"Well," rasped Benny jovially, "This is better than being shades, but let's go in where it's dryer." "By all means," coughed the Scarecrow. "I feel like a sponge!" As Benny came opposite, Trot, standing on tip-toe, put her arms 'round his neck. Striding easily over the jagged rocks, the stone man carried both Trot and the Scarecrow far up on the beach. The mer-man had recovered his crutches by this time, and hobbled happily along behind them. "I'm glad you're not a real man yet," muttered the Scarecrow, as Benny put him carefully down on the sand, "A real man could never have walked along the bottom of a lake, nor saved us from being shadows." "Did I save you?" asked Benny, easing Trot down beside the Scarecrow. "Of course you did!" Dragging himself up beside the others, Orpah beamed on the former statue. "When you refused to melt into a shadow, Ozeerus turned the blue ray higher and higher till it exploded and blew out the side of the cave and carried us all to the bottom of the lake." "But where are the Ozure Isles?" questioned Trot, standing up and shading her eyes with one hand. "Back there," explained Orpah, waving toward the west. "That blue ray blew us clear across the bottom of the lake to the mainland." "I shall never be the same," the Scarecrow assured them sorrowfully. "I feel like an aquarium. Is my face washed off, Trot? And see what's got into my chest, will you?" Trot thrust her hand into the Scarecrow's stuffed shirt and, with a little grimace, brought forth a wriggling fish. There were several crabs and a turtle in the Scarecrow's pockets, but after they had shaken him well and restored the wiggling creatures to the lake, Trot and Orpah wrung out the poor straw man and stretched him in the sun to dry. "You'll be all right soon," smiled Trot, giving him a little hug, "and when we reach the Emerald City, you can have yourself laundered and restuffed and I'll touch up your face with my new paints." "But what are we going to do now?" asked Benny, surveying the little girl expectantly. "Well," answered Trot, shaking back her wet hair, "I think we'd better get back to the Emerald City as soon as we can, so that Ozma can help find the Queen of the Ozure Isles, and keep Quiberon from doing any more mischief. Don't you think so, Orpah?" "That's the best thing I've heard since I escaped from Cave City," smiled the mer-man, "and if you can spare me, I'll swim across right now and tell Cheeriobed the good news." "Don't be too sure it will be good," sighed the Scarecrow, raising his head with a great effort. He still felt damp and depressed, but Trot shook the old mer-man heartily by the hand and promised to return with Ozma to the Ozure Isles. "I'd like to see the Sapphire City again," finished Trot. "If Trot comes, I'll come too," promised Benny, "but you may not know me, for I'll be a real person after I have seen the Wizard of Oz!"