"No," replied the beaver King, "my magic is mostly water magic and that would be less than useless on the fiery sands of the Deadly Desert. But that isn't the main reason that keeps me from visiting Oz." "What is it, then?" asked Shaggy. "I have not been invited," replied the beaver King simply. "I am sure that if Ozma knew about that, she would fix it," said the Shaggy Man kindly. "Do you think so?" asked the beaver. "Do you really think Ozma would invite me? I hoped you would say that for it gives me courage to put forth a suggestion I have in mind." "What is that?" asked Shaggy. "If you, the famous Shaggy Man of Oz, were to invite me to visit Oz, then everything would be quite proper, wouldn't it?" "I suppose it would," admitted the Shaggy Man smiling. "But how do you propose to get to Oz since we can't cross the Desert?" "Then you really invite me to accompany you? That is wonderful! As for the Deadly Desert--I have a plan which might work." "How did you know who the Shaggy Man was?" asked Twink. "Oh, everyone knows about the Shaggy Man of Oz, and when I saw you here discussing your journey to Oz, I was almost sure this could be none other than the famous Shaggy Man." Shaggy looked modestly down at the ground. Twiffle asked: "Just how far are we from this Deadly Desert?" "Quite a distance," replied the beaver King. "The Desert lies just beyond our own Kingdom which is in the hills and mountains you see in the distance." "And what is your plan for crossing it?" asked the Shaggy Man. "Come to my palace where you will be comfortable," said the King, "and we will discuss my plan." "It must be a long walk," sighed Twink. "And the farther we go toward the Desert, the rockier and grayer the country becomes." "Oh, we shan't walk. It will be much quicker to ride," declared the beaver King. With that the King of the Fairy Beavers walked to the edge of the stream and uttered a shrill whistle. Shaggy and his friends followed the little animal. A few hundred feet below them the river curved to the left. Around this bend in the stream they could now see some twenty little heads--beavers swimming swiftly upstream, and pulling after them a barge-like boat with a canopy to shut out the rays of the sun. In a few moments the boat was drawing near the shore on which they stood. Twink could see that each of the little beavers wore a harness, connected to the boat by a rope of woven reeds. The boat, itself, was brightly painted and filled with soft, silken cushions. "You will be my guests on the journey down the river to my Kingdom where it will give me great pleasure to welcome you to my humble abode." Twink, Tom, the Shaggy Man, and Twiffle stepped into the boat. The Shaggy Man had to stoop a bit to miss the canopy, but once they were seated on the soft cushions there was room for all.