Of course, when Dick found himself alone in the Wonderful Wood, he was as surprised as his two sisters had been, and just a wee bit frightened too; though, being a boy, he would not admit it, even to himself! He trotted down the wood-path—which twisted and turned like a long snake—with his hands in his trousers pockets, and a very determined heart. He was extremely proud of having been chosen by Mother Goose for the task of rescuing her son, Humpty Dumpty, and thought that it showed how really sensible she was, after all. For of course, those things—rescuing prisoners, and all that—were always done by _men!_ He thought it a pity that neither she nor Bizzybuzz had given him any clearer directions about getting to the city of the Wicked King, but he hoped to meet plenty of people from whom he could ask the way. So he hurried on quite cheerfully, earnest and excited, into the depths of the Wonderful Wood. And very soon the wood grew lighter and thinner, and finally came to an end altogether, and lo and behold! there he was, on the shore of the Sea of Glass! You see, Dick’s journey through the Wonderful Wood had been short, for all his adventures were to follow. The Sea of Glass looked like a big green mirror, polished and clear and smooth. It did not look like water, nor ice, nor like anything except just what it was. Through the glass surface Dick could see faintly moving shadows and ripples. Evidently there was water underneath. As a matter of fact, it had once been a real, regular sea; only the Wicked King had put a glass lid over it, and screwed it on for all eternity. Dick stared at the Sea of Glass for a minute very nervously and doubtfully; then, thinking of Humpty Dumpty, he stepped manfully out upon it. It was very slippery, but for a little while he got along fairly well by holding his hands out to balance himself and keeping his legs very far apart. Then suddenly he stumbled a little and swayed, and as he did so, something slipped from his pocket, and fell with a sharp “cling!” on the glass. It was his jack-knife! He remembered that he had wanted to bring it with him, and that Bizzybuzz had promised it to him, and here it was! He stooped and picked it up, and then stopped a moment to open it and examine all its blades and corkscrews, and to be quite sure that it really was his own long-lost jack-knife. Now, the one thing you must _not_ do on the Sea of Glass is to stand still. Dick felt his feet slip from under him, and put out his hands wildly. He lost his balance, fell, and the sharp blade of the open knife splintered down through the glass, with a sound like the smashing of three dozen fine wine-glasses.... The next moment, Dick, still holding the fatal knife, was falling down, down, down, through cold green water. Strange to say, he did not feel at all like drowning; but it was very cold and dark and unpleasant, and he heartily wished that he had never had a jack-knife.