"Oh, we probably won't meet anyone," said Dorothy. Slipping off his back, she walked along beside him, one arm flung cozily around his neck. She was rather tired of making verses and thought she could think better if her head were not continually buzzing with rhymes. After the hot sunny meadows the cool shade of the forest was very welcome, but as they advanced farther and farther into the shadows, it grew so dark and grim the two began to look at each other in real alarm. "Must be a squall or thunder shower brewing," observed Pigasus in a faint voice. "Yes, it couldn't be night time so soon," agreed Dorothy, looking fearfully over her shoulder. The crackling of twigs as some large animal made its way through the brush sounded like gun fire, and while they were trying to make up their minds whether to run back or push forward, a long hollow roar sent them scittering forward practically as one. Missing trees by mere inches, they pelted at breakneck speed into the dense and even gloomier stretch of woodland ahead. "B-b-b-better climb on my back," directed Pigasus, halting at last from lack of breath rather than inclination. "But where are you? I can't even see you!" wailed Dorothy, feeling about wildly. "Here, here," grunted the frantic pig, making short dashes in four or five directions and finally bumping violently into the groping little girl. Snatching at a wing, Dorothy pulled herself thankfully up and clasped both arms round his neck. In a tense and breathless silence they waited for it to grow lighter. They could not see even an inch before their noses now, and the darkness and silence grew more oppressive and unbearable every minute. "J--j-j-just a cloud passing over," croaked Pigasus, trying to keep his teeth from chattering. "J-j-j--j-j-j--say, what's that? Dorothy, do you hear anything? F--f-footsteps--not four, TWO. Someone's coming. Hello, there. Who are you? Watch out now, we're here." "I see you," answered a flat, matter-of-fact voice. "Oh! He sees us yet we can't see him, I'm frightened deaf and dumb, Oh, try to fly, Pigasus, why Oh why'd we ever come?" "That's what I'd like to know," went on the voice sternly. "Now, then, will you come quietly or must I drag you along?" CHAPTER 10 The Witch of the Black Forest Dorothy and her companion were too stunned to answer, and in two thumping steps the owner of the voice was upon them. "Do you dare to defy a member of the Invincible Black Watch?" breathed the stranger, grasping Pigasus roughly by the right wing. "No! No! We don't exactly defy you," squealed the pig, flapping his other wing frantically, "but how can we follow a blackguard whom we cannot even see?" "Then how do you know I am a blackguard?" demanded their captor suspiciously. "From your voice," screamed Pigasus, jerking this way and that way in an effort to free himself. "I'd know you for a blackguard anywhere. Unhand me, you surly black monster."