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Chapter Seventeen - The Ork Rescues Button-Bright

I must now tell you what had become of Button-Bright since he wandered

away in the morning and got lost. This small boy, as perhaps you have

discovered, was almost as destitute of nerves as the Scarecrow. Nothing ever

astonished him much; nothing ever worried him or made him unhappy. Good

fortune or bad fortune he accepted with a quiet smile, never complaining,

whatever happened. This was one reason why Button-Bright was a favorite

with all who knew him--and perhaps it was the reason why he so often got

into difficulties, or found himself lost.

To-day, as he wandered here and there, over hill and down dale, he missed

Trot and Cap'n Bill, of whom he was fond, but nevertheless he was not

unhappy. The birds sang merrily and the wildflowers were beautiful and the

breeze had a fragrance of new-mown hay.

The only bad thing about this country is its King," he reflected; "but the

country isn't to blame for that."

A prairie-dog stuck its round head out of a mound of earth and looked at the

boy with bright eyes.

Walk around my house, please," it said, "and then you won't harm it or

disturb the babies."

All right," answered Button-Bright, and took care not to step on the mound.

He went on, whistling merrily, until a petulant voice cried:

Oh, stop it! Please stop that noise. It gets on my nerves."

Button-Bright saw an old gray owl sitting in the crotch of a tree, and he

replied with a laugh: "All right, old Fussy," and stopped whistling until he had

passed out of the owl's hearing. At noon he came to a farmhouse where an

aged couple lived. They gave him a good dinner and treated him kindly, but

the man was deaf and the woman was dumb, so they could answer no

questions to guide him on the way to Pon's house. When he left them he was

just as much lost as he had been before.

Every grove of trees he saw from a distance he visited, for he remembered that

the King's castle was near a grove of trees and Pon's hut was near the King's

castle; but always he met with disappointment. Finally, passing through one

The Scarecrow of Oz