Full text of "Ozma of Oz; a record of her adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the yellow hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, besides other good people too numerous to mention faithfully recorded herein"

See other formats

.ins

••

LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES

3 3333 08102 0030

By L. FRANK BAUM

UNIFORM WITH OZMA OF OZ

The Land of Oz
John Dough and The Cherub

Each elaborately illustrated in colors
and black-and-white by

JOHN R. NEILL

OZMA OF OZ

A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of

Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin

Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and

the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good

People too Numerous to Mention

Faithfully Recorded Herein

L. FRANK BAUM

THE AUTHOR OF T II F. WIZARD OF O Z .
THE LAND OF O Z , ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY

JOHN R, NEILL

THE REiLi/V "& BRITTOM CO.

PUBLISHERS

*Pv

Daun}.

R,IOMTS RE5EKVED

List

Chapters

Page

I. The Girl in the Chicken Coop - 1 3

II. The Yellow Hen 24

III. Letters in the Sand ... - 3 7

IV. Tiktok. the. Machine Man - - 49

V. Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail - 64

VI. The Heads of Langwidere - - 76

VII. Ozma of Oz to the Rescue - - 1 0 1

VIII. The Hungry Tiger - - 117

128

IX. The Royal" P^rnily of E.\'

X. The Giant with.tf.e HjifajtnfeF' :-

... .-. ••
XI. The Nome

141
156

XII. The Eleven
XIII. The Nome King
Laughs

XIV. Dorothy Tries to be Brave - 191

XV. Billina Frightens the Nome King 205

XVI. Purple, Green and Gold - - 216

XVII. The Scarecrow Wins the Fight 226

XVIII. The Fate of the Tin Woodman 235
XIX. The King of Ev

XX. The Emerald City

XXI. Dorothy's Magic Eelt

Author's Note

My friends the children are responsible for this new "Oz
Book," as they were for the last one, which was called The
Land of Oz. Their sweet little letters plead to know "more
about Dorothy"; and they ask; "What became of the Cow-
ardly Lion?" and "What did Ozma do afterward? " —mean-
ing, of course, after she became the Ruler of Oz. And some
of them suggest plots to me, saying: " Please have Dorothy
go to the Land of Oz again"; or, "Why don't you make
Ozma and Dorothy meet, and have a good time together?"
Indeed, could I do all that my little friends ask, I would be
obliged to write dozens of books to satisfy their demands.
And I wish I could, for I enjoy writing these stories just as
much as the children say they enjoy reading them.

Well, here is "more about Dorothy," and about our old
friends the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and about the
Cowardly Lion, and Ozma, and all the rest of them; and here,
likewise, is a good deal about some new folks that are queer
and unusual. One little friend, who read this 'story before it
was printed, said to me: " Billina is real Ozzv, Mr. Baum,
and so are Tiktok and the Hungry Tiger."

If this judgment is unbiased and correct, and the little
folks find this new story "real Ozzy," I shall be very glad
indeed that I wrote it. But perhaps I shall get some more of
those very welcome letters from my readers, telling me just
how they like "Ozma of Oz." I hope so, anyway.

L. FRANK BAUM.

MACATAWA, 1907.

The Girl i> $* Cmcken Coop

w i n d b 1 e w hard arid ' J
joggled the water, of- the
ocean, sending rippl'cVl
across its surface. Then the
wind pushed the edges of the
ripples until they becam'e waves,
and shoved the waves around/un-
til they became billows. The bil-
lows rolled jlrelidfully hign: higher
even than the" tops of houses. Some of -
them, indeed, rolled 4s high 'as the^tops
of tall trees, and ^seemed ,h'ke
and the gulfs between tht/great billows/\
like deep valleys.

All this mad dashing and spla
waters of the big ocean, which tte mis

O z m a of O z

wind caused without any good reason whatever,
resulted in a terrible storm, and a storm on the
ocean is liable to cut many queer pranks and do a
lot of damage.

At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was
sailing far out upon the waters. When the waves
began to tumble and toss and to grow bigger and
bigger the ship rolled up and down, and tipped
sidewise — first one way and then the other — and was
jostled around so roughly that even the sailor-men
had to hold fast to the ropes and railings to keep
themselves from being swept away by the wind or
pitched headlong into the sea.

And the clouds were so thick in the sky that the
sunlight couldn't get through them; so that the day
grew dark as night, which added to the terrors of
the storm.

The Captain of the ship was not afraid, because
he had seen storms before, and had sailed his ship
through them in safety; but he knew that his pas-
sengers would be in danger if they tried to stay on
deck, so he put them all into the cabin and told
them to stay there until after the storm was over,
and to keep brave hearts and not be scared, and
all would be well with them.

Now, among these passengers was a little Kansas

The Girl in the Chicken-Coop

girl named Dorothy Gale, who was going with her
Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some relatives they
had never before seen. Uncle Henry, you must
know, was not very well, because he had been work-
ing so hard on his Kansas farm that his health had
given way and left him weak and nervous. So he left
Aunt Em at home to watch after the hired men and
to take care of the farm, while he traveled far away
to Australia to visit his cousins and have a good
rest.

Dorothy was eager to go with him on this jour-
ney, and Uncle Henry thought she would be good
company and help cheer him up; so he decided to
take her along. The little girl was quite an ex-
perienced traveller, for she had once been carried
by a cyclone as far away from home as the marvelous
Land of Oz, and she had met with a good many
adventures in that strange country before she man-
aged to get back to Kansas again. So she wasn't
easily frightened, whatever happened, and when the
wind began to howl and whistle, and the waves
began to tumble and toss, our little girl didn't mind
the uproar the least bit.

"Of course we'll have to stay in the cabin," she
said to Uncle Henry and ihe other passengers, "and
keep as quiet as possible until the storm is over.

O z m a of O z

For the Captain says if we go on deck we may be
blown overboard."

No one wanted to risk such an accident as that,
you may be sure; so all the passengers stayed hud-
dled up in the dark cabin, listening to the shrieking
of the storm and the creaking of the masts and rig-
ging and trying to keep from bumping into one
another when the ship tipped sidewise.

Dorothy had almost fallen asleep when she was
aroused with a start to find that Uncle Henry was
missing. She couldn't imagine where he had gone,
and as he was not very strong she began to worry
about him, and to fear he might have been careless
enough to go on deck. In that case he would be in
great danger unless he instantly came down again.

The fact was that Uncle Henry had gone to lie
down in his little sleeping-berth, but Dorothy did
not know that. She only remembered that Aunt
Em had cautioned her to take good care of her
uncle, so at once she decided to go on deck and find
him, in spite of the fact that the tempest was now
worse than ever, and the ship was plunging in a
really dreadful manner. Indeed, the little girl found
it was as much as she could do to mount the stairs
to the deck, and as soon as she got there the wind
struck her so fiercely that it almost tore away the

"UNCLE HENRY! UNCLE HENRY!" CALLED DOROTHY

Ozma of Oz

skirts of her dress. Yet Dorothy felt a sort of
joyous excitement in defying the storm, and while
she held fast to the railing she peered around through
the gloom and thought she saw the dim form of a
man clinging to a mast not faraway from her. This
might be her uncle, so she called as loudly as she
could:

"Uncle Henry ! Uncle Henry !"

But the wind screeched and howled so madly
that she scarce heard her own voice, and the man
certainly failed to hear her, for he did not move.

Dorothy decided she must go to him; so she made
a dash forward, during a lull in the storm, to where
a big square chicken-coop had been lashed to the
deck with ropes. She reached this place in safety,
but no sooner had she seized fast hold of the slats of
the big box in which the chickens were kept than
the wind, as if enraged because the little girl dared
to resist its power, suddenly redoubled its fury.
With a scream like that of an angry giant it tore
away the ropes that held the coop and lifted it high
into the air, with Dorothy still clinging to the slats.
Around and over it whirled, this way and that, and
a few moments later the chicken-coop dropped far
away into the sea, where the big waves caught it
and slid it up-hill to a foaming crest and then down-

The Girl in the Chicken-Coop

hill into a deep valley, as it it were nothing more
than a plaything to keep them amused.

Dorothy had a good ducking, you may be sure,
but she didn't loose her presence of mind even for
a second. She kept tight hold of the stout slats
and as soon as she could get the water out of her
eyes she saw that the wind had ripped the cover
from the coop, and the poor chickens were flutter-
ing away in every direction, being blown by the
wind until they looked like feather dusters without
handles. The bottom of the coop was made of
thick boards, so Dorothy found she was clinging to
a sort of raft, with sides of slats, which readily bore
up her weight. After coughing the water out of
her throat and getting her breath again, she managed
to climb over the slats and stand upon the firm
wooden bottom of the coop, which supported her
easily enough.

"Why, I've got a ship ot my own! ' she thought,
more amused than frightened at her sudden change
of condition; and then, as the coop climbed up to
the top ot a big wave, she looked eagerly around
for the ship from which she had been blown.

It was far, far away, by this time. Perhaps no
one on board had yet missed her, or knew ot her
strange adventure. Down into a valley between

Ozma of Oz

the waves the coop swept her, and when she climbed
another crest the ship looked like a toy boat, it was
such a long way off. Soon it had entirely disap-
peared in the gloom, and then Dorothy gave a sigh
of regret at parting with Uncle Henry and began
to wonder what was going to happen to her next.

Just now she was tossing on the bosom of a big
ocean, with nothing to keep her afloat but a miser-
able wooden hen-coop that had a plank bottom and
slatted sides,' through which the water constantly
splashed and wetted her through to the skin! And
there was nothing to eat when she became hungry-
as she was sure to do before long — and no fresh
water to drink and no dry clothes to put on.

"Well, I declare!' she exclaimed, with a laugh.
"You're in a pretty fix, Dorothy Gale, I can tell
you! and I haven't the least idea how you're going
to get out of it! '

As if to add to her troubles the night was now
creeping on, and the gray clouds overhead changed
to inky blackness. But the wind, as if satisfied at
last with its mischievous pranks, stopped blowing
this ocean and hurried away to another part of the
world to blow something else; so that the waves,
not being joggled any more, began to quiet down
and behave themselves.

DOROTHY AFLOAT IN THE HEN-COOP

Ozma of Oz

It was lucky for Dorothy, I think, that the storm
subsided; otherwise, brave though she was, I fear she
might have perished. Many children, in her place,
would have wept and given way to despair; but
because Dorothy had encountered so many adven-
tures and come safely through them it did not occur
to her at this time to be especially afraid. She was
wet and uncomfortable, it is true; but, after sighing
that one sigh I told you of, she managed to recall
some of her customary cheerfulness and decided to
patiently await whatever her fate might be.

By and by the black clouds rolled away and
showed a blue sky overhead, with a silver moon
shining sweetly in the middle of it and little stars
winking merrily at Dorothy when she looked their
way. The coop did not toss around any more, but
rode the waves more gently — almost like a cradle
rocking — so that the floor upon which Dorothy
stood was no longer swept by water coming through
the slats. Seeing this, and being quite exhausted by
the excitement of the past few hours, the little girl
decided that sleep would be the best thing to restore
her strength and the easiest way in which she could
pass the time. The floor was damp and she was her-
self wringing wet, but fortunately this was a warm
climate and she did not feel at all cold.

The Girl in the Chicken-Coop

So she sat down in a corner of the coop, leaned
her back against the slats, nodded at the friendly
stars before she closed her eyes, and was asleep in
half a minute.

strange noise awoke
Dorothy, who opened her
eyes to find that day had
dawned and the sun was
shining brightly in a clear sky.
She had been dreaming that she
was back in Kansas aga n, and
playing in the old barn-yard with
the calves and pigs and chickens all
around her; and at first, as she rubbed
the sleep from her eyes, she really imag-
ined she was there.

"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-kut! Kut-kut-
kut, ka-daw-kut!'

Ah; here again was the strange noise that had
awakened her. Surely it was a hen cackling

The Yellow Hen

But her wide-open eyes hrst saw, through the slats
of the coop, the blue waves of the ocean, now calm
and placid, and her thoughts flew back to the past
night, so full of danger and discomfort. Also she
began to remember that she was a waif of the
storm, adrift upon a treacherous and unknown sea.

" Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-w-w — kut! "

"What's that?" cried Dorothy, starting to her feet.

"Why, I've just laid an egg, that's all," replied a
small, but sharp and distinct voice, and looking
around her the little girl discovered a yellow hen
squatting in the opposite corner of the coop.

"Dear me!' she exclaimed, in surprise; "have
you been here all night, too ? '

"Of course," answered the hen, fluttering her
wings and yawning. "When the coop blew away
from the ship I clung fast to this corner, with claws
and beak, for I knew if I fell into the water I'd
surely be drowned. Indeed, I nearly drowned, as
it was, with all that water washing over me. I
never was so wet before in my life!

"Yes," agreed Dorothy, "it was pretty wet, for a
time, I know. But do you feel comfor'ble now?'

"Not very. The sun has helped to dry my
feathers, as it has your dress, and I feel better since
I laid my morning egg. But what's to become of

Ozma of Oz

us, I should like to know, afloat on this big pond?"

"I'd like to know that, too," said Dorothy. "But,
tell me; how does it happen that you are able to
talk? I thought hens could only cluck and cackle."

"Why, as for that," answered the yellow hen
thoughtfully, "I've clucked and cackled all my life,
and never spoken a word before this morning, that
I can remember. But when you asked a question,
a minute ago, it seemed the most natural thing in
the world to answer you. So I spoke, and I seem
to keep on speaking, just as you and other human
beings do. Strange, isn't it?"

"Very," replied Dorothy. "If we were in the
Land of Oz, I wouldn't think it so queer, because
many of the animals can talk in that fairy country.
But out here in the ocean must be a good long way
from Oz."

"How is my grammar?' asked the yellow hen,
anxiously. "Do I speak quite properly, in your
judgment? '

"Yes," said Dorothy, "you do very well, for a
beginner."

"I'm glad to know that," continued the yellow
hen, in a confidential tone; "because, if one is going
to talk, it's best to talk correctly. The red rooster
has often said that my cluck and my cackle were

The Yellow Hen

quite perfect; and now it's a comfort to know I
am talking properly."

"I'm beginning to get hungry," remarked
Dorothy. "It's breakfast time; but there's no
breakfast."

"You may have my egg," said the yellow hen.
"I don't care for it, you know."

"Don't you want to hatch it?'1 "asked the little

girl, in surprise.

"No, indeed; I never care to hatch eggs unless
I've a nice snug nest, in some quiet place, with a
baker's dozen of eggs under me. That's thirteen,
you know, and it's a lucky number for hens. So
you may as well cat this egg."

"Oh, I couldn't possb/y eat it, unless it was
cooked," exclaimed Dorothy. "But I'm much
obliged for your kindness, just the same."

"Don't mention it, my dear," answered the hen,
calmlv, and began pruning her feathers.

For a moment Dorothy stood looking out over
the wide sea. She was still thinking of the egg,
though; so presently she asked:

"Why do you lay eggs, when you don't expect
to hatch them ? '

"It's a habit I have," replied the yellow hen. "It
has always been my pride to lay a fresh egg every

O z m a of O z

morning, except when I'm moulting. I never
feel like having my morning cackle till the egg is
properly laid, and without the chance to cackle I
would not be happy."

"It's strange," said the girl, reflectively; "But as
I'm not a hen I can't be 'spected to understand
that."

"Certainly not, my dear."

Then Dorothy fell silent again. The yellow hen
was some company, and a bit of comfort, too; but
it was dreadfully lonely out on the big ocean,
nevertheless.

After a time the hen flew up and perched upon
the topmost slat of the coop, which was a little above
Dorothy's head when she was sitting upon the bot-
tom, as she had been doing tor some moments past.

"Whv, we are not far from land!" exclaimed the
hen.

"Where? Where is it?" cried Dorothy, jumping
up in great excitement.

"Over there a little way," answered the hen, nod-
ding her head in a certain direction. "We seem to
to be drifting toward it, so that before noon we
ought to find ourselves upon dry land again."

"I shall like that!-' said Dorothy, with a little
sigh, for her feet and legs were still wetted now and

THE YELLOW HEN
29

Ozma of Oz

then by the sea-water that came through the open
slats.

"So shall 1," answered her companion. "There
is nothing in the world so miserable as a wet hen/'

The land, which they seemed to be rapidly ap-
proaching, since it grew more distinct every minute,
was quite beautiful as viewed by the little girl in the
floating hen-coop. Next to the water was a broad
beach of white sand and gravel, and farther back
were several rocky hills, while beyond these appeared
a strip of green .trees that marked the edge of a
forest. But there were no houses to be seen, nor
any sign of people who might inhabit this unknown
land.

"I hope we shall find something to eat," said
Dorothy, looking eagerly at the pretty beach toward
which they drifted. "It's long past breakfast time,
now."

"I'm a trifle hungry, myself," declared the yellow
hen.

"Why don't you eat the egg?" asked the child.
"You don't need to have your food cooked, as I do."

"Do you take me for a cannibal?" cried the hen,
indignantly. "I do not know what I have said or
done that leads you to insult me!'

"I beg your pardon, I'm sure Mrs. — Mrs by the

The Yellow Hen

way, may I inquire your name, ma'am?" asked the
little girl.

"My name is Bill," said the yellow hen, some-
what gruffly.

"Bill! Why, that's a boy's name."

"What difference does that make?'

"You 're a lady hen, are n't you?'

"Of course. But when I was first hatched out
no one could tell whether I was going to be a hen
or a rooster; so the little boy at the farm where I
was born called me Bill, and made a pet of me
because I was the only yellow chicken in the whole
brood. When I grew up, and he found that I
didn't crow and tight, as all the roosters do, he did
not think to change my name, and every creature
in the barn-yard, as well as the people in the house,
knew me as 'Bill.' So Bill I've always been called,
and Bill is my name."

"But it's all wrong, you know," declared Dorothy,
earnestly; "and, it you don't mind, I shall call you
'Billina.' Putting the 'eena' on the end makes it a
girl's name, you see."

"Oh, I don't mind it in the least," returned the
yellow hen. "It doesn't matter at all what you call
me, so long as I know the name means me"

"Very well, Billina. My name is Dorothy Gale

Ozma of Oz

—just Dorothy to my friends and Miss Gale to stran-
gers. You may call me Dorothy, it you like. We're
getting very near the shore. Do you suppose it is
too deep for me to wade the rest of the way?'

"Wait a few minutes longer. The sunshine is
warm and pleasant, and we are in no hurry."

"But my feet are all wet and soggy," said the girl.
"My dress is dry enough, but 1 won't feel real com-
for'ble till I get my feet dried."

She waited, however, as the hen advised, and be-
fore long the big wooden coop grated gently on
the sandy beach and the dangerous voyage was over.

It did not take the castaways long to reach the
shore, you may be sure. The yellow hen flew to
the sands at once, but Dorothy had to climb over
the high slats. Still, for a country girl, that was not
much of a feat, and as soon as she was safe ashore
Dorothy drew off her wet shoes and stockings and
spread them upon the sun-warmed beach to dry.

Then she sat down and watched Billina, who was
pick -pecking away with her sharp bill in the sand
and gravel, which she scratched up and turned over
with her strong claws.

"What are you doing?" asked Dorothy.

"Getting my breakfast, of course," murmured the
hen, busily pecking away.

'HOW DREADFUL!" EXCLAIMED DOROTHY

Ozma of Oz

"What do you find?" inquired the girl, curiously.

"Oh, some fat red ants, and some sand-bugs, and
once in a while a tiny crab. They are very sweet
and nice, I assure you."

"How dreadful !' exclaimed Dorothy, in a
shocked voice.

"What is dreadful?' asked the hen, lifting her
head to gaze with one bright eye at her companion.

"Why, eating live things, and horrid bugs, and
crawly ants. You ought to be "shamed of yourselt! '

"Goodness me!" returned the hen, in a puzzled
tone; "how queer you are, Dorothy! Live things
are much fresher and more wholesome than dead
ones, and you humans eat all sorts of dead creatures."

"We don't!" said Dorothy.

"You do, indeed," answered Billina. "You eat
lambs and sheep and cows and pigs and even chickens."

"But we cook 'em," said Dorothy, triumphantly.

"What difference does that make?'

"A good deal," said the girl, in a graver tone.
"I can't just 'splain the diff'rence, but it's there.

And, anyhow, we never eat such dreadful things as

/ •>•<
bugs.

"But you eat the chickens that eat the bugs,"
retorted the yellow hen, with an odd cackle. "So
you are just as bad as we chickens are."

The Yellow Hen

This made Dorothy thoughtful. What Billina
said was true enough, and it almost took away her
appetite for breakfast. As for the yellow hen, she
continued to peck away at the sand busily, and
seemed quite contented with her bill-of-fare.

Finally, down near the water's edge, Billina stuck
her bill deep into the sand, and then drew back and
shivered.

"Ow!" she cried. "I struck metal, that time,
and it nearly broke my beak."

" It prob'bly was a rock," said Dorothy, carelessly.

"Nonsense. I know a rock from metal, I guess,"
said the hen. "There's a different feel to it."

"But there couldn't be any metal on this wild,
deserted seashore," persisted the girl. "Where's the
place? I'll dig it up, and prove to you I'm right."

Billina showed her the place where she had
"stubbed her bill," as she expressed it, and Dorothy
dug away the sand until she felt something hard.
Then, thrusting in her hand, she pulled the thing
out, and discovered it to be a large sized golden key
rather old, but still bright and of perfect shape.

"What did I tell you "* ' cried the hen, with a
cackle of triumph. "Can I tell metal when I bump
into it, or is the thing a rock?'

" It's metal, sure enough," answered the child, gaz-

f .0

ing thoughtfully at the curious thing she had found.
« I think it is pure gold, and it must have lain hidden
in the sand for a long time. How do you suppose
it came there, Billina? And what do you suppose
this mysterious key unlocks ? "

"I can't say," replied the hen. "You ought to
know more about locks and keys than I do."

Dorothy glanced around. There was no sign of
any house in that part of the country, and she
reasoned that every key must fit a lock and every
lock must have a purpose. Perhaps the key had
been lost by somebody who lived far away, but had
wandered on this very shore.

Musing on these things the girl put the key in
the pocket of her dress and then slowly drew on her
shoes and stockings, which the sun had fully dried.

"I b'lieve, Billina," she said, "I'll have a look
'round, and see if I can find some breakfast."

Letters in tie uand

a little way back from
the water's edge, toward
the grove of trees, Dorothy
came to a flat stretch of white
sand that seemed to have queer
signs marked upon its surface,
just as one would write upon sand
with a stick.

"What does it say?" she asked the
yellow hen, who trotted along beside
her in a rather dignified fashion.

"How should I know?" returned the
hen. "I cannot read."

"Oh ! Can't you ? '

"Certainly not; I've never been to school,
you know."

Ozma of Oz

"Well, I have," admitted Dorothy; "but the let-
ters are big and far apart, and it's hard to spell out
the words."

But she looked at each letter carefully, and fin-
ally discovered that these words were written in the
sand:

"BEWARE THE WHEELERS!"

"That's rather strange," declared the hen, when
Dorothy had read aloud the words. "What do you
suppose the Wheelers are?"

" Folks that wheel, I guess. They must have
wheelbarrows, or baby -cabs or hand -carts," said
Dorothy.

" Perhaps they're automobiles," suggested the yel-
low hen. "There is no need to beware of baby-
cabs and wheelbarrows; but automobiles are dan-
gerous things. Several of my friends have been run
over by them."

"It can't be auto'biles," replied the girl, "for this
is a new, wild country, without even trolley-cars or
tel'phones. The people here havn't been discovered
yet, I'm sure; that is, if there are any people. So
I don't b'lieve there can be any auto'biles, Billina."

" Perhaps not," admitted the yellow hen. "Where
are you going now?'

The Letters in the Sand

"Over to those trees, to see if I can find some
fruit or nuts," answered Dorothy,

She tramped across the sand, skirting the foot of
one of the little rocky hills that stood near, and
soon reached the edge of the forest.

At first she was greatly disappointed, because the
nearer trees were all punita, or cotton-wood or eu-
calyptus, and bore no fruit or nuts at all. But, bye
and bye, when she was almost in despair, the little
girl came upon two trees that promised to furnish
her with plenty of food

One was quite full of square paper boxes, which
grew in clusters on all the limbs, and upon the
biggest and ripest boxes the word "Lunch" could
be read, in neat raised letters. This tree seemed to
bear all the year around, for there were lunch-box
blossoms on some of the branches, and on others
tiny little lunch-boxes that were as yet quite green,
and evidently not fit to eat until they had grown
bigger.

The leaves of this tree were all paper napkins,
and it presented a very pleasing appearance to the
hungry little girl.

But the tree next to the lunch-box tree was even
more wonderful, for it bore quantities of tin dinner-
pails, which were so full and heavy that the stout

Ozma of Oz

branches bent underneath their weight. Some were
small and dark-brown in color; those larger were
of a dull tin color; but the really ripe ones were
pails of bright tin that shone and glistened beauti-
fully in the rays of sunshine that touched them.

Dorothy was delighted, and even the yellow hen
acknowledged that she was surprised.

The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one
of the nicest and biggest lunch-boxes, and then she
sat down upon the ground and eagerly opened it.
Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a
ham sandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a
slice of new cheese and an apple. Each thing had
a separate stem, and so had to be picked off the side
of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be de-
licious, and she ate every bit of luncheon in the box
before she had finished.

"A lunch isn't zactly breakfast," she said to Bil-
lina, who sat beside her curiously watching. "But
when one is hungry one can eat even supper in the
morning, and not complain."

"I hope your lunch-box was perfectly ripe," ob-
served the yellow hen, in a anxious tone. "So much
sickness is caused by eating green things."

"Oh, I'm sure it was ripe," declared Dorothy,
"all, that is, 'cept the pickle, and a pickle just has

THE LITTLE GIRL PICKED ONE OF THE LUNCH-BOXES

Ozma of Oz

to be green, Billina. But everything tasted perfect-
ly splendid, and I'd rather have it than a church
picnic. And now I think Til pick a dinner-pail,
to have when I get hungry again, and then we'll
start out and 'splore the country, and see where
we are."

"Havn't you any idea what country this is?'

J J J

inquired Billina.

"None at all. But listen: I'm quite sure it's a fairy
country, or such things as lunch-boxes and dinner-
pails wouldn't be growing upon trees. Besides,
Billina, being a hen, you wouldn't be able to talk
in any civ'lized country, like Kansas, where no
fairies live at all."

"Perhaps we're in the Land of Oz," said the hen,
thoughtfully.

"No, that can't be," answered the little girl;
because I've been to the Land of Oz, and it's all
surrounded by a horrid desert that no one can cross."

"Then how did you get away from there again?'
asked Billina.

"I had a pair of silver shoes, that carried me
through the air; but I lost them," said Dorothy.

"Ah, indeed," remarked the yellow hen, in a tone
of unbelief.

"Anyhow," resumed the girl, "there is no sea-

The Letters in the Sand

shore near the Land of O/, so this must surely be
some other fairy country."

J j

"While she was speaking she selected a bright
and pretty dinner-pail that seemed to have a stout
handle, and picked it from its branch. Then, ac-
companied by the yellow hen, she walked out of
the shadow of the trees toward the sea-shore.

They were part way across the sands when Bil-
lina suddenly cried, in a voice of terror:

"What's that?"

Ozma of Oz

Dorothy turned quickly around, and saw coming
out of a path that led from between the trees the
most peculiar person her eyes had ever beheld.

It had the form of a man, except that it walked,
or rather rolled, upon all fours, and its legs were the
same length as its arms, giving them the appearance
of the four legs of a beast. Yet it was no beast that
Dorothy had discovered, for the person was clothed
most gorgeously in embroidered garments of many
colors, and wore a straw hat perched jauntily upon
the side of its head. But it differed from human
beings in this respect, that instead of hands and feet
there grew at the end of its arms and legs round
wheels, and by means of these wheels it rolled very
swiftly over the level ground. Afterward Dorothy
found that these odd wheels were of the same hard
substance that our finger-nails and toe-nails are
composed of, and she also learned that creatures ot
this strange race were born in this queer fashion.
But when our little girl first caught sight of the first
individual of a race that was destined to cause her
a lot of trouble, she had an idea that the brilliantly-
clothed personage was on roller-skates, which were
attached to his hands as well as to his feet.

"Run!" screamed the yellow hen, fluttering away
in great fright. "It's a Wheeler!'

'ITS A WHEELER!"

Ozma of Oz

"A Wheeler?" exclaimed Dorothy. "What can
that be?"

"Don't you remember the warning in the sand:
'Beware the Wheelers'? Run, I tell you — run!'

So Dorothy ran, and the Wheeler gave a sharp,
wild cry and came after her in full chase.

Looking over her shoulder as she ran, the girl now
saw a great procession of Wheelers emerging from
the forest — dozens and dozens of them — all clad in
splendid, tight - fitting garments and all rolling
swiftly toward her and uttering their wild, strange
cries.

"They're sure to catch us!" panted the girl, who
was still carrying the heavy dinner-pail she had
picked. "I can't run much farther, Billina."

"Climb up this hill, — quick!" said the hen; and
Dorothy found she was very near to the heap of
loose and jagged rocks they had passed on their
way to the forest. The yellow hen was even now
fluttering among the rocks, and Dorothy followed
as best she could, half climbing and half tumbling
up the rough and rugged steep.

She was none too soon, for the foremost Wheeler
reached the hill a moment after her; but while the
girl scrambled up the rocks the creature stopped
short with howls of rage and disappointment.

The Letters in the Sand

Dorothy now heard the yellow hen laughing, in
her cackling, henny way.

"Don't hurry, my dear," cried Billina. "They
can't follow us among these rocks, so we're sate
enough now."

Dorothy stopped at once and sat down upon a
broad boulder, for she was all out ot breath.

The rest of the Wheelers had now reached the
foot of the hill, but it was evident that their wheels
would not roll upon the rough and jagged rocks,
and therefore they were helpless to follow Dorothy
and the hen to where they had taken refuge. But
they circled all around the little hill, so the child
and Billina were fast prisoners and could not come
down without being captured.

Then the creatures shook their front wheels at
Dorothy in a threatening manner, and it seemed
they were able to speak as well as to make their
dreadful outcries, for several of them shouted:

"We'll get you in time, never fear! And when
we do get you, we'll tear you into little bits!

"Why are you so cruel to me?" asked Dorothy.
"I'm a stranger in your country, and have done you
no harm."

"No harm!" cried one who seemed to be their
leader. "Did you not pick our lunch-boxes and

f O

dinner-pails? Have you not a stolen dinner-pail
still in your hand ? '

"I only picked one of each," she answered. "I
was hungry, and I didn't know the trees were yours."

"That is no excuse," retorted the leader, who
was clothed in a most gorgeous suit. "It is the law
here that whoever picks a dinner-pail without our
permission must die immediately."

"Don't you believe him," said Billina. "I'm
sure the trees do not belong to these awful creatures.
They are fit for any mischief, and it's my opinion
they would try to kill us just the same if you hadn't
picked a dinner-pail."

"I think so, too," agreed Dorothv. "But what
shall we do now?"

"Stay where we are," advised the yellow hen.
"We are safe from the Wheelers until we starve to
death, anyhow; and before that time comes a good
many things can happen."

Tiktok the \
Man

tier

an hour or so most of
the band of Wheelers
rolled back into the forest,
leaving only three of their
number to guard the hill.
These curled themselves up like
big dogs and pretended to go to
sleep on the sands; but neither Dor-
othy nor Billina were fooled by this
trick, so they remained in security
among the rocks and paid no attention
to their cunning enemies.

Finally the hen, fluttering over the mound,
exclaimed: "Why, here's a path!"

So Dorothy at once clambered to where Bill-
ina sat, and there, sure enough, was a smooth path

Ozma of Oz

cut between the rocks. It seemed to wind around
the mound from top to bottom, like a cork-screw,
twisting here and there between the rough boulders
but always remaining level and easy to walk upon.

Indeed, Dorothy wondered at first why the Wheel-
ers did not roll up this path; but when she followed
it to the foot of the mound she found that several
big pieces of rock had been placed directly across
the end of the way, thus preventing any one outside
from seeing it and also preventing the Wheelers
from using it to climb up the mound.

Then Dorothy walked back up the path, and
followed it until she came to the very top of the
hill, where a solitary round rock stood that was
bigger than any of the others surrounding it. The
path came to an end just beside this great rock, and
for a moment it puzzled the girl to know why the
path had been made at all. But the hen, who had
been gravely following her around and was now
perched upon a point of rock behind Dorothy,
suddenly remarked:

"It looks something like a door, doesn't it?'

"What looks like a door?" enquired the child.

"Why, that crack in the rock, just facing you,"
replied Billina, whose little round eyes were very
sharp and seemed to see everything. "It runs up

Tiktok, The Machine Man

one side and down the other, and across the top
and the bottom."

"What does?"

"Why, the crack. So I think it must be a door
of rock, although I do not see any hinges."

" Oh, yes," said Dorothy, now observing for the
first time the crack in the rock. "And isn't this a
kev-hole, Billina ? " pointing to a round, deep hole
at one side of the door.

"Of course. If we only had the kev, now, we

/ / ' '

Ozma of Oz

could unlock it and see what is there," replied the
yellow hen. "May be it's a treasure chamber full
of diamonds and rubies, or heaps of shining gold,

•> »

"That reminds me," said Dorothy, "of the golden
key I picked up on the shore. Do you think that
it would fit this key-hole, Billina?'

"Try it and see," suggested the hen.

So Dorothy searched in the pocket of her dress
and found the golden key. And when she had put
it into the hole of the rock, and turned it, a sudden
sharp snap was heard; then, with a solemn creak
that made the shivers run down the child's back, the
face of thf /ock fell outward, like a door on hinges,
and revealed a small dark chamber just inside.

"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back
as far as the narrow path would let her.

For, standing within the narrow chamber of rock,
was the form of a man — or, at least, it seemed like
a man, in the dim light. He was only about as tall
as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a
ball and made out of burnished copper. Also his
head and limbs were copper, and these werejointed
or hinged to his body in a peculiar way, with metal
caps over the joints, like the armor worn by knights
in days of old. He stood perfectly still, and where

'THIS COPPER MAN IS NOT ALIVE AT ALL'

Ozma of Oz

the light struck upon his form it glittered as if made
of pure gold.

"Don't be frightened," called Billina, from her
perch. "It isn't alive."

"I see it isn't," replied the girl, drawing a long
breath.

"It is only made out of copper, like the old kettle
in the barn -yard at home," continued the hen,
turning her head first to one side and then to the
other, so that both her little round eyes could
examine the object.

"Once," said Dorothy, "I knew a man made out
of tin, who was a woodman named Nick Chopper.
But he was as alive as we are, 'cause he was born a real
man, and got his tin body a little at a time — first
a leg and then a finger and then an ear — for the
reason that he had so many accidents with his axe,
and cut himself up in a very careless manner."

"Oh," said the hen, with a sniff, as if she did not
believe the story.

"But this copper man," continued Dorothy,
looking at it with big eyes, "is not alive at all, and
I wonder what it was made for, and why it was
locked up in this queer place."

"That is a mystery," remarked the hen, twisting
her head to arrange her wing-feathers with her bill.

Tiktok, The Machine Man

Dorothy stepped inside the little room to get a
back view of the copper man, and in this way dis-
covered a printed card that hung between his shoul-
ders, it being suspended from a small copper peg at
the back of his neck. She unfastened this card and
returned to the path, where the light was better, and
sat herself down upon a slab of rock to read the
printing.

"What does it say?" asked the hen, curiously.

Dorothy read the card aloud, spelling out the big
words with some difficulty; and this is what she read:

SMITH C& TINKER'S
Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive,

Thought-Creating, Perfect -Talking

cTWECHANICAL cTWAN

Fitted with our Special Clock- Work Attachment.
Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live.

Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev.
All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law.

"How queer!" said the yellow hen. "Do you
think that is all true, my dear?"

Ozma of Oz

" I don't know," answered Dorothy, who had
more to read. "Listen to this, Billina:"

DIRECTIONS FOR USING:

For THINKING :— Wind the Clock-work Man under his
left arm, (marked No. 1.)

For SPEAKING:— Wind the Clock-work Man under his
right arm, (marked No. 2.)

For WALKING and ACTION :— Wind Clock-work in the
middle of his back, ( marked No. 3. )

N. B. — This Mechanism is guaranteed to work perfectly for a thousand years.

"Well, I declare!' gasped the yellow hen, in
amazement; "it the copper man can do half of these
things he is a very wonderful machine. But I suppose
it is all humbug, like so many other patented articles."

"We might wind him up," suggested Dorothy,
"and see what he'll do."

"Where is the key to the clock-work?" asked
Billina.

"Hanging on the peg where I found the card."

"Then," said the hen, "let us try him, and find
out if he will go. He is warranted for a thousand
years, it seems; but we do not know how long he
has been standing inside this rock."

Dorothy had already taken the clock key from
the peg.

DOROTHY WOUND UP NUMBER ONE

Ozma of Oz

"Which shall I wind up first?" she asked, looking
again at the directions on the card.

"Number One, I should think," returned Billina.
"That makes him think, doesn't it?'

"Yes," said Dorothy, and wound up Number
One, under the left arm.

"He doesn't seem any different," remarked the
hen, critically.

"Why, of course not; he is only thinking, now,"
said Dorothy.

"I wonder what he is thinking about."

"I'll wind up his talk, and then perhaps he can
tell us," said the girl.

So she wound up Number Two, and immediately
the clock-work man said, without moving any part
of his body except his lips:

"Good morn-ing, lit-tle girl. Good morn-ing,
Mrs. Hen."

The words sounded a little hoarse and creakey,
and they were uttered all in the same tone, without
any change of expression whatever; but both Dor-
othy and Billina understood them perfectly.

"Good morning, sir," they answered, politely.
"Thank you for res-cu-ing me," continued the
machine, in the same monotonous voice, which

Tiktok, The Machine Man

seemed to be worked by a bellows inside of him,
like the little toy lambs and cats the children squeeze
so that they will make a noise.

" Don't mention it," answered Dorothy. And
then, being very curious, she asked: "How did you
come to be locked up in this place?'

"It is a long sto-ry," replied the copper man;
"but I will tell it to you briei-ly. I was pur-chased
from Smith & Tin-ker, my man-u-fac-tur-ers, by a
cru-el King of Ev, named Ev-ol-do, who used to

Ozma of Oz

beat all his serv-ants un-til they died. How-ev-er,

he was not a-ble to kill me, be-cause I was not a-
live, and one must first live in or-der to die. So
that all his beat-ing did me no harm, and mere-ly
kept my cop-per bod-y well pol-ished.

"This cru-el king had a love-ly wife and ten
beau-ti-ful chil-dren — five boys and five girls — but
in a fit of an-ger he sold them all to the Nome King,
who by means of his mag-ic arts changed them all
in-to oth-er forms and put them in his un-der-ground
pal-ace to or-na-ment the rooms.

" Af-ter-ward the King of Ev re-gret-ted his wick-
ed ac-tion, and tried to get his wife and chil-dren
a-way from the Nome King, but with-out a-vail.
So, in de-spair, he locked me up in this rock, threw
the key in-to the o-cean, and then jumped in af-ter
it and was drowned."

"How very dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"It is, in-deed," said the machine. "When I
found my-self im-pris-oned I shout-ed for help un-
til my voice ran down ; and then I walked back and
forth in this lit-tle room un-til my ac-tion ran down;

and then I stood still and thought un-til my thoughts
ran down. Af-ter that I re-mem-ber noth-ing un-
til you wound me up a-gain."

"It's a very wonderful story," said Dorothy, "and

THE COPPER MAN WALKED OUT OF THE ROCKY CAVERN

Ozma of Oz

proves that the Land of Ev is really a fairy land, as
I thought it was."

"Of course it is," answered the copper man. "I
do not sup-pose such a per-fect ma-chine as I am
could be made in an-y place but a fair-y land."

"I've never seen one in Kansas," said Dorothy.

"But where did you get the key to un-lock this
door?" asked the clock-work voice.

" 1 found it on the shore, where it was prob'ly
washed up by the waves," she answered. "And now,
sir, if you don't mind, I'll wind up your action."

" That will please me ve-ry much, "said the machine.

So she wound up Number Three, and at once
the copper man in a somewhat stiffand jerky fashion
walked out of the rocky cavern, took off his copper
hat and bowed politely, and then kneeled before
Dorothy. Said he:

"From this time forth I am your o-be-di-ent ser-
vant. What-ev-er you com-mand, that I will do
will-ing-ly — if you keep me wound up."

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Tik-tok," he replied. "My for-mer mas-ter
gave me that name be-cause my clock-work al-ways
ticks when it is wound up."

"I can hear it now," said the yellow hen.

"So can I," said Dorothy. And then she added,

Tiktok, The Machine Man

with some anxiety: "You don^ strike> do 7OU ? '

"No," answered Tiktol^ "and there is no a-larm
con-nec-ted with my ma-chin-er-y- l can tel1 the
time, though, by speak-ing» and as l nev'er sleeP ]
can wak-en you at an-y hour 7OU wish to get UP in
the morn-ing."

"That's nice," said the little girli "onl7 l never

"
wish to get up in the moi~nmg'

"You can sleep until I Ia7 m7 egg>" said the Xel-
low hen. "Then, when I cackle, Tiktok will know

it is time to waken you."

« Do you lay your egg ver7 earlX ? " asked Dorothy.

"About eight o'clock," said Billina. "And every-
body ought to be up by tnat time> Fm sure-"

Oorotliu Opens the Dinner

•Pail

Tiktok," said Dorothy,
"the first thing to be done
is to find a way for us to
escape from these rocks. The
Wheelers are down below, you
know, and threaten to kill us."

" There is no rea-son to be a-f raid
of the Wheel-ers," said Tiktok, the
words coming more slowly than before.

"Why not?" she asked.

" Be-cause they are ag-g-g~gr-gr-r-r-'

He gave a sort of gurgle and stopped
short, waving his hands frantically until sud-
denly he became motionless, with one arm in
the air and the other held stiffly before him with
all the copper fingers of the hand spread out like a fan.

Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail

"Dear me!" said Dorothy, in a frightened tone.
"What can the matter be?'

"He's run down, I suppose," said the hen, calmly.
"You couldn't have wound him up very tight."

"I didn't know how much to wind him," replied
the girl; "but I'll try to do better next time."

She ran around the copper man to take the key
from the peg at the back of his neck, but it
was not there.

"It's gone!" cried Dorothy, in dismay.

"What's gone?" asked Billina.

" The key."

"It probably fell off when he made that low bow
to you," returned the hen. " Look around, and see
if you cannot find it again."

Dorothy looked, and the hen helped her, and by
and by the girl discovered the clock-key, which had
fallen into a crack of the rock.

At once she wound up Tiktok's voice, taking
care to give the key as many turns as it would go
around. She found this quite a task, as you may
imagine if you have ever tried to wind a clock, but
the machine man's first words were to assure Dorothy
that he would now run for at least twenty-four hours.

"You did not wind me much, at first," he calmly
said, "and I told you that long sto-ry a-bout King

O z m a of O

Ev-ol-do; so it is no won-der that I ran down."

She next rewound the action clock-work, and
then Billina advised her to carry the key to Tiktok
in her pocket, so it would not get lost again.

"And now," said Dorothy, when all this was ac-
complished, "tell me what you were going to say
about the Wheelers."

"Why, they are noth-ing to be fright-en'd at,"
said the machine. "They try to make folks be-lieve
that they are ver-y ter-ri-ble, but as a mat-ter of

Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail

fact the Wheel-ers are harm-less e-nough to an-y one
that dares to fight them. They might try to hurt a
lit-tle girl like you, per-haps, be-cause they are ver-y
mis-chiev-ous. But if I had a club they would run
a-way as soon as they saw me."

"Haven't you a club?" asked Dorothy.

"No," said Tiktok.

"And you won't find such a thing among these
rocks, either," declared the yellow hen.

"Then what shall we do?" asked the girl.

"Wind up my think-works tight-ly, and I will
try to think of some oth-er plan," said Tiktok.

So Dorothy rewound his thought machinery, and
while he was thinking she decided to eat her dinner.
Billina was already pecking away at the cracks in
the rocks, to find something to eat, so Dorothy sat
down and opened her tin dinner-pail.

In the cover she found a small tank that was full
of very nice lemonade. It was covered by a cup,
which might also, when removed, be used to drink
the lemonade from. Within the pail were three
slices of turkey, two slices of cold tongue, some
lobster salad, four slices of bread and butter, a small
custard pie, an orange and nine large strawberries,
and some nuts and raisins. Singularly enough, the
nuts in this dinner-pail grew already cracked, so that

Ozma of Oz

Dorothy had no trouble in picking out their meats
to eat.

She spread the feast upon the rock beside her and
began her dinner, first offering some of it to Tiktok,
who declined because, as he said, he was merely a
machine. Afterward she offered to share with Bil-
lina, but the hen murmured something about "dead
things" and said she preferred her bugs and ants.

"Do the lunch-box trees and the dinner-pail trees
belong to the Wheelers?" the child asked Tiktok,
while engaged in eating her meal.

" Of course not," he answered. " They be-long to
the roy-al fam-il-y of Ev, on-ly of course there is no
roy-al fam-il-y just now be-cause King Ev-ol-do
jumped in-to the sea and his wife and ten chil-dren
have been trans-formed by the Nome King. So there
is no one to rule the Land of Ev, that I can think of.
Per-haps it is for this rea-son that the Wheel-ers
claim the trees for their own, and pick the lunch-
eons and din-ners to eat them-selves. But they be-
long to the King, and you will find the roy-al "E"
stamped up-on the bot-tom of ev-er-y din-ner pail."

Dorothy turned the pail over, and at once dis-
covered the royal mark upon it, as Tiktok had said.

"Are the Wheelers the only folks living in the
Land of Ev?" enquired the girl.

DOROTHY OPENED HER TIN DINNER-PAIL

Ozma of Oz

"No; they on-ly in-hab-it a small por-tion of it
just back of the woods," replied the machine. "But
they have al-ways been mis-chiev-ous and im-per-
ti-nent, and my old mas-ter, King Ev-ol-do, used
to car-ry a whip with him, when he walked out, to
keep the crea-tures in or-der. When I was first
made the Wheel-ers tried to run o-ver me, and butt-
me with their heads; but they soon found I was
built of too sol-id a ma-ter-i-al for them to in-jure."

"You seem very durable," said Dorothy. "Who
made you ? '

"The firm of Smith & Tin-ker, in the town ofEv-
na, where the roy-al pal-ace stands," answered Tiktok.

"Did they make many of you ? " asked the child.

"No; I am the on-ly au-to-mat-ic me-chan-i-cal
man they ev-er com-plet-ed," he replied. ".They
were ver-y won-der-ful in-ven-tors, were my mak-ers,
and quite ar-tis-tic in all they did."

"I am sure of that," said Dorothy. "Do they
live in the town of Evna now?"

"They are both gone," replied the machine.
"Mr. Smith was an art-ist, as well as an in-vent-or,
and he paint-ed a pic-ture of a riv-er which was so
nat-ur-al that, as he was reach-ing a-cross it to paint
some flow-ers on the op-po-site bank, he fell in-to
the wa-ter and was drowned."

Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail

"Oh, I'm sorry for that! " exclaimed the little girl.

" Mis-ter Tin-ker," continued Tiktok, "made a
lad-der so tall that he could rest the end of it a-
gainst the moon, while he stood on the high-est rung
and picked the lit-tle stars to set in the points of
the king's crown. But when he got to the moon
Mis-ter Tm-ker found it such a love-ly place that he
de-cid-ed to live there, so he pulled up the lad-der
af-ter him and we have nev-er seen him since."

"He must have been a great loss to this country,"
said Dorothy, who was bv this time eating her
custard pie.

"He was,' acknowledged Tiktok. "Also he is a
great loss to me. For it I should get out of or-der
I do not know of an-y one a-ble to re-pair me, be-
cause I am so com-pli-cat-ed. You have no i-de-a
how full of ma-chin-er-y I am."

"I can imagine it," said Dorothy, readily.

"And now," continued the machine, "I must stop
talk-ing and be-gin think-ing a-gain of a way to es-
cape from this rock." So he turned halfway around,
in order to think without being disturbed.

"The best thinker I ever knew," said Dorothy to
the yellow hen, "was a scarecrow."

"Nonsense!" snapped Billina.

"It is true," declared Dorothy. "I met him in

Ozma of Oz

the Land of Oz, and he travelled with me to the
city of the great Wizard of Oz, so as to get some
brains, for his head was only stuffed with straw.
But it seemed to me that he thought just as we-
before he got his brains as he did afterward."

"Do you expect me to believe all that rubbis.
about the Landof Oz? "enquired Billina, who seemed
a little cross — perhaps because bugs were scarce.

"What rubbish?" asked the child, who was now
finishing her nuts and raisins.

"Why, your impossible stories about animals that
can talk, and a tin woodman who is alive, and a
scarecrow who can think."

"They are all there," said Dorothy, "for I have
seen them."

"I don't believe it!" cried the hen, with a toss
of her head.

"That's 'cause you're so ign'rant," replid the girl,
who was a little offended at her friend Billina's speech.

"In the Land of Oz," remarked Tiktok, turning
toward them, "an-y-thing is pos-si-ble. For it is a
won-der-ful fair-y coun-try."

"There, Billina! what did I say?" cried Dorothy.
And then she turned to the machine and asked in
an eager tone: "Do you know the Land of Oz,
Tiktok?"

MISTER TINKER VISITS THE MOON

Ozma of Oz

"No; but I have heard a-bout it," said the cop-
per man. "For it is on-ly sep-a-ra-ted from this
Land ol Ev by a broad des-ert."

Dorothy clapped her hands together delightedly.

"I'm glad of that!" she exclaimed. "It makes
me quite happy to be so near my old friends. The
scarecrow I told you of, Billina, is the King of the
Land of Oz."

"Par-don me. He is not the king now," said
Tiktok.

"He was when I left there," declared Dorothy.

"I know," said Tiktok, "but there was a rev-o-
lu-tion in the Land of Oz, and the Scare-crow was
de-posed by a sol-dier wo-man named Gen-er-al
}in-jur. And then Jin-jur was de-posed by a lit-tle
girl named Oz-ma, who was the right-ful heir to the
throne and now rules the land un-der the ti-tle of
Oz-ma of Oz."

"That is news to rne," said Dorothy, thoughtfully.
"But I s'pose lots of things have happened since I
left the Land of Oz. I wonder what has become of
the Scarecrow, and of the Tin Woodman, and the
Cowardly Lion. And I wonder who this girl Ozma
is, for I never heard of her before."

But Tiktok did not reply to this. He had turned
around again to resume his thinking.

Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail

• Dorothy packed the rest of the food back into
the pail, so as not to be wasteful of good things, and
the yellow hen forgot her dignity far enough to pick
up all of the scattered crumbs, which she ate rather
greedily, although she had so lately pretended to
despise the things that Dorothy preferred as food.

By this time Tiktok approached them with his
stiff bow.

"Be kind e-nough to fol-low me," he said, "and
I will lead you a-way from here to the town of Ev-
na, where you will be more com-for-ta-ble, and al-
so I will pro-tect you from the Wheel-ers."

"All right," answered Dorothy, promptly. "I'm
ready! '

Tire Heads Q/Jangwidere

walked slowly down the
path between the rocks,
Tiktok going first, Dorothy
following him, and the yellow
hen trotting along last of all.

At the foot of the path the
copper man leaned down and
tossed aside with ease the rocks that
cumbered the way. Then he turned
to Dorothy and said:

"Let me car-ry your din-ner-pail."
She placed it in his right hand at once,

and the copper fingers closed firmly over the

stout handle.

Then the little procession marched out upon

the level sands.

The Heads of Langwidere

As soon as the three Wheelers who were guard-
ing the mound saw them, they began to shout their
wild cries and rolled swiftly toward the little group,
as if to capture them or bar their way. But when
the foremost had approached near enough, Tiktok
swung the tin dinner-pail and struck the Wheeler
a sharp blow over its head with the queer weapon.
Perhaps it did not hurt very much, but it made a
great noise, and the Wheeler uttered a howl and
tumbled over upon its side. The next minute it
scrambled to its wheels and rolled away as fast as it
could go, screeching with fear at the same time.

" 1 told you they were harm-less," began Tiktok;
but before he could say more another Wheeler was
upon them. Crack! went the dinner-pail against
its head, knocking its straw hat a dozen feet away;
and that was enough for this Wheeler, also. It
rolled away after the first one, and the third did not
wait to be pounded with the pail, but joined its
fellows as quickly as its wheels would whirl.

The yellow hen gave a cackle of delight, and fly-
ing to a perch upon Tiktok's shoulder, she said:

"Bravely done, my copper friend! and wisely
thought of, too. Now we are free from those ugly
creatures."

But just then a large band of Wheelers rolled

Ozma of Oz

from the forest, and relying upon their numbers
to conquer, they advanced fiercely upon Tiktok.
Dorothy grabbed Billina in her arms and held her
tight, and the machine embraced the form of the
little girl with his left arm, the better to protect her.
Then the Wheelers were upon them.

Rattlety, bang! bang! went the dinner-pail in
every direction, and it made so much clatter bump-
ing against the heads of the Wheelers that they were
much more frightened than hurt and fled in a great
panic. All, that is, except their leader. This Wheeler
had stumbled against another and fallen flat upon
his back, and before he could get his wheels under
him to rise again, Tiktok had fastened his copper
fingers into the neck of the gorgeous jacket of his
foe and held him fast.

"Tell your peo-ple to go a-way," commanded
the machine.

The leader of the Wheelers hesitated to give this
order, so Tiktok shook him as a terrier dog does a
rat, until the Wheeler's teeth rattled together with
a noise like hailstones on a window pane. Then,
as soon as the creature could get its breath, it shouted
to the others to roll away, which they immediately did.

" Now," said Tiktok, "you shall come with us and
tell me what I want to know."

The Heads of Langwidere

"You'll be sorry for treating me in this way,"
whined the Wheeler. " I'm a terribly fierce person."

"As for that," answered Tiktok, "I am only a
ma-chine, and can-not feel sor-row or joy, no mat-ter
what hap-pens. But you are wrong to think your-
self ter-ri-ble or fierce."

"Why so?" asked the Wheeler.

" Bc-cause no one else thinks as you do. Your
wheels make you help-less to in-jure an-y one. For
you have no fists and can not scratch or c-ven pull

Ozma of Oz

hair. Nor have you an-y feet to kick with. All you
can do is to yell and shout, and that does not hurt
an-y one at all."

The Wheeler burst into a flood of tears, to Dor-
othy's great surprise.

"Now I and my people are ruined forever!' he
sobbed; "for you have discovered our secret. Being
so helpless, our only hope is to make people afraid
of us, by pretending we are very fierce and terrible,
and writing in the sand warnings to Beware the
Wheelers. Until now we have frightened everyone,
but since you have discovered our weakness our
enemies will fall upon us and make us very miserable
and unhappy."

"Oh, no," exclaimed Dorothy, who was sorry to
see this beautifully dressed Wheeler so miserable;
"Tiktok will keep your secret, and so will Billina
and I. Only, you must promise not to try to frighten
children any more, if they come near to you."

" I won't — indeed I won't ! " promised the Wheel-
er, ceasing to cry and becoming more cheerful.
"I'm not really bad, you know; but we have to
pretend to be terrible in order to prevent others
from attacking us."

"That is not cx-act-ly true," said Tiktok, starting
to walk toward the path through the forest, and

ON THE WAY TO THE ROYAL PALACE OF EV

Ozma of Oz

still holding fast to his prisoner, who rolled slowly
along beside him. "You and your peo-ple are full
of mis-chief, and like to both-er those who fear you.
And you are of-ten im-pu-dent and dis-a-gree-a-ble,
too. But if you will try to cure those faults I will
not tell any-one how help-less you are."

"I'll try, of course," replied the Wheeler, eagerly.
"And thank you, Mr. Tiktok, for your kindness."

"I am on-ly a ma-chine," said Tiktok. "I can
not be kind an-y more than I can be sor-ry or glad.
I can on-ly do what I am wound up to do."

"Are you wound up to keep my secret?" asked
the Wheeler, anxiously.

"Yes; if you be-have your-self. But tell me:
who rules the Land of Ev now?" asked the machine.

"There is no ruler," was the answer, "because
every member of the royal family is imprisoned by
the Nome King. But the Princess Langwidere,
who is a niece of our late King Evoldo, lives in a
part of the royal palace and takes as much money
out of the royal treasury as she can spend. The
Princess Langwidere is not exactly a ruler, you see,
because she doesn't rule; but she is the nearest
approach to a ruler we have at present."

"I do not re-mem-ber her," said Tiktok. "What
does she look like?'

The Heads of Langwidere

"That I cannot say," replied the Wheeler, "al-
though I have seen her twenty times. For the Prin-
cess Langwidere is a different person every time I
see her, and the only way her subjects can recognize
her at all is by means of a beautiful ruby key which
she always wears on a chain attached to her left
wrist. When we see the key we know we are be-
holding the Princess."

"That is strange," said Dorothy, in astonishment.
"Do you mean to say that so many different prin-
cesses are one and the same person?"

"Not exactly," answered the Wheeler. "There
is, of course, but one princess; but she appears to us
in many forms, which are all more or less beautiful."

"She must be a witch," exclaimed the girl.

" I do not think so," declared the Wheeler. " But
there is some mystery connected with her, neverthe-
less. She is a very vain creature, and lives mostly
in a room surrounded by mirrors, so that she can
admire herself whichever way she looks."

No one answered this speech, because they had
just passed out of the forest and their attention was
fixed upon the scene before them — a beautiful vale
in which were many fruit trees and green fields,
with pretty farm-houses scattered here and there
and broad, smooth roads that led in every direction.

m a

f O

In the center of this lovely vale, about a mile
from where our friends were standing, rose the tall
spires of the royal palace, which glittered brightly
against their background of blue sky. The palace
was surrounded by charming grounds, full of flowers
and shrubbery. Several tinkling fountains could be
seen, and there were pleasant walks bordered by
rows of white marble statuary.

All these details Dorothy was, of course, unable
to notice or admire until they had advanced along
the road to a position quite near to the palace, and
she was still looking at the pretty sights when her
little party entered the grounds and approached the
big front door of the king's own apartments. To
their disappointment they found the door tightly
closed. A sign was tacked to the panel which read
as follows:

OWNER ^ABSENT.

Please Knock at the Third Door in the Left Wing.

"Now,1' said Tiktok to the captive Wheeler, "you
must show us the way to the Left Wing."

A SIGN WAS TACKED TO THE PANEL

O z m a of O z

"Very well," agreed the prisoner, "it is around
here at the right."

"How can the left wing be at the right?" de-
manded Dorothy, who feared the Wheeler was
tooling them.

"Because there used to be three wings, and two
were torn down, so the one on the right is the only
one left. It is a trick of the Princess Langwidere
to prevent visitors from annoying her."

Then the captive led them around to the wing,
after which the machine man, having no further use
for the Wheeler, permitted him to depart and rejoin
his fellows. He immediately rolled away at a great
pace and was soon lost to sight.

Tiktok now counted the doors in the wing and
knocked loudly upon the third one.

It was opened by a little maid in a cap trimmed
with gay ribbons, who bowed respectfully and asked:

"What do you wish, good people?'

"Are you the Princess Langwidere?" asked
Dorothy.

"No, miss; I am her servant," replied the maid.

"May I see the Princess, please?'

"I will tell her you are here, miss, and ask her to
grant you an audience," said the maid. "Step in,
please, and take a seat in the drawing-room."

The Heads of Langwidere

So Dorothy walked in, followed closely by the
machine. But as the yellow hen tried to enter after
them, the little maid cried "Shoo!" and flapped her
apron in Billina's face.

"Shoo, yourself! " retorted the hen, drawing back
in anger and ruffling up her feathers. "Haven't
you any better manners than that?'

"Oh, do you talk?" enquired the maid, evident-
ly surprised.

"Can't you hear me?" snapped Billina. "Drop

Ozma of Oz

that apron, and get out of the doorway, so that I
may enter with my friends!'

"The Princess won't like it," said the maid, hesi-
tating.

"I don't care whether she likes it or not," replied
Billina, and fluttering her wings with a loud noise
she flew straight at the maid's face. The little ser-
vant at once ducked her head, and the hen reached
Dorothy's side in safety.

"Very well," sighed the maid; "if you are all
ruined because of this obstinate hen, don't blame
me for it. It isn't safe to annoy the Princess Lang-
widere."

" Tell her we are waiting, if you please," Dorothy
requested, with dignity. "Billina is my friend, and
must go wherever 1 go."

Without more words the maid led them to a richly
furnished drawing-room, lighted with subdued rain-
bow tints that came in through beautiful stained-
glass windows.

"Remain here," she said. "What names shall I
give the Princess? '

"I am Dorothy Gale, of Kansas," replied the child;
"and this gentleman is a machine named Tiktok,
and the yellow hen is my friend Billina."

The little servant bowed and withdrew, going

"THE PRINCESS WONT LIKE IT." SAID THE MAID

Ozma of Oz

through several passages and mounting two marble
stairways before she came to the apartments occupied
by her mistress.

Princess Langwidere's sitting-room was panelled
with great mirrors, which reached from the ceiling
to the floor; also the ceiling was composed of mir-
rors, and the floor was of polished silver that reflected
every object upon it. So when Langwidere sat in
her easy chair and played soft melodies upon her
mandolin, her form was mirrored hundreds of times,
in walls and ceiling and floor, and whichever way
the lady turned her head she could see and admire
her own features. This she loved to do, and just
as the maid entered she was saying to herself:

"This head with the auburn hair and hazel eyes
is quite attractive. I must wear it more often than
I have done of late, although it may not be the best
of my collection."

"You have company, Your Highness," announced
the maid, bowing low.

"Who is it?" asked Langwidere, yawning.

"Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Mr.Tiktok and Billina,"
answered the maid.

"What a queer lot of names!" murmured the
Princess, beginning to be a little interested. "What
are they like? Is Dorothy Gale of Kansas pretty?

The Heads of Langwidere

"She might be called so," the maid replied.

"And is Mr. Tiktok attractive:3' continued the
Princess.

"That I cannot say, Your Highness. But he seems
very bright. Will YourGracious Highness see them?'

"Oh, I may as well, Nanda. But I am tired ad-
miring this head, and if my visitor has any claim to
beauty I must take care that she does not surpass
me. So I will go to my cabinet and change to No.

17, which I think is my best appearance. Don't

^ "
you :

"Your No. i 7 is exceedingly beautiful," answered
Nanda, with another bow.

Again the Princess yawned. Then she said:

" Help me to rise."

So the maid assisted her to gain her feet, although
Langwidere was the stronger ot the two; and then
the Princess slowly walk'ed across the silver floor to
her cabinet, leaning heavily at every step upon
Nanda's arm.

Now I must explain to you that the Princess
Langwidere had thirty heads — as many as there are
days in the month. But ot course she could only
wear one of them at a time, because she had but
one neck. These heads were kept in what she called
her "cabinet," which was a beautiful dressing-room

Ozma of Oz

that lay just between Langwidere's sleeping-chamber
and the mirrored sitting-room. Each head was in
a separate cupboard lined with velvet. The cup-
boards ran all around the sides of the dressing-room,
and had elaborately carved doors with gold numbers
on the outside and jewelled-framed mirrors on the
inside of them.

When the Princess got out of her crystal bed in
the morning she went to her cabinet, opened one
of the velvet-lined cupboards, and took the head it
contained from its golden shelf. Then, by the aid
of the mirror inside the open door, she put on the
head — as neat and straight as could be — and after-
ward called her maids to robe her for the day. She
always wore a simple white costume, that suited all
the heads. For, being able to change her face
whenever she liked, the Princess had no interest in
wearing a variety of gowns, as have other ladies who
are compelled to wear the same face constantly.

Of course the thirty heads were in great variety,
no two formed alike but all being of exceeding
loveliness. There were heads with golden hair,
brown hair, rich auburn hair and black hair; but
none with gray hair. The heads had eyes of blue,
of gray, of hazel, of brown and of black; but there
were no red eyes among them, and all were bright

BY THE AID OF THE MIRROR SHE PUT ON THE HEAD

Ozma of Oz

and handsome. The noses were Grecian, Roman,
retrousse and Oriental, representing all types of
beauty; and the mouths were of assorted sizes and
shapes, displaying pearly teeth when the heads smiled.
As for dimples, they appeared in cheeks and chins,
wherever they might be most charming, and one or
two heads had freckles upon the faces to contrast
the better with the brilliancy of their complexions.

One key unlocked all the velvet cupboards con-
taining these treasures — a curious key carved from
a single blood-red ruby — and this was fastened to a
strong but slender chain which the Princess wore
around her left wrist.

When Nanda had supported Langwidere to a
position in front of cupboard No. 17, the Princess
unlocked the door with her ruby key and after
handing head No. 9, which she had been wearing,
to the maid, she took No. 1 7 from its shelf and
fitted it to her neck. It had black hair and dark
eyes and a lovely pearl-and-white complexion, and
when Langwidere wore it she knew she was remark-
ably beautiful in appearance.

There was only one trouble with No. 17; the
temper that went with it (and which was hidden
somewhere under the glossy black hair) was fiery,
harsh and haughty in the extreme, and it often led

The Heads of Langwidere

the Princess to do unpleasant things which she re-
gretted when she came to wear her other heads.

But she did not remember this today, and went
to meet her guests in the drawing-room with a feel-
ing of certainty that she would surprise them with
her beauty.

However, she was greatly disappointed to find
that her visitors were merely a small girl in a ging-
ham dress, a copper man that would only go when
wound up, and a yellow hen that was sitting con-
tentedly in Langwidere's best work-basket, where
there was a china egg used for darning stockings.*

"Oh!" said Langwidere, slightly lifting the nose
of No. 17. "I thought some one of importance
had called."

"Then you were right," declared Dorothy. "I'm
a good deal of 'portance myself, and when Billina
lays an egg she has the proudest cackle you ever
heard. As for Tiktok, he's the "

"Stop — Stop! " commanded the Princess, with an
angry flash of her splendid eyes. "How dare you
annoy me with your senseless chatter?"

* It may surprise you to learn that a princess ever does such a common thing as darn
stockings. But, if you will stop to think, you will realize that a princess is sure to wear holes
in her stockings, the same as other people; only it isn't considered quite polite to mention
the matter.

Ozma of Oz

" Why, you horrid thing ! " said Dorothy, who was
not accustomed to being treated so rudely.

The Princess looked at her more closely.

"Tell me," she resumed, "are you of royal blood?"

"Better than that, ma'am," said Dorothy. "I
came from Kansas."

"Huh!" cried the Princess, scornfully. "You are
a foolish child, and I cannot allow you to annoy
me. Run away, you little goose, and bother some
one else."

Dorothy was so indignant that tor a moment she
could tind no words to reply. But she rose from
her chair, and was about to leave the room when
the Princess, who had been scanning the girl's face,
stopped her by saying, more gently:

"Come nearer to me."

Dorothy obeyed, without a thought of fear, and
stood before the Princess while Langwidere examined
her face with careful attention.

" You are rather attractive," said the lady, presently.
"Not at all beautiful, you understand, but vou

* *

have a certain style of prettiness that is different
from that of any of my thirty heads. So I believe
I'll take your head and give you No. 26 tor it."

"Well, I b'lieve you won't!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"It will do you no good to refuse," continued the

" WELL I B'LIEVE YOU WONT ! " EXCLAIMED DOROTHY

Ozma of Oz

Princess; "for I need your head for my collection,
and in the Land of Ev my will is law. I never have
cared much tor No. 26, and you will find that it is
very little worn. Besides, it will do you just as well
as the one you're wearing, for all practical purposes."

"I don't know anything about your No. 26, and
I don't want to," said Dorothy, firmly. "I'm not
used to taking cast-off things, so I'll just keep my
own head."

"You refuse?" cried the Princess, with a frown.

"Of course I do," was the reply.

"Then," said Langwidere, "I shall lock you up
in a tower until you decide to obey me. Nanda,"
turning to her maid, "call my army."

Nanda rang a silver bell, and at once a big fat
colonel in a bright red uniform entered the room,
followed by ten lean soldiers, who all looked sad
and discouraged and saluted the princess in a very
melancholy fashion.

"Carry that girl to the North Tower and lock
her up!" cried the Princess, pointing to Dorothy.

" To hear is to obey," answered the big red colonel,
and caught the child by her arm. But at that mo-
ment Tiktok raised his dinner-pail and pounded it
so forcibly against the colonel's head that the big
officer sat down upon the floor with a sudden bump,

The Heads of Langwidere

looking both dazed and very much astonished.

"Help!' he shouted, and the ten lean soldiers
sprang to assist their leader.

There was great excitement for the next few
moments, and Tiktok had knocked down seven of
the army, who were sprawling in every direction
"upon the carpet, when suddenly the machine paused,
with the dinner-pail raised tor another blow, and
remained perfectlv motionless.

"My ac-tion has run down," he called to Doro-
thy. <l Wind me up, quick."

She tried to obev, but the big colonel had by
this time managed to get upon his feet again, so he
grabbed fast hold of the girl and she was helpless
to escape.

"This is too bad," said the machine. "I ought
to have run six hours lon-ger, at least, but I sup-pose
my long walk and my fight with the Wheel-ers
made me run down tast-er than us-u-al."

" Well, it can't be helped," said Dorothy, with a sigh.

"Will you exchange heads with me?" demanded
the Princess.

"No, indeed! ' cried Dorothy.

"Then lock her up," said Langwidere to her
soldiers, and they led Dorothy to a high tower at the
north of the palace and locked her securely within.

Ozma of Oz

The soldiers afterward tried to lift Tiktok, but
they found the machine so solid and heavy that
they could not stir it. So they left him standing
in the center of the drawing-room.

"People will think I have a new statue," said
Langwidere, "so it won't matter in the least, and
Nanda can keep him well polished."

"What shall we do with the hen?' asked the
colonel, who had just discovered Billina in the
work-basket.

"Put her in the chicken-house," answered the
Princess. " Someday I'll have her fried for breakfast."

"She looks rather tough, Your Highness," said
Nanda, doubtfully.

"That is a base slander!" cried Billina, struggling
frantically in the colonel's arms. "But the breed
of chickens I come from is said to be poison to all
princesses."

"Then," remarked Langwidere, "I will not fry
the hen, but keep her to lay eggs; and if she doesn't
doherduty I'll haveher drowned in the horse trough."

^Rescue

brought Dorothy b

and water for her su

and she slept upon aUnard

stone couch with a single

pillow and a silken coverlet.

In the morning she leaned
out of the window of her prison
in the tower to see if there was any
way to escape. The room was not so
very high up, when compared with our
modern buildings, but it was far enough
above the trees and farm houses to give
her a good view of the surrounding country.

To the east she saw the forest, with the sands
beyond it and the ocean beyond that. There
was even a dark speck upon the shore that she

101

Ozma of Oz

thought might be the chicken-coop in which she had
arrived at this singular country.

Then she looked to the north, and saw a deep
but narrow valley lying between two rocky moun-
tains, and a third mountain that shut off the valley
at the further end.

Westward the fertile Land of Ev suddenly ended
a little way from the palace, and the girl could see
miles and miles of sandy desert that stretched fur-
ther than her eyes could reach. It was this desert,
she thought, with much interest, that alone separated
her from the wonderful Land of Oz, and she re-
membered sorrowfully that she had been told no
one had ever been able to cross this dangerous waste
but herself. Once a cyclone had carried her across
it, and a magical pair of silver shoes had carried her
back again. But now she had neither a cyclone nor
silver shoes to assist her, and her condition was sad
indeed. For she had become the prisoner of a dis-
agreeable princess who insisted that she must ex-
change her head for another one that she was not
used to, and which might not ht her at all.

Really, there seemed no hope of help for her from
her old friends in the Land of Oz. Thoughtfully
she gazed from her narrow window. On all the
desert not a living thing was stirring.

102

O z m a to the Rescue

Wait, though! Something surely was stirring on
the desert — something her eyes had not observed at
first. Now it seemed like a cloud; now it seemed
like a spot of silver; now it seemed to be a mass ot
rainbow colors that moved swiftly toward her.

What could it be, she wondered?

Then, gradually, but in a brief space ot time
nevertheless, the vision drew near enough to. Dorothy
to make out what it was.

A broad green carpet was unrolling itselt upon
the desert, while advancing across the carpet was a
wonderful procession that made the girl open her
eyes in amazement as she gazed.

First came a magnificent golden chariot, drawn
by a great Lion and an immense Tiger, who stood
shoulder to shoulder and trotted along as gracefully
as a well-matched team ot thoroughbred horses.
And standing upright within the chariot was a beau-
tiful girl clothed in flowing robes of silver gauze and
wearing a jeweled diadem upon her dainty head.
She held in one hand the satin ribbons that guided
her astonishing team, and in the other an ivory wand
that separated at the top into two prongs, the prongs
being tipped by the letters "O" and "Z", made ot
glistening diamonds set closely together.

The girl seemed neither older nor larger than

103

Ozma of Oz

Dorothy herself, and at once the prisoner in the
tower guessed that the lovely driver of the chariot
must be that Ozma of Oz of whom she had so lately
heard from Tiktok.

Following close behind the chariot Dorothy saw
her old friend the Scarecrow, riding calmly astride
a wooden Saw-Horse, which pranced and trotted as
naturally as any meat horse could have done.

And then came Nick Chopper, the Tin Wood-
man, with his funnel-shaped cap tipped carelessly
over his left ear, his gleaming axe over his right
shoulder, and his whole body sparkling as brightly
as it had ever done in the old days when first she

knew him.

The Tin Woodman was on foot, marching at the
head of a company of twenty-seven soldiers, of whom
some were lean and some fat, some short and some
tall; but all the twenty-seven were dressed in hand-
some uniforms of various designs and colors, no two
being alike in any respect.

Behind the soldiers the green carpet rolled itself
up again, so that there was always just enough of it
for the procession to walk upon, in order that their
feet might not come in contact with the deadly,
life-destroying sands of the desert.

Dorothy knew at once it was a magic carpet she

104

THE MAGIC CARPET

Ozma of Oz

beheld, and her heart beat high with hope and joy
as she realized she was soon to be rescued and al-
lowed to greet her dearly beloved friends of Oz —
the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly
Lion.

Indeed, the girl felt herself as good as rescued as
soon as she recognized those in the procession, for
she well knew the courage and loyalty of her old
comrades, and also believed that any others who
came from their marvelous country would prove to
be pleasant and reliable acquaintances.

As soon as the last bit of desert was passed and all
the procession, from the beautiful and dainty Ozma
to the last soldier, had reached the grassy meadows
of the Land of E-v, the magic carpet rolled itself
together and entirely disappeared.

Then the chariot driver turned her Lion and
Tiger into a broad roadway leading up to the palace,
and the others followed, while Dorothy still gazed
from her tower window in eager excitement.

They came quite close to the front door of the
palace and then halted, the Scarecrow dismounting
from his Saw-Horse to approach the sign fastened
to the door, that he might read what it said.

Dorothy, just above him, could keep silent no
longer.

106

O z m a to the Rescue

"Here I am!" she shouted, as loudly as she could.
"Here's Dorothy!"

"Dorothy who?" asked the Scarecrow, tipping
his head to look upward until he nearly lost his bal-
ance and tumbled over backward.

"Dorothy Gale, of course. Your friend from
Kansas," she answered.

"Why, hello, Dorothy!' said the Scarecrow.
"What in the world are you doing up there?'

107

Ozma of Oz

"Nothing," she called down, "because there's
nothing to do. Save me, my friend — save me!'

"You seem to be quite sate now," replied the
Scarecrow.

"But I'm a prisoner. I'm locked in, so that I
can't get out," she pleaded.

"That's all right," said the Scarecrow. "You
might be worse off, little Dorothy. Just consider
the matter. You can't get drowned, or be run over
by a Wheeler, or fall out of an apple-tree. Some
folks would think they were lucky to be up there."

"Well, I don't," declared the girl, "and I want
to get down immed'i'tly and see you and the Tin
Woodman and the Cowardly Lion."

"Very well," said the Scarecrow, nodding. "It
shall be just as you say, little friend. Who locked
you up? '

"The princess Langwidere, who is a horrid crea-
ture," she answered.

At this Ozma, who had been listening carefully
to the conversation, called to Dorothy from her
chariot, asking:

"Why did the Princess lock you up, my dear?"

"Because," exclaimed Dorothy, "I wouldn't let
her have my head for her collection, and take an
old, cast-off head in exchange for it."

108

^dft " Kz /.„-'. > , •>

m§*%? Ve

,^v.

"SAVE ME. MY FRIEND— SAVE ME!"

Ozma of Oz

"I do not blame you," exclaimed Ozma, promptly.
"I will see the Princess at once, and oblige her to
liberate you."

" Oh, thank you very, very much ! " cried Dorothy,
who as soon as she heard the sweet voice of the
girlish Ruler of Oz knew that she would soon learn
to love her dearly.

Ozma now drove her chariot around to the third
door of the wing, upon which the Tin Woodman
boldly proceeded to knock.

As soon as the maid opened the door Ozma,
bearing in her hand her ivory wand, stepped into
the hall and made her way at once to the drawing-
room, followed by all her company, except the Lion
and the Tiger. And the twenty-seven soldiers made
such a noise and a clatter that the little maid Nanda
ran away screaming to her mistress, whereupon the
Princess Langwidere, roused to great anger by this
rude invasion of her palace, came running into the
drawing room without any assistance whatever.

There she stood before the slight and delicate
form of the little girl from Oz and cried out;-

«How dare you enter my palace unbidden:5
Leave this room at once, or I will bind you and all
your people in chains, and throw you into my dark-
est dungeons!

110

Ozma to the Rescue

"What a dangerous lady!" murmured the Scare-
crow, in a soft voice.

"She seems a little nervous," replied the Tin
Woodman.

But Ozma only smiled at the angry Princess.

"Sit down, please," she said, quietly. "I have
traveled a long way to see you, and you must listen
to what I have to say."

"Must!' screamed the Princess, her black eyes
flashing with fury — for she still wore her No. 17
head. "Must, to meV'

111

Ozma of Oz

"To be sure," said Ozma. "I am Ruler ot the
Land of Oz, and I am powerful enough to destroy
all your kingdom, if I so wish. Yet I did not come
here to do harm, but rather to free the royal family
of Ev from the thrall of the Noma King, the news
having reached me that he is holding the Queen
and her children prisoners."

Hearing these words, Langwidere suddenly be-
came quiet.

"I wish you could, indeed, free my aunt and her
ten royal children," said she, eagerly. "For if they
were restored to their proper forms and station they
could rule the Kingdom of Ev themselves, and that
would save me a lot of worry and trouble. At
present there are at least ten minutes every day that
I must devote to affairs of state, and I would like
to be able to spend my whole time in admiring my
beautiful heads."

"Then we will presently discuss this matter,"
said Ozma, "and try to find a way to liberate your
aunt and cousins. But first you must liberate an-
other prisoner — the little girl you have locked up
in your tower."

"Of course," said Langwidere, readily. "I had
forgotten all about her. That was yesterday, you
know, and a Princess cannot be expected to

112

'WHAT A DANGEROUS LADY!" MURMURED THE SCARECROW

Ozma of Oz

remember today what she did yesterday. Come
with me, and I will release the prisoner at once."

So Ozma followed her, and they passed up the
stairs that led to the room in the tower.

While they were gone Ozma's followers remained
in the drawing-room, and the Scarecrow was lean-
ing against a form that he had mistaken for a copper
statue when a harsh, metallic voice said suddenly in
his ear:

" Get off my foot, please. You are scratch-ing
my pol-ish."

"Oh, excuse me!'1 he replied, hastily drawing
back. "Are you alive?'

"No," said Tiktok, "I am on-ly a ma-chine. But
I can think and speak and act, when I am pro-per-
ly wound up. Just now my ac-tion is run down,
and Dor-o-thy has the key to it."

"That's all right," replied the Scarecrow. Dor-
othy will soon be free, and then she'll attend to your
works. But it must be a great misfortune not to
be alive. I'm sorry for you."

"Why?" asked Tiktok.

"Because you have no brains, as I have," said the
Scarecrow.

"Oh, yes, I have," returned Tiktok. "I am
fit-ted with Smith & Tin-ker's Improved Com-bi-

114

O z m a to the Rescue

na-tion Steel Brains. They are what make me
think. What sort of brains are you fit-ted with?"

" I don't know," admitted the Scarecrow. "They
were given to me by the great Wizard of Oz,
and I didn't get a chance to examine them be-
fore he put them in. Hut they work splendidly and
my conscience is very active. Have you a con-
science? '

"No," said Tiktok.

"And no heart, I suppose ? " added the Tin Wood-
man, who had been listening with interest to this
conversation.

"No," said Tiktok.

"Then," continued the Tin Woodman, "I regret
to say that you are greatly inferior to my friend the
Scarecrow, and to myself. For we are both alive,
and he has brains which do not need to be wound
up, while I have an excellent heart that is continu-
ally beating in my bosom."

"I con-grat-u-late you," replied Tiktok. "1 can-
not help be-ing your in-ter-i-or for I am a mere
ma-chine. When I am wound up I do my du-ty
by go-ing just as my ma-chin-er-y is made to go.
You have no i-de-a how full of ma-chin-er-y I am."

"I can guess," said the Scarecrow, looking at
the machine man curiously. "Some day I'd like

115

f O

to take you apart and see just how you are made."

"Do not do that, I beg of you," said Tiktok;
"for you could not put me to-geth-er a-gain, and
my use-ful-ness would be de-stroyed."

"Oh! are you useful?" asked the Scarecrow, sur-
prised.

"Ve-ry," said Tiktok.

"In that case," the Scarecrow kindly promised,
"I won't fool with your interior at all. For I am
a poor mechanic, and might mix you up."

"Thank you," said Tiktok.

Just then Ozma re-entered the room, leading
Dorothy by the hand and followed closely by the
Princess Langwidere.

Hungrij Tig

first thing Dorothy
did was to rush into
the embrace of the
Scarecrow, whose painted

_ 1^

face beamed with delight as " '
he pressed her form to his
straw-padded bosom. Then
the Tin Woodman embraced
her — very gently, tor he knew his
tin arms might hurt her if he squeezed
too roughly.

These greetings having been ex-
changed, Dorothy took the key to Tiktok
from her pocket and wound up the machine
man's action, so that he could bow properly
when introduced to the rest of the company

117

O z m a of O z

While doing this she told them now useful Tiktok
had been to her, and both the Scarecrow and the
Tin Woodman shook hands with the machine once
more and thanked him for protecting their friend.

Then Dorothy asked: "Where is Hillina?"

"I don't know," said the Scarecrow. "Who is
Billina'"

"She's a yellow hen who is another friend of
mine," answered the girl, anxiously. "I wonder
what has become of her?"

"She is in the chicken house, in the back yard,"
said the Princess. "My drawing-room is no place
for hens."

Without waiting to hear more Dorothy ran to
get Billina, and just outside the door she came upon
the Cowardly Lion, still hitched to the chariot be-
side the great Tiger. The Cowardly Lion had a
big bow of blue ribbon fastened to the long hair
between his ears, and the Tiger wore a bow of red
ribbon on his tail, just in front of the bushy end.

In an instant Dorothy was hugging the huge Lion
joyfully.

"I'm so glad to see you again!" she cried.

"I am also glad to see you, Dorothy," said the
Lion. "We've had some fine adventures together,
haven't we? '

118

The Hungry Tiger

"Yes, indeed," she replied. "How are you?'

"As cowardly as ever," the beast answered in a

meek voice. "Every little thing scares me and

makes my heart beat fast. But let me introduce

to you a new friend of mine, the Hungry Tiger."

"Oh! Are you hungry ?' she asked, turning to
the other beast, who was just then yawning so wide-
ly that he displayed two rows of terrible teeth and
a mouth big enough to startle anyone.

"Dreadfully hungry," answered the Tiger, snap-
ping his jaws together with a fierce click.

"Then why don't you eat something?" sheasked.

119

Ozma of Oz

"It's no use," said the Tiger sadly. "I've tried
that, but I always get hungry again."

"Why, it is the same with me," said Dorothy.
"Yet I keep on eating."

"But you eat harmless things, so it doesn't mat-
ter," replied the Tiger. " For my part, I'm a sav-
age beast, and have an appetite for all sorts of poor
little living creatures, from a chipmonk to fat babies,

"How dreadful!" said Dorothy.

"Isn't it, though?" returned the Hungry Tiger,
licking his lips with his long red tongue. " Fat
babies! Don't they sound delicious? But I've
never eaten any, because my conscience tells me it
is wrong. If I had no conscience I would probably
eat the babies and then get hungry again, which
would mean that I had sacrificed the poor babies
for nothing. No; hungry I was born, and hungry
I shall die. But I'll not have any cruel deeds on my
conscience to be sorry for."

"I think you are a very good tiger," said Dor-
othy, patting the huge head of the beast.

"In that you are mistaken," was the reply. "I
am a good beast, perhaps, but a disgracefully bad
tiger. 1'or it is the nature of tigers to be cruel
and ferocious, and in refusing to eat harmless living
creatures I am acting as no good tiger has ever

120

THE HUNGRY TIGER

Ozma of Oz

before acted. That is why I left the forest and joined
my friend the Cowardly Lion."

"But the Lion is not really cowardly," said Dor-
othy. "I have seen him act as bravely as can be."

"All a mistake, my dear," protested the Lion
gravely. "To others I may have seemed brave, at
times, but I have never been in any danger that I
was not afraid."

"Nor I," said Dorothy, truthfully « But I must
go and set free Billina, and then I will see you
again."

She ran around to the back yard ot the palace
and soon found the chicken house, being guided to
it by a loud cackling and crowing and a distracting
hubbub of sounds such as chickens make when they
are excited.

Something seemed to be wrong in the chicken
house, and when Dorothy looked through the slats
in the door she saw a group of hens and roosters
huddled in one corner and watching what appeared
to be a whirling ball of feathers., It bounded here
and there about the chicken house, and at first
Dorothy could not tell what it was, while the
screeching of the chickens nearly deafened her.

But suddenly the bunch of feathers stopped
whirling, and then, to her amazement, the girl saw

122

The Hungry Tiger

Billina crouching upon the prostrate form of a
speckled rooster. For an instant they both re-
mained motionless, and then the yellow hen shook
her wings to settle the feathers and walked toward
the door with a strut of proud defiance and a cluck
of victory, while the speckled rooster limped away
to the group ot other chickens, trailing his crumpled
plumage in the dust as he went.

"Why, Billina!' cried Dorothy, in a shocked
voice; "have you been fighting?'

"I really think I have," retorted Billina. "Do
you think I'd let that speckled villain of a rooster
lord it over me, and claim to run this chicken
house, as long as I'm able to peck and scratch?
Not if my name is Bill!'

"It isn't Bill, it's Billina; and you're talking slang,
which is very undig'n'fied," said Dorothy, reprov-
ingly. "Come here, Billina, and I'll let you out;
for Ozma of Oz is here, and has set us free."

So the yellow hen came to the door, which Dor-
othy unlatched tor her to pass through, and the
other chickens silently watched them from their
corner without offering to approach nearer.

The girl lifted her friend in her arms and ex-
claimed:

"Oh, Billina! how dreadful you look. You've

123

Ozma of Oz

lost a lot of feathers, and one of your eyes is nearly
pecked out, and your comb is bleeding!

"That's nothing," said Billina. "Just look at
the speckled rooster! Didn't I do him up brown?"

Dorothy shook her head.

"I don't 'prove of this, at all," she said, carrying
Billina away toward the palace. "It isn't a good
thing for you to 'sociate with those common
chickens. They would soon spoil your good man-
ners, and you wouldn't be respec'able any more."

"I didn't ask to associate with them," replied
Billina. "It is that cross old Princess who is to
blame. But I was raised in the United States, and
I won't allow any one-horse chicken of the Land
of Ev to run over me and put on airs, as long as I
can lift a claw in self-defense."

"Very well, Billina," said Dorothy. "We won't
talk about it any more."

Soon they came to the Cowardly Lion and the
Hungry Tiger to whom the girl introduced the
Yellow Hen.

"Glad to meet any friend of Dorothy's," said the
Lion, politely. "To judge by your present appear-
ance, you are not a coward, as I am."

"Your present appearance makes my mouth
water," aaid the Tiger, looking at Billina greedily.

124

' WHY, BILLINA !" CRIED DOROTHY; " HAVE YOU BEEN FIGHTING? '

Ozma of Oz

"My, my! how good you would taste if I could only
crunch you between my jaws. But don't worry.
You would only appease my appetite for a moment;
so it isn't worth while to eat you."

"Thank you," said the hen, nestling closer in
Dorothy's arms.

"Besides, it wouldn't be right," continued the
Tiger, looking steadily at Billina and clicking his
jaws together.

"Of course not," cried Dorothy, hastily. "Billina
is my friend, and you mustn't ever eat her unde.r any
circ'mstances."

"I'll try to remember that," said the Tiger; "but
I'm a little absent-minded, at times."

Then Dorothy carried her pet into the drawing-
room of the palace, where Tiktok, being invited to
do so by Ozma, had seated himself between the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. Opposite to them
sat Ozma herself and the Princess Langwidere, and
beside them there was a vacant chair for Dorothy.

Around this important group was ranged the
Army of Oz, and as Dorothy looked at the hand-
some uniforms of the Twenty-Seven she said:

"Why, they seem to be all officers."

"They are, all except one," answered the Tin
Woodman. "I have in my Army eight Generals,

126

The Hungry Tiger

six Colonels, seven Majors and five Captains, besides
one private for them to command. I'd like to pro-
mote the private, for I believe no private should ever
be in public life; and I've also noticed that officers
usually fight better and are more reliable than com-
mon soldiers. Besides, the officers are more impor-
tant looking, and lend dignity to our army."

"No doubt you are right," said Dorothy, seating
herself beside Ozma.

"And now," announced the girlish Ruler of Oz,
"we will hold a solemn conference to decide the
best manner of liberating the royal family of this
fair Land of Ev from their long imprisonment."

Tin Woodman was
the first to address the
meeting.

" To begin with," said he,
"word came to our noble and
illustrous Ruler, OzmaofOz, that
the wife and ten children — five
boys and five girls — of the former
King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have
been enslaved by the Nome King and
are held prisoners in his underground pal-
ace. Also that there was no one in Ev
powerful enough to release them. Naturally
our Ozma wished to undertake the adventure
of liberating the poor prisoners; but for a long
time she could find no way to cross the great

128

The Royal Family of Ev

desert between the two countries. Finally she went
to a friendly sorceress of our land named Glinda the
Good, who heard the story and at once presented
Ozma a magic carpet, which would continually un-
roll beneath our feet and so make a comfortable path
for us to cross the desert. As soon as she had re-
ceived the carpet our gracious Ruler ordered me to
assemble our army, which I did. You behold in
these bold warriors the pick of all the finest soldiers
of Oz; and, if we are obliged to fight the Nome
King, every officer as well as the private, will battle
fiercely unto death."

Then Tiktok spoke.

"Why should you fight the Nome King?' he
asked. "He has done no wrong."

"No wrong!" cried Dorothy. "Isn't it wrong
to imprison a queen mother and her ten children? '

" They were sold to the Nome King by King
Ev-ol-do," replied Tiktok. "It was the King of Ev
who did wrong, and when he re-al-ized what he had
done he jumped in-to the sea and drowned him-self."

"This is news to me," said Ozma, thoughtfully.
"I had supposed the Nome King was all to blame
in the matter. But, in any case, he must be made
to liberate the prisoners."

"My uncle Evoldo was a very wicked man,"

129

Ozma of Oz

declared the Princess Langwidere. "If he had
drowned himself before he sold his family, no one
would have cared. But he sold them to the pow-
erful Nome King in exchange for a long life, and
afterward destroyed the lite by jumping into the

* 5

sea.

"Then," said Ozma, "he did not get the long
life, and the Nome King must give up the prison-
ers. Where are they confined?'

" No one knows, exactly," replied the Princess.
"For the king, whose name is Roquatofthe Rocks,
owns a splendid palace underneath the great moun-
tain which is at the north end of this kingdom, and
he has transformed the queen and her children into
ornaments and bric-a-brac with which to decorate
his rooms."

"I'd like to know," said Dorothy, "who this
Nome King is? '

"I will tell you," replied Ozma. "He is said to
be the Ruler of the Underground World, and com-
mands the rocks and all that the rocks contain.
Under his rule are many thousands of the Nomes,who
are queerly shaped but powerful sprites that labor at
the furnaces and forges of their king, making gold
and silver and other metals which they conceal in

the crevices of the rocks, so that those living upon

130

The Royal Family of Ev

the earth's surface can only hnd them with great
dfficulty. Also they make diamonds and rubies and
emeralds, which they hide in the ground; so that
the kingdom of the Nomes is wonderfully rich, and
all we have of precious stones and silver and gold is
what we take from the earth and rocks where the
Nome King has hidden them."

" I understand," said Dorothy, nodding her lit-
tle head wisely.

" For the reason that we often steal his treas-
ures," continued Ozma, "the Ruler of the Under-
ground World is not fond of those who live upon
the earth's surface, and never appears among us. If
we wish to see King Roquat of the Rocks, we must
visit his own country, where he is all powerful, and
therefore it will be a dangerous undertaking."

"But, for the sake of the poor prisoners," said
Dorothy, "we ought to do it."

"We shall do it," replied the Scarecrow, "al-
though it requires a lot of courage for me to go
near to the furnaces of the Nome King. For I am
only stuffed with straw, and a single spark of fire
might destroy me entirely."

"The furnaces may also melt my tin," said the
Tin Woodman; "but I am going."

"I can't bear heat," remarked the Princess Lang-

131

O z m a of O z

widere, yawning lazily, "so I shall stay at home.
But I wish you may have success in your undertak-
ing, for I am heartily tired of ruling this stupid
kingdom, and I need more leisure in which to ad-
mire my beautiful heads."

"We do not need you," said Ozma. "For, if
with the aid of my brave followers I cannot accom-
plish my purpose, then it would be useless for you
to undertake the journey."

"Q^uite true," sighed the Princess. "So, if you'll
excuse me, I will now retire to my cabinet. I've
worn this head quite awhile, and I want to change
it for another."

When she had left them (and you may be sure
no one was sorry to see her go ) Ozma said to Tik-
tok:

"Will you join our party?'

"I am the slave of the girl Dor-oth-y, who res-
cued me from pris-on," replied the machine.
"Where she goes I will go."

"Oh, I am going with my friends, of course,"
said Dorothy, quickly. "I wouldn't miss the fun
for anything. Will you go, too, Billina? '

" To be sure," said Billina in a careless tone.
She was smoothing down the feathers of her back
and not paying much attention.

132

" I CANT BEAR HEAT," REMARKED LANGW1DERE

O z m a of O z

"Heat is just in her line," remarked the Scare-
crow. "If she is nicely roasted, she will be better
than ever."

"Then" said Ozma, "we will arrange to start for
the Kingdom of the Nomes at daybreak tomorrow.
And, in the meantime, we will rest and prepare
ourselves for the journey."

Although Princess Langwidere did not again
appear to her guests, the palace servants waited upon
the strangers from Oz and did everything in their
power to make the party comfortable. There were
many vacant rooms at their disposal, and the brave
Army of twenty-seven was easily provided for and
liberally feasted.

The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were
unharnessed from the chariot and allowed to roam
at will throughout the palace, where they nearly
frightened the servants into fits, although they did
no harm at all. At one time Dorothy found the
little maid Nanda crouching in terror in a corner,
with the Hungry Tiger standing before her.

" You certainly look delicious," the beast was

saying. "Will you kindly give me permission to eat

i '»
you?

"No, no, no! ' cried the maid in reply.
"Then," said the Tiger, yawning frightfully,

134

The Royal Family of Ev

"please to get me about thirty pounds of tenderloin
steak, cooked rare, with a peck of boiled potatoes on
the side, and five gallons of ice-cream tor dessert."

"I I'll do the best I can!" said Nanda, and she

ran away as fast as she could go.

"Are you so very hungry? asked Dorothy, in
wonder.

"You can hardly imagine the size of my appe-
tite," replied the Tiger, sadly. "It seems to fill my
whole body, from the end of my throat to the tip
of my tail. 1 am very sure the appetite doesn't fit
me, and is too large for the size of my body. Some
dav, when I meet a dentist with a pair of forceps,
I'm going to have it pulled."

"What, your tooth? ' asked Dorothy.

"No, my appetite," said the Hungry Tiger.

The little girl spent most ot the afternoon
talking with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman,
who related to her all that had taken place in the
Land of Oz since Dorothy had left it. She was
much interested in the story of Ozma, who had
been, when a baby, stolen by a wicked old witch
and transformed into a boy. She did not know
that she had ever been a girl until she was re-
stored to her natural form by a kind sorceress.
Then it was found that she was the only child of

135

DOROTHY RELATED TO THEM HER OWN ADVENTURES

The Royal Family of Ev

the former Ruler of Oz, and was entitled to rule in
his place. Ozma had many adventures, however,
before she regained her father's throne, and in these
she was accompanied by a pumpkin-headed man, a
highly magnified and thoroughly educated Woggle-
Bug, and a wonderful sawhorse that had been
brought to life by means of a magic powder. The
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had also assisted
her; but the Cowardly Lion, who ruled the great
forest as the K-ing of Beasts, knew nothing of Ozma
until after she became the reigning princess of Oz.
Then he journeyed to the Kmerald City to see her,
and on hearing she was about to visit the Land of
Ev to set free the royal family of that country, the
Cowardly Lion begged to go with her, and brought
along his friend, the Hungry Tiger, as well.

Having heard this story, Dorothy related to them
her own adventures, and then went out with her
friends to find the Sawhorse, which Ozma had caused
to be shod with plates of gold, so that its legs would
not wear out.

They came upon the Sawhorse standing motion-
less beside the garden gate, but when Dorothy was
introduced to him he bowed politely and blinked
his eyes, which were knots of wood, and wagged
his tail, which was only the branch of a tree.

137

f O

"What a remarkable thing, to be alive!" ex-
claimed Dorothy.

"I quiet agree with you," replied the Sawhorse,
in a rough but not unpleasant voice. "A creature
like me has no business to live, as we all know. But

it was the magic powder that did it, so I cannot
justly be blamed."

" Of course not," said Dorothy. " And you seem
to be of some use, 'cause I noticed the Scarecrow
riding upon your back."

"Oh, yes; I'm of use," returned the Sawhorse;

138

The Royal Family of Ev

"and I never tire, never have to be fed, or cared for
in any way."

"Are you intel'gent?" asked the girl.

"Not very," said the creature. It would be
foolish to waste intelligence on a common Sawhorse,
when so many professors need it. But I know
enough to obey my masters, and to gid-dup, or whoa,
when I'm told to. So I'm pretty well satisfied."

That night Dorothy slept in a pleasant little bed-
chamber next to that occupied by Ozma of Oz, and
Billina perched upon the foot of the bed and tucked
her head under her wing and slept as soundly in
that position as did Dorothy upon her soft cush-
ions.

But before daybreak every one was awake and
stirring, and soon the adventurers were eating a hasty
breakfast in the great dining-room of the palace.
Ozma sat at the head of a long table, on a raised
platform, with Dorothy on her right hand and the
Scarecrow on her left. The Scarecrow did not eat,
of course; but Ozma placed him near her so that
she might ask his advice about the journey while
she ate.

Lower down the table were the twenty-seven
warriors of Oz, and at the end of the room the Lion
and the Tiger were eating out of a kettle that had

139

Ozma of Oz

been placed upon the floor, while Billina fluttered
around to pick up any scraps that might be
scattered.

It did not take long to finish the meal, and then
the Lion and the Tiger were harnessed to the char-
iot and the party was ready to start for the Nome
King's Palace.

First rode Ozma, with Dorothy beside her in the
golden chariot and holding Billina fast in her arms.
Then came the Scarecrow on the Sawhorse, with
the Tin Woodman and Tiktok marching side by
side just behind him. After these tramped the
Army, looking brave and handsome in their splendid
uniforms. The generals commanded the colonels
and the colonels commanded the majors and the
majors commanded the captains and the captains
commanded the private, who marched with an air
of proud importance because it required so many
officers to give him his orders.

And so the magnificent procession left the palace
and started along the road just as day was breaking,
and by the time the sun came out thev had made
good progress toward the valley that led to the
Nome King's domain.

140

Giant ««$ tie, Plainmer

Iffii

road led for a time
through a pretty farm
country, and then past a
picnic grove that was very
inviting. But the procession
continued to steadily advance
until Billina cried in an abrupt
and commanding manner:

« Wait — wait!"

Ozma stopped her chariot
suddenly that the Scarecrow's Saw-
horse nearly ran into it, and the ranks of
the army tumbled over one another be-
fore they could come to a halt. Immedi-
ately the yellow hen struggled from Dorothy's
arms and flew into a clump of bushes by the
roadside.

141

O z m a of O z

"What's the matter?" called the Tin Woodman,
anxiously.

"Why, Billina wants to lay her egg, that's all,"
said Dorothy.

"Lay her egg!" repeated the Tin Woodman, in
astonishment.

"Yes; she lays one every morning, about this
time; and it's quite fresh," said the girl.

" But does your foolish old hen suppose that this
entire cavalcade, which is bound on an important
adventure, is going to stand still while she lays her
egg?" enquired the Tin Woodman, earnestly.

"What else can we do?" asked the girl. "It's a
habit of Billina's and she can't break herself ot it."

"Then she must hurry up," said the Tin Wood-
man, impatiently.

"No, no!' exclaimed the Scarecrow. "If she
hurries she may lay scrambled eggs."

"That's nonsense," said Dorothy. "But Billina
won't be long, I'm sure."

So they stood and waited, although all were rest-
less and anxious to proceed. And by and by the
yellow hen came from the bushes saying:

"Kut-kut, kut, ka-daw-kutt!" Kut, kut, kut —
ka-daw-kut!"

142

The Giant With the Hammer

"What is she doing — singing her lay? ' asked the
Scarecrow.

"For-ward — march!" shouted the Tin Woodman,
waving his axe, and the procession started just as
Dorothy had once more grabbed Billina in her arms.

" Isn't anyone going to get my egg?." cried the
hen, in great excitement.

"I'll get it," said the Scarecrow; and at his
command the Sawhorse pranced into the bushes.
The straw man soon found the egg, which he placed
in his jacket pocket. The cavalcade, having moved
rapidly on, was even then far in advance; but it did

143

f O

not take the Sawhorse long to catch up with it, and
presently the Scarecrow was riding in his accustomed
place behind Ozma's chariot.

"What shall I do with the egg?" he asked
Dorothy.

"I do not know," the girl answered. "Perhaps
the Hungry Tiger would like it."

"It would not be enough to fill one of my back
teeth," remarked the Tiger. "A bushel of them,
hard boiled, might take a little of the edge off my
appetite; but one egg isn't good for anything at all,
that I know of."

144

The Giant With the Hammer

"No; it wouldn't even make a sponge cake,"
said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "The Tin Wood-
man might carry it with his axe and hatch it; but
after all I may as well keep it myself for a souvenir."
So he left it in his pocket.

They had now reached that part of the valley
that lay between the two high mountains which

Dorothy had seen from her tower window. At the
far end was the third great mountain, which blocked
the valley and was the northern edge of the Land
of Ev. It was underneath this mountain that the
Nome King's palace was said to be; but it would

145

Ozma of Oz

be some time before they reached that place.

The path was becoming rocky and difficult for
the wheels of the chariot to pass over, and presently
a deep gulf appeared at their feet which was too
wide for them to leap. So Ozma took a small
square of green cloth from her pocket and threw it
upon the ground. At once it became the magic
carpet, and unrolled itself far enough for all the
cavalcade to walk upon. The chariot now ad-
vanced, and the green carpet unrolled before it,
crossing the gulf on a level with its banks, so that
all passed over in safety.

"That's easy enough," said the Scarecrow.
"I wonder what will happen next."

He was not long in making the discovery, for the
sides of the mountain came closer together until
finally there was but a narrow path between them,
along which Ozma and her party were forced to
pass in single file

They now heard a low and deep "thump! —
thump! — thump!" which echoed throughout the
valley and seemed to grow louder as they advanced.
Then, turning a corner of rock, they saw before
them a huge form, which towered above the path
for more than a hundred feet. The form was that
of a gigantic man built out of plates of cast iron,

146

The Giant With the Hammer

and it stood with one foot on either side of the
narrow road and swung over its right shoulder an
immense iron mallet, with which it constantly
pounded the earth. These resounding blows ex-
plained the thumping sounds they had heard, for
the mallet was much bigger than a barrel, and
where it struck the path between the rocky sides of
the mountain it filled all the space through which
our travelers would be obliged to pass.

Of course they at once halted, a safe distance
away from the terrible iron mallet. The magic
carpet would do them no good in this case, tor it
was only meant to protect them from any dangers
upon the ground beneath their feet, and not from
dangers that appeared in the air above them.

"Wow!" said the Cowardly Lion, with a shudder.
"It makes me dreadfully nervous to see that big
hammer pounding so near my head. One blow
would crush me into a door-mat."

"The ir-on gi-ant is a fine fel-low," said Tiktok,
"and works as stead-i-ly as a clock. He was made
for the Nome King by Smith & Tin-ker, who made
me, and his du-ty is to keep folks from find-ing the
un-der-ground pal-ace. Is he not a great work of

art'

"Can he think, and speak, as you do?" asked

147

O z m a of O z

Ozma, regarding the giant witn wondering eyes.

"No," replied the machine; "he is on-ly made to
pound the road, and has no think-ing or speak-ing
at-tach-ment. But he pounds ve-ry well, I think."

"Too well," observed the Scarecrow. "He is
keeping us from going farther. Is there no way to
stop his machinery?"

"On-ly the Nome King, who has the key, can do
that," answered Tiktok.

"Then," said Dorothy, anxiously, "what shall we
do?"

"Excuse me for a tew minutes," said the Scare-
crow, "and I will think it over."

He retired, then, to a position in the rear, where
he turned his painted face to the rocks and began
to think.

Meantime the giant continued to raise his iron
mallet high in the air and to strike the path terrific
blows that echoed through the mountains like the
roar of a cannon. Each time the mallet lifted,
however, there was a moment when the path be-
neath the monster was free, and perhaps the Scare-
crow had noticed this, for when he came back to
the others he said:

"The matter is a very simple one, after all. We
have but to run under the hammer, one at a time,

148

THE TIGER WENT NEXT

Ozma of Oz

when it is lifted, and pass to the other side before
it falls again."

"It will require quick work, if we escape the
blow," said the Tin Woodman, with a shake of his
head. "But it really seems the only thing to be
done. Who will make the first attempt2"

They looked at one another hesitatingly for a
moment. Then the Cowardly Lion, who was
trembling like a leaf in the wind, said to them:

"I suppose the head of the procession must go
first — and that's me. But I'm terribly afraid of
the big hammer!"

" What will become of me?" asked Ozma. "You
might rush under the hammer yourself, but the
chariot would surely be crushed."

"We must leave the chariot," said the Scarecrow.
"But you two girls can ride upon the backs of the
Lion and the Tiger."

So this was decided upon, and Ozma, as soon as
the Lion was unfastened from the chariot, at once
mounted the beast's back and said she was ready.

"Cling fast to his mane," advised Dorothy. "I
used to ride him myself, and that's the way I held

on.'

So Ozma clung fast to the mane, and the lion
crouched in the path and eyed the swinging mallet

150

The Giant With the Hammer

carefully until he knew just the instant it would
begin to rise in the air.

"Then, before anyone thought he was ready, he
made a sudden leap straight between the iron giant's
legs, and before the mallet struck the ground again
the Lion and Ozma were safe on the other side.

The Tiger went next. Dorothy sat upon his
back and locked her arms around his striped neck,
for he had no mane to cling to. He made the leap
straight and true as an arrow from a bow, and ere
Dorothy reali/ed it she was out of danger and
standing by Ozma's side.

Now came the Scarecrow on the Sawhorse, and
while they made the dash in safety they were within
a hair's breadth of being caught by the descending
hammer.

Tiktok walked up to the very edge of the spot
the hammer struck, and as it was raised for the next
blow he calmly stepped forward and escaped its
descent. That was an idea for the Tin Woodman
to follow, and he also crossed in safety while the
great hammer was in the air. But when it came
to the twenty-six officers and the private, their knees
were so weak that they could not walk a step.

"In battle we are wonderfully courageous," said
one of the generals, "and our foes find us very

151

Ozma of Oz

terrible to face. But war is one thing and this is
another. When it comes to being pounded upon
the head by an iron hammer, and smashed into pan-
cakes, we naturally object."

"Make a run for it," urged the Scarecrow.

"Our knees shake so that we cannot run," an-
swered a captain. "If we should try it we would
all certainly be pounded to a jelly."

"Well, well," sighed the Cowardly Lion, "I see,
friend Tiger, that we must place ourselves in great
danger to rescue this bold army. Come with me,
and we will do the best we can."

So, Ozma and Dorothy having already dismounted
from their backs, the Lion and the Tiger leaped
back again under the awful hammer and returned
with two generals clinging to their necks. They
repeated this daring passage twelve times, when all
the officers had been carried beneath the giant's
legs and landed safely on the further side. By that
time the beasts were very tired, and panted so hard
that their tongues hung out of their great mouths.

"But what is to become of the private?" asked
Ozma.

"Oh, leave him there to guard the chariot," said
the Lion. "I'm tired out, and won't pass under
that mallet again."

152

THE WOODEN HORSE WAS CARELESS

Ozma of Oz

The officers at once protested that they must
have the private with them, else there would be no
one for them to command. But neither the Lion
or the Tiger would go after him, and so the Scare-
crow sent the Sawhorse.

Either the wooden horse was careless, or it failed
to properly time the descent of the hammer, tor
the mighty weapon caught it squarely upon its
head, and thumped it against the ground so power-
fully that the private flew off its back high into the
air, and landed upon one of the giant's cast-iron
arms. Here he clung desperately while the arm
rose and tell with each one ot the rapid strokes.

The Scarecrow dashed in to rescue his Saw-
horse, and had his left toot smashed by the hammer
before he could pull the creature out ot danger.
They then tound that the Sawhorse had been badly
dazed by the blow; tor while the hard wooden knot
of which his head was formed could not be crushed
by the hammer, both his ears were broken off and
he would be unable to hear a sound until some new
ones were made for him. Also his left knee was
cracked, and had to be bound up with a string.

Billina having fluttered under the hammer, it now
remained only to rescue the private who was riding
upon the iron giant's arm, high in the air.

154

The Giant With the Hammer

The Scarecrow lay flat upon the ground and
called to the man to jump down upon his body,
which was soft because it was stuffed with straw.
This the private managed to do, waiting until a
time when he was nearest the ground and then let-
ting himself drop upon the Scarecrow. He accom-
plished the feat without breaking any bones, and the
Scarecrow declared he was not injured in the least.

Therefore, the Tin Woodman having by this
time titted new ears to the Sawhorse, the entire
party proceeded upon its way, leaving the giant to
pound the path behind them.

and by, when they
drew near to the moun-
tain that blocked their path
and which was the further-
most edge of the Kingdom of
Ev, the way grew dark and
gloomy for the reason that the high
peaks on either side shut out the
sunshine. And it was very silent, too,
as there were no birds to sing or squirrels
to chatter, the trees being left far behind
them and only the bare rocks remaining.

Ozma and Dorothy were a little awed by
the silence, and all the others were quiet and
grave except the Sawhorse, which, as it trotted
along with the Scarecrow upon his back, hummed
a queer song, of which this was the chorus:

156

The Nome King

" Would a wooden horse in a woodland go ?

Aye, aye! I sigh, he would, although
Had he not had a wooden head

He'd mount the mountain top instead."

But no one paid any attention to this because
they were now close to the Nome King's dominions,
and his splendid underground palace could not be
very far away.

Suddenly they heard a shout of jeering laughter,
and stopped short. They would have to stop in a
minute, anyway, for the huge mountain barred their
further progress and the path ran close up to a wall
of rock and ended.

"Who was that laughing?" asked Ozma.

There was no reply, but in the gloom they could
see strange forms flit across the face of the rock.
Whatever the creations might be they seemed very like
the rock itself, for thev were the color of rocks and

their shapes were as rough and rugged as if they had
been broken away from the side of the mountain.
They kept close to the steep cliff facing our friends,
and glided up and down, and this way and that, with a
lack of regularity that was quite confusing. And
they seemed not to need places to rest their feet,
but clung to the surface of the rock as a fly does to
a window-pane, and were never still for a moment.

157

Ozma of Oz

"Do not mind them," said Tiktok, as Dorothy
shrank back. "They are on-ly the Nomes."

"And what are Nomes?" asked the girl, half
frightened.

"They are rock fair-ies, and serve the Nome

King," replied the machine. "But they will do us
no harm. You must call for the King, be-cause
with-out him you can ne-ver find the en-trance to
the pal-ace."

" You call," said Dorothy to Ozma.

Just then the Nomes laughed again, and the sound
was so wierd and disheartening that the twenty-six
officers commanded the private to "right-about-
face!" and they all started to run as fast as they
could.

The Tin Woodman at once pursued his army
and cried "halt!" and when they had stopped their
flight he asked: "Where are you going?"

"I — I find I've forgotten the brush for my
whiskers," said a general, trembling with fear. "S-s-so
we are g-going back after it!"

"That is impossible," replied the Tin Woodman.
"For the giant with the hammer would kill you all
if you tried to pass him."

"Oh! I'd forgotten the giant," said the general,
turning pale.

158

The Nome King

"You seem to forget a good many things," re-
marked the Tin Woodman. "I hope you won't
forget that you are brave men."

"Never!" cried the general, slapping his gold-
embroidered chest.

"Never!" cried all the other officers, indignantly
slapping their chests.

"For my part," said the private, meekly, "I must
obey my officers; so when I am told to run, I run;
and when I am told to fight, I hght."

"That is right," agreed the Tin Woodman. "And
now you must all come back to Ozma, and obey
her orders. And if you try to run away again I
will have her reduce all the twenty-six officers to
privates, and make the private your general."

This terrible threat so frightened them that they
at once returned to where Ozma was standing be-
side the Cowardly Lion.

Then Ozma cried out in a loud voice:

"I demand that the Nome King appear to us!"

There was no reply, except that the shitting
Nomes upon the mountain laughed in derision.

"You must not command the Nome King," said
Tiktok, "tor you do not rule him, as you do your
own peo-ple."

So Ozma called again, saying:

159

ONLY THE MOCKING LAUGHTER REPLIED TO HER

The Nome King

"I request the Nome King to appear to us."
Only the mocking laughter replied to her, and

the shadowy Nomes continued to ftit here and there

upon the rocky clirl.

"Try en-treat-v," said Tiktok to Ozma. "If he

/ J '

will not come at your re-quest, then the Nome
King may list-en to your plead-ing."

Ozma looked around her proudly.

"Do you wish your ruler to plead with this
wicked Nome King?" she asked. "Shall O/ma of
Oz humble herself to a creature who lives in an
underground kingdom?"

"No!" they all shouted, with big voices; and the
Scarecrow added:

"If he will not come, we will dig him out of his
hole, like a fox, and conquer his stubbornness. But
our sweet little ruler must always maintain her dig-
nity, just as I maintain mine."

"I'm not afraid to plead with him," said Dorothy.
"I'm only a little girl from Kansas, and we've got
more dignity at home than we know what to do
with. /'// call the Nome King."

"Do," said the Hungry Tiger; "and it he makes
hash of you I'll willingly eat you for breakfast to-
morrow morning."

So Dorothy stepped forward and said:

161

m a

f O

"Please Mr. Nome King, come here and see us."
The Nomes started to laugh again; but a low
growl came from the mountain, and in a flash they
had all vanished from sight and were silent.

Then a door in the rock opened, and a voice
cried:

"Enter!"

"Isn't it a trick?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Never mind," replied Ozma. "We came here
to rescue the poor Queen of Ev and her ten chil-
dren, and we must run some risks to do so."

"The Nome King is hon-est and good na-tured,"

162

The Nome King

said Tiktok. "You can trust him to do what is
right."

So Ozma led the way, hand in hand with Doro-
thy, and they passed through the arched doorway
of rock and entered a long passage which was lighted
by jewels set in the walls and having lamps behind
them. There was no one to escort them, or to
show them the way, but all the party pressed through
the passage until they came to a round, domed
cavern that was grandly furnished.

In the center ot this room was a throne carved
out of a solid boulder of rock, rude and rugged in
shape but glittering with great rubies and diamonds
and emeralds on every part of its surface. And upon
the throne sat the Nome King.

This important monarch of the Underground
World was a little fat man clothed in gray-brown
garments that were the exact color of the rock
throne in which he was seated. His bushy hair
and flowing beard were also colored like the rocks,
and so was his face. He wore no crown of any
sort, and his only ornament was a broad, jewel-
studded belt that encircled his fat little body. As for
his features, they seemed kindly and good humored,
and his eyes were turned merrily upon his visitors
as Ozma and Dorothy stood before him with their

163

Ozma of Oz

followers ranged in close order behind them.

"Why, he looks just like Santa Glaus — only he
isn't the same color!" whispered Dorothy to her
friend; but the Nome King heard the speech, and
it made him laugh aloud.

"'He had a red face and a round little belly

That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly!'

quoth the monarch, in a pleasant voice; and they
could all see that he really did shake like jelly when
he laughed.

Both Ozma and Dorothy were much relieved to
find the Nome King so jolly, and a minute later he
waved his right hand and the girls each found a
cushioned stool at her side.

"Sit down, my dears," said the King, "and tell
me why you have come all this way to see me, and
what I can do to make you happy."

While they seated themselves the Nome King
picked up a pipe, and taking a glowing red coal
out of his pocket he placed it in the bowl of the
pipe and began puffing out clouds of smoke that
curled in rings above his head. Dorothy thought
this made the little monarch look more like Santa
Glaus than ever; but Ozma now began speaking,
and every one listened intently to her words.

164

The Nome King

"Your Majesty," said she, " I am the ruler of the
Land of Oz, and I have come here to ask you to re-
lease the good Queen of Kv and her ten children,
whom you have enchanted and hold as your prisoners."

"Oh, no; you are mistaken about that," replied

the King. "They are not my prisoners, but my
slaves, whom I purchased from the King of Kv."

"But that was wrong," said O/ma.

"According to the laws of Kv, the king can do
no wrong," answered the monarch, eyeing a ring of
smoke he had just blown from his mouth; "so that

165

Ozma of Oz

he had a perfect right to sell his family to me in
exchange for a long life."

"You cheated him, though," declared Dorothy;
"for the King of Ev did not have a long life. He
jumped into the sea and was drowned."

"That was not my fault," said the Nome King,
crossing his legs and smiling contentedly. "I gave
him the long life, all right; but he destroyed it."

"Then how could it be a long life?" asked
Dorothy.

"Easily enough," was the reply. "Now suppose,
my dear, that I gave you a pretty doll in exchange
for a lock of your hair, and that after you had re-
ceived the doll you smashed it into pieces and de-
stroyed it. Could you say that I had not given
you a pretty doll ?"

" No," answered Dorothy.

"And could you, in fairness, ask me to return to
you the lock of hair, just because you had smashed
the doll?"

"No," said Dorothy, again.

"Of course not," the Nome King returned. "Nor
will I give up the Queen and her children because
the King of Ev destroyed his long life by jumping
into the sea. They belong to me and I shall keep
them."

166

'THEY BELONG TO ME AND I SHALL KEEP THEM"

Ozma of Oz

"But you are treating them cruelly," said Ozma,
who was much distressed by the King's refusal.

"In what way?" he asked.

" By making them your slaves," said she.

"Cruelty," remarked the monarch, puffing out
wreathes of smoke and watching them float into
the air, "is a thing I can't abide. So, as slaves must
work hard, and the Queen of Ev and her children
were delicate and tender, I transformed them all
into articles of ornament and bric-a-brac and
scattered them around the various rooms of my
palace. Instead of being obliged to labor, they
merely decorate my apartments, and I really think
I have treated them with great kindness."

"But what a dreadful fate is theirs!" exclaimed
Ozma, earnestly. "And the Kingdom of Ev is in
great need of its royal family to govern it. If you
will liberate them, and restore them to their proper
forms, I will give you ten ornaments to replace each
one you lose."

The Nome King looked grave.

"Suppose I refuse?" he asked.

"Then," said Ozma, firmly, "I am here with my
friends and my army to conquer your kingdom and
oblige you to obey my wishes."

The Nome King laughed until he choked; and

168

The Nome King

he choked until he coughed; and he coughed until
his face turned from grayish-brown to bright red.
And then he wiped his eyes with a rock-colored
handkerchief and grew grave again.

"You are as brave as you are pretty, my dear,"
he said to Ozma. "But you have little idea of the
extent ot the task you have undertaken. Come

with me for a moment."

He arose and took Ozma's hand, leading her to
a little door at one side of the room. This he
opened and they stepped out upon a balcony, from
whence they obtained a wonderful view of the
Underground World.

A vast cave extended for miles and miles under
the mountain, and in every direction were furnaces
and forges glowing brightly and Nomes hammering
upon precious metals or polishing gleaming jewels.
All around the walls ot the cave were thousands of
doors of silver and gold, built into the solid rock,
and these extended in rows far away into the dis-
tance, as far as Ozma's eyes could follow them.

While the little maid from Oz gazed wonderingly
upon this scene the Nome King uttered a shrill
whistle, and at once all the silver and gold doors
flew open and solid ranks of Nome soldiers marched
out from every one. So great were their numbers

169

O z m a of O

that they quickly filled the immense underground
cavern and forced the busy workmen to abandon
their tasks.

Although this tremendous army consisted of rock-
colored Nomes, all squat and tat, they were clothed
in glittering armor of polished steel, inlaid with
beautiful gems. Upon his brow each wore a brilliant
electric light, and they bore sharp spears and swords
and battle-axes of solid bronze. It was evident they
were perfectly trained, for they stood in straight
rows, rank after rank, with their weapons held erect
and true, as it awaiting but the word of command
to level them upon their toes.

"This," said the Nome King, "is but a small
part of my army. No ruler upon Earth has ever
dared to fight me, and no ruler ever will, for I am
too powerful to oppose."

He whistled again, and at once the martial array
filed through the silver and gold doorways and dis-
appeared, after which the workmen again resumed
their labors at the furnaces.

Then, sad and discouraged, Ozma of Oz turned
to her friends, and the Nome King calmly reseated
himself on his rock throne.

"It would be foolish tor us to fight," the girl said
to the Tin Woodman. " For our brave Twenty-

170

" THIS IS BUT A SMALL PART OF MY ARMY '

Ozma of Oz

Seven would be quickly destroyed. I'm sure I do
not know how to act in this emergency.

"Ask the King where his kitchen is," suggested
the Tiger. "I'm hungry as a bear."

"I might pounce upon the King and tear him in
pieces," remarked the Cowardly Lion.

"Try it," said the monarch, lighting his pipe with
another hot coal which he took from his pocket.

The Lion crouched low and tried to spring upon
the Nome King; but he hopped only a little way
into the air and came down again in the same place,
not being able to approach the throne by even an
inch.

"It seems to me," said the Scarecrow, thought-
fully, "that our best plan is to wheedle his Majesty
into giving up his slaves, since he is too great a
magician to oppose."

"This is the most sensible thing any of you have
suggested," declared the Nome King. "It is folly
to threaten me, but I'm so kind-hearted that I can-
not stand coaxing or wheedling. If you really wish
to accomplish anything by your journey, my dear
Ozma, you must coax me."

"Very well," said Ozma, more cheerfully. "Let
us be friends, and talk this over in a friendly
manner."

172

The Nome King

"To be sure," agreed the King, his eyes twinkling
merrily.

"I am very anxious," she continued, "to liberate
the Queen of Ev and her children who are now
ornaments and bric-a-brac in your Majesty's palace,
and to restore them to their people. Tell me, sir,
how this may be accomplished."

The king remained thoughtful for a moment, after
which he asked:

"Are you willing to take a few chances and risks
yourself, in order to set free the people of Ev?

"Yes, indeed!" answered Ozma, eagerly.

"Then," said the Nome King, "I will make you
this offer: You shall go alone and unattended into
my palace and examine carefully all that the rooms
contain. Then you shall have permission to touch
eleven different objects, pronouncing at the time
the word < Ev,' and if any one of them, or more than
one, proves to be the transformation of the Queen
of Ev or any of her ten children, then they will in-
stantly be restored to their true forms and may leave
my palace and my kingdom in your company, with-
out any objection whatever. It is possible for you,
in this way, to free the entire eleven; but if you do
not guess all the objects correctly, and some of the
slaves remain transformed, then each one of your

173

m a

friends and followers may, in turn, enter the palace
and have the same privileges I grant you."

"Oh, thank you! thank you for this kind offer!"
said Ozma, eagerly.

"I make but one condition," added the Nome
King, his eyes twinkling.

"What is it?" she enquired.

"If none of the eleven objects you touch proves
to be the transformation of any of the royal family
of Ev, then, instead of freeing them, you will your-
self become enchanted, and transformed into an
article of bric-a-brac or an ornament. This is only
fair and just, and is the risk you declared you were
willing to take."

174

TfcO

even/Uuesses

TUT

this condition imposed
by the Nome King, Ozma
became silent and thought-
ful, and all her friends looked
at her uneasily.

"Don't you do it!" exclaimed
Dorothy. "If you guess wrong,
you will be enslaved yourself."

"But I shall have eleven guesses,"
answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to
guess one object in eleven correctly ; and,
it I do, I shall rescue one of the royal
family and be safe myself. Then the rest of
you may attempt it, and soon we shall free all
those who are enslaved."

"What if we fail ?'' enquired the Scarecrow. "• I'd

175

Ozma of Oz

look nice as a piece of bric-a-brac, wouldn't I?"

"We must not fail!" cried Ozma, courageously.
"Having come all this distance to free these poor
people, it would be weak and cowardly in us to
abandon the adventure. Therefore I will accept
the Nome King's offer, and go at once into the
royal palace."

"Come along, then, my dear," said the King,
climbing down from his throne with some difficultv,
because he was so fat; "I'll show you the way."

He approached a wall of the cave and waved his
hand. Instantly an opening appeared, through
which Ozma, after a smiling farewell to her friends,
boldly passed.

She found herself in a splendid hall that was more
beautiful and grand than anything she had ever be-
held. The ceilings were composed of great arches
that rose far above her head, and all the walls and
floors were of polished marble exquisitely tinted in
many colors. Thick velvet carpets were on the
floor and heavy silken draperies covered the arches
leading to the various rooms of the palace. The
furniture was made of rare old woods richly carved
and covered with delicate satins, and the entire pal-
ace was lighted by a mysterious rosy glow that
seemed to come from no particular place but flooded

176

The Eleven Guesses

each apartment with its soft and pleasing radiance.

Ozma passed from one room to another, greatly
delighted by all she saw. The lovely palace had no
other occupant, for the Nome King had left her at
the entrance, which closed behind her, and in all
the magnificent rooms there appeared to be no
other person.

Upon the mantels, and on many shelves and
brackets and tables, were clustered ornaments of
every description, seemingly made out of all sorts
of metals, glass, china, stones and marbles. There
were vases, and figures of men and animals, and
graven platters and bowls, and mosaics of precious
gems, and many other things. Pictures, too, were
on the walls, and the underground palace was quite
a museum of rare and curious and costly objects.

After her first hasty examination of the rooms
Ozma began to wonder which of all the numerous
ornaments they contained were the transformations
of the royal family of Ev. There was nothing to
guide her, for everything seemed without a spark of
life. So she must guess blindly; and for the first
time the girl came to reali/e how dangerous was
her task, and how likely she was to lose her own
freedom in striving to free others from the bondage
of the Nome King. No wonder the cunning

177

OZMA SHUT HER EYES TIGHTLY AND ADVANCED

The Eleven Guesses

monarch laughed good naturedly with his visitors,
when he knew how easily they might be entrapped.

But Ozma, having undertaken the venture, would
not abandon it. She looked at a silver candelabra
that had ten branches, and thought: "This may
be the Queen of Ev and her ten children." So she
touched it and uttered aloud the word "Ev," as the
Nome King had instructed her to do when she
guessed. But the candelabra remained as it was
before.

Then she wandered into another room and
touched a china lamb, thinking it might be one of
the children she sought. But again she was un-
successful. Three guesses; four guesses; five, six,
seven, eight, nine and ten she made, and still not
one of them was right!

The girl shivered a little and grew pale even
under the rosy light; for now but one guess re-
mained, and her own fate depended upon the result.

She resolved not to be hasty, and strolled through
all the rooms once more, gazing earnestly upon the
various ornaments and trying to decide which she
would touch. Finally, in despair, she decided to
leave it entirely to chance. She faced the doorway
of a room, shut her eyes tightly, and then, thrusting
aside the heavy draperies, she advanced blindly with

179

Ozma of Oz

her right arm outstretched before her.

Slowly, softly she crept forward until her hand
came in contact with an object upon a small round
table. She did not know what it was, but in a
low voice she pronounced the word "Ev."

The rooms were quite empty ot lite after that.
The Nome King had gained a new ornament. For
upon%the edge of the table rested a pretty grass-
hopper, that seemed to have been formed from a
single emerald. It was all that remained of Ozma
of Oz.

In the throne room just beyond the palace the
Nome King suddenly looked up and smiled.

"Next!" he said, in his pleasant voice.

Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman,
who had been sitting in anxious silence, each gave
a start ot dismay and stared into one another's eyes.

"Has she failed?" asked Tiktok.

"So it seems," answered the little monarch,
cheerfully. "But that is no reason one of you
should not succeed. The next may have twelve
guesses, instead of eleven, for there are now twelve
persons transformed into ornaments. Well, well!
Which of you goes next?"

"I'll go," said Dorothy.

" Not so," replied the Tin Woodman. "As com-

180

The Eleven Guesses

mander of Ozma's army, it is my privilege to follow
her and attempt her rescue."

"Away you go, then," said the Scarecrow. "But
be careful, old friend."

"I will," promised the Tin Woodman; and then
he followed the Nome King to the entrance to the
palace and the rock closed behind him.

IHI

Tie, NomeKinq Lauq

«,/ ^~~^ r&

a. moment the King re-
turned to his throne and
relighted his pipe, and the
rest of the little band of ad-
venturers settled themselves for
another long wait. They were
greatly disheartened by the failure
of their girl Ruler, and the knowledge
that she was now an ornament in the
Nome King's palace — a dreadful, creepy
place in spite ot all its magnificence.
Without their little leader they did not
know what to do next, and each one, down
to the trembling private of the army, began
to fear he would soon be more ornamental than
useful.

182

The Nome King Laughs

Suddenly the Nome King began laughing.

"Ha, ha, ha! He, he, he! Ho, ho, ho!"

"What's happened?" asked the Scarecrow.

"Why, your friend, the Tin Woodman, has be-
come the funniest thing you can imagine," replied
the King, wiping the tears of merriment from his
eyes. "No one would ever believe he could make
such an amusing ornament. Next!'

They gazed at each other with sinking hearts.
One of the generals began to weep dolefully.

"What are you crying tor?" asked the Scarecrow,
indignant at such a display of weakness.

"He owed me six weeks back pay," said the gen-
eral, "and I hate to lose him."

"Then you shall go and find him," declared the
Scarecrow.

"Me!" cried the general, greatly alarmed.

"Certainly. It is your duty to follow your com-
mander. March!"

"I won't," said the general. "I'd like to, of
course; but I just simply worit"

The Scarecrow looked enauiringly at the Nome
King.

"Never mind," said the jolly monarch. "If he
doesn't care to enter the palace and make his
guesses I'll throw him into one of my fiery furnaces."

183

Ozma of Oz

"I'll go! — of course I'm going," yelled the gen-
eral, as quick as scat. "Where is the entrance —
where is it? Let me go at once!"

So the Nome King escorted him into the palace,
and again returned to await the result. What the
general did, no one can tell; but it was not long
before the King called for the next victim, and a
colonel was forced to try his fortune.

Thus, one after another, all of the twenty-six
officers filed into the palace and made their guesses —
and became ornaments.

Meantime the King ordered refreshments to be
served to those waiting, and at his command a rudely
shaped Nome entered, bearing a tray. This Nome
was not unlike the others that Dorothy had seen,
but he wore a heavy gold chain around his neck to
show that he was the Chief Steward of the Nome
King, and he assumed an air of much importance,
and even told his majesty not to eat too much cake
late at night, or he would be ill.

Dorothy, however, was hungry, and she was not
afraid of being ill; so she ate several cakes and found
them good, and also she drank a cup of excellent
coffee made af a richly flavored clay, browned in the
furnaces and then ground fine, and found it most
refreshing and not at all muddy.

184

The Nome King Laughs

Of all the party which had started upon this ad-
venture, the little Kansas girl was now left alone
with the Scarecrow, Tiktok, and the private for
counsellors and companions. Of course the Coward-
ly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were still there, but
they, having also eaten some of the cakes, had gone
to sleep at one side of the cave, while upon the
other side stood the Sawhorse, motionless and silent,
as became a mere thing of wood. Billina had
quietly walked around and picked up the crumbs
of cake which had been scattered, and now, as it
was long after bed-time, she tried to find some dark
place in which to go to sleep.

Presently the hen espied a hollow underneath the
King's rocky throne, and crept into it unnoticed.
She could still hear the chattering of those around
her, but it was almost dark underneath the throne,
so that soon she had fallen fast asleep.

"Next!" called the King, and the private, whose
turn it was to enter the fatal palace, shook hands
with Dorothy and the Scarecrow and bade them a
sorrowful good-bye, and passed through the rocky
portal.

They waited a long time, for the private was in
no hurry to become an ornament and made his
guesses very slowly. The Nome King, who seemed

185

Ozma of Oz

to know, by some magical power, all that took
place in his beautiful rooms ot his palace, grew im-
patient finally and declared he would sit up no longer.

"I love ornaments," said he, "but I can wait un-
til tomorrow to get more of them; so, as soon as
that stupid private is transformed, we will all go to
bed and leave the job to be finished in the morning."

"Is it so very late?" asked Dorothy.

"Why, it is after midnight," said the King, "and
that strikes me as being late enough. There is
neither night nor day in my kingdom, because it is
under the earth's surface, where the sun does not
shine. But we have to sleep, just the same as the
up-stairs people do, and for my part I'm going to
bed in a few minutes."

Indeed, it was not long after this that the private
made his last guess. Ot course he guessed wrongly,
and of course he at once became an ornament. So
the King was greatly pleased, and clapped his hands
to summon his Chief Steward.

"Show these guests to some of the sleeping
apartments," he commanded, "and be quick about
it, too, for I'm dreadfully sleepy myself."

"You've no business to sit up so late," replied
the Steward, gruffly. "You'll be as cross as a griffin
tomorrow morning."

186

SOON SHE HAD FALLEN FAST ASLEEP

Ozma of Oz

His Majesty made no answer to this remark, and
the Chief Steward led Dorothy through another
doorway into a long hall, from which several plain
but comfortable sleeping rooms opened. The little
girl was given the first room, and the Scarecrow and
Tiktok the next — although they never slept — and
the Lion and the Tiger the third. The Sawhorse
hobbled after the Steward into a fourth room, to
stand stiffly in the center of it until morning. Each
night was rather a bore to the Scarecrow, Tiktok
and the Sawhorse; but they had learned from ex-
perience to pass the time patiently and quietly, since
all their friends who were made of flesh had to sleep
and did not like to be disturbed.

When the Chief Steward had left them alone the
Scarecrow remarked, sadly:

" I am in great sorrow over the loss ot my old
comrade, the Tin Woodman. We have had many
dangerous adventures together, and escaped them
all, and now it grieves me to know he has become
an ornament, and is lost to me forever."

"He was al-ways an or-na-ment to so-ci-e-ty,"
said Tiktok.

"True; but now the Nome King laughs at him,
and calls him the funniest ornament in all the pal-
ace. It will hurt my poor friend's pride to be

The Nome King Laughs

laughed at," continued the Scarecrow, sadly.

"We will make rath-er ab-surd or-na-ments, our-
selves, to-mor-row," observed the machine, in his
monotonous voice.

just then Dorothy ran into their room, in a state
of great anxiety, crying:

"Where's Billina? Have you seen Billina? Is
she here? '

"No," answered the Scarecrow.

"Then what has become of her?" asked the girl.

"Why, I thought she was with you," said the
Scarecrow. "Yet I do not remember seeing the
yellow hen since she picked up the crumbs of cake."

"We must have left her in the room where the
King's throne is," decided Dorothy, and at once she
turned and ran down the hall to the door through
which they had entered. But it was fast closed and
locked on the other side, and the heavy slab of rock
proved to be so thick that no sound could pass
through it. So Dorothy was torced to return to
her chamber.

The Cowardly Lion stuck his head into her room
to try to console the girl for the loss ot her feathered
friend.

"The yellow hen is well able to take care ot her-
self," said he; "so don't worry about her, but try

189

f O

to get all the sleep you can. It has been a long
and weary day, and you need rest."

"I'll prob'ly get lots of rest tomorrow, when I
become an orn'ment," said Dorothy, sleepily. But
she lay down upon her couch, nevertheless, and in
spite of all her worries was soon in the land of dreams.

190

Ibrotlig Tries

rave

leanlime

the Chief Steward had
returned to the throne
room, where he said to the
King:

"You are a fool to waste so
much time upon these people."

"What!' cried his Majesty, in
so enraged a voice that it awoke
Billina, who was asleep under his
throne. " How dare you call me a fool ?"

" Because I like to speak the truth,"
said the Steward. "Why didn't you en-
chant them all at once, instead of allowing
them to go one by one into the palace and
guess which ornaments are the Queen of Ev
and her children ? '

191

Ozma of Oz

"Why, you stupid rascal, it is more fun this way,"
returned the King, "and it serves to keep me amused
for a long time."

"But suppose some of them happen to guess
aright," persisted the Steward; "then you would
lose your old ornaments and these new ones, too."

"There is no chance of their guessing aright,"
replied the monarch, with a laugh. " How could
they know that the Queen of Ev and her family are
all ornaments ot a royal purple color?'

"But there are no other purple ornaments in the
palace," said the Steward.

"There are many other colors, however, and the
purple ones are scattered throughout the rooms, and
are of many different shapes and sizes. Take my
word for it, Steward, they will never think of choos-
ing the purple ornaments."

Billina, squatting under the throne, had listened
carefully to all this talk, and now chuckled softly
to herself as she heard the King disclose his secret.

"Still, you are acting foolishly by running the
chance," continued the Steward, roughly; "and it
is still more foolish of you to transform all those
people from Oz into green ornaments."

"I did that because they came from the Emerald

192

'HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A FOOL?"

Dorothy Tries to be Brave

City," replied the King; "and I had no green orna-
ments in my collection until now. I think they

will look quite pretty, mixed with the others. Don't

^ »
you r

The Steward gave an angry grunt.

"Have your own way, since you are the King,"
he growled. "But if you come to grief through
your carelessness, remember that I told you so. If
I wore the magic belt which enables you to work
all your transformations, and gives you so much
other power, I am sure I would make a much wiser
and better King than you are."

«Oh, cease your tiresome chatter!' commanded
the King, getting angry again. "Because you are
my Chief Steward you have an idea you can scold
me as much as you please. But the very next time
you become impudent, I will send you to work in
the furnaces, and get another Nome to fill your
place. Now follow me to my chamber, for I am
going to bed. And see that I am wakened early
tomorrow morning. I want to enjoy the fun of
transforming the rest of these people into ornaments."

"What color will you make the Kansas girl''
asked the Steward.

"Gray, I think," said his Majesty.

"And the Scarecrow and the machine man?'

194

Dorothy Tries to be Brave

"Oh, they shall be of solid gold, because they are
so ugly in real lite."

Then the voices died away, and Billina knew
that the King and his Steward had left the room.
She fixed up some of her tail feathers that were not
straight, and then tucked her head under her wing
again and went to sleep.

In the morning Dorothy and the Lion and Tiger
were given their breakfast in their rooms, and after-
ward joined the King in his throne room. The
Tiger complained bitterly that he was half starved,
and begged to go into the palace and become an
ornament, so that he would no longer suffer the
pangs of hunger.

"Haven't you had your breakfast?' asked the
Nome King.

"Oh, I had just a bite," replied the beast. "Rut
what good is a bite, to a hungry tiger?"

"He ate seventeen bowls of porridge, a platter
full of fried sausages, eleven loaves of bread and
twenty-one mince pies," said the Steward.

"What more do you want?" demanded the King.

"A fat baby. I want a fat baby," said the
Hungry Tiger. "A nice, plump, juicy, tender, fat
baby. But, of course, if I had one, my conscience

195

Ozma of Oz

would not allow me to cat it. So I'll have to be
an ornament and forget my hunger."

"Impossible!' exclaimed the King. "I'll have
no clumsy beasts enter my palace, to overturn
and break all my pretty nick-nacks. When the
rest of your friends are transformed you can return
to the upper world, and go about your business."

"As for that, we have no business, when our
friends are gone," said the Lion. "So we do not
care much what becomes of us."

Dorothy begged to be allowed to go first into
the palace, but Tiktok firmly maintained that the
slave should face danger before the mistress. The
Scarecrow agreed with him in that, 'so the Nome
King opened the door for the machine man, who
tramped into the palace to meet his fate. Then his
Majesty returned to his throne and puffed his pipe
so contentedly that a small cloud of smoke formed
above his head.

Bye and bye he said:

"I'm sorry there are so few of you left. Very
soon, now, my fun will be over, and then for amuse-
ment I shall have nothing to do but admire my new
ornaments."

"It seems to me," said Dorothy, "that you are
not so honest as you pretend to be."

196

THE NOME KING PUFFED HIS PIPE

Ozma of Oz

"How's that?" asked the King.

"Why, you made us think it would be easy to
guess what ornaments the people of Ev were changed
into."

"It is easy," declared the monarch, "if one is a
good guesser. But it appears that the members of
your party are all poor guessers."

"What is Tiktok doing now?' asked the girl,
uneasily.

"Nothing," replied the King, with a frown. "He
is standing perfectly still, in the middle of a room."

"Oh, I expect he's run down," said Dorothy.
"I iorgot to wind him up this morning. How many
guesses has he made?1

"All that he is allowed except one," answered
the King. "Suppose you go in and wind him up,
and then you can stay there and make your own
guesses."

"All right," said Dorothy.

"It is my turn next," declared the Scarecrow.

"Why, you don't want to go away and leave me
all alone, do you?" asked the girl. "Besides, if I
go now I can wind up Tiktok, so that he can make
his last guess."

"Very well, then," said the Scarecrow, with a sigh.

198

Dorothy Tries to be Brave

"Run along, little Dorothy, and may good luck go
with you! '

So Dorothy, trying to be brave in spite of her
fears, passed through the doorway into the gorgeous
rooms ot the palace. The stillness of the place
awed her, at first, and the child drew short breaths,
and pressed her hand to her heart, and looked all
around with wondering eyes.

Yes, it was a beautiful place; but enchantments
lurked in every nook and corner, and she had not
yet grown accustomed to the wizardries ot these fairy
countries, so different from the quiet and sensible
common-places of her own native land.

Slowly she passed through several rooms until
she came upon Tiktok, standing motionless. It
really seemed, then, that she had found a friend in
this mysterious palace, so she hastened to wind up
the machine man's action and speech and thoughts.

"Thank you, Dor-oth-y," were his first words.
"I have now one more guess to make."

"Oh, be very careful, Tiktok; won't you?" cried
the girl.

"Yes. But the Nome King has us in his power,
and he has set a trap for us. I fear we are all lost."
he answered.

"I fear so, too," said Dorothy, sadly.

199

Ozma of Oz

"If Smith & Tin-ker had giv-en me a guess-ing
clock-work at-tach-ment," continued Tiktok, "I
might have de-hed the Nome King. But my
thoughts are plain and sim-ple, and are not of much
use in this case."

" Do the best you can," said Dorothy, encourag-
ingly, "and it you tail I will watch and see what
shape you are changed into."

So Tiktok touched a yellow glass vase that had
daisies painted on one side, and he spoke at the
same time the word "Ev."

In a flash the machine man had disappeared, and
although the girl looked quickly in every direction,
she could not tell which of the many ornaments
the room contained had a moment before been her
faithtul triend and servant.

So all she could do was to accept the hopeless
task set her, and make her guesses and abide by the
result.

"It can't hurt very much," she thought, "for I
haven't heard any of them scream or cry out — not
even the poor officers. Dear me! I wonder it
Uncle Henry or Aunt Em will ever know I have
become an orn'ment in the Nome King's palace,
and must stand forever and ever in one place and
look pretty — 'cept when I'm moved to be dusted.

200

Dorothy Tries to be Brave

It isn't the way I thought I'd turn out, at all; but
I s'pose it can't be helped."

She walked through all the rooms once more,
and examined with care all the objects they con-
tained; but there were so many, they bewildered
her, and she decided, after all, as Ozma had done,
that it could be only guess work at the best, and
that the chances were much against her guessing
aright.

Timidly she touched an alabaster bowl and said:
« Ev."

"That's one failure, anyhow," she thought. "But
how am I to know which thing is enchanted, and
which is not?1 '

Next she touched the image of a purple kitten
that stood on the corner of a mantel, and as she
pronounced the word " Ev" the kitten disappeared,
and a pretty, fair-haired boy stood beside her. At
the same time a bell rang somewhere in the distance,
and as Dorothy started back, partly in surprise and
partly in joy, the little one exclaimed:

"Where am I ? And who are you? And what
has happened to me?"

"Well, I declare!' said Dorothy. "I've really
done it."

"Done what?" asked the boy.

201

z m a

o f O

"Saved myself from being an ornament," replied
the girl, with a laugh, "and saved you from being
forever a purple kitten."

"A purple kitten?" he repeated. "There is no
such thing."

"I know," she answered. "But there was, a
minute ago. Don't you remember standing on a
corner of the mantel?'

202

Dorothy Tries to be Brave

" Of course not. I am a Prince of Ev, and my
name is Evring," the little one announced, proudly.
"But my father, the King, sold my mother and all
her children to the cruel ruler of the Nomes, and
after that I remember nothing at all."

"A purple kitten can't be 'spected to remember,
Evring," said Dorothy. "But now you are yourself
again, and I'm going to try to save some of your
brothers and sisters, and perhaps your mother, as
well. So come with me."

She seized the child's hand and eagerly hurried
here and there, trying to decide which object to
choose next. The third guess was another failure,
and so was the fourth and the fifth.

Little Evring could not imagine what she was
doing, but he trotted along beside her very willingly,
for he liked the new companion he had found.

Dorothy's further quest proved unsuccessful; but
after her first disappointment was over, the little girl
was filled with joy and thankfulness to think that
after all she had been able to save one member of
the royal family of Ev, and could restore the little
Prince to his sorrowing country. Now she might
return to the terrible Nome King in safety, carrying
with her the prize she had won in the person of
the fair-haired boy.

203

f O

So she retraced her steps until she found the en-
trance to the palace, and as she approached, the
massive doors of rock opened of their own accord,
allowing both Dorothy and Evring to pass the portals
and enter the throne room.

204

Billina frightens the Nome King

when Dorothy had en-
tered the palace to make
her guesses and the Scare-
crow was left with the Nome
King, the two sat in moody
silence tor several minutes. Then
the monarch exclaimed, in a tone
of satisfaction:

"Very good! '

" Who is very good ? " asked the Scare-
crow.

"The machine man. He won't need to
be wound up any more, for he has now be-
come a very neat ornament. Very neat, in-
deed."

" How about Dorothy ?" the Scarecrow enquired.

205

Ozma of Oz

"Oh, she will begin to guess, pretty soon," said
the King, cheerfully. "And then she will join my
collection, and it will be your turn."

The good Scarecrow was much distressed by the
thought that his little friend was about to suffer the
fate of Ozma and the rest of their party; but while
he sat in gloomy reverie a shrill voice suddenly
cried:

" Kut, kut, kut — ka-daw-kutt ! Kut, kut, kut —
ka-daw-kutt! '

The Nome King nearly jumped off his seat, he
was so startled.

"Good gracious! What's that?" he yelled.

"Why, it's Billina," said the Scarecrow.

"What do you mean by making a noise like that?"
shouted the King, angrily, as the yellow hen came
from under the throne and strutted proudly about
the room.

" I've got a right to cackle, I guess," replied Billina.
"I've just laid my egg.'

"What! Laid an egg! In my throne room!
How dare you do such a thing?" asked the King,
in a voice of fury.

"I lay eggs wherever I happen to be," said the
hen, ruffling her feathers and then shaking them into
place.

206

Billma Frightens the Nome King

"But — thunder-ation! Don't you know that
eggs are poison?" roared the King, while his rock-
colored eyes stuck out in great terror.

"Poison! well, I declare," said Billina, indignant-
ly. "I'll have you know all my eggs are warranted
strictly fresh and up to date. Poison, indeed!"

"You don't understand," retorted the little mon-
arch, nervously. "Eggs belong only to the outside
world — to the world on the earth's surface, where
you came from. Here, in my underground king-
dom, they are rank poison, as I said, and we Nomes
can't bear them around."

"Well, you'll have to bear this one around,"
declared Billina ; "for I've laid it."

"Where?" asked the King.

"Under your throne," said the hen.

The King jumped three feet into the air, so
anxious was he to get away from the throne.

"Take it away! Take it away at once!" he
shouted.

"I can't," said Billina. "I havn't any hands."

"I'll take the egg," said the Scarecrow. "I'm
making a collection of Billina's eggs. There's one
in my pocket now, that she laid yesterday."

Hearing this, the monarch hastened to put a
good distance between himself and the Scarecrow,

207

Ozma of Oz

who was about to reach under the throne for the
egg when the hen suddenly cried:

"Stop!"

"What's wrong?" asked the Scarecrow.

"Don't take the egg unless the King will allow
me to enter the palace and guess as the others have
done," said Billina.

"Pshaw!" returned the King. "You re only a
hen. How could you guess my enchantments?"

"I can try, I suppose," said Billina. "And, if I
fail, you will have another ornament."

"A pretty ornament you'd make, wouldn't you?"
growled the King. "But you shall have your way.
It will properly punish you for daring to lay an egg
in my presence. After the Scarecrow is enchanted
you shall follow him into the palace. But how
will you touch the objects?"

"With my claws," said the hen; "and I can
speak the word <Ev' as plainly as anyone. Also I
must have the right to guess the enchantments of
my friends, and to release them it I succeed."

"Very well," said the King. "You have my
promise."

"Then," said Billina to the Scarecrow, "you may
get the egg."

He knelt down and reached underneath the

208

" DONT YOU KNOW THAT EGGS ARE POISON ? '

Ozma of Oz

throne and found the egg, which he placed in an-
other pocket of his jacket, fearing that if both eggs
were in one pocket they would knock together and
get broken.

just then a bell above the throne rang briskly,
and the King gave another nervous jump.

"Well, well!" said he, with a rueful face; "the
girl has actually done it."

"Done what?" asked the Scarecrow.

"She has made one guess that is right, and broken
one of my neatest enchantments. By ricketty, it's
too bad! I never thought she would do it."

"Do I understand that she will now return to
us in safety?" enquired the Scarecrow, joyfully
wrinkling his painted face into a broad smile.

"Of course," said the King, fretfully pacing up
and down the room. "I always keep my promises,
no matter how foolish they are. But I shall make
an ornament of the yellow hen to replace the one
I have just lost."

"Perhaps you will, and perhaps you won't," mur-
mured Billina, calmly. "I may surprise you by
guessing right."

"Guessing right?" snapped the King. "How
should you guess right, where your betters have
failed, you stupid fowl?"

210

Billina Frightens the Nome King

Billina did not care to answer this question, and
a moment later the doors flew open and Dorothy
entered, leading the little Prince Evring by the hand.

The Scarecrow welcomed the girl with a close
embrace, and he would have embraced Evring, too,

in his delight. But the little Prince was shy, and
shrank away from the painted Scarecrow because he
did not yet know his many excellent qualities.

But there was little time for the friends to talk,
because the Scarecrow must now enter the palace.

211

" BY RICKETTY. IT'S TOO BAD !

Billina Frightens the Nome King

Dorothy's success had greatly encouraged him, and
they both hoped he would manage to make at least
one correct guess.

However, he proved as unfortunate as the others
except Dorothy, and although he took a good deal
of time to select his objects, not one did the poor
Scarecrow guess aright.

So he became a solid gold card-receiver, and the
beautiful but terrible palace awaited it's next visitor.

"It's all over," remarked the King, with a sigh
of satisfaction; "and it has been a very amusing per-
formance, except for the one good guess the Kansas
girl made. I am richer by a great many pretty
ornaments.

"It is my turn, now," said Billina, briskly.

"Oh, I'd forgotten you," said the King. "But
you needn't go if you don't wish to. I will be
generous, and let you off."

"No you won't," replied the hen. "I insist upon
having my guesses, as you promised."

"Then go ahead, you absurd feathered fool!"
grumbled the King, and he caused the opening that
led to the palace to appear once more.

"Don't go, Billina," said Dorothy, earnestly. "It
isn't easy to guess those orn'ments, and only luck
saved me from being one myself. Stay with me,

213

O z m a of O z

and we'll go back to the Land of Kv together. I'm
sure this little Prince will give us a home."

"Indeed I will," said Evring, with much dignity.

"Don't worry, my dear," cried Billina, with a
cluck that was meant for a laugh. "I may not be
human, but I'm no fool, if I am a chicken."

"Oh, Billina!" said Dorothy, "you haven't been
a chicken in a long time. Not since you — you've
been — grown up."

"Perhaps that's true," answered Billina, thought-
fully. "But if a Kansas farmer sold me to some one,
what would he call me? — a hen or a chicken!'

"You are not a Kansas farmer, Billina," replied
the girl, "and you said — "

"Never mind that, Dorothy. I'm going. I won't
say good-bye, because I'm coming back. Keep up
your courage, for I'll see you a little later."

Then Billina gave several loud "cluck-clucks"
that seemed to make the fat little King more nervous
than ever, and marched through the entrance into
the enchanted palace.

"I hope I've seen the last of that bird," declared
the monarch, seating himself again in his throne and
mopping the perspiration from his forehead with his
rock-colored handkerchief. "Hens are bothersome

214

Billina Frightens the Nome King

enough at their best, but when they can talk they're
simply dreadful."

"Billina's my friend," said Dorothy quietly. "She
may not always be 'zactly polite; but she means
well, I'm sure.'

215

Turple , Green

yellow hen, stepping
high and with an air of
vast importance, walked
slowly over the rich velvet
carpets of the splendid palace,
examining everything she met
with her sharp little eyes.

Billina had a right to feel impor-
tant; for she alone shared the Nome
King's secret and knew how to tell the
objects that were transformations from
those that had never been alive. She was
very sure that her guesses would be correct,
but before she began to make them she was
curious to behold all the magnificence of this
underground palace, which was perhaps one of

2'6

Purple, Green and Gold

the most splendid and beautiful places in any fairy-
land.

As she went through the rooms she counted the
purple ornaments; and although some were small
and hidden in queer places, Billina spied them all,
and found the entire ten scattered about the various
rooms. The green ornaments she did not bother
to count, for she thought she could find them all
when the time came.

Finally, having made a survey of the entire palace
and enjoyed its splendor, the yellow hen returned
to one of the rooms where she had noticed a large
purple footstool. She placed a claw upon this
and said "Ev," and at once the footstool vanished
and a lovely lady, tall and slender and most beauti-
fully robed, stood before her.

The lady's eyes were round with astonishment
for a moment, for she could not remember her
transformation, nor imagine what had restored her
to life.

uGood morning, ma'am," said Billina, in her
sharp voice. "You're looking quite well, consider-
ing your age."

"Who speaks?" demanded the Queen of Ev,
drawing herself up proudly.

"Why, my name's Bill, by rights," answered the

217

O z m a of O z

hen, who was now perched upon the back of a
chair; "although Dorothy has put scollops on it
and made it Billina. But the name doesn't matter.
I've saved you from the Nome King, and you are
a slave no longer."

"Then I thank you for the gracious favor," said
the Queen, with a graceful courtesy. "But, my
children — tell me, 1 beg of you — where are my
children?" and she clasped her hands in anxious
entreaty.

"Don't worry," advised Billina, pecking at a tiny
bug that was crawling over the chair back. "Just
at present they are out of mischief and perfectly
safe, for they can't even wiggle."

"What mean you, O kindly stranger?" asked the
Queen, striving to repress her anxiety.

"They're enchanted," said Billina, "just as you
have been — all, that is, except the little fellow
Dorothy picked out. And the chances are that
they have been good boys and girls for some time,
because they couldn't help it."

"Oh, my poor darlings!" cried the Queen, with
a sob of anguish.

"Not at all," returned the hen. "Don't let their
condition make you unhappy, ma'am, because I'll
soon have them crowding 'round to bother and

218

Purple, Green and Gold

worry you as naturally as ever. Come with me, if
you please, and I'll show you how pretty they look."

She flew down from her perch and walked into
the next room, the Queen following. As she passed
a low table a small green grasshopper caught her
eye, and instantly Billina pounced upon it and
snapped it up in her sharp bill. For grasshoppers
are a favorite food with hens, and they usually must
be caught quickly, before they can hop away. It
might easily have been the end of Ozma ofOz, had
she been a real grasshopper instead of an emerald
one. But Billina found the grasshopper hard and
lifeless, and suspecting it was not good to eat she
quickly dropped it instead of letting it slide down
her throat.

"I might have known better," she muttered to
herself, "for where there is no grass there can be no
live grasshoppers. This is probably one of the King's
transformations."

A moment later she approached one of the purple
ornaments, and while the Queen watched her
curiously the hen broke the Nome King's enchant-
ment and a sweet-faced girl, whose golden hair
fell in a cloud over her shoulders, stood beside them.

"Evanna!" cried the Queen, "my own Evanna!"

219

Ozma of Oz

and she clasped the girl to her bosom and covered
her face with kisses.

"That's all right," said Billina, contentedly. "Am
I a good guesser, Mr. Nome King? Well, I guess!"

Then she disenchanted another girl, whom the
CHieen addressed as Kvrose, and afterwards a boy
named Evardo, who was older than his brother
Evring. Indeed, the yellow hen kept the good
Qjjeen exclaiming and embracing for some time,
until rive Princesses and four Princes, all looking
very much alike except for the difference in size, stood
in a row beside their happy mother.

The Princesses were named, Evanna, Evrose,
Evella, Evirene and Evedna, while the Princes were
Evrob, Evington, Evardo and Evroland. Of these
Evardo was the eldest and would inherit his father's
throne and be crowned King of Ev when he re-
turned to his own country. He was a grave and
quiet youth, and would doubtless rule his people
wisely and with justice.

Billina, having restored all of the royal family of Ev
to their proper forms, now began to select the green
ornaments which were the transformations of the
people of Oz. She had little trouble in rinding
these, and before long all the twenty-six officers,
as well as the private, were gathered around the

220

THE QUEEN OF EV THANKS BILLINA

Ozma of Oz

yellow hen, joyfully congratulating her upon their
release. The thirty-seven people who were now alive
in the rooms of the palace knew very well that they
owed their freedom to the cleverness of the yellow
hen, amd they were earnest in thanking her for
saving them from the magic of the Nome King.

"Now," said Billina, "I must find Ozma. She
is sure to be here, somewhere, and of course she is
green, being from Oz. So look around, you stupid
soldiers, and help me in my search."

For a while, however, they could discover nothing
more that was green. But the Queen, who had
kissed all her nine children once more and could
now find time to take an interest in what was going
on, said to the hen:

"Mayhap, my gentle friend, it is the grasshopper
whom you seek;"

"Of course it's the grasshopper!' exclaimed
Billina. "I declare, I'm nearly as stupid as these
brave soldiers. Wait here for me, and I'll go back
and get it."

So she went into the room where she had seen
the grasshopper, and presently Ozma of Oz, as lovely
and dainty as ever, entered and approached the
Queen of Ev, greeting her as one high born princess
greets another.

222

Purple, Green and Gold

"But where are my friends, the Scarecrow and
the Tin Woodman?' asked the girl Ruler, when
these courtesies had been exchanged.

"I'll hunt them up," replied Billina. "The
Scarecrow is solid gold, and so is Tiktok; but I
don't exactly know what the Tin Woodman is, be-
cause the Nome King said he had been transformed
into something tunny."

Ozma eagerly assisted the hen in her quest, and
soon the Scarecrow and the machine man, being
ornaments of shining gold, were discovered and re-
stored to their accustomed forms. But, search as
they might, in no place could they find a funny or-
nament that might be the transformation of the
Tin Woodman.

"Only one thing can be done," said Ozma, at
last, "and that is to return to the Nome King and
oblige him to tell us what has become of our friend."

"Perhaps he won't," suggested Billina.

"He must," returned Ozma, firmly. "The King
has not treated us honestly, for under the mask of
fairness and good nature he entrapped us all, and
we would have been forever enchanted had not our
wise and clever friend, the yellow hen, found a way
to save us."

"The King is a villain," declared the Scarecrow.

223

Ozma of Oz

"His laugh is worse than another man's frown,"
said the private, with a shudder.

"I thought he was hon-est, but I was mis-tak-en,"
remarked Tiktok. "My thoughts are us-u-al-ly
cor-rect, but it is Smith & Tin-ker's fault if they
some-times go wrong or do not work prop-er-ly."

"Smith & Tinker made a very good job of you,"
said Ozma, kindly. "I do not think they should
be blamed if you are not quite perfect."

"Thank you," replied Tiktok.

"Then," said Billina, in her brisk little voice,
"let us all go back to the Nome King, and see
what he has to say for himself."

So they started for the entrance, Ozma going
first, with the Queen and her train of little Princes
and Princesses following. Then came Tiktok, and
the Scarecrow with Billina perched upon his straw-
stuffed shoulder. The twenty-seven officers and
the private brought up the rear.

As they reached the hall the doors flew open be-
fore them; but then they all stopped and stared
into the domed cavern with faces of astonishment
and dismay. For the room was rilled with the
mail-clad warriors of the Nome King, rank after
rank standing in orderly array. The electric lights
upon their brows gleamed brightly, their battle-axes

224

Purple, Green and Gold

were poised as if to strike down their toes; yet they
remained motionless as statues, awaiting the word
of command.

And in the center of this terrible army sat the
little King upon his throne of rock. But he neither
smiled nor laughed. Instead, his face was distorted
with rage, and most dreadful to behold.

225

ScarecrowW5ns de Edlit

^-^ -X £>

Billina had entered the
palace Dorothy and Ev-
ring sat down to await the
success or failure of her mis-
sion, and the Nome King
occupied his throne and smoked
his long pipe for a while in a
cheerful and contented mood.

Then the bell above the throne,
which sounded whenever an enchant-
ment was broken, began to ring, and the
King gave a start of annoyance and ex-
claimed, " Rocketty-ricketts! ''

When the bell rang a second time the King
shouted angrily, "Smudge and blazes!' and at
a third ring he screamed in a fury, " Hippikaloric!"

226

The Scarecrow Wins the Fight

which must be a dreadful word because we don't
know what it means.

After that the bell went on ringing time after
time; but the King was now so violently enraged
that he could not utter a word, but hopped out of
his throne and all around the room in a mad frenzy.

* '

so that he reminded Dorothy of a jumping-jack.

The girl was, for her part, filled with joy at e\7ery
peal of the bell, for it announced the fact that Bil-
lina had transformed one more ornament into a
living person. Dorothy was also amazed at Hillina's
success, for she could not imagine how the yellow
hen was able to guess correctly from all the be-
wildering number of articles clustered in the rooms
of the palace. Hut after she had counted ten, and
the bell continued to ring, she knew that not only
the royal family of Ev, but Ozma and her followers
also, were being restored to their natural forms, and
she was so delighted that the antics of the angry
King only made her laugh merrily.

Perhaps the little monarch could not be more
furious than he was before, but the girl's laughter
nearly drove him frantic, and he roared at her like
a savage beast. Then, as he found that all his en-
chantments were likely to be dispelled and his
victims every one set free, he suddenly ran to the

227

Ozma of Oz

little door that opened upon the balcony and gave
the shrill whistle that summoned his warriors.

At once the army hied out of the gold and silver
doors in great numbers, and marched up a winding
stairs and into the throne room, led by a stern
featured Nome who was their captain. When they
had nearly rilled the throne room they formed ranks
in the big underground cavern below, and then
stood still until they were told what to do next.

Dorothy had pressed back to one side of the
cavern when the warriors entered, and now she
stood holding little Prince Evring's hand while the
great Lion crouched upon one side and the enor-
mous Tiger crouched an the other side.

"Seize that girl!" shouted the King to his cap-
tain, and a group of warriors sprang forward to
obey. But both the Lion and Tiger snarled so
fiercely and bared their strong, sharp teeth so threat-
eningly, that the men drew back in alarm.

"Don't mind them!" cried the Nome King;
"they cannot leap beyond the places where they
now stand."

"But they can bite those who attempt to touch
the girl," said the captain.

"I'll fix that," answered the King. "I'll enchant
them again, so that they can't open their jaws."

228

The Scarecrow Wins the Fight

He stepped out of the throne to do this, but just
then the Sawhorse ran up behind him and gave the
tat monarch a powerful kick with both his wooden
hind legs.

"Ow! Murder! Treason!" yelled the King,
who had been hurled against several of his warriors
and was considerably bruised. "Who did that?'

"I did," growled the Sawhorse, viciously. "You
let Dorothy alone, or I'll kick you again."

"We'll see about that," replied the King, and at
once he waved his hand toward the Sawhorse and
muttered a magical word. "Aha!" he continued;
"now let us see you move, you wooden mule!"

But in spite of the magic the Sawhorse moved;
and he moved so quickly toward the King, that the
fat little man could not get out of his way. Thump —
bang ! came the wooden heels, right against his round
body, and the King flew into the air and fell upon
the head of his captain, who let him drop flat upon
the ground.

"Well, well!" said the King, sitting up and look-
ing surprised. "Why didn't my magic belt work,
I wonder?"

"The creature is made of wood," replied the
captain. "Your magic will not work on wood,
you know."

229

Ozma of Oz

"Ah, I'd forgotten that/' said the King, getting
up and limping to his throne. "Very well, let the
girl alone. She can't escape us, anyway."

The warriors, who had been rather confused by
these incidents, now formed their ranks again, and
the Sawhorse pranced across the room to Dorothy
and took a position beside the Hungry Tiger.

At that moment the doors that led to the palace
flew open and the people of Ev and the people of
Oz were disclosed to view. They paused, aston-
ished, at sight of the warriors and the angry Nome
King, seated in their midst.

"Surrender!' cried the King, in a loud voice.
"You are my prisoners."

"Go 'long!" answered Billina, from the Scare-
crow's shoulder. "You promised me that if I
guessed correctly my friends and I might depart in
safety. And you always keep your promises."

"I said you might leave the palace in safety,"
retorted the King; "and so you may, but you can-
not leave my dominions. You are my prisoners,
and I will hurl you all into my underground dun-
geons, where the volcanic fires glow and the molten
lava flows in every direction, and the air is hotter
than blue blazes."

"That will be the end of me, all right," said the

230

" HELP. HELP! " SCREAMED THE KING

O z m a of O z

Scarecrow, sorrowfully. "One small blaze, blue or
green, is enough to reduce me to an ash-heap."

"Do you surrender?" demanded the King.

Billina whispered something in the Scarecrow's
ear that made him smile and put his hands in his
jacket pockets.

"No!' returned Ozma, boldly answering the
King. Then she said to her army:

"Forward, my brave soldiers, and fight for your
Ruler and yourselves, unto death!'

"Pardon me, Most Royal Ozma," replied one of
her generals; "but I find that I and my brother
officers all suffer from heart disease, and the slightest
excitement might kill us. If we fight we may get
excited. Would it not be well for us to avoid this
grave danger? '

" Soldiers should not have heart disease," said Ozma.

"Private soldiers are not, I believe, afflicted that
way," declared another general, twirling his mous-
tache thoughtfully. "If your Royal Highness de-
sires, we will order our private to attack yonder
warriors."

"Do so," replied Ozma.

"For-ward — march!" cried all the generals, with
one voice. "For-ward — march!" yelled the colo-
nels. "For-ward — march!' shouted the majors.

232

The Scarecrow Wins the Fight

" For-ward — march!' commanded the captains.

And at that the private leveled his spear and
dashed furiously upon the toe.

The captain ot the Nomes was so surprised by
this sudden onslaught that he forgot to command
his warriors to fight, so that the ten men in the first
row, who stood in front of the private's spear, tell
over like so many toy soldiers. The spear could
not go through their steel armor, however, so the
warriors scrambled to their feet again, and by that
time the private had knocked over another row of
them.

Then the captain brought down his battle-axe
with such a strong blow that the private's spear was
shattered and knocked from his grasp, and he was
helpless to fight any longer.

The Nome King had left his throne and pressed
through his warriors to the front ranks, so he could
see what was going on; but as he faced Ozma and
her friends the Scarecrow, as if aroused to action by
the valor of the private, drew one ot Billina's eggs
from his right jacket pocket and hurled it straight at
the little monarch's head.

It struck him squarely in his left eye, where the
egg smashed and scattered, as eggs will, and covered
his face and hair and beard with its sticky contents.

233

Ozma of Oz

"Help, help!" screamed the King, clawing with
his fingers at the egg, in a struggle to remove it.

"An egg! an egg! Run for your lives!' ' shouted
the captain of the Nomes, in a voice of horror.

And how they did run! The warriors fairly
tumbled over one another in their efforts to escape
the fatal poison of that awful egg, and those who
could not rush down the winding stair fell off the
balcony into the great cavern beneath, knocking
over those who stood below them.

Even while the King was still yelling for help
his throne room became emptied of every one ot
his warriors, and before the monarch had managed
to clear the egg away from his left eye the Scarecrow
threw the second egg against his right eye, where it
smashed and blinded him entirely. The King was
unable to flee because he could not see which wav

to run; so he stood still and howled and shouted
and screamed in abject tear.

While this was going on, Billina flew over to
Dorothy, and perching herself upon the Lion's back
the hen whispered eagerly to the girl:

"Get his belt! Get the Nome King's jeweled
belt! It unbuckles in the back. Quick, Dorothy-
quick! '

234

obeyed. She ran at
once behind the Nome
King, who was still trying
to free his eyes from the egg,
and in a twinkling she had
unbuckled his splendid jeweled
belt and carried it away with her
to her place beside the Tiger and
Lion, where, because she did not know
what else to do with it, she fastened it
around her own slim waist.

Just then the Chief Steward rushed in
with a sponge and a bowl of water, and be-
gan mopping away the broken eggs from his
master's face. In a few minutes, and while all
the party stood looking on, the King regained the

235

Ozma of Oz

use of his eyes, and the first thing he did was to
glare wickedly upon the Scarecrow and exclaim:

"I'll make you surler tor this, you hay-stuffed
dummy! Don't you know eggs are poison to
Nomes? *

"Really," said the Scarecrow, "they don t seem to
agree with you, although I wonder why."

"They were strictly tresh and above suspicion,"
said Billina. "You ought to be glad to get them."

"I'll transform you all into scorpions!" cried the
King, angrily, and began waving his arms and mutter-
ing magic words.

But none of the people became scorpions, so the
King stopped and looked at them in surprise.

"What's wrong?' he asked.

"Why, you are not wearing your magic belt," re-
plied the Chief Steward, after looking the King
over carefully. "Where is it?' What have you
done with it? '

The Nome King clapped his hand to his waist,
and his rock colored face turned white as chalk.

" It's gone," he cried, helplessly. "It's gone, and
I am ruined! "

Dorothy now stepped forward and said:

" Royal Ozma, and you, Queen of Kv, I welcome
you and your people back to the land of the living.

236

The Fate of the Tin Woodman

Billina has saved you from your troubles, and now
we will leave this drea'ful place, and return to Ev as
soon as poss'ble."

While the child spoke they could all see that she
wore the magic belt, and a great cheer went up
from all her friends, which was led by the voices of
the Scarecrow and the private. But the Nome
King did not join them. He crept back onto his
throne like a whipped dog, and lay there bitterly
bemoaning his defeat.

"But we have not yet found my faithful follower,
the Tin Woodman, "said Ozma to Dorothy, "and
without him I do not wish to go away."

"Nor I," replied Dorothy, quickly. "Wasn't he
in the palace? '

"He must be there," said Billina; "but I had no
clew to guide me in guessing the Tin Woodman, so
I must have missed him."

"We will go back into the rooms," said Dorothy.
"This magic belt, I am sure, will help us to hnd
our dear old friend."

So she re-entered the palace, the doors of which
still stood open, and everyone followed her except
the Nome King, the Queen of Ev and Prince Ev-
ring. The mother had taken the little Prince in

237

Ozma of Oz

her lap and was fondling and kissing him lovingly,
for he was her youngest born.

But the others went with Dorothy, and when she
came to the middle of the first room the girl waved
her hand, as she had seen the King do, and com-
manded the Tin Woodman, whatever form he might
then have, to resume his proper shape. No result
followed this attempt, so Dorothy went into another
room and repeated it, and so through all the
rooms of the palace. Yet the Tin Woodman did
not appear to them, nor could they imagine which
among the thousands of ornaments was their trans-
formed friend.

Sadly they returned to the throne room, where
the King, seeing that they had met with failure,
jeered at Dorothy, saying:

"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is
of no use to you* Give it back to me and I will
let you go free — you and all the people who came
with you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are
my slaves, and shall remain here."

«I shall keep the belt," said Dorothy.

" But how can you escape, without my consent?"
asked the King.

"Easily enough," answered the girl. "All we
need to do is to walk out the way that we came in."

238

DOROTHY AND BILLINA ARGUE WITH THE KING

O z m a of O z

"Oh, that's all, is it?" sneered the King. "Well,
where is the passage through which you entered this
room ? '

They all looked around, but could not discover
the place, for it had long since been closed. Dor-
othy, however, would not be dismayed. She waved
her hand toward the seemingly solid wall of the
cavern and said:

"I command the passage to open!'

Instantly the order was obeyed; the opening ap-
peared and the passage lay plainly before them.

The King was amazed, and all the others over-
joyed.

"Why, then, if the belt obeys you, were we un-
able to discover the Tin Woodman?" asked Ozma.

"I can't imagine," said Dorothy.

"See here, girl," proposed the King, eagerly;
"give me the belt, and I will tell you what shape the
Tin Woodman was changed into, and then you can
easily find him."

Dorothy hesitated, but Billina cried out:

"Don't you do it! If the Nome King gets the
belt again he will make every one of ~us prisoners,
for we will be in his power. Only by keeping the
belt, Dorothy, will you ever be able to leave this
place in safety."

240

The Fate of the Tin Woodman

"I think that is true," said the Scarecrow. "But
I have another idea, due to my excellent brains.
Let Dorothy transform the King into a goose-egg
unless he agrees to go into the palace and bring
out to us the ornament which is our friend Nick
Chopper, the Fin Woodman."

"A goose-egg!" echoed the horrified King. "How
dreadful !

ocooooooooo

24!

O z m a of O z

"Well, a goose-egg you will be unless you go and
fetch us the ornament we want," declared Billina,
with a joyful chuckle.

"You can see for yourself that Dorothy is able
to use the magic belt all right," added the Scarecrow.

The Nome King thought it over and finally con-
sented, for he did not want to be a goose-egg. So
he went into the palace to get the ornament which
was the transformation of the Tin Woodman, and
they all awaited his return with considerable im-
patience, for they were anxious to leave this under-
ground cavern and see the sunshine once more.
But when the Nome King came back he brought
nothing with him except a puzzled and anxious
expression upon his tace.

"He's gone!" he said. "The Tin Woodman is
nowhere in the palace."

"Are you sure?" asked Ozma, sternly.

"I'm very sure," answered the King, trembling,
"for I know just what I transformed him into, and
exactly where he stood. But he is not there, and
please don't change me into a goose-egg, because
I've done the best I could."

They were all silent for a time, and then Dorothy

said:

"There is no use punishing the Nome King any

242

The Fate of the Tin Woodman

more, and I'm 'fraid we'll have to go away without
our friend."

"If he is not here, we cannot rescue him," agreed
the Scarecrow, sadly. "Poor Nick! I wonder
what has become of him."

"And he owed me six weeks back pay!" said one
of the generals, wiping the tears from his eyes with
his gold-laced coat sleeve.

Very sorrowfully they determined to return to
the upper world without their former companion,
and so Ozma gave the order to begin the march
through the passage.

The army went first, and then the royal family
of Ev, and afterward came Dorothy, Ozma, Billina,
the Scarecrow and Tiktok.

They left the Nome King scowling at them from
his throne, and had no thought of danger until
Ozma chanced to look back and saw a large num-
ber of the warriors following them in full chase,
with their swords and spears and axes raised to strike
down the fugitives as soon as they drew near enough.

Evidently the Nome King had made this last at-
tempt to prevent their escaping him; but it did him
no good, for when Dorothy saw the danger they
were in she stopped and waved her hand and
whispered a command to the magic belt.

243

m a

f O

Instantly the foremost warriors became eggs,
which rolled upon the floor of the cavern in such
numbers that those behind could not advance with-
out stepping upon them. But, when they saw the
eggs, all desire to advance departed from the war-
riors, and they turned and fled madly into the
cavern, and refused to go back again.

Our friends had no farther trouble in reaching
the end of the passage, and soon were standing in
the outer air upon the gloomy path between the

244

The Fate of the Tin Woodman

two high mountains. But the way to Ev lay plainly
before them, and they fervently hoped that they had
seen the last of the Nome King and of his dreadful
palace.

The cavalcade was led by Ozma, mounted on
the Cowardly Lion, and the Queen of Kv, who rode
upon the back of the Tiger. The children of the
Queen walked behind her, hand in hand. Dorothy
rode the Sawhorse, while the Scarecrow walked and
commanded the armv in the absence of the Tin

Woodman.

Presently the way began to lighten and more of
the sunshine to come in between the two moun-
tains. And before long they heard the "thump!
thump! thump! ' of the giant's hammer upon the
road.

"How may we pass the monstrous man of iron?"
asked the Queen, anxious for the safety of her chil-
dren. But Dorothy solved the problem by a word
to the magic belt.

The giant paused, with his hammer held motion-
less in the air, thus allowing the entire party to
pass between his cast-iron legs in safety.

245

The, Kind o

. __ , s-> rv CJ ,T\ /T> ^

there were any shitting,
rock-colored Nomes on
the mountain side nowr
they were silent and respect-
ful, for our adventurers were
not annoyed, as before, by their
impudent laughter. Really the
Nomes had nothing to laugh at,
since the defeat of their King.

On the other side they found O/ma's
golden chariot, standing as they had left it.
Soon the Lion and the Tiger were harnessed
to the beautiful chariot, in which was enough
room for Ozma and the Queen and six of the
royal children.

Little Kvring preferred to ride with Dor-

246

The King of Ev

othy upon the Sawhorse, which had a long back.
The Prince had recovered from his shyness and had
become very fond of the girl who had rescued him,
so they were fast friends and chatted pleasantly to-
gether as they rode along. Billina was also perched
upon the head of the wooden steed, which seemed
not to mind the added weight in the least, and the
boy was full of wonder that a hen could talk, and
say such sensible things.

When they came to the gulf, Ozma's magic
carpet carried them all over in safety; and now they
began to pass the trees, in which birds were singing;
and the breeze that was wafted to them from the
farms of Ev was spicy with flowers and new-mown
hay; and the sunshine fell full upon them, to warm
them and drive away from their bodies the chill and
dampness ot the underground kingdom of the
Nomes.

"I would be quite content," said the Scarecrow
to Tiktok, "were only the Tin Woodman with us.
But it breaks my heart to leave him behind."

"He was a fine fel-low," replied Tiktok, "al-
though his ma-ter-i-al was not ve-ry du-ra-ble."

"Oh, tin is an excellent material," the Scarecrow
hastened to say; "and it anything ever happened to
poor Nick Chopper he was always easily soldered.

247

O z m a of O z

Besides, he did not have to be wound up, and was
not liable to get out of order."

"I some-times wish," said Tiktok, "that I was
stufted with straw, as you are. It is hard to be
made of cop-per."

"I have no reason to complain of my lot," re-
plied the Scarecrow. « A little fresh straw, now and
then, makes me as good as new. But I can never
be the polished gentleman that my poor departed
friend, the Tin Woodman, was. '

You may be sure the royal children of Kv and
their Queen mother were delighted at seeing again
their, beloved country; and when the towers of the
palace of Ev came into view they could not forbear
cheering at the sight. Little Evring, riding in front of
Dorothy, was so overjoyed that he took a curious tin
whistle from his pocket and blew a shrill blast that
made the Sawhorse leap and prance in sudden alarm.

"What is that?'1 asked Billina, who had been
obliged to flutter her wings in order to keep her
seat upon the head of the frightened Sawhorse.

"That's my whistle," said Prince Evring, holding
it out upon his hand.

It was in the shape of a little fat pig, made of
tin and painted green. The whistle was in the tail
of the pig.

248

T h e K

ing o

f E

"Where did you get it?" asked the yellow hen,
closely examining the toy with her bright eyes.

"Why, I picked it up in the Nome King's palace,
while Dorothy was making her guesses, and I put it
in my pocket," answered the little Prince.

Billina laughed; or at least she made the peculiar
cackle that served her tor a laugh.

"No wonder I couldn't find the Tin Woodman,"
she said; and no wonder the magic belt didn't
make him appear, or the King couldn't find him,
either! "

249

Ozma of Oz

"What do you mean?" questioned Dorothy.

"Why, the Prince had him in his pocket," cried
Billina, cackling again.

"I did not!" protested little Rvring. "I only
took the whistle."

"Well, then, watch me," returned the hen, and
reaching out a claw she touched the whistle and
said "Ev."

Swish!

"Good afternoon," said the Tin Woodman, tak-
ing off his funnel cap and bowing to Dorothy and
the Prince. "I think I must have been asleep for
the first time since I was made of tin, for I do not
remember our leaving the Nome King."

"You have been enchanted," answered the girl,
throwing an arm around her old friend and hugging
him tight in her joy. "But it's all right, now."

"I want my whistle!" said the little Prince, be-
ginning to cry.

"Hush!" cautioned Billina. "The whistle is
lost, but you may have another when you get home."

The Scarecrow had fairly thrown himself upon
the bosom of his old comrade, so surprised and de-
lighted was he to see him again, and Tiktok squeezed
the Tin Woodman's hand so earnestly that he dented
some of his fingers. Then they had to make way

250

"YOUR FUTURE RULER. KING EVARDO FIFTEENTH"

Ozma of Oz

for Ozma to welcome the tin man, and the army
caught sight of him and set up a cheer, and every-
body was delighted and happy.

For the Tin Woodman was a great favorite with
all who knew him, and his sudden recovery after
they had thought he was lost to them forever was
indeed a pleasant surprise.

Before long the cavalcade arrived at the royal
palace, where a great crowd of people had gathered
to welcome their Queen and her ten children.
There was much shouting and cheering, and the
people threw flowers in their path, and every face
wore a happy smile.

They found the Princess Langwidere in her
mirrored chamber, where she was admiring one of
her handsomest heads — one with rich chestnut hair,
dreamy walnut eyes and a shapely hickorynut nose.
She was very glad to be relieved of her duties to
the people of Ev, and the Queen graciously per-
mitted her to retain her rooms and her cabinet ot
heads as long as she lived.

Then the Queen took her eldest son out upon a
balcony that overlooked the crowd oi subjects
gathered below, and said to them:

"Here is your future ruler, King Evardo Fif-
teenth. He is fifteen years of age, has fifteen silver

252

T h e K

i n g o

f E

buckles on his jacket and is the fifteenth Evardo to
rule the land of Ev."

The people shouted their approval fifteen times,
and even the Wheelers, some ot whom were present,
loudly promised to obey the new King.

So the Queen placed a big crown of gold, set
with rubies, upon Evardo's head, and threw an
ermine robe over his shoulders, and proclaimed him
King; and he bowed gratefully to all his subjects
and then went away to see if he could find any
cake in the royal pantry.

Ozma of Oz and her people, as well as Dorothy,
Tiktok and Billina, were splendidly entertained by
the Queen mother, who owed all her happiness to
their kind offices; and that evening the yellow hen
was publicly presented with a beautiful necklace of
pearls and sapphires, as a token of esteem from the
new King.

decided to accept Oz-

ma's invitation to return

with her to the Land of Oz.

There was no greater chance

of her getting home from Kv

than from Oz, and the little girl

was anxious to see once more the

country where she had encountered

such wonderful adventures. By this

time Uncle Henry would have reached

Australia in his ship, and had probably

given her up for lost; so he couldn't worry

any more than he did if she stayed away from

him a while longer. So she would go to Oz.

They bade good-bye to the people of Ev, and
the King promised Ozma that he would ever be

254

The Emerald City

grateful to her and render the Land of Oz any
service that might lie within his power.

And then they approached the edge of the
dangerous desert, and Ozma threw down the magic
carpet, which at once unrolled far enough for all
of them to walk upon it without being crowded.

Tiktok, claiming to be Dorothy's faithful follower
because he belonged to her, had been permitted to
join the party, and before they started the girl wound
up his machinery as far as possible, and the copper
man stepped off as briskly as any one of them.

Ozma also invited Billina to visit the Land of Oz,
and the yellow hen was glad enough to go where
new sights and scenes awaited her.

They began the trip across the desert early in
the morning, and as they stopped only long enough
for Billina to lay her daily egg, before sunset they
espied the green slopes and wooded hills of the
beautiful Land of Oz. They entered it in the
Munch kin territory, and the King of the Munchkins
met them at the border and welcomed Ozma with
great respect, being very pleased by her safe return.
For Ozma of Oz ruled the King of the Munchkins,
the King of the Winkies, the King of the Quadlings
and the King of the Gillikins just as those kings
ruled their own people; and this supreme ruler of

255

Ozma of Oz

the Land of Oz lived in a great town of her own,
called the Emerald City, which was in the exact
center of the four kingdoms of the Land of Oz.

The Munchkin king entertained them at his pal-
ace that night, and in the morning they set out for
the Emerald City, travelling over a road of yellow
brick that led straight to the jewel-studded gates.
Everywhere the people turned out to greet their
beloved Ozma, and to hail joyfully the Scarecrow,
the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, who
were popular favorites. Dorothy, too, remembered
some of the people, who had befriended her on the
occasion of her hrst visit to Oz, and they were well
pleased to see the little Kansas girl again, and
showered her with compliments and good wishes.

At one place, where they stopped to refresh
themselves, Ozma accepted a bowl of milk from the
hands of a pretty dairy-maid. Then she looked at
the girl more closely, and exclaimed:

"Why, it's Jinjur — isn't it!'

"Yes, your Highness," was the reply, as Jinjur
dropped a low curtsy. And Dorothy looked
wonderingly at this lively appearing person, who
had once assembled an army of women and driven
the Scarecrow from the throne of the Emerald City,

256

The Emerald City

and even fought a battle with the powerful army of
Glinda the Sorceress.

"I've married a man who owns nine cows," said
Jinjur to Ozma, "and now I am happy and con-

tented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my
own business."

"Where is your husband?" asked Ozma.

" He is in the house, nursing a black eye," replied
finjur, calmly. "The foolish man would insist upon
milking the red cow when I wanted him to milk
the white one; but he will know better next time,
I am sure."

257

Ozma of Oz

Then the party moved on again, and after cross-
ing a broad river on a ferry and passing many fine
farm houses that were dome shaped and painted a
pretty green color, they came in sight of a large
building that was covered with flags and bunting.

"I don't remember that building," said Dorothy.
"What is it?"

"That is the College of Art and Athletic Per-
fection," replied Ozma. "I had it built quite re-
cently, and the Woggle-Bug is it's president. It
keeps him busy, and the young men who attend
the college are no worse off than they were before.
You see, in this country are a number of youths
who do not like to work, and the college is an ex-
cellent place for them."

And now they came in sight of the Emerald City,
and the people flocked out to greet their lovely
ruler. There were several bands and many officers
and officials of the realm, and a crowd of citizens in
their holiday attire.

Thus the beautiful Ozma was escorted by a bril-
liant procession to her royal city, and so great was
the cheering that she was obliged to constantly bow
to the right and left to acknowledge the greetings
of her subjects.

That evening there was a grand reception in the

258

"I PROMOTE YOU TO BE CAPTAIN-GENERAL'

Ozma of Oz

royal palace, attended by the most important persons
of Oz,and jack Pumpkinhead, who was a little over-
ripe but still active, read an address congratulating
Ozma of Oz upon the success of her generous mis-
sion to rescue the royal family of a neighboring
kingdom.

Then magnificent gold medals set with precious
stones were presented to each of the twenty-six
officers; and the Tin Woodman was given a new
axe studded with diamonds; and the Scarecrow re-
ceived a silver jar of complexion powder. Dorothy
was presented with a pretty coronet and made a
Princess of Oz, and Tiktok received two bracelets
set with eight rows of very clear and sparkling
emeralds.

Afterward they sat down to a splendid feast, and
Ozma put Dorothy at her right and Billina at her
left, where the hen sat upon a golden roost and ate
• from a jeweled platter. Then were placed the
Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Tiktok, with
baskets of lovely flowers before them, because they
did not require food. The twenty-six officers were
at the lower end of the table, and the Lion and the
Tiger also had seats, and were served on golden

clatters, that held a half a bushel at one time.
i . .

The wealthiest and most important citizens ol

260

The Emerald City

the Emerald City were proud to wait upon these
famous adventurers, and they were assisted by a
sprightly little maid named Jellia Jamb, whom the
Scarecrow pinched upon her rosy cheeks and seemed
to know very well.

During the feast Ozma grew thoughtful, and
suddenly she asked:

"Where is the private?'

"Oh, he is sweeping out the barracks," replied
one of the generals, who was busy eating a leg of a
turkey. "But I have ordered him a dish of bread
and molasses to eat when his work is done."

"Let him be sent for," said the girl ruler.

While they waited for this command to be obeyed,
she enquired:

"Have we any other privates in the armies?'

"Oh, yes," replied the Tin Woodman, "I believe
there are three, altogether."

The private now entered, saluting his officers and
the royal Ozma very respectfully.

"What is your name, my man?" asked the girl.

"Omby Amby," answered the private.

"Then, Omby Amby," said she, "I promote you
to be Captain General of all the armies of my king-
dom, and especially to be Commander of my Body
Guard at the royal palace."

261

f O

"It is very expensive to hold so many offices,"
said the private, hesitating. " I have no money with
which to buy uniforms."

"You shall be supplied from the royal treasury,"
said Ozma.

Then the private was given a seat at the table,
where the other officers welcomed him cordially,
and the feasting and merriment were resumed.

Suddenly Jellia Jamb exclaimed:

"There is nothing more to eat! The Hungry
Tiger has consumed everything!'

"But that is not the worst of it," declared the
Tiger, mournfully. "Somewhere or somehow, I've
actually lost my appetite!'

262

oro

tliu's M

3 ^

ac-

passed several very
happy weeks in the Land
of Oz as the guest ot the
royal Ozma, who delighted
to please and interest the little
Kansas girl. Many new ac
quaintances were formed and many
old ones renewed, and wherever she
went Dorothy found herself among
friends.

One day, however, as she sat in Ozma's
private room, she noticed hanging upon the
wall a picture which constantly changed in
appearance, at one time showing a meadow
and at another time a forest, a lake or a village.

263

Ozma of Oz

"How curious!' she exclaimed, after watching
the shitting scenes for a few moments.

"Yes," said Ozma, "that is really a wonderful in-
vention in magic. If I wish to see any part of the
world or any person living, I need only express the
wish and it is shown in the picture."

"May I use it?" asked Dorothy, eagerly.

"Of course, my dear."

"Then I'd like to see the old Kansas farm, and
Aunt Em," said the girl.

Instantly the well remembered farmhouse appeared
in the picture, and Aunt Em could be seen quite
plainly. She was engaged in washing dishes by the
kitchen window and seemed quite well and con-
tented. The hired men and the teams were in the
harvest fields behind the house, and the corn and
wheat seemed to the child to be in prime condition.
On the side porch Dorothy's pet dog, Toto, was ly-
ing fast asleep in the sun, and to her surprise old
Speckles was running around with a brood of twelve
new chickens trailing after her.

"Everything seems all right at home," said Doro-
thy, with a sigh of relief. "Now I wonder what
Uncle Henry is doing."

The scene in the picture at once shifted to
Australia, where, in a pleasant room in Sydney,

264

Dorothy's Magic Belt

Uncle Henry was seated in an easy chair, solemnly
smoking his briar pipe. He looked sad and lonely,
and his hair was now quite white and his hands and
face thin and wasted.

"Oh!" cried Dorothy, in an anxious voice, "I'm
sure Uncle Henry isn't getting any better, and it's
because he is worried about me. Ozma, dear, I
must go to him at once!'

"How can you?" asked Ozma.

"I don't know," replied Dorothy; "but let us go
to Glinda the Good. I'm sure she will help me,
and advise me how to get to Uncle Henry."

Ozma readily agreed to this plan and caused the
Sawhorse to be harnessed to a pretty green and pink
phaeton, and the two girls rode away to visit the
famous sorceress.

Glinda received them graciously, and listened to
Dorothy's story with attention.

"I have the magic belt, you know," said the little
girl. "If I buckled it around my waist and com-
manded it to take me to Uncle Henry, wouldn't it
do it?"

"I think so," replied Glinda, with a smile.

"And then," continued Dorothy, "if I ever
wanted to come back here again, the belt would
bring me."

265

" THAT IS A WISE PLAN." REPLIED GLINDA

Dorothy's Magic Belt

"In that you are wrong," said the sorceress. "The
belt has magical powers only while it is in some
fairy country, such as the Land of Oz, or the Land
of Ev. Indeed, my little friend, were you to wear
it and wish yourself in Australia, with your uncle,
the wish would doubtless be fulfilled, because it was
made in fairyland. But you would not find the
magic belt around you when you arrived at your
destination."

"What would become of it?" asked the girl.

"It would be lost, as were your silver shoes when
you visited Oz before, and no one would ever see
it again. It seems too bad to destroy the use of the
magic belt in that way, doesn't it?'

"Then," said Dorothy, after a moment's thought,
"I will give the magic belt to Ozma, for she can use
it in her own country. And she can wish me trans-
ported to Uncle Henry without losing the belt."

"That is a wise plan," replied Glinda.

So they rode back to the Emerald City, and on
the way it was arranged that every Saturday morning
Ozma would look at Dorothy in her magic picture,
wherever the little girl might chance to be. And,
if she saw Dorothy make a certain signal, then Ozma
would know that the little Kansas girl wanted to
revisit the Land of Oz, and by means of the Nome

267

Ozma of Oz

King's magic belt would wish that she might in-
stantly return.

This having been agreed upon, Dorothy bade
good-bye to all her friends. Tiktok wanted to go
to Australia, too; but Dorothy knew that the
machine man would never do for a servant in a
civilized country, and the chances were that his
machinery wouldn't work at all. So she left him
in Ozma's care.

Billina, on the contrary, preferred the Land of Oz
to any other country, and refused to accompany
Dorothy.

« The bugs and ants that I find here are the finest
flavored in the world," declared the yellow hen,
"and there are plenty of them. So here I shall end
my days; and I must say, Dorothy, my dear, that
you are very foolish to go back into that stupid,
humdrum world again."

"Uncle Henry needs me," said Dorothy, simply;
and every one except Billina thought it was right
that she should go.

All Dorothy's friends of the Land of Oz — both
old and new — gathered in a group in front of the
palace to bid her a sorrowful good-bye and to wish
her long life and happiness. After much hand
shaking, Dorothy kissed Ozma once more, and then

268

Dorothy's Magic Belt

handed her the Nome King's magic belt, saying:

"Now, dear Princess, when I wave my handker-
chief, please wish me with Uncle Henry. I'm aw'fly
sorry to leave you — and the Scarecrow — and the
Tin Woodman — and the Cowardly Lion — and

Tiktok — and — and everybody — but I do want my
Uncle Henry! So good-bye, all of you."

Then the little girl stood on one of the big
emeralds which decorated the courtyard, and after

269

o f O

looking once again at each of her friends, waved
her handkerchief.

"No," said Dorothy, "I wasn't drowned at all.
And I've come to nurse you and take care of you,
Uncle Henry, and you must promise to get well as
soon as poss'ble."

Uncle Henry smiled and cuddled his little niece
close in his lap.

"I'm better already, my darling," said he.

170-32
23-04

270

THE LAND OF OZ

BY L. FRANK BAUM

A SEQUEL TO THE W I Z A R D OF OZ

The Land of Oz gives an account of the further adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin
Woodman, and introduces Jack Pumpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse, the Highly
Magnified Woggle-Bug, the Gump and many other delightful characters.

Nearly 1 50 black and white illustrations and 1 6 full-page pictures in colors by
JOHN R. NEILL

8vo, 300 pages. Uniform in size with Ozma of Oz. Handsomely bound
in cloth, stamped in three colors. Price, $1.25.

JOHN DOUGH AND THE CHERUB

BY L. FRANK BAUM

A whimsical tale portraying the exciting adventures of the Gingerbread Man and his com-
rade, Chick the Cherub, in the " Palace of Romance," "The Land of the Mifkets,"
"Hiland and Loland," etc. The book is delightfully pictured by John R. Neill, illustrator
of OZMA OF OZ and THE LAND OF OZ.

40 full-page colored pictures; 20 colored pictorial chapter headings; 100 black and white
text pictures; special end sheets; title page, copyright page, etc.

8vo, 300 pages. Extra cloth binding, side and back stamping in three colors. Price, $1.25.

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Ozma of Oz; a record of her adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the yellow hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, besides other good people too numerous to mention faithfully recorded herein"

See other formats