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Who's worrying?" inquired Button-Bright, already at the table and busily

eating.

The Scarecrow looked around the place while the others were feasting, and

finding many things unfamiliar to him he shook his head and remarked:

I must have taken the wrong path, back in that last valley, for on my way to

Jinxland I remember that I passed around the foot of this river, where there

was a great waterfall."

Did the river make a bend, after the waterfall?" asked Cap'n Bill.

No, the river disappeared. Only a pool of whirling water showed what had

become of the river; but I suppose it is under ground, somewhere, and will

come to the surface again in another part of the country."

Well," suggested Trot, as she finished her luncheon, "as there is no way to

cross this river, I s'pose we'll have to find that waterfall, and go around it."

Exactly," replied the Scarecrow; so they soon renewed their journey, following

the river for a long time until the roar of the waterfall sounded in their ears.

By and by they came to the waterfall itself, a sheet of silver dropping far, far

down into a tiny lake which seemed to have no outlet. From the top of the fall,

where they stood, the banks gradually sloped away, so that the descent by

land was quite easy, while the river could do nothing but glide over an edge of

rock and tumble straight down to the depths below.

You see," said the Scarecrow, leaning over the brink, "this is called by our Oz

people the Great Waterfall, because it is certainly the highest one in all the

land; but I think--Help!"

He had lost his balance and pitched headforemost into the river. They saw a

flash of straw and blue clothes, and the painted face looking upward in

surprise. The next moment the Scarecrow was swept over the waterfall and

plunged into the basin below.

The accident had happened so suddenly that for a moment they were all too

horrified to speak or move.

Quick! We must go to help him or he will be drowned," Trot exclaimed.

Even while speaking she began to descend the bank to the pool below, and

Cap'n Bill followed as swiftly as his wooden leg would let him. Button-Bright

came more slowly, calling to the girl:

The Scarecrow of Oz