"Indeed I will," and sure enough after a long hard run Billy reached the brook. "Now," said he exultingly, "now I've got you." Dipping his cap deep into the water he eagerly lifted it to his lips and found it--empty, while far off down the road ran the brook. Billy came very near crying, he was so hot and thirsty and disappointed. But he swallowed the lump in his throat (which, being salty, made him thirstier than ever) and turned back again. "The gates are all that's left," he said, bravely, "and I'll catch them, I'm sure." But it wasn't to be, for the farther and the harder he ran, the farther off the gates were. And finally he sank down, entirely out of breath. "No water, no shade, no trees--why the Singing Tree, of course," he cried, delightedly. Out jumped Barker, scratch, scratch, scratch, bow-wow-wow, and, "Bing!" the topmost branches of the Singing Tree popped up and almost struck Billy in the face. "Hello!" cried Billy, "where are your roots? I don't see anything but branches." "Two miles below, where they ought to grow," sang the tree. "Come, hold on tight, you'll be all right." And Billy seized the branch that held itself out to him. "Hold on there, I want to speak to you," called the voice that had teased him so. "I'll hold on," called Billy, "but I'll soon be out of your hearing." Down grew the tree; shorter and shorter it grew, and sure enough, in a minute Billy was on solid ground and Mirage Town had disappeared from view. CHAPTER VI. BLIND MAN'S BUFF. Billy made an early start the next morning so that he could get away from the desert before the sun rose to its full height. And indeed the pink had just begun to appear in the East when he looked below him and saw once more trees and grass and streams of water. "Thank goodness, I am clear of the burning desert at last," he said to himself--"Ugh!! though, here I am falling, and I know I'll be drenched passing through that cloud." "Plump--squash," and he was in the cloud, "there--it wasn't so bad after all. Why there's Honey Girl's Palanquin." Sure enough he had alighted within a few feet of Honey Girl, General Merchandise and the Bee Soldiers all sound asleep. "Who--o, who--o--who--o goes there?" cried a large owl, perched on the limb of a tree above the sleepers' heads. "I'm not going, I'm coming," said Billy. "Who--o--o--who--o--o--who--o--o are you?" "Billy Bounce." "That's not the right answer," cried General Merchandise, jumping to his feet, "you must say, a friend." "A friend then," answered Billy. "Not a friend then or now--just say a friend," said the General. "A friend." "That's right--advance and give the what-you-may-call-it." "The what?" asked Billy. "The counter sign I mean." "I don't know it." "Well I suppose I'll have to tell you, seeing it's you--it's Bogie Man," said the General. "Bogie Man," repeated Billy. "There, that's all over--now you may sit down."