Next morning they started out bright and early tofollow the road of yellow bricks toward theEmerald City. The little Munchkin boy wasbeginning to feel tired from the long walk, and hehad a great many things to think of and considerbesides the events of the journey. At thewonderful Emerald City, which he would presentlyreach, were so many strange and curious peoplethat he was half afraid of meeting them andwondered if they would prove friendly and kind.Above all else, he could not drive from his mindthe important errand on which he had come, and hewas determined to devote every energy to findingthe things that were necessary to preparethe magic recipe. He believed that until dearUnc Nunkie was restored to life he could feelno joy in anything, and often he wished thatUnc could be with him, to see all the astonishingthings Ojo was seeing. But alas Unc Nunkie was nowa marble statue in the house of the CrookedMagician and Ojo must not falter in his efforts tosave him.

The country through which they were passing wasstill rocky and deserted, with here and there abush or a tree to break the dreary landscape. Ojonoticed one tree, especially, because it had suchlong, silky leaves and was so beautiful in shape.As he approached it he studied the tree earnestly,wondering if any fruit grew on it or if it borepretty flowers.

Suddenly he became aware that he had beenlooking at that tree a long time--at least forfive minutes--and it had remained in the sameposition, although the boy had continued towalk steadily on. So he stopped short. and whenhe stopped, the tree and all the landscape, aswell as his companions, moved on before himand left him far behind.

Ojo uttered such a cry of astonishment thatit aroused the Shaggy Man, who also halted.The others then stopped, too, and walked backto the boy.

"What's wrong?" asked the Shaggy Man.

"Why, we're not moving forward a bit, nomatter how fast we walk," declared Ojo. "Nowthat we have stopped, we are moving backward!Can't you see? Just notice that rock."

Scraps looked down at her feet and said:"The yellow bricks are not moving."

"But the whole road is," answered Ojo.

"True; quite true," agreed the Shaggy Man."I know all about the tricks of this road, but Ihave been thinking of something else and didn'trealize where we were."

"It will carry us back to where we startedfrom," predicted Ojo, beginning to be nervous.

"No," replied the Shaggy Man; "it won't dothat, for I know a trick to beat this tricky road.I've traveled this way before, you know. Turnaround, all of you, and walk backward."

"What good will that do?" asked the cat.

"You'll find out, if you obey me," said theShaggy Man.

So they all turned their backs to the directionin which they wished to go and began walkingbackward. In an instant Ojo noticed they weregaining ground and as they proceeded in thiscurious way they soon passed the tree which hadfirst attracted his attention to their difficulty.

"How long must we keep this up, Shags?"asked Scraps, who was constantly tripping andtumbling down, only to get up again with alaugh at her mishap.

"Just a little way farther," replied the ShaggyMan.

A few minutes later he called to them to turnabout quickly and step forward, and as theyobeyed the order they found themselves treadingsolid ground.

"That task is well over," observed the ShaggyMan. "It's a little tiresome to walk backward, butthat is the only way to pass this part of theroad, which has a trick of sliding back andcarrying with it anyone who is walking upon it."

With new courage and energy they nowtrudged forward and after a time came to aplace where the road cut through a low hill,leaving high banks on either side of it. Theywere traveling along this cut, talking together,when the Shaggy Man seized Scraps with onearm and Ojo with another and shouted: "Stop!"

"What's wrong now?" asked the Patchwork Girl.

"See there!" answered the Shaggy Man, pointingwith his finger.

Directly in the center of the road lay amotionless object that bristled all over withsharp quills, which resembled arrows. The body wasas big as a ten-bushel basket, but the projectingquills made it appear to be four times bigger.

"Well, what of it?" asked Scraps.

"That is Chiss, who causes a lot of troublealong this road," was the reply.

"Chiss! What is Chiss?

"I think it is merely an overgrown porcupine,but here in Oz they consider Chiss an evil spirit.He's different from a reg'lar porcupine, becausehe can throw his quills in any direction, whichan American porcupine cannot do. That's whatmakes old Chiss so dangerous. If we get toonear, he'll fire those quills at us and hurt usbadly."

"Then we will be foolish to get too near,said Scraps.

"I'm not afraid," declared the Woozy. "The Chissis cowardly, I'm sure, and if it ever heard myawful, terrible, frightful growl, it would bescared stiff."

"Oh; can you growl?" asked the Shaggy Man.

"That is the only ferocious thing about me,"asserted the Woozy with evident pride. "My growlmakes an earthquake blush and the thunder ashamedof itself. If I growled at that creature you callChiss, it would immediately think the world hadcracked in two and bumped against the sun andmoon, and that would cause the monster to run asfar and as fast as its legs could carry it."

"In that case," said the Shaggy Man, "you arenow able to do us all a great favor. Pleasegrowl."

"But you forget," returned the Woozy; "mytremendous growl would also frighten you, andif you happen to have heart disease you mightexpire."

"True; but we must take that risk," decidedthe Shaggy Man, bravely. "Being warned ofwhat is to occur we must try to bear the terrificnoise of your growl; but Chiss won't expect it,and it will scare him away."

The Woozy hesitated.

"I'm fond of you all, and I hate to shock you,"it said.

"Never mind," said Ojo.

"You may be made deaf."

"If so, we will forgive you.

"Very well, then," said the Woozy in adetermined voice, and advanced a few steps towardthe giant porcupine. Pausing to look back, itasked: "All ready?"

"All ready!" they answered.

"Then cover up your ears and brace yourselvesfirmly. Now, then--look out!"

The Woozy turned toward Chiss, opened wide itsmouth and said:

"Quee-ee-ee-eek."

"Go ahead and growl," said Scraps.

"Why, I--I did growl!" retorted the Woozy,who seemed much astonished.

"What, that little squeak?" she cried.

"It is the most awful growl that ever was heard,on land or sea, in caverns or in the sky,"protested the Woozy. "I wonder you stood the shockso well. Didn't you feel the ground tremble? Isuppose Chiss is now quite dead with fright."

The Shaggy Man laughed merrily.

"Poor Wooz!" said he; "your growl wouldn'tscare a fly."

The Woozy seemed to be humiliated and surprised.It hung its head a moment, as if in shame orsorrow, but then it said with renewed confidence:"Anyhow, my eyes can flash fire; and good fire,too; good enough to set fire to a fence!"

"That is true," declared Scraps; "I saw itdone myself. But your ferocious growl isn't asloud as the tick of a beetle--or one of Ojo'ssnores when he's fast asleep."

"Perhaps," said the Woozy, humbly, "I havebeen mistaken about my growl. It has alwayssounded very fearful to me, but that may, havebeen because it was so close to my ears."

"Never mind," Ojo said soothingly; "it is agreat talent to be able to flash fire from youreyes. No one else can do that."

As they stood hesitating what to do Chissstirred and suddenly a shower of quills cameflying toward them, almost filling the air, theywere so many. Scraps realized in an instant thatthey had gone too near to Chiss for safety, soshe sprang in front of Ojo and shielded himfrom the darts, which stuck their points into herown body until she resembled one of thosetargets they shoot arrows at in archery games.The Shaggy Man dropped flat on his face toavoid the shower, but one quill struck him inthe leg and went far in. As for the Glass Cat,the quills rattled off her body without makingeven a scratch, and the skin of the Woozy wasso thick and tough that he was not hurt at all.

When the attack was over they all ran to theShaggy Man, who was moaning and groaning, andScraps promptly pulled the quill out of his leg.Then up he jumped and ran over to Chiss, puttinghis foot on the monster's neck and holding it aprisoner. The body of the great porcupine was nowas smooth as leather, except for the holes wherethe quills had been, for it had shot every singlequill in that one wicked shower.

"Let me go!" it shouted angrily. "How dareyou put your foot on Chiss?"

"I'm going to do worse than that, old boy,"replied the Shaggy Man. "You have annoyedtravelers on this road long enough, and nowI shall put an end to you."

"You can't!" returned Chiss. "Nothing cankill me, as you know perfectly well."

"Perhaps that is true," said the Shaggy Manin a tone of disappointment. "Seems to me I'vebeen told before that you can't be killed. But ifI let you go, what will you do?"

"Pick up my quills again," said Chiss in asulky voice.

"And then shoot them at more travelers? No;that won't do. You must promise me to stopthrowing quills at people."

"I won't promise anything of the sort," declaredChiss.

"Why not?"

"Because it is my nature to throw quills, andevery animal must do what Nature intends itto do. It isn't fair for you to blame me. If it werewrong for me to throw quills, then I wouldn'tbe made with quills to throw. The proper thingfor you to do is to keep out of my way.

"Why, there's some sense in that argument,admitted the Shaggy Man, thoughtfully; "butpeople who are strangers, and don't know youare here, won't be able to keep out of your way."

"Tell you what," said Scraps, who was tryingto pull the quills out of her own body, "let'sgather up all the quills and take them away withus; then old Chiss won't have any left to throwat people."

"Ah, that's a clever idea. You and Ojo mustgather up the quills while I hold Chiss aprisoner; for, if I let him go he will get some ofhis quills and be able to throw them again."

So Scraps and Ojo picked up all the quillsand tied them in a bundle so they might easilybe carried. After this the Shaggy Man releasedChiss and let him go, knowing that he washarmless to injure anyone.

"It's the meanest trick I ever heard of,"muttered the porcupine gloomily. "How would youlike it, Shaggy Man, if I took all your shags awayfrom you?"

"If I threw my shags and hurt people, you wouldbe welcome to capture them," was the reply.

Then they walked on and left Chiss standing inthe road sullen and disconsolate. The Shaggy Manlimped as he walked, for his wound still hurt him,and Scraps was much annoyed be cause the quillshad left a number of small holes in her patches.

When they came to a flat stone by the roadsidethe Shaggy Man sat down to rest, and then Ojoopened his basket and took out the bundle ofcharms the Crooked Magician had given him.

"I am Ojo the Unlucky," he said, "or we wouldnever have met that dreadful porcupine. But I willsee if I can find anything among these charmswhich will cure your leg."

Soon he discovered that one of the charmswas labelled: "For flesh wounds," and this theboy separated from the others. It was only a bitof dried root, taken from some unknown shrub,but the boy rubbed it upon the wound made bythe quill and in a few moments the place washealed entirely and the Shaggy Man's leg wasas good as ever.

"Rub it on the holes in my patches," suggestedScraps, and Ojo tried it, but without any effect.

"The charm you need is a needle and thread,"said the Shaggy Man. "But do not worry, mydear; those holes do not look badly, at all."

"They'll let in the air, and I don't want peopleto think I'm airy, or that I've been stuckup," said the Patchwork Girl.

"You were certainly stuck up until we pulledOut those quills," observed Ojo, with a laugh.

So now they went on again and coming presentlyto a pond of muddy water they tied a heavy stoneto the bundle of quills and sunk it to the bottomof the pond, to avoid carrying it farther.