The
creature was black all over except its hair, which was fine, and
yellow, banged in front across the black forehead and cut close at the
sides. The eyes, which were fixed steadily upon the barking dog, were
small and sparkling and looked like the eyes of a weasel.
"What in the world do you s'pose that is?" asked Dorothy in
a hushed voice, as the little group of travelers stood watching
the strange creature.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
The thing gave a jump and turned half around, sitting in the same
place but with the other side of its body facing them. Instead of
being black, it was now pure white, with a face like that of a clown
in a circus and hair of a brilliant purple. The creature could bend
either way, and its white toes now curled the same way the black ones
on the other side had done.
"It has a face both front and back," whispered Dorothy, wonderingly;
"only there's no back at all, but two fronts."
Having made the turn, the being sat motionless as before, while Toto
barked louder at the white man than he had done at the black one.
"Once," said the shaggy man, "I had a jumping jack like that,
with two faces."
"Was it alive?" asked Button-Bright.
"No," replied the shaggy man; "it worked on strings and was made of wood."
"Wonder if this works with strings," said Dorothy; but Polychrome
cried "Look!" for another creature just like the first had suddenly
appeared sitting on another rock, its black side toward them.
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