"It must have been my snoring you heard," said Nick, preening his feathers busily, for he wished to appear at his best in the Emerald City. Notta laughed uproariously at this and almost upset the boat. They all felt light-hearted and gay, and Bob was no more like the solemn little orphan who had fallen into Mudge than Nick's snoring was like the music in the Fiddlestick Forest.
"I wonder if there are any other boys and girls in the Emerald City besides Dorothy?" asked Bob, after a little pause. "And I wonder if Dorothy ever heard of Un or Doorways?"
"You'll have plenty to tell this little girl from Kansas, eh, Bob Up?" smiled the clown, and Snorer, after adjusting his nose, related all that he knew of the Emerald City, which unfortunately wasn't much, as very little news of the capital ever came to Un.
"I hope the Cowardly Lion is having as pleasant a journey as this," said Notta, as they skimmed along under the branches of the trees, "and I hope Crunch is behaving himself properly."
"I should think he'd be a hard person to get along with," chirped Nick, giving the clown a nudge so he would be sure to see the joke.
"Because he's made of stone, you mean?" replied Notta. "Well, trust the Cowardly Lion to manage him. Hello! Looks as if we were out of the woods."
A turn of the rapid little stream had brought them into a broad meadow and the Fiddlebow Boat stopped of its own accord.
"Guess this is as far as it goes," puffed the clown, after vainly endeavoring to push it forward with the oar. So he guided it to the bank and they all hopped out.
"But it doesn't seem right to leave it here," observed Notta, scratching his ear anxiously. No sooner had he spoken than a tall tree near the edge of the water leaned down, seized the boat in its branches, and passed it along to the next tree, and in a second it was being tossed lightly from tree to tree, much to the amazement of Notta and Bob.
With wonders happening every moment, you would expect them to be used to it, but each time they were newly astonished. When the last trace of the magic boat disappeared, they struck out across the meadow, for already over the top of a little hill they could see the sparkling green towers of the Emerald City of Oz.