright didthat, climbing the tree and then crawling out upon the limb until hewas nearly over the gulf. There he managed to fasten the strap, whichreached to the ground below, and then he slid down it and was caughtby the Wizard, who feared he might fall into the chasm. Scraps wasdelighted. She seized the lower end of the strap, and telling themall to get out of her way, she went back as far as the strap wouldreach and then made a sudden run toward the gulf. Over the edge sheswung, clinging to the strap until it had gone as far as its lengthpermitted, when she let go and sailed gracefully through the air untilshe alighted upon the mountain just in front of them.

Almost instantly, as the great cone continued to whirl, she was sentflying against the next mountain in the rear, and that one had onlyturned halfway around when Scraps was sent flying to the next mountainbehind it. Then her patchwork form disappeared from view entirely,and the amazed watchers under the tree wondered what had become ofher. "She's gone, and she can't get back," said the Woozy.

"My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!" exclaimed theLion.

"That was because they whirl so fast," the Wizard explained. "Scrapshad nothing to hold on to, and so of course she was tossed from onehill to another. I'm afraid we shall never see the poor PatchworkGirl again."

"I shall see her," declared the Woozy. "Scraps is an old friend ofmine, and if there are really Thistle-Eaters and Giants on the otherside of those tops, she will need someone to protect her. So here Igo!" He seized the dangling strap firmly in his square mouth, and inthe same way that Scraps had done swung himself over the gulf. He letgo the strap at the right moment and fell upon the first whirlingmountain. Then he bounded to the next one back of it--not on hisfeet, but "all mixed up," as Trot said--and then he shot across toanother mountain, disappearing from view just as the Patchwork Girlhad done.

"It seems to work, all right," remarked Button-Bright. "I guess I'lltry it."

"Wait a minute," urged the Wizard. "Before any more of us make thisdesperate leap into the beyond, we must decide whether all will go orif some of us will remain behind."

"Do you s'pose it hurt them much to bump against those mountains?"asked Trot.

"I don't s'pose anything could hurt Scraps or the Woozy," saidDorothy, "and nothing can hurt ME, because I wear the Magic Belt. Soas I'm anxious to find Ozma, I mean to swing myself across too."

"I'll take my chances," decided Button-Bright.

"I'm sure it will hurt dreadfully, and I'm afraid to do it," said theLion, who was already trembling, "but I shall do it if Dorothy does."

"Well, that will leave Betsy and the Mule and Trot," said the Wizard,"for of course I shall go that I may look after Dorothy. Do you twogirls think you can find your way back home again?" he asked,addressing Trot and Betsy.

"I'm not afraid. Not much, that is," said Trot. "It looks risky, Iknow, but I'm sure I can stand it if the others can."

"If it wasn't for leaving Hank," began Betsy in a hesitating voice.

But the Mule interrupted her by saying, "Go ahead if you want to, andI'll come after you. A mule is as brave as a lion any day."

"Braver," said the Lion, "for I'm a coward, friend Hank, and you arenot. But of course the Sawhorse--"

"Oh, nothing ever hurts ME," asserted the Sawhorse calmly. "There'snever been any question about my going. I can't take the Red Wagon,though."

"No, we must leave the wagon," said the wizard, "and also we mustleave our food and blankets, I fear. But if we can defy theseMerry-Go-Round Mountains to stop us, we won't mind the sacrifice ofsome of our comforts."

"No one knows where we're going to land!" remarked the Lion in a voicethat sounded as if he were going to cry.

"We may not land at all," replied Hank, "but the best way to find outwhat will happen to us is to swing across as Scraps and the Woozy havedone."

"I think I shall go last," said the Wizard, "so who wants to gofirst?"

"I'll go," decided Dorothy.

"No, it's my turn first," said Button-Bright. "Watch me!"

Even as he spoke, the boy seized the strap, and after making a run swung himself across the gulf. Away he went, bumping from hill to hill until he disappeared. They listened intently, but the boy uttered no cry until he had been gone some moments, when they heard a faint Hullo-a!" as if called from a great distance. The sound gave them courage,however, and Dorothy picked up Toto and held him fast under one armwhile with the other hand she seized the strap and bravely followedafter Button-Bright.

When she struck the first whirling mountain, she fell upon it quitesoftly, but before she had time to think, she flew through the air andlit with a jar on the side of the next mountain. Again she flew andalighted, and again and still again, until after five successive bumpsshe fell sprawling upon a green meadow and was so dazed and bewilderedby her bumpy journey across the Merry-Go-Round Mountains that she layquite still for a time to collect her thoughts. Toto had escaped fromher arms just as she fell, and he now sat beside her panting withexcitement. Then Dorothy realized that someone was helping her to herfeet, and here was Button-Bright on one side of her and Scraps on theother, both seeming to be unhurt. The next object her eyes fell uponwas the Woozy, squatting upon his square back end and looking at herreflectively, while Toto barked joyously to find his mistress unhurtafter her whirlwind trip.

"Good!"said the Woozy. "Here's another and a dog, both safe andsound. But my word, Dorothy, you flew some! If you could have seenyourself, you'd have been absolutely astonished."

"They say 'Time flies,'20" laughed Button-Bright, "but Time nevermade a quicker journey than that."

Just then, as Dorothy turned around to look at the whirling mountains,she was in time to see tiny Trot come flying from the nearest hill tofall upon the soft grass not a yard away from where she stood. Trotwas so dizzy she couldn't stand at first, but she wasn't at all hurt,and presently Betsy came flying to them and would have bumped into theothers had they not retreated in time to avoid her. Then, in quicksuccession, came the Lion, Hank and the Sawhorse, bounding frommountain to mountain to fall safely upon the greensward. Only theWizard was now left behind, and they waited so long for him thatDorothy began to be worried.

But suddenly he came flying from the nearest mountain and tumbled heels over head beside them. Then they saw that he had wound two of their blankets around his body to keepthe bumps from hurting him and had fastened the blankets with some ofthe spare straps from the harness of the Sawhorse.