The Rolling Prairie was not difficult to travel over, although it was all up-hill and down-hill, so for a while they made good progress. Not even a shepherd was to be met with now and the farther they advanced the more dreary the landscape became. At noon they stopped for a "picnic luncheon," as Betsy called it, and then they again resumed their journey. All the animals were swift and tireless and even the Cowardly Lion and the Mule found they could keep up with the pace of the Woozy and the Sawhorse.
It was the middle of the afternoon when first they came in sight of a cluster of low mountains. These were cone-shaped, rising from broad bases to sharp peaks at the tops. From a distance the mountains appeared indistinct and seemed rather small-more like hills than mountains -- but as the travelers drew nearer they noted a most unusual circumstance: the hills were all whirling around, some in one direction and some the opposite way.
"I guess those are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right," said Dorothy.
"They must be," said the Wizard.
"They go 'round, sure enough," added Trot, "but they don't seem very merry."There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to the right and to the left, for miles and miles.
How many rows there might be, none could tell, but between the first row of peaks could be seen other peaks, all steadily whirling around one way or another.
Continuing to ride nearer, our friends watched these hills attentively, until at last, coming close up, they discovered there was a deep but narrow gulf around the edge of each mountain, and that the mountains were set so close together that the outer gulf was continuous and barred farther advance.
At the edge of the gulf they all dismounted and peered over into its depths. There was no telling where the bottom was, if indeed there was any bottom at all.
From where they stood it seemed as if the mountains had been set in one great hole in the ground, just close enough together so they would not touch, and that each mountain was supported by a rocky column beneath its base which extended far down into the black pit below.
From the land side it seemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeeding in that, to gain a foothold on any of the whirling mountains.
"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright.
"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.
"What, jump from here to that whirling hill?" cried the Lion indignantly. "I should say not! Even if Ilanded there, and could hold on, what good would it do?
There's another spinning mountain beyond it, and perhaps still another beyond that. I don't believe any living creature could jump from one mountain to another, when both are whirling like tops and in different directions.""I propose we turn back," said the Wooden Sawhorse, with a yawn of his chopped-out mouth, as he stared with his knot eyes at the Merry-Go-Round Mountains.
"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square head.
"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the Mule.
The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the serious problem that confronted them, would not allow themselves to despair.
"If we once get over these mountains," said Button-Bright, "we could probably get along all right.""True enough," agreed Dorothy. "So we must find some way, of course, to get past these whirligig hills. But how?""I wish the Ork was with us," sighed Trot.
"But the Ork isn't here," said the Wizard, "and we must depend upon ourselves to conquer this difficulty.
Unfortunately, all my magic has been stolen; otherwise I am sure I could easily get over the mountains.""Unfortunately," observed the Woozy, "none of us has wings. And we're in a magic country without any magic.""What is that around your waist, Dorothy?" asked the Wizard.
"That? Oh, that's just the Magic Belt I once captured from the Nome King," she replied.
"A Magic Belt! Why, that's fine. I'm sure a Magic Belt would take you over these hills.""It might, if I knew how to work it," said the little girl. "Ozma knows a lot of its magic, but I've never found out about it. All I know is that while I am wearing it nothing can hurt me.""Try wishing yourself across, and see if it will obey you," suggested the Wizard.
"But what good would that do?" asked Dorothy. "If Igot across it wouldn't help the rest of you, and Icouldn'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.
