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CHAPTER 10 - TOTO LOSES SOMETHING

For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, for beyond the

thistle fields they again found themselves upon the turning-lands, which

swung them around one way and then another. But by keeping the City of

Thi constantly behind them, the adventurers finally passed the treacherous

turning-lands and came upon a stony country where no grass grew at all.

There were plenty of bushes, however, and although it was now almost dark,

the girls discovered some delicious yellow berries growing upon the bushes,

one taste of which set them all to picking as many as they could find. The

berries relieved their pangs of hunger for a time, and as it now became too

dark to see anything, they camped where they were.

The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets--all in a row--and the

Wizard covered them with the other blanket and tucked them in. Button-

Bright crawled under the shelter of some bushes and was asleep in half a

minute. The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone and looked at the

stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerous adventure they had

undertaken, wondering if they would ever be able to find their beloved Ozma

again. The animals lay in a group by themselves, a little distance from the

others.

I've lost my growl!" said Toto, who had been very silent and sober all that day.

What do you suppose has become of it?"

If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be able to tell you,"

remarked the Lion sleepily. "But frankly, Toto, I supposed you were taking

care of it yourself."

It's an awful thing to lose one's growl," said Toto, wagging his tail

disconsolately. "What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn't you feel terrible?"

My roar," replied the Lion, "is the fiercest thing about me. I depend on it to

frighten my enemies so badly that they won't dare to fight me."

Once," said the Mule, "I lost my bray so that I couldn't call to Betsy to let her

know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, you know, for I had not yet

come into the Land of Oz, and I found it was certainly very uncomfortable not

to be able to make a noise."

The Lost Princess of Oz