"Ah!" cried the shaggy man, springing to his feet with eager joy;
"we've found it at last."
"Found what?" asked Dorothy, running to him.
"The Truth Pond. Now, at last, I may get rid of this frightful head;
for we were told, you remember, that only the Truth Pond could restore
to me my proper face."
"Me, too!" shouted Button-Bright, trotting up to them.
"Of course," said Dorothy. "It will cure you both of your bad heads, I
guess. Isn't it lucky we found it?"
"It is, indeed," replied the shaggy man. "I hated dreadfully to go to
Princess Ozma looking like this; and she's to have a birthday
celebration, too."
Just then a splash startled them, for Button-Bright, in his anxiety to
see the pool that would "cure" him, had stepped too near the edge and
tumbled heels over head into the water. Down he went, out of sight
entirely, so that only his sailor hat floated on the top of the Truth
Pond.
He soon bobbed up, and the shaggy man seized him by his sailor collar
and dragged him to the shore, dripping and gasping for breath. They
all looked upon the boy wonderingly, for the fox head with its sharp
nose and pointed ears was gone, and in its place appeared the chubby
round face and blue eyes and pretty curls that had belonged to
Button-Bright before King Dox of Foxville transformed him.
"Oh, what a darling!" cried Polly, and would have hugged the little one
had he not been so wet.
Their joyful exclamations made the child rub the water out of his eyes
and look at his friends questioningly.
"You're all right now, dear," said Dorothy. "Come and look at
yourself." She led him to the pool, and although there were still a few
ripples on the surface of the water he could see his reflection plainly.
"It's me!" he said, in a pleased yet awed whisper.
"'Course it is," replied the girl, "and we're all as glad as you are,
Button-Bright."
"Well," announced the shaggy man, "it's my turn next." He took off his
shaggy coat and laid it on the grass and dived head first into the
Truth Pond.
When he came up the donkey head had disappeared, and the shaggy man's
own shaggy head was in its place, with the water dripping in little
streams from his shaggy whiskers. He scrambled ashore and shook
himself to get off some of the wet, and then leaned over the pool to
look admiringly at his reflected face.
"I may not be strictly beautiful, even now," he said to his companions,
who watched him with smiling faces; "but I'm so much handsomer than any
donkey that I feel as proud as I can be."
"You're all right, Shaggy Man," declared Dorothy. "And Button-Bright
is all right, too. So let's thank the Truth Pond for being so nice,
and start on our journey to the Emerald City."
"I hate to leave it," murmured the shaggy man, with a sigh. "A truth
pond wouldn't be a bad thing to carry around with us." But he put on
his coat and started with the others in search of some one to direct
them on their way.