The Glass Cat was a good guide and led Trot and Cap'n Bill bystraight and easy paths through all the settled part of theMunchkin Country, and then into the north section where therewere few houses, and finally through a wild country where therewere no houses or paths at all. But the walking was notdifficult and at last they came to the edge of a forest andstopped there to make camp and sleep until morning.

From branches of trees Cap'n Bill made a tiny house that wasjust big enough for the little girl to crawl into and lie down.But first they ate some of the food Trot had carried in the basket.

"Don't you want some, too?" she asked the Glass Cat.

"No," answered the creature.

"I suppose you'll hunt around an' catch a mouse," remarkedCap'n Bill.

"Me? Catch a mouse! Why should I do that?" inquired the Glass Cat.

"Why, then you could eat it," said the sailor-man.

"I beg to inform you," returned the crystal tabby, "that I donot eat mice. Being transparent, so anyone can see through me,I'd look nice, wouldn't I, with a common mouse inside me? Butthe fact is that I haven't any stomach or other machinery thatwould permit me to eat things. The careless magician who made medidn't think I'd need to eat, I suppose."

"Don't you ever get hungry or thirsty?" asked Trot.

"Never. I don't complain, you know, at the way I'm made, forI've never yet seen any living thing as beautiful as I am. Ihave the handsomest brains in the world. They're pink, and youcan see 'em work."

"I wonder," said Trot thoughtfully, as she ate her bread andjam, "if MY brains whirl around in the same way yours do."

"No; not the same way, surely," returned the Glass Cat; "for,in that case, they'd be as good as MY brains, except that they'rehidden under a thick, boney skull."

"Brains," remarked Cap'n Bill, "is of all kinds and workdifferent ways. But I've noticed that them as thinks that theirbrains is best is often mistook."

Trot was a little disturbed by sounds from the forest, thatnight, for many beasts seemed prowling among the trees, but shewas confident Cap'n Bill would protect her from harm. And infact, no beast ventured from the forest to attack them.

At daybreak they were up again, and after a simple breakfastCap'n Bill said to the Glass Cat:

"Up anchor, Mate, and let's forge ahead. I don't suppose we'refar from that Magic Flower, are we?"

"Not far," answered the transparent one, as it led the way intothe forest, "but it may take you some time to get to it."

Before long they reached the bank of a river. It was not verywide, at this place, but as they followed the banks in anortherly direction it gradually broadened.

Suddenly the blue-green leaves of the trees changed to a purplehue, and Trot noticed this and said:

"I wonder what made the colors change like that?"

"It's because we have left the Munchkin Country and entered theGillikin Country," explained the Glass Cat. "Also it's a signour journey is nearly ended."

The river made a sudden turn, and after the travelers hadpassed around the bend, they saw that the stream had now becomeas broad as a small lake, and in the center of the Lake theybeheld a little island, not more than fifty feet in extent,either way. Something glittered in the middle of this tinyisland, and the Glass Cat paused on the bank and said:

"There is the gold flower-pot containing the Magic Flower,which is very curious and beautiful. If you can get to the island,your task is ended--except to carry the thing home with you."

Cap'n Bill looked at the broad expanse of water and began towhistle a low, quavering tune. Trot knew that the whistle meantthat Cap'n Bill was thinking, and the old sailor didn't look atthe island as much as he looked at the trees upon the bank wherethey stood. Presently he took from the big pocket of his coat anaxe-blade, wound in an old cloth to keep the sharp edge fromcutting his clothing. Then, with a large pocket knife, he cut asmall limb from a tree and whittled it into a handle for his axe.

"Sit down, Trot," he advised the girl, as he worked. "I've gotquite a job ahead of me now, for I've got to build us a raft."

"What do we need a raft for, Cap'n?"

"Why, to take us to the island. We can't walk under water, inthe river bed, as the Glass Cat did, so we must float atop the water."

"Can you make a raft, Cap'n Bill?"

"O' course, Trot, if you give me time."

The little girl sat down on a log and gazed at the Island ofthe Magic Flower. Nothing else seemed to grow on the tiny isle.There was no tree, no shrub, no grass, even, as far as she couldmake out from that distance. But the gold pot glittered in therays of the sun, and Trot could catch glimpses of glowing colorsabove it, as the Magic Flower changed from one sort to another.

"When I was here before," remarked the Glass Cat, lazilyreclining at the girl's feet, "I saw two Kalidahs on this verybank, where they had come to drink."

"What are Kalidahs?" asked the girl.

"The most powerful and ferocious beasts in all Oz. This forestis their especial home, and so there are few other beasts to befound except monkeys. The monkeys are spry enough to keep out ofthe way of the fierce Kalidahs, which attack all other animalsand often fight among themselves."

"Did they try to fight you when you saw 'em?" asked Trot,getting very much excited.

"Yes. They sprang upon me in an instant; but I lay flat on theground, so I wouldn't get my legs broken by the great weight ofthe beasts, and when they tried to bite me I laughed at them andjeered them until they were frantic with rage, for they nearlybroke their teeth on my hard glass. So, after a time, theydiscovered they could not hurt me, and went away. It was great fun."

"I hope they don't come here again to drink,--not while we'rehere, anyhow," returned the girl, "for I'm not made of glass, noris Cap'n Bill, and if those bad beasts bit us, we'd get hurt."

Cap'n Bill was cutting from the trees some long stakes, makingthem sharp at one end and leaving a crotch at the other end.These were to bind the logs of his raft together. He hadfashioned several and was just finishing another when the GlassCat cried: "Look out! There's a Kalidah coming toward us."

Trot jumped up, greatly frightened, and looked at the terribleanimal as if fascinated by its fierce eyes, for the Kalidah waslooking at her, too, and its look wasn't at all friendly. ButCap'n Bill called to her: "Wade into the river, Trot, up to yourknees--an' stay there!" and she obeyed him at once. Thesailor-man hobbled forward, the stake in one hand and his axe inthe other, and got between the girl and the beast, which sprangupon him with a growl of defiance.

Cap'n Bill moved pretty slowly, sometimes, but now he was quickas could be. As the Kalidah sprang toward him he stuck out hiswooden leg and the point of it struck the beast between the eyesand sent it rolling upon the ground. Before it could get uponits feet again the sailor pushed the sharp stake right throughits body and then with the flat side of the axe he hammered thestake as far into the ground as it would go. By this means hecaptured the great beast and made it harmless, for try as itwould, it could not get away from the stake that held it.

Cap'n Bill knew he could not kill the Kalidah, for no livingthing in Oz can be killed, so he stood back and watched the beastwriggle and growl and paw the earth with its sharp claws, andthen, satisfied it could not escape, he told Trot to come out ofthe water again and dry her wet shoes and stockings in the sun.

"Are you sure he can't get away?" she asked.

"I'd bet a cookie on it," said Cap'n Bill, so Trot came ashoreand took off her shoes and stockings and laid them on the log todry, while the sailor-man resumed his work on the raft.

The Kalidah, realizing after many struggles that it could notescape, now became quiet, but it said in a harsh, snarling voice:

"I suppose you think you're clever, to pin me to the ground in thismanner. But when my friends, the other Kalidahs, come here, they'lltear you to pieces for treating me this way."

"P'raps," remarked Cap'n Bill, coolly, as he chopped at the logs,"an' p'raps not. When are your folks comin' here?"

"I don't know," admitted the Kalidah. "But when they DO come, youcan't escape them."

"If they hold off long enough, I'll have my raft ready," said Cap'n Bill.

"What are you going to do with a raft?" inquired the beast.

"We're goin' over to that island, to get the Magic Flower."

The huge beast looked at him in surprise a moment, and then it beganto laugh. The laugh was a good deal like a roar, and it had a crueland derisive sound, but it was a laugh nevertheless.

"Good!" said the Kalidah. "Good! Very good! I'm glad you're goingto get the Magic Flower. But what will you do with it?"

"We're going to take it to Ozma, as a present on her birthday."

The Kalidah laughed again; then it became sober. "If you get to theland on your raft before my people can catch you," it said, "you willbe safe from us. We can swim like ducks, so the girl couldn't haveescaped me by getting into the water; but Kalidahs don't go to thatisland over there."

"Why not?" asked Trot.

The beast was silent.

"Tell us the reason," urged Cap'n Bill.

"Well, it's the Isle of the Magic Flower," answered the Kalidah,"and we don't care much for magic. If you hadn't had a magic leg,instead of a meat one, you couldn't have knocked me over so easily andstuck this wooden pin through me."

"I've been to the Magic Isle," said the Glass Cat, "and I've watchedthe Magic Flower bloom, and I'm sure it's too pretty to be left inthat lonely place where only beasts prowl around it and no else seesit. So we're going to take it away to the Emerald City."

"I don't care," the beast replied in a surly tone. "We Kalidahswould be just as contented if there wasn't a flower in our forest.What good are the things anyhow?"

"Don't you like pretty things?" asked Trot.

"No."

"You ought to admire my pink brains, anyhow," declared the GlassCat. "They're beautiful and you can see 'em work."

The beast only growled in reply, and Cap'n Bill, having now cut allhis logs to a proper size, began to roll them to the water's edge andfasten them together.