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But what good would that do?" asked Dorothy. "If I got across, it wouldn't

help the rest of you, and I couldn't go alone among all those giants and

dragons while you stayed here."

True enough," agreed the Wizard sadly. And then, after looking around 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'm in trouble

when I'm on the water, I can call the Mermaids and they'll come and help me.

But the Mermaids can't help me on the land, you know, '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, and as the

sun was hot above them, they all gathered under the shade of the tree to

study the problem of what to do next. "If we had a long rope," said Betsy, "we

could fasten it to this tree and let the other end 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 of the gulf."

There are too many 'if's' in that suggestion," remarked the little Wizard. "And

you must remember that the other side is nothing but spinning 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, who had 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 eyes around the

group. "Ha, I have it!" she exclaimed. "Unharness the Sawhorse, 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 with cotton," asserted

the Wizard. "If her brains can help us out of this trouble, we ought to use

them."

The Lost Princess of Oz