Wandering through the woods, without knowing where you are going orwhat adventure you are about to meet next, is not as pleasant as onemight think. The woods are always beautiful and impressive, and ifyou are not worried or hungry you may enjoy them immensely; butDorothy was worried and hungry that morning, so she paid littleattention to the beauties of the forest, and hurried along as fast asshe could go. She tried to keep in one direction and not circlearound, but she was not at all sure that the direction she had chosenwould lead her to the camp.

By and by, to her great joy, she came upon a path. It ran to theright and to the left, being lost in the trees in both directions, andjust before her, upon a big oak, were fastened two signs, with armspointing both ways. One sign read:

TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNBURY

and the second sign read:

TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNNYBURY

"Well!" exclaimed Billina, eyeing the signs, "this looks as if wewere getting back to civilization again."

"I'm not sure about the civil'zation, dear," replied the littlegirl; "but it looks as if we might get SOMEWHERE, and that's abig relief, anyhow."

"Which path shall we take?" inquired the Yellow Hen.

Dorothy stared at the signs thoughtfully.

"Bunbury sounds like something to eat," she said. "Let's go there."

"It's all the same to me," replied Billina. She had picked up enoughbugs and insects from the moss as she went along to satisfy her ownhunger, but the hen knew Dorothy could not eat bugs; nor could Toto.

The path to Bunbury seemed little traveled, but it was distinct enoughand ran through the trees in a zigzag course until it finally led themto an open space filled with the queerest houses Dorothy had ever seen.They were all made of crackers laid out in tiny squares, and were ofmany pretty and ornamental shapes, having balconies and porches withposts of bread-sticks and roofs shingled with wafer-crackers.

There were walks of bread-crusts leading from house to house andforming streets, and the place seemed to have many inhabitants.

When Dorothy, followed by Billina and Toto, entered the place, theyfound people walking the streets or assembled in groups talkingtogether, or sitting upon the porches and balconies.

And what funny people they were!

Men, women and children were all made of buns and bread. Some werethin and others fat; some were white, some light brown and some verydark of complexion. A few of the buns, which seemed to form the moreimportant class of the people, were neatly frosted. Some had raisinsfor eyes and currant buttons on their clothes; others had eyes ofcloves and legs of stick cinnamon, and many wore hats and bonnetsfrosted pink and green.

There was something of a commotion in Bunbury when the strangerssuddenly appeared among them. Women caught up their children andhurried into their houses, shutting the cracker doors carefully behindthem. Some men ran so hastily that they tumbled over one another, whileothers, more brave, assembled in a group and faced the intruders defiantly.

Dorothy at once realized that she must act with caution in ordernot to frighten these shy people, who were evidently unused to thepresence of strangers. There was a delightful fragrant odor of freshbread in the town, and this made the little girl more hungry thanever. She told Toto and Billina to stay back while she slowlyadvanced toward the group that stood silently awaiting her.

"You must 'scuse me for coming unexpected," she said, softly,"but I really didn't know I was coming here until I arrived.I was lost in the woods, you know, and I'm as hungry as anything."

"Hungry!" they murmured, in a horrified chorus.

"Yes; I haven't had anything to eat since last night's supper," sheexclaimed. "Are there any eatables in Bunbury?"

They looked at one another undecidedly, and then one portly bun man,who seemed a person of consequence, stepped forward and said:

"Little girl, to be frank with you, we are all eatables. Everythingin Bunbury is eatable to ravenous human creatures like you. But it isto escape being eaten and destroyed that we have secluded ourselves inthis out-of-the-way place, and there is neither right nor justice inyour coming here to feed upon us."

Dorothy looked at him longingly.

"You're bread, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes; bread and butter. The butter is inside me, so it won't melt andrun. I do the running myself."

At this joke all the others burst into a chorus of laughter, and Dorothythought they couldn't be much afraid if they could laugh like that.

"Couldn't I eat something besides people?" she asked. "Couldn't I eatjust one house, or a side-walk or something? I wouldn't mind muchwhat it was, you know."

"This is not a public bakery, child," replied the man, sternly."It's private property."

"I know Mr.--Mr.--"

"My name is C. Bunn, Esquire," said the man. "'C' stands forCinnamon, and this place is called after my family, which is the mostaristocratic in the town."

"Oh, I don't know about that," objected another of the queer people."The Grahams and the Browns and Whites are all excellent families, andthere is none better of their kind. I'm a Boston Brown, myself."

"I admit you are all desirable citizens," said Mr. Bunn ratherstiffly; "but the fact remains that our town is called Bunbury."

"'Scuse me," interrupted Dorothy; "but I'm getting hungrier everyminute. Now, if you're polite and kind, as I'm sure you ought to be,you'll let me eat SOMETHING. There's so much to eat here that youwill never miss it."

Then a big, puffed-up man, of a delicate brown color, stepped forwardand said:

"I think it would be a shame to send this child away hungry,especially as she agrees to eat whatever we can spare and not touchour people."

"So do I, Pop," replied a Roll who stood near.

"What, then, do you suggest, Mr. Over?" inquired Mr. Bunn.

"Why, I'll let her eat my back fence, if she wants to. It's made ofwaffles, and they're very crisp and nice."

"She may also eat my wheelbarrow," added a pleasant looking Muffin."It's made of nabiscos with a zuzu wheel."

"Very good; very good," remarked Mr. Bunn. "That is certainly verykind of you. Go with Pop Over and Mr. Muffin, little girl, and theywill feed you."

"Thank you very much," said Dorothy, gratefully. "May I bring my dogToto, and the Yellow Hen? They're hungry, too."

"Will you make them behave?" asked the Muffin.

"Of course," promised Dorothy.

"Then come along," said Pop Over.

So Dorothy and Billina and Toto walked up the street and the peopleseemed no longer to be at all afraid of them. Mr. Muffin's housecame first, and as his wheelbarrow stood in the front yard the littlegirl ate that first. It didn't seem very fresh, but she was so hungrythat she was not particular. Toto ate some, too, while Billina pickedup the crumbs.

While the strangers were engaged in eating, many of the people cameand stood in the street curiously watching them. Dorothy noticed sixroguish looking brown children standing all in a row, and she asked:

"Who are you, little ones?"

"We're the Graham Gems," replied one; "and we're all twins."

"I wonder if your mother could spare one or two of you?" askedBillina, who decided that they were fresh baked; but at this dangerousquestion the six little gems ran away as fast as they could go.

"You musn't say such things, Billina," said Dorothy, reprovingly."Now let's go into Pop Over's back yard and get the waffles."

"I sort of hate to let that fence go," remarked Mr. Over, nervously,as they walked toward his house. "The neighbors back of us are SodaBiscuits, and I don't care to mix with them."

"But I'm hungry yet," declared the girl. "That wheelbarrow wasn'tvery big."

"I've got a shortcake piano, but none of my family can play on it," hesaid, reflectively. "Suppose you eat that."

"All right," said Dorothy; "I don't mind. Anything to be accommodating."

So Mr. Over led her into the house, where she ate the piano, which wasof an excellent flavor.

"Is there anything to drink here?" she asked.

"Yes; I've a milk pump and a water pump; which will you have?" he asked.

"I guess I'll try 'em both," said Dorothy.

So Mr. Over called to his wife, who brought into the yard a pail madeof some kind of baked dough, and Dorothy pumped the pail full of cool,sweet milk and drank it eagerly.

The wife of Pop Over was several shades darker than her husband.

"Aren't you overdone?" the little girl asked her.

"No indeed," answered the woman. "I'm neither overdone nor done over;I'm just Mrs. Over, and I'm the President of the Bunbury Breakfast Band."

Dorothy thanked them for their hospitality and went away. At thegate Mr. Cinnamon Bunn met her and said he would show her around thetown. "We have some very interesting inhabitants," he remarked,walking stiffly beside her on his stick-cinnamon legs; "and all of uswho are in good health are well bred. If you are no longer hungry wewill call upon a few of the most important citizens."

Toto and Billina followed behind them, behaving very well, and alittle way down the street they came to a handsome residence whereAunt Sally Lunn lived. The old lady was glad to meet the little girland gave her a slice of white bread and butter which had been used asa door-mat. It was almost fresh and tasted better than anythingDorothy had eaten in the town.

"Where do you get the butter?" she inquired.

"We dig it out of the ground, which, as you may have observed, is allflour and meal," replied Mr. Bunn. "There is a butter mine just atthe opposite side of the village. The trees which you see here areall doughleanders and doughderas, and in the season we get quite acrop of dough-nuts off them."

"I should think the flour would blow around and get into your eyes,"said Dorothy.

"No," said he; "we are bothered with cracker dust sometimes, butnever with flour."

Then he took her to see Johnny Cake, a cheerful old gentleman wholived near by.

"I suppose you've heard of me," said old Johnny, with an air of pride."I'm a great favorite all over the world."

"Aren't you rather yellow?" asked Dorothy, looking at him critically.

"Maybe, child. But don't think I'm bilious, for I was never in betterhealth in my life," replied the old gentleman. "If anything ailed me,I'd willingly acknowledge the corn."

"Johnny's a trifle stale," said Mr. Bunn, as they went away; "but he'sa good mixer and never gets cross-grained. I will now take you tocall upon some of my own relatives." They visited the Sugar Bunns,the Currant Bunns and the Spanish Bunns, the latter having a decidedlyforeign appearance. Then they saw the French Rolls, who were verypolite to them, and made a brief call upon the Parker H. Rolls, whoseemed a bit proud and overbearing.

"But they're not as stuck up as the Frosted Jumbles," declared Mr.Bunn, "who are people I really can't abide. I don't like to besuspicious or talk scandal, but sometimes I think the Jumbles have toomuch baking powder in them."

Just then a dreadful scream was heard, and Dorothy turned hastilyaround to find a scene of great excitement a little way down thestreet. The people were crowding around Toto and throwing at himeverything they could find at hand. They pelted the little dog withhard-tack, crackers, and even articles of furniture which were hardbaked and heavy enough for missiles.

Toto howeled a little as the assortment of bake stuff struck him; buthe stood still, with head bowed and tail between his legs, untilDorothy ran up and inquired what the matter was.

"Matter!" cried a rye loafer, indignantly, "why the horrid beasthas eaten three of our dear Crumpets, and is now devouring aSalt-rising Biscuit!"

"Oh, Toto! How could you?" exclaimed Dorothy, much distressed.

Toto's mouth was full of his salt-rising victim; so he only whined andwagged his tail. But Billina, who had flown to the top of a crackerhouse to be in a safe place, called out:

"Don't blame him, Dorothy; the Crumpets dared him to do it."

"Yes, and you pecked out the eyes of a Raisin Bunn--one of our bestcitizens!" shouted a bread pudding, shaking its fist at the Yellow Hen.

"What's that! What's that?" wailed Mr. Cinnamon Bunn, who had nowjoined them. "Oh, what a misfortune--what a terrible misfortune!"

"See here," said Dorothy, determined to defend her pets, "I thinkwe've treated you all pretty well, seeing you're eatables an' reg'larfood for us. I've been kind to you and eaten your old wheelbarrowsand pianos and rubbish, an' not said a word. But Toto and Billinacan't be 'spected to go hungry when the town's full of good thingsthey like to eat, 'cause they can't understand your stingy ways asI do."

"You must leave here at once!" said Mr. Bunn, sternly.

"Suppose we won't go?" said Dorothy, who was now much provoked.

"Then," said he, "we will put you into the great ovens where we aremade, and bake you."

Dorothy gazed around and saw threatening looks upon the faces of all.She had not noticed any ovens in the town, but they might be there,nevertheless, for some of the inhabitants seemed very fresh. So shedecided to go, and calling to Toto and Billina to follow her shemarched up the street with as much dignity as possible, consideringthat she was followed by the hoots and cries of the buns and biscuitsand other bake stuff.