"I do not know," confessed the beaver King. "I am sure it wouldn't work above ground where Glinda's Barrier of Invisibility is full strength. Underground, Glinda's spell is much less intense, because the earth and sands absorb and destroy the fairy spell. Glinda is a fairy just as Ozma is, and fairies, you know, are creatures of the light and air, and it is there that their powers are the strongest."
The beaver King then handed out Cloaks of the shimmering material to all of them. There was a tiny one that fitted Twiffle perfectly. The twenty young beavers opened their knapsacks and drew from them their own Cloaks of Visibility, which they adjusted about themselves.
"Now we are ready to test the power of the Cloaks," said the beaver King. "They should not only make us visible, but should enable us to see the invisible." Twink thought she detected the slightest tremor in the King's voice. It was no wonder, she thought, for so much depended on those cloaks he had made.
Once again they proceeded into the tunnel, this time holding their breaths with excitement. Would the Cloaks of Visibility work? One—two—three—four—five steps and they found themselves watching one another to see if they were still visible. Six—seven—eight—nine—ten steps—but no one breathed freely until they had counted twenty steps. They all were still visible! And they could still see the tunnel walls. The Cloaks of Visibility worked perfectly.
Eagerly the twenty young beavers took the lead again.
CHAPTER 20
At the End of the Tunnel
"Seems to me," remarked the Shaggy Man after they had progressed for some distance, "that by now we may have crossed the Barrier of Invisibility."