The little house of the Quadlings was out of
sight almost before they had cried their good-
byes, and the Scarecrow said in a pleased voice:
"It won't take us long to get to the Winkie
Country, at this rate."
They had floated several miles down the stream
and were enjoying the ride when suddenly the raft
slowed up, stopped short, and then began to float
back the way it had come.
"Why, what's wrong?" asked Dorothy, in
astonishment; but they were all just as bewildered
as she was and at first no one could answer the
question. Soon, however, they realized the truth:
that the current of the river had reversed and the
water was now flowing in the opposite direction--
toward the mountains.
They began to recognize the scenes they had
passed, and by and by they came in sight of the
little house of the Quadlings again. The man
was standing on the river bank and he called
to them:
"How do you do? Glad to see you again. I forgot
to tell you that the river changes its direction
every little while. Sometimes it flows one way,
and sometimes the other."
They had no time to answer him, for the raft
was swept past the house and a long distance on
the other side of it.
"We're going just the way we don't want to
go," said Dorothy, "and I guess the best thing
we can do is to get to land before we're carried
any farther.
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