"It's getting awful rough walking," said Dorothy, as they trudgedalong. Button-Bright gave a deep sigh and said he was hungry.Indeed, all were hungry, and thirsty, too; for they had eaten nothingbut the apples since breakfast; so their steps lagged and they grewsilent and weary. At last they slowly passed over the crest of abarren hill and saw before them a line of green trees with a strip ofgrass at their feet. An agreeable fragrance was wafted toward them.

Our travelers, hot and tired, ran forward on beholding this refreshingsight and were not long in coming to the trees. Here they found aspring of pure bubbling water, around which the grass was full of wildstrawberry plants, their pretty red berries ripe and ready to eat.Some of the trees bore yellow oranges and some russet pears, so thehungry adventurers suddenly found themselves provided with plenty toeat and to drink. They lost no time in picking the biggeststrawberries and ripest oranges and soon had feasted to their hearts'content. Walking beyond the line of trees they saw before them afearful, dismal desert, everywhere gray sand. At the edge of thisawful waste was a large, white sign with black letters neatly paintedupon it and the letters made these words:

ALL PERSONS ARE WARNED NOT TO VENTURE UPON THIS DESERT

For the Deadly Sands will Turn Any Living Fleshto Dust in an instant. Beyond This Barrier is the

LAND OF OZ

But no one can Reach that Beautiful Countrybecause of these Destroying Sands

"Oh," said Dorothy, when the shaggy man had read the sign aloud;"I've seen this desert before, and it's true no one can live whotries to walk upon the sands."

"Then we musn't try it," answered the shaggy man thoughtfully."But as we can't go ahead and there's no use going back,what shall we do next?"

"Don't know," said Button-Bright.

"I'm sure I don't know, either," added Dorothy, despondently.

"I wish father would come for me," sighed the pretty Rainbow'sDaughter, "I would take you all to live upon the rainbow, where youcould dance along its rays from morning till night, without a care orworry of any sort. But I suppose father's too busy just now to searchthe world for me."

"Don't want to dance," said Button-Bright, sitting down wearily uponthe soft grass.

"It's very good of you, Polly," said Dorothy; "but there are otherthings that would suit me better than dancing on rainbows. I'm 'fraidthey'd be kind of soft an' squashy under foot, anyhow, althoughthey're so pretty to look at."

This didn't help to solve the problem, and they all fell silent andlooked at one another questioningly.

"Really, I don't know what to do," muttered the shaggy man, gazinghard at Toto; and the little dog wagged his tail and said "Bow-wow!"just as if he could not tell, either, what to do. Button-Bright got astick and began to dig in the earth, and the others watched him for awhile in deep thought. Finally, the shaggy man said:

"It's nearly evening, now; so we may as well sleep in this prettyplace and get rested; perhaps by morning we can decide what is bestto be done."

There was little chance to make beds for the children, but the leavesof the trees grew thickly and would serve to keep off the night dews,so the shaggy man piled soft grasses in the thickest shade and whenit was dark they lay down and slept peacefully until morning.

Long after the others were asleep, however, the shaggy man sat in thestarlight by the spring, gazing thoughtfully into its bubbling waters.Suddenly he smiled and nodded to himself as if he had found a goodthought, after which he, too, laid himself down under a tree and wassoon lost in slumber.

In the bright morning sunshine, as they ate of the strawberries andsweet juicy pears, Dorothy said:

"Polly, can you do any magic?"

"No dear," answered Polychrome, shaking her dainty head.

"You ought to know SOME magic, being the Rainbow's Daughter,"continued Dorothy, earnestly.

"But we who live on the rainbow among the fleecy clouds have no usefor magic," replied Polychrome.

"What I'd like," said Dorothy, "is to find some way to cross thedesert to the Land of Oz and its Emerald City. I've crossed italready, you know, more than once. First a cyclone carried my houseover, and some Silver Shoes brought me back again--in half a second.Then Ozma took me over on her Magic Carpet, and the Nome King's MagicBelt took me home that time. You see it was magic that did it everytime 'cept the first, and we can't 'spect a cyclone to happen alongand take us to the Emerald City now."

"No indeed," returned Polly, with a shudder, "I hate cyclones, anyway."

"That's why I wanted to find out if you could do any magic," said thelittle Kansas girl. "I'm sure I can't; and I'm sure Button-Brightcan't; and the only magic the shaggy man has is the Love Magnet, whichwon't help us much."

"Don't be too sure of that, my dear," spoke the shaggy man, a smileon his donkey face. "I may not be able to do magic myself, but Ican call to us a powerful friend who loves me because I own the LoveMagnet, and this friend surely will be able to help us."

"Who is your friend?" asked Dorothy.

"Johnny Dooit."

"What can Johnny do?"

"Anything," answered the shaggy man, with confidence.

"Ask him to come," she exclaimed, eagerly.

The shaggy man took the Love Magnet from his pocket and unwrapped thepaper that surrounded it. Holding the charm in the palm of his handhe looked at it steadily and said these words:

"Dear Johnny Dooit, come to me.I need you bad as bad can be."

"Well, here I am," said a cheery little voice; "but you shouldn't sayyou need me bad, 'cause I'm always, ALWAYS, good."

At this they quickly whirled around to find a funny little man sittingon a big copper chest, puffing smoke from a long pipe. His hair wasgrey, his whiskers were grey; and these whiskers were so long that hehad wound the ends of them around his waist and tied them in a hardknot underneath the leather apron that reached from his chin nearly tohis feet, and which was soiled and scratched as if it had been used along time. His nose was broad, and stuck up a little; but his eyeswere twinkling and merry. The little man's hands and arms were ashard and tough as the leather in his apron, and Dorothy thought JohnnyDooit looked as if he had done a lot of hard work in his lifetime.

"Good morning, Johnny," said the shaggy man. "Thank you for coming tome so quickly."

"I never waste time," said the newcomer, promptly. "But what'shappened to you? Where did you get that donkey head? Really,I wouldn't have known you at all, Shaggy Man, if I hadn't lookedat your feet."

The shaggy man introduced Johnny Dooit to Dorothy and Toto andButton-Bright and the Rainbow's Daughter, and told him the story oftheir adventures, adding that they were anxious now to reach theEmerald City in the Land of Oz, where Dorothy had friends who wouldtake care of them and send them safe home again.

"But," said he, "we find that we can't cross this desert, which turnsall living flesh that touches it into dust; so I have asked you tocome and help us."

Johnny Dooit puffed his pipe and looked carefully at the dreadfuldesert in front of them--stretching so far away they could not seeits end.

"You must ride," he said, briskly.

"What in?" asked the shaggy man.

"In a sand-boat, which has runners like a sled and sails like a ship.The wind will blow you swiftly across the desert and the sand cannottouch your flesh to turn it into dust."

"Good!" cried Dorothy, clapping her hands delightedly. "That was theway the Magic Carpet took us across. We didn't have to touch thehorrid sand at all."

"But where is the sand-boat?" asked the shaggy man, looking allaround him.

"I'll make you one," said Johnny Dooit.

As he spoke, he knocked the ashes from his pipe and put it in hispocket. Then he unlocked the copper chest and lifted the lid, andDorothy saw it was full of shining tools of all sorts and shapes.

Johnny Dooit moved quickly now--so quickly that they were astonishedat the work he was able to accomplish. He had in his chest a tool foreverything he wanted to do, and these must have been magic toolsbecause they did their work so fast and so well.

The man hummed a little song as he worked, and Dorothy tried to listento it. She thought the words were something like these:

The only way to do a thingIs do it when you can,And do it cheerfully, and singAnd work and think and plan.The only real unhappy oneIs he who dares to shirk;The only really happy oneIs he who cares to work.

Whatever Johnny Dooit was singing he was certainly doing things, andthey all stood by and watched him in amazement.

He seized an axe and in a couple of chops felled a tree. Next he tooka saw and in a few minutes sawed the tree-trunk into broad, longboards. He then nailed the boards together into the shape of a boat,about twelve feet long and four feet wide. He cut from another tree along, slender pole which, when trimmed of its branches and fastenedupright in the center of the boat, served as a mast. From the chesthe drew a coil of rope and a big bundle of canvas, and withthese--still humming his song--he rigged up a sail, arranging it soit could be raised or lowered upon the mast.

Dorothy fairly gasped with wonder to see the thing grow so speedilybefore her eyes, and both Button-Bright and Polly looked on with thesame absorbed interest.

"It ought to be painted," said Johnny Dooit, tossing his tools backinto the chest, "for that would make it look prettier. But 'though Ican paint it for you in three seconds it would take an hour to dry,and that's a waste of time."

"We don't care how it looks," said the shaggy man, "if only it willtake us across the desert."

"It will do that," declared Johnny Dooit. "All you need worry aboutis tipping over. Did you ever sail a ship?"

"I've seen one sailed," said the shaggy man.

"Good. Sail this boat the way you've seen a ship sailed, and you'llbe across the sands before you know it."

With this he slammed down the lid of the chest, and the noise madethem all wink. While they were winking the workman disappeared,tools and all.