The Road to Oz | Page 5

"Wasn't it here a minute ago?"
"I thought so," she answered, greatly perplexed. "And I saw the gopher
holes, too, and the dead stump; but they're not here now. These roads
are all strange--and what a lot of them there are! Where do you suppose

they all go to?"
"Roads," observed the shaggy man, "don't go anywhere. They stay in
one place, so folks can walk on them."
He put his hand in his side-pocket and drew out an apple--quick, before
Toto could bite him again. The little dog got his head out this time and
said "Bow-wow!" so loudly that it made Dorothy jump.
"O, Toto!" she cried; "where did you come from?"
"I brought him along," said the shaggy man.
"What for?" she asked.
"To guard these apples in my pocket, miss, so no one would steal
them."
With one hand the shaggy man held the apple, which he began eating,
while with the other hand he pulled Toto out of his pocket and dropped
him to the ground. Of course Toto made for Dorothy at once, barking
joyfully at his release from the dark pocket. When the child had patted
his head lovingly, he sat down before her, his red tongue hanging out
one side of his mouth, and looked up into her face with his bright
brown eyes, as if asking her what they should do next.
Dorothy didn't know. She looked around her anxiously for some
familiar landmark; but everything was strange. Between the branches
of the many roads were green meadows and a few shrubs and trees, but
she couldn't see anywhere the farm-house from which she had just
come, or anything she had ever seen before--except the shaggy man
and Toto. Besides this, she had turned around and around so many
times trying to find out where she was, that now she couldn't even tell
which direction the farm-house ought to be in; and this began to worry
her and make her feel anxious.
"I'm 'fraid, Shaggy Man," she said, with a sigh, "that we're lost!"

"That's nothing to be afraid of," he replied, throwing away the core of
his apple and beginning to eat another one. "Each of these roads must
lead somewhere, or it wouldn't be here. So what does it matter?"
"I want to go home again," she said.
"Well, why don't you?" said he.
"I don't know which road to take."
"That is too bad," he said, shaking his shaggy head gravely. "I wish I
could help you; but I can't. I'm a stranger in these parts."
"Seems as if I were, too," she said, sitting down beside him. "It's funny.
A few minutes ago I was home, and I just came to show you the way to
Butterfield--"
"So I shouldn't make a mistake and go there--"
"And now I'm lost myself and don't know how to get home!"
"Have an apple," suggested the shaggy man, handing her one with
pretty red cheeks.
"I'm not hungry," said Dorothy, pushing it away.
"But you may be, to-morrow; then you'll be sorry you didn't eat the
apple," said he.
"If I am, I'll eat the apple then," promised Dorothy.
"Perhaps there won't be any apple then," he returned, beginning to eat
the red-cheeked one himself. "Dogs sometimes can find their way
home better than people," he went on; "perhaps your dog can lead you
back to the farm."
"Will you, Toto?" asked Dorothy.
Toto wagged his tail vigorously.

"All right," said the girl; "let's go home."
Toto looked around a minute and dashed up one of the roads.
"Good-bye, Shaggy Man," called Dorothy, and ran after Toto. The little
dog pranced briskly along for some distance; when he turned around
and looked at his mistress questioningly.
"Oh, don't 'spect ME to tell you anything; I don't know the way," she
said. "You'll have to find it yourself."
But Toto couldn't. He wagged his tail, and sneezed, and shook his ears,
and trotted back where they had left the shaggy man. From here he
started along another road; then came back and tried another; but each
time he found the way strange and decided it would not take them to
the farm-house. Finally, when Dorothy had begun to tire with chasing
after him, Toto sat down panting beside the shaggy man and gave up.
Dorothy sat down, too, very thoughtful. The little girl had encountered
some queer adventures since she came to live at the farm; but this was
the queerest of them all. To get lost in fifteen minutes, so near to her
home and in the unromantic State of Kansas, was an experience that
fairly bewildered her.
"Will your folks worry?" asked the shaggy man, his eyes twinkling in a
pleasant way.
"I s'pose so," answered Dorothy with a sigh. "Uncle Henry