L.Frank Baum. The marvelous land of Oz -
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clothing dripped water.
"The sun will soon dry us," said Tip "and, anyhow, we are now safely
across, in spite of the ferryman, and can continue our journey.
"I didn't mind swimming, at all," remarked the horse.
"Nor did I," added Jack.
They soon regained the road of yellow brick, which proved to be a
continuation of the road they had left on the other side, and then Tip
once more mounted the Pumpkinhead upon the back of the Saw-Horse.
"If you ride fast," said he, "the wind will help to dry your
clothing. I will hold on to the horse's tail and run after you. In this
way we all will become dry in a very short time."
"Then the horse must step lively," said Jack.
"I'll do my best," returned the Saw-Horse, cheerfully.
Tip grasped the end of the branch that served as tail to the
Saw-Horse, and called loudly: "Get-up!"
The horse started at a good pace, and Tip followed behind. Then he
decided they could go faster, so he shouted: "Trot!"
Now, the Saw-Horse remembered that this word was the command to go as
fast as he could; so he began rocking along the road at a tremendous pace,
and Tip had hard work - running faster than he ever had before in his life
- to keep his feet.
Soon he was out of breath, and although he wanted to call "Whoa!" to
the horse, he found he could not get the word out of his throat. Then the
end of the tail he was clutching, being nothing more than a dead branch,
suddenly broke away, and the next minute the boy was rolling in the dust
of the road, while the horse and its pumpkin-headed rider dashed on and
quickly disappeared in the distance.
By the time Tip had picked himself up and cleared the dust from his
throat so he could say "Whoa!" there was no further need of saying it, for