He wagged his tail, and sneezed, and shook his
ears, and trotted back where they had left the shaggy man. From here
he started along another road; then came back and tried another; but
each time he found the way strange and decided it would not take them
to the farm-house. Finally, when Dorothy had begun to tire with
chasing after him, Toto sat down panting beside the shaggy man and
gave up.
Dorothy sat down, too, very thoughtful. The little girl had
encountered some queer adventures since she came to live at the farm;
but this was the queerest of them all. To get lost in fifteen minutes,
so near to her home and in the unromantic State of Kansas, was an
experience that fairly bewildered her.
"Will your folks worry?" asked the shaggy man, his eyes twinkling in
a pleasant way.
"I s'pose so," answered Dorothy with a sigh. "Uncle Henry says
there's ALWAYS something happening to me; but I've always come
home safe at the last. So perhaps he'll take comfort and think I'll
come home safe this time."
"I'm sure you will," said the shaggy man, smilingly nodding at her.
"Good little girls never come to any harm, you know. For my part, I'm
good, too; so nothing ever hurts me."
Dorothy looked at him curiously. His clothes were shaggy, his boots
were shaggy and full of holes, and his hair and whiskers were shaggy.
But his smile was sweet and his eyes were kind.
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