The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Lost Princess of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (2024)

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Title: The Lost Princess of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Release Date: January 30, 2008 [eBook #24459]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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TO MY READERS

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. Thispleases me. Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to itspresent state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discoverAmerica. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imaginationhas given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine andthe automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they becamerealities. So I believe that dreams—day dreams, you know, with youreyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing—are likely to lead tothe betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become theimaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore tofoster civilization. A prominent educator tells me that fairy tales areof untold value in developing imagination in the young. I believe it.

Among the letters I receive from children are many containingsuggestions of "what to write about in the next Oz Book." Some of theideas advanced are mighty interesting, while others are too extravagantto be seriously considered—even in a fairy tale. Yet I like them all,and I must admit that the main idea in "The Lost Princess of Oz" wassuggested to me by a sweet little girl of eleven who called to see meand to talk about the Land of Oz. Said she: "I s'pose if Ozma ever gotlost, or stolen, ev'rybody in Oz would be dreadful sorry."

That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present storyon. If you happen to like the story, give credit to my little friend'sclever hint. And, by the way, don't hesitate to write me your own hintsand suggestions, such as result from your own day dreams. They will besure to interest me, even if I cannot use them in a story, and the veryfact that you have dreamed at all will give me pleasure and do you good.For, after all, dear reader, these stories of Oz are just yours andmine, and we are partners. As long as you care to read them I shall tryto write them, and I've an idea that the next one will relate somestartling adventures of the "Tin Woodman of Oz" and his comrades.

L. Frank Baum,
Royal Historian of Oz.

"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1917.

the Fairyland of Oz, was lost. She had completely disappeared.Not one of her subjects—not even her closest friends—knew what hadbecome of her.

It was Dorothy who first discovered it. Dorothy was a little Kansas girlwho had come to the Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightfulsuite of rooms in Ozma's royal palace, just because Ozma loved Dorothyand wanted her to live as near her as possible, so the two girls mightbe much together.

Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had beenwelcomed to Oz and lived in the royal palace. There was another namedBetsy Bobbin, whose adventures had led her to seek refuge with Ozma, andstill another named Trot, who had been invited, together with herfaithful companion, Cap'n Bill, to make her home in this wonderfulfairyland. The three girls all had rooms in the palace and were greatchums; but Dorothy was the dearest friend of their gracious Ruler andonly she at any hour dared to seek Ozma in her royal apartments. ForDorothy had lived in Oz much longer than the other girls and had beenmade a Princess of the realm.

Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger, yet thethree were near enough of an age to become great playmates and to havenice times together. It was while the three were talking together onemorning in Dorothy's room that Betsy proposed they make a journey intothe Munchkin Country, which was one of the four great countries of theLand of Oz ruled by Ozma.

"I've never been there yet," said Betsy Bobbin, "but the Scarecrowonce told me it is the prettiest country in all Oz."

"I'd like to go, too," added Trot.

"All right," said Dorothy, "I'll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she will letus take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be much nicer for usthan having to walk all the way. This Land of Oz is a pretty big place,when you get to all the edges of it."

So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace untilshe came to the royal suite, which filled all the front of the secondfloor. In a little waiting room sat Ozma's maid, Jellia Jamb, who wasbusily sewing.

"Is Ozma up yet?" inquired Dorothy.

"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word fromher this morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her breakfast,and it is far past her usual time for them."

"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Yes," agreed the maid; "but of course no harm could have happened toher. No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz and Ozma is herself apowerful fairy, and she has no enemies, so far as we know. Therefore Iam not at all worried about her, though I must admit her silence isunusual."

"Perhaps," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or she may bereading, or working out some new sort of magic to do good to herpeople."

"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I haven'tdared disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a privilegedcharacter, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't mind at all if youwent in to see her."

"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer chambershe went in. All was still here. She walked into another room, which wasOzma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery richly broideredwith threads of pure gold, the girl entered the sleeping-room of thefairy Ruler of Oz. The bed of ivory and gold was vacant; the room wasvacant; not a trace of Ozma was to be found.

Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happenedto her friend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other roomsof the suite. She went into the music room, the library, the laboratory,the bath, the wardrobe and even into the great throne room, whichadjoined the royal suite, but in none of these places could she findOzma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, JelliaJamb, and said:

"She isn't in her rooms now, so she must have gone out."

"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her,"replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."

"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy.

"Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to be alittle uneasy.

So they went into the corridors and there Dorothy almost stumbled over aqueer girl who was dancing lightly along the passage.

"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called. "Have you seen Ozma this morning?"

"Not I!" replied the queer girl, dancing nearer. "I lost both my eyes ina tussle with the Woozy, last night, for the creature scraped 'em bothoff my face with his square paws. So I put the eyes in my pocket andthis morning Button-Bright led me to Aunt Em, who sewed 'em on again. SoI've seen nothing at all to-day, except during the last five minutes. Soof course I haven't seen Ozma."

"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, whichwere merely two round black buttons sewed upon the girl's face.

There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed curious toone seeing her for the first time. She was commonly called "ThePatchwork Girl," because her body and limbs were made from a gay-coloredpatchwork quilt which had been cut into shape and stuffed with cotton.Her head was a round ball stuffed in the same manner and fastened to hershoulders. For hair she had a mass of brown yarn and to make a nose forher a part of the cloth had been pulled out into the shape of a knob andtied with a string to hold it in place. Her mouth had been carefullymade by cutting a slit in the proper place and lining it with red silk,adding two rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of red flannel for atongue.

In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically aliveand had proved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of the manyquaint characters who inhabit the astonishing Fairyland of Oz. Indeed,Scraps was a general favorite, although she was rather flighty anderratic and did and said many things that surprised her friends. She wasseldom still, but loved to dance, to turn handsprings and somersaults,to climb trees and to indulge in many other active sports.

"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she isn't inher rooms and I want to ask her a question."

"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than yoursand they can see farther."

"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy. "But come along, if you like."

Together they searched all through the great palace and even to thefarthest limits of the palace grounds, which were quite extensive, butnowhere could they find a trace of Ozma. When Dorothy returned to whereBetsy and Trot awaited her, the little girl's face was rather solemn andtroubled, for never before had Ozma gone away without telling herfriends where she was going, or without an escort that befitted herroyal state.

She was gone, however, and none had seen her go. Dorothy had met andquestioned the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Cap'nBill, and even the wise and powerful Wizard of Oz, but not one of themhad seen Ozma since she parted with her friends the evening before andhad gone to her own rooms.

"She didn't say anything las' night about going anywhere," observedlittle Trot.

"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy. "UsuallyOzma lets us know of everything she does."

"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin. "That willtell us where she is, in just one second."

"Of course!" cried Dorothy. "Why didn't I think of that before?" and atonce the three girls hurried away to Ozma's boudoir, where the MagicPicture always hung.

This wonderful Magic Picture was one of the royal Ozma's greatesttreasures. There was a large gold frame, in the center of which was abluish-gray canvas on which various scenes constantly appeared anddisappeared. If one who stood before it wished to see what anyperson—anywhere in the world—was doing, it was only necessary to makethe wish and the scene in the Magic Picture would shift to the scenewhere that person was and show exactly what he or she was then engagedin doing. So the girls knew it would be easy for them to wish to seeOzma, and from the picture they could quickly learn where she was.

Dorothy advanced to the place where the picture was usually protected bythick satin curtains, and pulled the draperies aside. Then she stared inamazement, while her two friends uttered exclamations ofdisappointment.

The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind thecurtains showed where it had formerly hung.

Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle, situated in theQuadling Country, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma ruled, was asplendid structure of exquisite marbles and silver grilles. Here theSorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of the most beautiful maidens ofOz, gathered from all the four countries of that fairyland as well asfrom the magnificent Emerald City itself, which stood in the placewhere the four countries cornered.

It was considered a great honor to be allowed to serve the goodSorceress, whose arts of magic were used only to benefit the Oz people.Glinda was Ozma's most valued servant, for her knowledge of sorcery waswonderful and she could accomplish almost anything that her mistress,the lovely girl Ruler of Oz, wished her to.

Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle therewas none more marvelous than her Great Book of Records. On the pages ofthis Record Book were constantly being inscribed—day by day and hour byhour—all the important events that happened anywhere in the knownworld, and they were inscribed in the book at exactly the moment theevents happened. Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the bigoutside world, and even in places that you and I have never heard of,were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistakeand stated only the exact truth. For that reason nothing could beconcealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages of theGreat Book of Records to know everything that had taken place. That wasone reason she was such a great Sorceress, for the records made herwiser than any other living person.

This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in themiddle of Glinda's drawing-room. The legs of the table, which wereincrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floorand the book itself was chained to the table and locked with six stoutgolden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda carried on a chain that wassecured around her own neck.

The pages of the Great Book were larger in size than those of anAmerican newspaper and although they were exceedingly thin there were somany of them that they made an enormous, bulky volume. With its goldcover and gold clasps the book was so heavy that three men couldscarcely have lifted it. Yet this morning, when Glinda entered herdrawing-room after breakfast, with all her maidens trailing after her,the good Sorceress was amazed to discover that her Great Book of Recordshad mysteriously disappeared.

Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with somesharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in the castleslept. Glinda was shocked and grieved. Who could have done thiswicked, bold thing? And who could wish to deprive her of her Great Bookof Records?

The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the consequences ofher loss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to prepare a charm thatwould tell her who had stolen the Record Book. But, when she unlockedher cupboards and threw open the doors, all of her magical instrumentsand rare chemical compounds had been removed from the shelves.

The Sorceress was now both angry and alarmed. She sat down in a chairand tried to think how this extraordinary robbery could have takenplace. It was evident that the thief was some person of very greatpower, or the theft could never have been accomplished without herknowledge. But who, in all the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillfulenough to do this awful thing? And who, having the power, could alsohave an object in defying the wisest and most talented Sorceress theworld has ever known?

Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at the end ofwhich time she was still puzzled how to explain it. But although herinstruments and chemicals were gone her knowledge of magic had notbeen stolen, by any means, since no thief, however skillful, can rob oneof knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safesttreasure to acquire. Glinda believed that when she had time to gathermore magical herbs and elixirs and to manufacture more magicalinstruments she would be able to discover who the robber was, and whathad become of her precious Book of Records.

"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very foolishperson, for in time he is sure to be found out and will then be severelypunished."

She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched messengersto every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them and bring them toher as soon as possible. And one of her messengers met the little Wizardof Oz, who was mounted on the back of the famous live Sawhorse and wasclinging to its neck with both his arms; for the Sawhorse was speedingto Glinda's castle with the velocity of the wind, bearing the news thatRoyal Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz, had suddenly disappearedand no one in the Emerald City knew what had become of her.

"Also," said the Wizard, as he stood before the astonished Sorceress,"Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it to discover whereshe is. So I came to you for assistance as soon as we realized our loss.Let us look in the Great Book of Records."

"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that, for theGreat Book of Records has also disappeared!"

morning, but it took place so far from either the Emerald City or thecastle of Glinda the Good that none of those persons we have mentionedlearned of the robbery until long afterward.

In the far southwestern corner of the Winkie Country is a broadtableland that can be reached only by climbing a steep hill, whicheverside one approaches it. On the hillside surrounding this tableland areno paths at all, but there are quantities of bramble-bushes with sharpprickers on them, which prevent any of the Oz people who live down belowfrom climbing up to see what is on top. But on top live the Yips, andalthough the space they occupy is not great in extent the wee country isall their own. The Yips had never—up to the time this storybegins—left their broad tableland to go down into the Land of Oz, norhad the Oz people ever climbed up to the country of the Yips.

Living all alone as they did, the Yips had queer ways and notions oftheir own and did not resemble any other people of the Land of Oz. Theirhouses were scattered all over the flat surface; not like a city,grouped together, but set wherever their owners' fancy dictated, withfields here, trees there, and odd little paths connecting the houses onewith another.

It was here, on the morning when Ozma so strangely disappeared from theEmerald City, that Cayke the Cookie Cook discovered that herdiamond-studded gold dishpan had been stolen, and she raised such ahue-and-cry over her loss and wailed and shrieked so loudly that many ofthe Yips gathered around her house to inquire what was the matter.

It was a serious thing, in any part of the Land of Oz, to accuse one ofstealing, so when the Yips heard Cayke the Cookie Cook declare that herjeweled dishpan had been stolen they were both humiliated and disturbedand forced Cayke to go with them to the Frogman to see what could bedone about it.

I do not suppose you have ever before heard of the Frogman, for like allother dwellers on that tableland he had never been away from it, nor hadanyone come up there to see him. The Frogman was, in truth, descendedfrom the common frogs of Oz, and when he was first born he lived in apool in the Winkie Country and was much like any other frog. Being of anadventurous nature, however, he soon hopped out of his pool and began totravel, when a big bird came along and seized him in its beak andstarted to fly away with him to its nest. When high in the air the frogwriggled so frantically that he got loose and fell down—down—down intoa small hidden pool on the tableland of the Yips. Now this pool, itseems, was unknown to the Yips because it was surrounded by thick bushesand was not near to any dwelling, and it proved to be an enchanted pool,for the frog grew very fast and very big, feeding on the magic skoshwhich is found nowhere else on earth except in that one pool. And theskosh not only made the frog very big, so that when he stood on his hindlegs he was tall as any Yip in the country, but it made him unusuallyintelligent, so that he soon knew more than the Yips did and was able toreason and to argue very well indeed.

No one could expect a frog with these talents to remain in a hiddenpool, so he finally got out of it and mingled with the people of thetableland, who were amazed at his appearance and greatly impressed byhis learning. They had never seen a frog before and the frog had neverseen a Yip before, but as there were plenty of Yips and only one frog,the frog became the most important. He did not hop any more, but stoodupright on his hind legs and dressed himself in fine clothes and sat inchairs and did all the things that people do; so he soon came to becalled the Frogman, and that is the only name he has ever had.

After some years had passed the people came to regard the Frogman astheir adviser in all matters that puzzled them. They brought all theirdifficulties to him and when he did not know anything he pretended toknow it, which seemed to answer just as well. Indeed, the Yips thoughtthe Frogman was much wiser than he really was, and he allowed them tothink so, being very proud of his position of authority.

There was another pool on the tableland, which was not enchanted butcontained good clear water and was located close to the dwellings. Herethe people built the Frogman a house of his own, close to the edge ofthe pool, so that he could take a bath or a swim whenever he wished. Heusually swam in the pool in the early morning, before anyone else wasup, and during the day he dressed himself in his beautiful clothes andsat in his house and received the visits of all the Yips who came to himto ask his advice.

The Frogman's usual costume consisted of knee-breeches made of yellowsatin plush, with trimmings of gold braid and jeweled knee-buckles; awhite satin vest with silver buttons in which were set solitaire rubies;a swallow-tailed coat of bright yellow; green stockings and red leathershoes turned up at the toes and having diamond buckles. He wore, when hewalked out, a purple silk hat and carried a gold-headed cane. Over hiseyes he wore great spectacles with gold rims, not because his eyes werebad but because the spectacles made him look wise, and so distinguishedand gorgeous was his appearance that all the Yips were very proud ofhim.

There was no King or Queen in the Yip Country, so the simple inhabitantsnaturally came to look upon the Frogman as their leader as well as theircounselor in all times of emergency. In his heart the big frog knew hewas no wiser than the Yips, but for a frog to know as much as a personwas quite remarkable, and the Frogman was shrewd enough to make thepeople believe he was far more wise than he really was. They neversuspected he was a humbug, but listened to his words with great respectand did just what he advised them to do.

Now, when Cayke the Cookie Cook raised such an outcry over the theft ofher diamond-studded dishpan, the first thought of the people was to takeher to the Frogman and inform him of the loss, thinking that of coursehe could tell her where to find it.

He listened to the story with his big eyes wide open behind hisspectacles, and said in his deep, croaking voice:

"If the dishpan is stolen, somebody must have taken it."

"But who?" asked Cayke, anxiously. "Who is the thief?"

"The one who took the dishpan, of course," replied the Frogman, andhearing this all the Yips nodded their heads gravely and said to oneanother:

"It is absolutely true!"

"But I want my dishpan!" cried Cayke.

"No one can blame you for that wish," remarked the Frogman.

"Then tell me where I may find it," she urged.

The look the Frogman gave her was a very wise look and he rose from hischair and strutted up and down the room with his hands under hiscoat-tails, in a very pompous and imposing manner. This was the firsttime so difficult a matter had been brought to him and he wanted time tothink. It would never do to let them suspect his ignorance and so hethought very, very hard how best to answer the woman without betrayinghimself.

"I beg to inform you," said he, "that nothing in the Yip Country hasever been stolen before."

"We know that, already," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook, impatiently.

"Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft becomes a very importantmatter."

"Well, where is my dishpan?" demanded the woman.

"It is lost; but it must be found. Unfortunately, we have no policemenor detectives to unravel the mystery, so we must employ other means toregain the lost article. Cayke must first write a Proclamation and tackit to the door of her house, and the Proclamation must read that whoeverstole the jeweled dishpan must return it at once."

"But suppose no one returns it," suggested Cayke.

"Then," said the Frogman, "that very fact will be proof that no one hasstolen it."

Cayke was not satisfied, but the other Yips seemed to approve the planhighly. They all advised her to do as the Frogman had told her to, soshe posted the sign on her door and waited patiently for someone toreturn the dishpan—which no one ever did.

Again she went, accompanied by a group of her neighbors, to the Frogman,who by this time had given the matter considerable thought. Said he toCayke:

"I am now convinced that no Yip has taken your dishpan, and, since it isgone from the Yip Country, I suspect that some stranger came from theworld down below us, in the darkness of night when all of us wereasleep, and took away your treasure. There can be no other explanationof its disappearance. So, if you wish to recover that golden,diamond-studded dishpan, you must go into the lower world after it."

This was indeed a startling proposition. Cayke and her friends went tothe edge of the flat tableland and looked down the steep hillside to theplains below. It was so far to the bottom of the hill that nothing therecould be seen very distinctly and it seemed to the Yips veryventuresome, if not dangerous, to go so far from home into an unknownland.

However, Cayke wanted her dishpan very badly, so she turned to herfriends and asked:

"Who will go with me?"

No one answered this question, but after a period of silence one of theYips said:

"We know what is here, on the top of this flat hill, and it seems to usa very pleasant place; but what is down below we do not know. Thechances are it is not so pleasant, so we had best stay where we are."

"It may be a far better country than this is," suggested the CookieCook.

"Maybe, maybe," responded another Yip, "but why take chances?Contentment with one's lot is true wisdom. Perhaps, in some othercountry, there are better cookies than you cook; but as we have alwayseaten your cookies, and liked them—except when they are burned on thebottom—we do not long for any better ones."

Cayke might have agreed to this argument had she not been so anxious tofind her precious dishpan, but now she exclaimed impatiently:

"You are cowards—all of you! If none of you are willing to explore withme the great world beyond this small hill, I will surely go alone."

"That is a wise resolve," declared the Yips, much relieved. "It is yourdishpan that is lost, not ours; and, if you are willing to risk yourlife and liberty to regain it, no one can deny you the privilege."

While they were thus conversing the Frogman joined them and looked downat the plain with his big eyes and seemed unusually thoughtful. In fact,the Frogman was thinking that he'd like to see more of the world. Herein the Yip Country he had become the most important creature of them alland his importance was getting to be a little tame. It would be nice tohave other people defer to him and ask his advice and there seemed noreason, so far as he could see, why his fame should not spreadthroughout all Oz.

He knew nothing of the rest of the world, but it was reasonable tobelieve that there were more people beyond the mountain where he nowlived than there were Yips, and if he went among them he could surprisethem with his display of wisdom and make them bow down to him as theYips did. In other words, the Frogman was ambitious to become stillgreater than he was, which was impossible if he always remained uponthis mountain. He wanted others to see his gorgeous clothes and listento his solemn sayings, and here was an excuse for him to get away fromthe Yip Country. So he said to Cayke the Cookie Cook:

"I will go with you, my good woman," which greatly pleased Caykebecause she felt the Frogman could be of much assistance to her in hersearch.

But now, since the mighty Frogman had decided to undertake the journey,several of the Yips who were young and daring at once made up theirminds to go along; so the next morning after breakfast the Frogman andCayke the Cookie Cook and nine of the Yips started to slide down theside of the mountain. The bramble-bushes and cactus plants were veryprickly and uncomfortable to the touch, so the Frogman commanded theYips to go first and break a path, so that when he followed them hewould not tear his splendid clothes. Cayke, too, was wearing her bestdress, and was likewise afraid of the thorns and prickers, so she keptbehind the Frogman.

They made rather slow progress and night overtook them before they werehalfway down the mountain side, so they found a cave in which theysought shelter until morning. Cayke had brought along a basket full ofher famous cookies, so they all had plenty to eat.

On the second day the Yips began to wish they had not embarked on thisadventure. They grumbled a good deal at having to cut away the thorns tomake the path for the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, for their ownclothing suffered many tears, while Cayke and the Frogman traveledsafely and in comfort.

"If it is true that anyone came to our country to steal your diamonddishpan," said one of the Yips to Cayke, "it must have been a bird, forno person in the form of a man, woman or child could have climbedthrough these bushes and back again."

"And, allowing he could have done so," said another Yip, "thediamond-studded gold dishpan would not have repaid him for his troublesand his tribulations."

"For my part," remarked a third Yip, "I would rather go back home anddig and polish some more diamonds, and mine some more gold, and makeyou another dishpan, than be scratched from head to heel by thesedreadful bushes. Even now, if my mother saw me, she would not know I amher son."

Cayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the Frogman. Althoughtheir journey was slow it was being made easy for them by the Yips, sothey had nothing to complain of and no desire to turn back.

Quite near to the bottom of the great hill they came upon a deep gulf,the sides of which were as smooth as glass. The gulf extended a longdistance—as far as they could see, in either direction—and although itwas not very wide it was far too wide for the Yips to leap across it.And, should they fall into it, it was likely they might never get outagain.

"Here our journey ends," said the Yips. "We must go back again."

Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.

"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again—and my heart will bebroken!" she sobbed.

The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his eye carefullymeasured the distance to the other side.

"Being a frog," said he, "I can leap, as all frogs do; and, being so bigand strong, I am sure I can leap across this gulf with ease. But therest of you, not being frogs, must return the way you came."

"We will do that with pleasure," cried the Yips and at once they turnedand began to climb up the steep mountain, feeling they had had quiteenough of this unsatisfactory adventure. Cayke the Cookie Cook did notgo with them, however. She sat on a rock and wept and wailed and wasvery miserable.

"Well," said the Frogman to her, "I will now bid you good-bye. If I findyour diamond decorated gold dishpan I will promise to see that it issafely returned to you."

"But I prefer to find it myself!" she said. "See here, Frogman, whycan't you carry me across the gulf when you leap it? You are big andstrong, while I am small and thin."

The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It was a fact thatCayke the Cookie Cook was not a heavy person. Perhaps he could leap thegulf with her on his back.

"If you are willing to risk a fall," said he, "I will make the attempt."

At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck with both herarms. That is, she grabbed him where his neck ought to be, for theFrogman had no neck at all. Then he squatted down, as frogs do whenthey leap, and with his powerful rear legs he made a tremendous jump.

Over the gulf he sailed, with the Cookie Cook on his back, and he hadleaped so hard—to make sure of not falling in—that he sailed over alot of bramble-bushes that grew on the other side and landed in a clearspace which was so far beyond the gulf that when they looked back theycould not see it at all.

Cayke now got off the Frogman's back and he stood erect again andcarefully brushed the dust from his velvet coat and rearranged his whitesatin necktie.

"I had no idea I could leap so far," he said wonderingly. "Leaping isone more accomplishment I can now add to the long list of deeds I amable to perform."

"You are certainly fine at leap-frog," said the Cookie Cook, admiringly;"but, as you say, you are wonderful in many ways. If we meet with anypeople down here I am sure they will consider you the greatest andgrandest of all living creatures."

"Yes," he replied, "I shall probably astonish strangers, because theyhave never before had the pleasure of seeing me. Also they will marvelat my great learning. Every time I open my mouth, Cayke, I am liableto say something important."

"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your mouth is so verywide and opens so far, for otherwise all the wisdom might not be able toget out of it."

"Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason," said the Frogman:"But come; let us now go on, for it is getting late and we must findsome sort of shelter before night overtakes us."

tented people who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn isa subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of theWinkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which part lies nearestthe Emerald City, there are beautiful farmhouses and roads, but as youtravel west you first come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyondwhich there is a rough country where few people live, and some of theseare quite unknown to the rest of the world. After passing through thisrude section of territory, which no one ever visits, you would come tostill another branch of the Winkie River, after crossing which you wouldfind another well-settled part of the Winkie Country, extending westwardquite to the Deadly Desert that surrounds all the Land of Oz andseparates that favored fairyland from the more common outside world. TheWinkies who live in this west section have many tin mines, from whichmetal they make a great deal of rich jewelry and other articles, all ofwhich are highly esteemed in the Land of Oz because tin is so bright andpretty, and there is not so much of it as there is of gold and silver.

Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields andgrow grains for food, and it was at one of these far west Winkie farmsthat the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they haddescended from the mountain of the Yips.

"Goodness me!" cried Nellary, the Winkie wife, when she saw the strangecouple approaching her house. "I have seen many queer creatures in theLand of Oz, but none more queer than this giant frog, who dresses likea man and walks on his hind legs. Come here, Wiljon," she called to herhusband, who was eating his breakfast, "and take a look at thisastonishing freak."

Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He was still standingin the doorway when the Frogman approached and said with a haughtycroak:

"Tell me, my good man, have you seen a diamond-studded gold dishpan?"

"No; nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster," replied Wiljon, in anequally haughty tone.

The Frogman stared at him and said:

"Do not be insolent, fellow!"

"No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook, hastily, "you must be very polite tothe great Frogman, for he is the wisest creature in all the world."

"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.

"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and struttedup and down, twirling his gold-headed cane very gracefully.

"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the wisestcreature in the world?" asked Wiljon.

"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook.

"Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is supposed to have thefinest brains in all Oz. The Wizard gave them to him, you know."

"Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously, "so I think theymust be better than any wizard brains. I am so wise that sometimes mywisdom makes my head ache. I know so much that often I have to forgetpart of it, since no one creature, however great, is able to contain somuch knowledge."

"It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom," remarked Wiljonreflectively, and eyeing the Frogman with a doubtful look. "It is mygood fortune to know very little."

"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is," said the CookieCook anxiously.

"I do not know even that," returned the Winkie. "We have trouble enoughin keeping track of our own dishpans, without meddling with the dishpansof strangers."

Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that they walk on and seekCayke's dishpan elsewhere. Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatlyimpressed by the great Frogman, which seemed to that personage asstrange as it was disappointing; but others in this unknown land mightprove more respectful.

"I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke, as they walkedalong a path. "If he could give a Scarecrow brains he might be able tofind my dishpan."

"Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully; "I am greater than any wizard.Depend on me. If your dishpan is anywhere in the world I am sure tofind it."

"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared the Cookie Cook in asorrowful voice.

For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked:

"Why do you attach so much importance to a dishpan?"

"It is the greatest treasure I possess," replied the woman. "It belongedto my mother and to all my grandmothers, since the beginning of time. Itis, I believe, the very oldest thing in all the Yip Country—or waswhile it was there—and," she added, dropping her voice to an awedwhisper, "it has magic powers!"

"In what way?" inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at thisstatement.

"Whoever has owned that dishpan has been a good cook, for one thing. Noone else is able to make such good cookies as I have cooked, as you andall the Yips know. Yet, the very morning after my dishpan was stolen, Itried to make a batch of cookies and they burned up in the oven! I madeanother batch that proved too tough to eat, and I was so ashamed of themthat I buried them in the ground. Even the third batch of cookies, whichI brought with me in my basket, were pretty poor stuff and no betterthan any woman could make who does not own my diamond-studded golddishpan. In fact, my good Frogman, Cayke the Cookie Cook will never beable to cook good cookies again until her magic dishpan is restored toher."

"In that case," said the Frogman with a sigh, "I suppose we must manageto find it."

can't find even a shadow of Ozma anywhere in the Em'rald City; and,wherever she's gone, she's taken her Magic Picture with her."

She was standing in the courtyard of the palace with Betsy and Trot,while Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, danced around the group, her hairflying in the wind.

"P'raps," said Scraps, still dancing, "someone has stolen Ozma."

"Oh, they'd never dare do that!" exclaimed tiny Trot.

"And stolen the Magic Picture, too, so the thing can't tell where sheis," added the Patchwork Girl.

"That's nonsense," said Dorothy. "Why, ev'ryone loves Ozma. There isn'ta person in the Land of Oz who would steal a single thing she owns."

"Huh!" replied the Patchwork Girl. "You don't know ev'ry person in theLand of Oz."

"Why don't I?"

"It's a big country," said Scraps. "There are cracks and corners in itthat even Ozma doesn't know of."

"The Patchwork Girl's just daffy," declared Betsy.

"No; she's right about that," replied Dorothy thoughtfully. "There arelots of queer people in this fairyland who never come near Ozma or theEm'rald City. I've seen some of 'em myself, girls; but I haven't seenall, of course, and there might be some wicked persons left in Oz,yet, though I think the wicked witches have all been destroyed."

Just then the Wooden Sawhorse dashed into the courtyard with the Wizardof Oz on his back.

"Have you found Ozma?" cried the Wizard when the Sawhorse stopped besidethem.

"Not yet," said Dorothy. "Doesn't Glinda know where she is?"

"No. Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic instruments are gone.Someone must have stolen them."

"Goodness me!" exclaimed Dorothy, in alarm. "This is the biggest steal Iever heard of. Who do you think did it, Wizard?"

"I've no idea," he answered. "But I have come to get my own bag of magictools and carry them to Glinda. She is so much more powerful than I thatshe may be able to discover the truth by means of my magic, quicker andbetter than I could myself."

"Hurry, then," said Dorothy, "for we're all getting terr'bly worried."

The Wizard rushed away to his rooms but presently came back with a long,sad face.

"It's gone!" he said.

"What's gone?" asked Scraps.

"My black bag of magic tools. Someone must have stolen it!"

They looked at one another in amazement.

"This thing is getting desperate," continued the Wizard. "All themagic that belongs to Ozma, or to Glinda, or to me, has been stolen."

"Do you suppose Ozma could have taken them, herself, for some purpose?"asked Betsy.

"No, indeed," declared the Wizard. "I suspect some enemy has stolen Ozmaand, for fear we would follow and recapture her, has taken all our magicaway from us."

"How dreadful!" cried Dorothy. "The idea of anyone wanting to injure ourdear Ozma! Can't we do anything to find her, Wizard?"

"I'll ask Glinda. I must go straight back to her and tell her that mymagic tools have also disappeared. The good Sorceress will be greatlyshocked, I know."

With this he jumped upon the back of the Sawhorse again and the quaintsteed, which never tired, dashed away at full speed.

The three girls were very much disturbed in mind. Even the PatchworkGirl was more quiet than usual and seemed to realize that a greatcalamity had overtaken them all. Ozma was a fairy of considerable powerand all the creatures in Oz, as well as the three mortal girls from theoutside world, looked upon her as their protector and friend. The ideaof their beautiful girl Ruler's being overpowered by an enemy anddragged from her splendid palace a captive was too astonishing for themto comprehend, at first. Yet what other explanation of the mystery couldthere be?

"Ozma wouldn't go away willingly, without letting us know about it,"asserted Dorothy; "and she wouldn't steal Glinda's Great Book ofRecords, or the Wizard's magic, 'cause she could get them any time, justby asking for 'em. I'm sure some wicked person has done all this."

"Someone in the Land of Oz?" asked Trot.

"Of course. No one could get across the Deadly Desert, you know, and noone but an Oz person could know about the Magic Picture and the Book ofRecords and the Wizard's magic, or where they were kept, and so be ableto steal the whole outfit before we could stop 'em. It must be someonewho lives in the Land of Oz."

"But who—who—who?" asked Scraps. "That's the question. Who?"

"If we knew," replied Dorothy, severely, "we wouldn't be standing here,doing nothing."

Just then two boys entered the courtyard and approached the group ofgirls. One boy was dressed in the fantastic Munchkin costume—a bluejacket and knickerbockers, blue leather shoes and a blue hat with ahigh peak and tiny silver bells dangling from its rim—and this was Ojothe Lucky, who had once come from the Munchkin Country of Oz and nowlived in the Emerald City. The other boy was an American, fromPhiladelphia, and had lately found his way to Oz in the company of Trotand Cap'n Bill. His name was Button-Bright; that is, everyone called himby that name, and knew no other.

Button-Bright was not quite as big as the Munchkin boy, but he wore thesame kind of clothes, only they were of different colors. As the twocame up to the girls, arm in arm, Button-Bright remarked:

"Hello, Dorothy. They say Ozma is lost."

"Who says so?" she asked.

"Everybody's talking about it, in the City," he replied.

"I wonder how the people found it out?" Dorothy asked.

"I know," said Ojo. "Jellia Jamb told them. She has been askingeverywhere if anyone has seen Ozma."

"That's too bad," observed Dorothy, frowning.

"Why?" asked Button-Bright.

"There wasn't any use making all our people unhappy, till we were deadcertain that Ozma can't be found."

"Pshaw," said Button-Bright, "It's nothing to get lost. I've been lostlots of times."

"That's true," admitted Trot, who knew that the boy had a habit ofgetting lost and then finding himself again; "but it's diff'rent withOzma. She's the Ruler of all this big fairyland and we're 'fraid thatthe reason she's lost is because somebody has stolen her away."

"Only wicked people steal," said Ojo. "Do you know of any wicked peoplein Oz, Dorothy?"

"No," she replied.

"They're here, though," cried Scraps, dancing up to them and thencircling around the group. "Ozma's stolen; someone in Oz stole her; onlywicked people steal; so someone in Oz is wicked!"

There was no denying the truth of this statement. The faces of all ofthem were now solemn and sorrowful.

"One thing is sure," said Button-Bright, after a time, "if Ozma has beenstolen, someone ought to find her and punish the thief."

"There may be a lot of thieves," suggested Trot gravely, "and in thisfairy country they don't seem to have any soldiers or policemen."

"There is one soldier," claimed Dorothy. "He has green whiskers and agun and is a Major-General; but no one is afraid of either his gun orhis whiskers, 'cause he's so tender-hearted that he wouldn't hurt afly."

"Well, a soldier's a soldier," said Betsy, "and perhaps he'd hurt awicked thief if he wouldn't hurt a fly. Where is he?"

"He went fishing about two months ago and hasn't come back yet,"explained Button-Bright.

"Then I can't see that he will be of much use to us in this trouble,"sighed little Trot. "But p'raps Ozma, who is a fairy, can get away fromthe thieves without any help from anybody."

"She might be able to," admitted Dorothy, reflectively, "but if shehad the power to do that, it isn't likely she'd have let herself bestolen. So the thieves must have been even more powerful in magic thanour Ozma."

There was no denying this argument and, although they talked the matterover all the rest of that day, they were unable to decide how Ozma hadbeen stolen against her will or who had committed the dreadful deed.

Toward evening the Wizard came back, riding slowly upon the Sawhorsebecause he felt discouraged and perplexed. Glinda came, later, in heraerial chariot drawn by twenty milk-white swans, and she also seemedworried and unhappy. More of Ozma's friends joined them and that eveningthey all had a long talk together.

"I think," said Dorothy, "we ought to start out right away in search ofour dear Ozma. It seems cruel for us to live comf'tably in her palacewhile she is a pris'ner in the power of some wicked enemy."

"Yes," agreed Glinda the Sorceress, "someone ought to search for her. Icannot go myself, because I must work hard in order to create some newinstruments of sorcery by means of which I may rescue our fair Ruler.But if you can find her, in the meantime, and let me know who has stolenher, it will enable me to rescue her much more quickly."

"Then we'll start to-morrow morning," decided Dorothy. "Betsy and Trotand I won't waste another minute."

"I'm not sure you girls will make good detectives," remarked the Wizard;"but I'll go with you, to protect you from harm and to give you myadvice. All my wizardry, alas, is stolen, so I am now really no more awizard than any of you; but I will try to protect you from any enemiesyou may meet."

"What harm could happen to us in Oz?" inquired Trot.

"What harm happened to Ozma?" returned the Wizard. "If there is an EvilPower abroad in our fairyland, which is able to steal not only Ozma andher Magic Picture, but Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic, andmy black bag containing all my tricks of wizardry, then that Evil Powermay yet cause us considerable injury. Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda,so no power can kill or destroy them; but you girls are all mortals, andso are Button-Bright and I, so we must watch out for ourselves."

"Nothing can kill me," said Ojo, the Munchkin boy.

"That is true," replied the Sorceress, "and I think it may be well todivide the searchers into several parties, that they may cover all theland of Oz more quickly. So I will send Ojo and Unc Nunkie and Dr. Piptinto the Munchkin Country, which they are well acquainted with; and Iwill send the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman into the Quadling Country,for they are fearless and brave and never tire; and to the GillikinCountry, where many dangers lurk, I will send the Shaggy Man and hisbrother, with Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead. Dorothy may make up her ownparty and travel into the Winkie Country. All of you must inquireeverywhere for Ozma and try to discover where she is hidden."

They thought this a very wise plan and adopted it without question. InOzma's absence Glinda the Good was the most important person in Oz andall were glad to serve under her direction.

castle, stopping on the way to instruct the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, whowere at that time staying at the college of Professor H. M. Wogglebug,T. E., and taking a course of his Patent Educational Pills. On hearingof Ozma's loss they started at once for the Quadling Country to searchfor her.

As soon as Glinda had left the Emerald City, Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Manand Jack Pumpkinhead, who had been present at the conference, begantheir journey into the Gillikin Country, and an hour later Ojo and UncNunkie joined Dr. Pipt and together they traveled toward the MunchkinCountry. When all these searchers were gone, Dorothy and the Wizardcompleted their own preparations.

The Wizard hitched the Sawhorse to the Red Wagon, which would seat fourvery comfortably. He wanted Dorothy, Betsy, Trot and the Patchwork Girlto ride in the wagon, but Scraps came up to them mounted upon the Woozy,and the Woozy said he would like to join the party. Now this Woozy was amost peculiar animal, having a square head, square body, square legs andsquare tail. His skin was very tough and hard, resembling leather, andwhile his movements were somewhat clumsy the beast could travel withremarkable swiftness. His square eyes were mild and gentle in expressionand he was not especially foolish. The Woozy and the Patchwork Girl weregreat friends and so the Wizard agreed to let the Woozy go with them.

Another great beast now appeared and asked to go along. This was noneother than the famous Cowardly Lion, one of the most interestingcreatures in all Oz. No lion that roamed the jungles or plains couldcompare in size or intelligence with this Cowardly Lion, who—like allanimals living in Oz—could talk, and who talked with more shrewdnessand wisdom than many of the people did. He said he was cowardly becausehe always trembled when he faced danger, but he had faced danger manytimes and never refused to fight when it was necessary. This Lion was agreat favorite with Ozma and always guarded her throne on stateoccasions. He was also an old companion and friend of the PrincessDorothy, so the girl was delighted to have him join the party.

"I'm so nervous over our dear Ozma," said the Cowardly Lion in his deep,rumbling voice, "that it would make me unhappy to remain behind whileyou are trying to find her. But do not get into any danger, I beg ofyou, for danger frightens me terribly."

"We'll not get into danger if we can poss'bly help it," promisedDorothy; "but we shall do anything to find Ozma, danger or no danger."

The addition of the Woozy and the Cowardly Lion to the party gave BetsyBobbin an idea and she ran to the marble stables at the rear of thepalace and brought out her mule, Hank by name. Perhaps no mule you eversaw was so lean and bony and altogether plain looking as this Hank, butBetsy loved him dearly because he was faithful and steady and not nearlyso stupid as most mules are considered to be. Betsy had a saddle forHank and declared she would ride on his back, an arrangement approved bythe Wizard because it left only four of the party to ride on the seatsof the Red Wagon—Dorothy and Button-Bright and Trot and himself.

An old sailor-man, who had one wooden leg, came to see them off andsuggested that they put a supply of food and blankets in the Red Wagon,inasmuch as they were uncertain how long they would be gone. Thissailor-man was called Cap'n Bill. He was a former friend and comrade ofTrot and had encountered many adventures in company with the littlegirl. I think he was sorry he could not go with her on this trip, butGlinda the Sorceress had asked Cap'n Bill to remain in the Emerald Cityand take charge of the royal palace while everyone else was away, andthe one-legged sailor had agreed to do so.

They loaded the back end of the Red Wagon with everything they thoughtthey might need, and then they formed a procession and marched from thepalace through the Emerald City to the great gates of the wall thatsurrounded this beautiful capital of the Land of Oz. Crowds of citizenslined the streets to see them pass and to cheer them and wish themsuccess, for all were grieved over Ozma's loss and anxious that she befound again.

First came the Cowardly Lion; then the Patchwork Girl riding upon theWoozy; then Betsy Bobbin on her mule Hank; and finally the Sawhorsedrawing the Red Wagon, in which were seated the Wizard and Dorothy andButton-Bright and Trot. No one was obliged to drive the Sawhorse, sothere were no reins to his harness; one had only to tell him which wayto go, fast or slow, and he understood perfectly.

It was about this time that a shaggy little black dog who had been lyingasleep in Dorothy's room in the palace woke up and discovered he waslonesome. Everything seemed very still throughout the great building andToto—that was the little dog's name—missed the customary chatter ofthe three girls. He never paid much attention to what was going onaround him and, although he could speak, he seldom said anything; so thelittle dog did not know about Ozma's loss or that everyone had gone insearch of her. But he liked to be with people, and especially with hisown mistress, Dorothy, and having yawned and stretched himself and foundthe door of the room ajar he trotted out into the corridor and wentdown the stately marble stairs to the hall of the palace, where he metJellia Jamb.

"Where's Dorothy?" asked Toto.

"She's gone to the Winkie Country," answered the maid.

"When?"

"A little while ago," replied Jellia.

Toto turned and trotted out into the palace garden and down the longdriveway until he came to the streets of the Emerald City. Here hepaused to listen and, hearing sounds of cheering, he ran swiftly alonguntil he came in sight of the Red Wagon and the Woozy and the Lion andthe Mule and all the others. Being a wise little dog, he decided not toshow himself to Dorothy just then, lest he be sent back home; but henever lost sight of the party of travelers, all of whom were so eager toget ahead that they never thought to look behind them.

When they came to the gates in the city wall the Guardian of the Gatescame out to throw wide the golden portals and let them pass through.

"Did any strange person come in or out of the city on the night beforelast, when Ozma was stolen?" asked Dorothy.

"No, indeed, Princess," answered the Guardian of the Gates.

"Of course not," said the Wizard. "Anyone clever enough to steal all thethings we have lost would not mind the barrier of a wall like this, inthe least. I think the thief must have flown through the air, forotherwise he could not have stolen from Ozma's royal palace and Glinda'sfar-away castle in the same night. Moreover, as there are no airships inOz and no way for airships from the outside world to get into thiscountry, I believe the thief must have flown from place to place bymeans of magic arts which neither Glinda nor I understand."

On they went, and before the gates closed behind them Toto managed tododge through them. The country surrounding the Emerald City was thicklysettled and for a while our friends rode over nicely paved roads whichwound through a fertile country dotted with beautiful houses, all builtin the quaint Oz fashion. In the course of a few hours, however, theyhad left the tilled fields and entered the Country of the Winkies, whichoccupies a quarter of all the territory in the Land of Oz but is not sowell known as many other parts of Ozma's fairyland. Long before nightthe travelers had crossed the Winkie River near to the Scarecrow'sTower (which was now vacant) and had entered the Rolling Prairie wherefew people live. They asked everyone they met for news of Ozma, but nonein this district had seen her or even knew that she had been stolen. Andby nightfall they had passed all the farmhouses and were obliged to stopand ask for shelter at the hut of a lonely shepherd. When they halted,Toto was not far behind. The little dog halted, too, and stealing softlyaround the party he hid himself behind the hut.

The shepherd was a kindly old man and treated the travelers with muchcourtesy. He slept out of doors, that night, giving up his hut to thethree girls, who made their beds on the floor with the blankets they hadbrought in the Red Wagon. The Wizard and Button-Bright also slept out ofdoors, and so did the Cowardly Lion and Hank the Mule. But Scraps andthe Sawhorse did not sleep at all and the Woozy could stay awake for amonth at a time, if he wished to, so these three sat in a little groupby themselves and talked together all through the night.

In the darkness the Cowardly Lion felt a shaggy little form nestlingbeside his own, and he said sleepily:

"Where did you come from, Toto?"

"From home," said the dog. "If you roll over, roll the other way, so youwon't smash me."

"Does Dorothy know you are here?" asked the Lion.

"I believe not," admitted Toto, and he added, a little anxiously: "Doyou think, friend Lion, we are now far enough from the Emerald City forme to risk showing myself? Or will Dorothy send me back because I wasn'tinvited?"

"Only Dorothy can answer that question," said the Lion. "For my part,Toto, I consider this affair none of my business, so you must act as youthink best."

Then the huge beast went to sleep again and Toto snuggled closer to hiswarm, hairy body and also slept. He was a wise little dog, in his way,and didn't intend to worry when there was something much better to do.

In the morning the Wizard built a fire, over which the girls cooked avery good breakfast.

Suddenly Dorothy discovered Toto sitting quietly before the fire and thelittle girl exclaimed:

"Goodness me, Toto! Where did you come from?"

"From the place you cruelly left me," replied the dog in a reproachfultone.

"I forgot all about you," admitted Dorothy, "and if I hadn't I'dprob'ly left you with Jellia Jamb, seeing this isn't a pleasure trip butstric'ly business. But, now that you're here, Toto, I s'pose you'll haveto stay with us, unless you'd rather go back home again. We may getourselves into trouble, before we're done, Toto."

"Never mind that," said Toto, wagging his tail. "I'm hungry, Dorothy."

"Breakfas'll soon be ready and then you shall have your share," promisedhis little mistress, who was really glad to have her dog with her. Sheand Toto had traveled together before, and she knew he was a good andfaithful comrade.

When the food was cooked and served the girls invited the old shepherdto join them in their morning meal. He willingly consented and whilethey ate he said to them:

"You are now about to pass through a very dangerous country, unless youturn to the north or to the south to escape its perils."

"In that case," said the Cowardly Lion, "let us turn, by all means, forI dread to face dangers of any sort."

"What's the matter with the country ahead of us?" inquired Dorothy.

"Beyond this Rolling Prairie," explained the shepherd, "are theMerry-Go-Round Mountains, set close together and surrounded by deepgulfs, so that no one is able to get past them. Beyond theMerry-Go-Round Mountains it is said the Thistle-Eaters and the Herkuslive."

"What are they like?" demanded Dorothy.

"No one knows, for no one has ever passed the Merry-Go-Round Mountains,"was the reply; "but it is said that the Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons totheir chariots and that the Herkus are waited upon by giants whom theyhave conquered and made their slaves."

"Who says all that?" asked Betsy.

"It is common report," declared the shepherd. "Everyone believes it."

"I don't see how they know," remarked little Trot, "if no one has beenthere."

"Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news,"suggested Betsy.

"If you escaped those dangers," continued the shepherd, "you mightencounter others, still more serious, before you came to the next branchof the Winkie River. It is true that beyond that river there lies a finecountry, inhabited by good people, and if you reached there you wouldhave no further trouble. It is between here and the west branch of theWinkie River that all dangers lie, for that is the unknown territorythat is inhabited by terrible, lawless people."

"It may be, and it may not be," said the Wizard. "We shall know when weget there."

"Well," persisted the shepherd, "in a fairy country such as ours everyundiscovered place is likely to harbor wicked creatures. If they werenot wicked, they would discover themselves, and by coming among ussubmit to Ozma's rule and be good and considerate, as are all the Ozpeople whom we know."

"That argument," stated the little Wizard, "convinces me that it is ourduty to go straight to those unknown places, however dangerous they maybe; for it is surely some cruel and wicked person who has stolen ourOzma, and we know it would be folly to search among good people for theculprit. Ozma may not be hidden in the secret places of the WinkieCountry, it is true, but it is our duty to travel to every spot, howeverdangerous, where our beloved Ruler is likely to be imprisoned."

"You're right about that," said Button-Bright approvingly. "Dangersdon't hurt us; only things that happen ever hurt anyone, and a danger isa thing that might happen, and might not happen, and sometimes don'tamount to shucks. I vote we go ahead and take our chances."

They were all of the same opinion, so they packed up and said good-byeto the friendly shepherd and proceeded on their way.

was all up-hill and down-hill, so for a while they made good progress. Noteven a shepherd was to be met with now and the farther they advanced themore dreary the landscape became. At noon they stopped for a "picnicluncheon," as Betsy called it, and then they again resumed theirjourney. All the animals were swift and tireless and even the CowardlyLion and the Mule found they could keep up with the pace of the Woozyand the Sawhorse.

It was the middle of the afternoon when first they came in sight of acluster of low mountains. These were cone-shaped, rising from broadbases to sharp peaks at the tops. From a distance the mountains appearedindistinct and seemed rather small—more like hills than mountains—butas the travelers drew nearer they noted a most unusual circ*mstance: thehills were all whirling around, some in one direction and some theopposite way.

"I guess those are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right," saidDorothy.

"They must be," said the Wizard.

"They go 'round, sure enough," added Trot, "but they don't seem verymerry."

There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to the rightand to the left, for miles and miles. How many rows there might be, nonecould tell, but between the first row of peaks could be seen otherpeaks, all steadily whirling around one way or another. Continuing toride nearer, our friends watched these hills attentively, until at last,coming close up, they discovered there was a deep but narrow gulf aroundthe edge of each mountain, and that the mountains were set so closetogether that the outer gulf was continuous and barred farther advance.

At the edge of the gulf they all dismounted and peered over into itsdepths. There was no telling where the bottom was, if indeed there wasany bottom at all. From where they stood it seemed as if the mountainshad been set in one great hole in the ground, just close enough togetherso they would not touch, and that each mountain was supported by a rockycolumn beneath its base which extended far down into the black pitbelow. From the land side it seemed impossible to get across the gulfor, succeeding in that, to gain a foothold on any of the whirlingmountains.

"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright.

"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.

"What, jump from here to that whirling hill?" cried the Lionindignantly. "I should say not! Even if I landed there, and could holdon, what good would it do? There's another spinning mountain beyond it,and perhaps still another beyond that. I don't believe any livingcreature could jump from one mountain to another, when both are whirlinglike tops and in different directions."

"I propose we turn back," said the Wooden Sawhorse, with a yawn of hischopped-out mouth, as he stared with his knot eyes at the Merry-Go-RoundMountains.

"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square head.

"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the Mule.

The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the seriousproblem that confronted them, would not allow themselves to despair.

"If we once get over these mountains," said Button-Bright, "we couldprobably get along all right."

"True enough," agreed Dorothy. "So we must find some way, of course, toget past these whirligig hills. But how?"

"I wish the Ork was with us," sighed Trot.

"But the Ork isn't here," said the Wizard, "and we must depend uponourselves to conquer this difficulty. Unfortunately, all my magic hasbeen stolen; otherwise I am sure I could easily get over the mountains."

"Unfortunately," observed the Woozy, "none of us has wings. And we're ina magic country without any magic."

"What is that around your waist, Dorothy?" asked the Wizard.

"That? Oh, that's just the Magic Belt I once captured from the NomeKing," she replied.

"A Magic Belt! Why, that's fine. I'm sure a Magic Belt would take youover these hills."

"It might, if I knew how to work it," said the little girl. "Ozma knowsa lot of its magic, but I've never found out about it. All I know isthat while I am wearing it nothing can hurt me."

"Try wishing yourself across, and see if it will obey you," suggestedthe Wizard.

"But what good would that do?" asked Dorothy. "If I got across itwouldn't help the rest of you, and I couldn't go alone among all thosegiants and dragons, while you stayed here."

"True enough," agreed the Wizard, sadly; and then, after looking aroundthe group, he inquired: "What is that on your finger, Trot?"

"A ring. The Mermaids gave it to me," she explained, "and if ever I'm introuble when I'm on the water I can call the Mermaids and they'll comeand help me. But the Mermaids can't help me on the land, you know,'cause they swim, and—and—they haven't any legs."

"True enough," repeated the Wizard, more sadly.

There was a big, broad-spreading tree near the edge of the gulf and asthe sun was hot above them they all gathered under the shade of the treeto study the problem of what to do next.

"If we had a long rope," said Betsy, "we could fasten it to this treeand let the other end of it down into the gulf and all slide down it."

"Well, what then?" asked the Wizard.

"Then, if we could manage to throw the rope up the other side,"explained the girl, "we could all climb it and be on the other side ofthe gulf."

"There are too many 'if's' in that suggestion," remarked the littleWizard. "And you must remember that the other side is nothing butspinning mountains, so we couldn't possibly fasten a rope to them—evenif we had one."

"That rope idea isn't half bad, though," said the Patchwork Girl, whohad been dancing dangerously near to the edge of the gulf.

"What do you mean?" asked Dorothy.

The Patchwork Girl suddenly stood still and cast her button eyes aroundthe group.

"Ha, I have it!" she exclaimed. "Unharness the Sawhorse, somebody; myfingers are too clumsy."

"Shall we?" asked Button-Bright doubtfully, turning to the others.

"Well, Scraps has a lot of brains, even if she is stuffed with cotton,"asserted the Wizard. "If her brains can help us out of this trouble weought to use them."

So he began unharnessing the Sawhorse, and Button-Bright and Dorothyhelped him. When they had removed the harness the Patchwork Girl toldthem to take it all apart and buckle the straps together, end to end.And, after they had done this, they found they had one very long strapthat was stronger than any rope.

"It would reach across the gulf, easily," said the Lion, who with theother animals had sat on his haunches and watched this proceeding. "ButI don't see how it could be fastened to one of those dizzy mountains."

Scraps had no such notion as that in her baggy head. She told them tofasten one end of the strap to a stout limb of the tree, pointing to onewhich extended quite to the edge of the gulf. Button-Bright did that,climbing the tree and then crawling out upon the limb until he wasnearly over the gulf. There he managed to fasten the strap, whichreached to the ground below, and then he slid down it and was caughtby the Wizard, who feared he might fall into the chasm.

Scraps was delighted. She seized the lower end of the strap and tellingthem all to get out of her way she went back as far as the strap wouldreach and then made a sudden run toward the gulf. Over the edge sheswung, clinging to the strap until it had gone as far as its lengthpermitted, when she let go and sailed gracefully through the air untilshe alighted upon the mountain just in front of them.

Almost instantly, as the great cone continued to whirl, she was sentflying against the next mountain in the rear, and that one had onlyturned halfway around when Scraps was sent flying to the next mountainbehind it. Then her patchwork form disappeared from view entirely andthe amazed watchers under the tree wondered what had become of her.

"She's gone, and she can't get back," said the Woozy.

"My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!" exclaimed the Lion.

"That was because they whirl so fast," the Wizard explained. "Scraps hadnothing to hold on to and so of course she was tossed from one hill toanother. I'm afraid we shall never see the poor Patchwork Girl again."

"I shall see her," declared the Woozy. "Scraps is an old friend ofmine and, if there are really Thistle-Eaters and Giants on the otherside of those tops, she will need someone to protect her. So, here Igo!"

He seized the dangling strap firmly in his square mouth and in the sameway that Scraps had done swung himself over the gulf. He let go thestrap at the right moment and fell upon the first whirling mountain.Then he bounded to the next one back of it—not on his feet but "allmixed up," as Trot said—and then he shot across to another mountain,disappearing from view just as the Patchwork Girl had done.

"It seems to work, all right," remarked Button-Bright. "I guess I'll tryit."

"Wait a minute," urged the Wizard. "Before any more of us make thisdesperate leap into the beyond, we must decide whether all will go, orif some of us will remain behind."

"Do you s'pose it hurt them much, to bump against those mountains?"asked Trot.

"I don't s'pose anything could hurt Scraps or the Woozy," said Dorothy,"and nothing can hurt me, because I wear the Magic Belt. So, as I'manxious to find Ozma, I mean to swing myself across, too."

"I'll take my chances," decided Button-Bright.

"I'm sure it will hurt dreadfully, and I'm afraid to do it," said theLion, who was already trembling; "but I shall do it if Dorothy does."

"Well, that will leave Betsy and the Mule and Trot," said the Wizard;"for of course, I shall go, that I may look after Dorothy. Do you twogirls think you can find your way back home again?" he asked, addressingTrot and Betsy.

"I'm not afraid; not much, that is," said Trot. "It looks risky, I know,but I'm sure I can stand it if the others can."

"If it wasn't for leaving Hank," began Betsy, in a hesitating voice; butthe Mule interrupted her by saying:

"Go ahead, if you want to, and I'll come after you. A mule is as braveas a lion, any day."

"Braver," said the Lion, "for I'm a coward, friend Hank, and you arenot. But of course the Sawhorse——"

"Oh, nothing ever hurts me," asserted the Sawhorse calmly. "There'snever been any question about my going. I can't take the Red Wagon,though."

"No, we must leave the wagon," said the Wizard; "and also we must leaveour food and blankets, I fear. But if we can defy these Merry-Go-RoundMountains to stop us we won't mind the sacrifice of some of ourcomforts."

"No one knows where we're going to land!" remarked the Lion, in a voicethat sounded as if he were going to cry.

"We may not land at all," replied Hank; "but the best way to find outwhat will happen to us is to swing across, as Scraps and the Woozy havedone."

"I think I shall go last," said the Wizard; "so who wants to go first?"

"I'll go," decided Dorothy.

"No, it's my turn first," said Button-Bright. "Watch me!"

Even as he spoke the boy seized the strap and after making a run swunghimself across the gulf. Away he went, bumping from hill to hill untilhe disappeared. They listened intently, but the boy uttered no cry untilhe had been gone some moments, when they heart a faint "Hullo-a!" as ifcalled from a great distance.

The sound gave them courage, however, and Dorothy picked up Toto andheld him fast under one arm while with the other hand she seized thestrap and bravely followed after Button-Bright.

When she struck the first whirling mountain she fell upon it quitesoftly, but before she had time to think she flew through the air andlit with a jar on the side of the next mountain. Again she flew, andalighted; and again, and still again, until after five successive bumpsshe fell sprawling upon a green meadow and was so dazed and bewilderedby her bumpy journey across the Merry-Go-Round Mountains that she layquite still for a time, to collect her thoughts. Toto had escaped fromher arms just as she fell, and he now sat beside her panting withexcitement.

Then Dorothy realized that someone was helping her to her feet, and herewas Button-Bright on one side of her and Scraps on the other, bothseeming to be unhurt. The next object her eyes fell upon was the Woozy,squatting upon his square back end and looking at her reflectively,while Toto barked joyously to find his mistress unhurt after herwhirlwind trip.

"Good!" said the Woozy; "here's another and a dog, both safe and sound.But, my word, Dorothy, you flew some! If you could have seen yourself,you'd have been absolutely astonished."

"They say 'Time flies,'" laughed Button-Bright; "but Time never made aquicker journey than that."

Just then, as Dorothy turned around to look at the whirling mountains,she was in time to see tiny Trot come flying from the nearest hill tofall upon the soft grass not a yard away from where she stood. Trot wasso dizzy she couldn't stand, at first, but she wasn't at all hurt andpresently Betsy came flying to them and would have bumped into theothers had they not retreated in time to avoid her.

Then, in quick succession, came the Lion, Hank and the Sawhorse,bounding from mountain to mountain to fall safely upon the greensward.Only the Wizard was now left behind and they waited so long for him thatDorothy began to be worried. But suddenly he came flying from thenearest mountain and tumbled heels over head beside them. Then they sawthat he had wound two of their blankets around his body, to keep thebumps from hurting him, and had fastened the blankets with some of thespare straps from the harness of the Sawhorse.

theirdizzy flights, and looked at one another in silent bewilderment. Butpresently, when assured that no one was injured, they grew more calm andcollected and the Lion said with a sigh of relief:

"Who would have thought those Merry-Go-Round Mountains were made ofrubber?"

"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot.

"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not havebounded so swiftly from one to another without getting hurt."

"That is all guesswork," declared the Wizard, unwinding the blanketsfrom his body, "for none of us stayed long enough on the mountains todiscover what they are made of. But where are we?"

"That's guesswork, too," said Scraps. "The shepherd said theThistle-Eaters live this side the mountains and are waited on bygiants."

"Oh, no," said Dorothy; "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, and theThistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots."

"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long tails,which would get in the way of the chariot wheels."

"And, if the Herkus have conquered the giants," said Trot, "they must beat least twice the size of giants. P'raps the Herkus are the biggestpeople in all the world!"

"Perhaps they are," assented the Wizard, in a thoughtful tone of voice."And perhaps the shepherd didn't know what he was talking about. Let ustravel on toward the west and discover for ourselves what the people ofthis country are like."

It seemed a pleasant enough country, and it was quite still and peacefulwhen they turned their eyes away from the silently whirling mountains.There were trees here and there and green bushes, while throughout thethick grass were scattered brilliantly colored flowers. About a mileaway was a low hill that hid from them all the country beyond it, sothey realized they could not tell much about the country until they hadcrossed the hill.

The Red Wagon having been left behind, it was now necessary to makeother arrangements for traveling. The Lion told Dorothy she could rideupon his back, as she had often done before, and the Woozy said he couldeasily carry both Trot and the Patchwork Girl. Betsy still had her mule,Hank, and Button-Bright and the Wizard could sit together upon the long,thin back of the Sawhorse, but they took care to soften their seat witha pad of blankets before they started. Thus mounted, the adventurersstarted for the hill, which was reached after a brief journey.

As they mounted the crest and gazed beyond the hill they discovered notfar away a walled city, from the towers and spires of which gay bannerswere flying. It was not a very big city, indeed, but its walls were veryhigh and thick and it appeared that the people who lived there musthave feared attack by a powerful enemy, else they would not havesurrounded their dwellings with so strong a barrier.

There was no path leading from the mountains to the city, and thisproved that the people seldom or never visited the whirling hills; butour friends found the grass soft and agreeable to travel over and withthe city before them they could not well lose their way. When they drewnearer to the walls, the breeze carried to their ears the sound ofmusic—dim at first but growing louder as they advanced.

"That doesn't seem like a very terr'ble place," remarked Dorothy.

"Well, it looks all right," replied Trot, from her seat on the Woozy,"but looks can't always be trusted."

"My looks can," said Scraps. "I look patchwork, and I am patchwork,and no one but a blind owl could ever doubt that I'm the PatchworkGirl." Saying which she turned a somersault off the Woozy and, alightingon her feet, began wildly dancing about.

"Are owls ever blind?" asked Trot.

"Always, in the daytime," said Button-Bright. "But Scraps can see withher button eyes both day and night. Isn't it queer?"

"It's queer that buttons can see at all," answered Trot; "but—goodgracious! what's become of the city?"

"I was going to ask that myself," said Dorothy. "It's gone!"

The animals came to a sudden halt, for the city had reallydisappeared—walls and all—and before them lay the clear, unbrokensweep of the country.

"Dear me!" exclaimed the Wizard. "This is rather disagreeable. It isannoying to travel almost to a place and then find it is not there."

"Where can it be, then?" asked Dorothy. "It cert'nly was there a minuteago."

"I can hear the music yet," declared Button-Bright, and when they alllistened the strains of music could plainly be heard.

"Oh! there's the city—over at the left," called Scraps, and turningtheir eyes they saw the walls and towers and fluttering banners far tothe left of them.

"We must have lost our way," suggested Dorothy.

"Nonsense," said the Lion. "I, and all the other animals, have beentramping straight toward the city ever since we first saw it."

"Then how does it happen—"

"Never mind," interrupted the Wizard, "we are no farther from it than wewere before. It is in a different direction, that's all; so let us hurryand get there before it again escapes us."

So on they went, directly toward the city, which seemed only a couple ofmiles distant; but when they had traveled less than a mile it suddenlydisappeared again. Once more they paused, somewhat discouraged, but in amoment the button eyes of Scraps again discovered the city, only thistime it was just behind them, in the direction from which they had come.

"Goodness gracious!" cried Dorothy. "There's surely something wrong withthat city. Do you s'pose it's on wheels, Wizard?"

"It may not be a city at all," he replied, looking toward it with aspeculative gaze.

"What could it be, then?"

"Just an illusion."

"What's that?" asked Trot.

"Something you think you see and don't see."

"I can't believe that," said Button-Bright. "If we only saw it, we mightbe mistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, it must be there."

"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl.

"Somewhere near us," he insisted.

"We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy, with a sigh.

So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it disappearedagain, only to reappear at the right of them. They were constantlygetting nearer to it, however, so they kept their faces turned toward itas it flitted here and there to all points of the compass. Presently theLion, who was leading the procession, halted abruptly and cried out:"Ouch!"

"What's the matter?" asked Dorothy.

"Ouch—ouch!" repeated the Lion, and leaped backward so suddenly thatDorothy nearly tumbled from his back. At the same time Hank the Muleyelled "Ouch!" almost as loudly as the Lion had done, and he alsopranced backward a few paces.

"It's the thistles," said Betsy. "They prick their legs."

Hearing this, all looked down, and sure enough the ground was thick withthistles, which covered the plain from the point where they stood way upto the walls of the mysterious city. No pathways through them could beseen at all; here the soft grass ended and the growth of thistles began.

"They're the prickliest thistles I ever felt," grumbled the Lion. "Mylegs smart yet from their stings, though I jumped out of them as quickas I could."

"Here is a new difficulty," remarked the Wizard in a grieved tone. "Thecity has stopped hopping around, it is true; but how are we to get toit, over this mass of prickers?"

"They can't hurt me," said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancingfearlessly and trampling among the thistles.

"Nor me," said the Wooden Sawhorse.

"But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers," asserted Dorothy,"and we can't leave them behind."

"Must we all go back?" asked Trot.

"Course not!" replied Button-Bright scornfully. "Always, when there'strouble, there's a way out of it, if you can find it."

"I wish the Scarecrow was here," said Scraps, standing on her head onthe Woozy's square back. "His splendid brains would soon show us how toconquer this field of thistles."

"What's the matter with your brains?" asked the boy.

"Nothing," she said, making a flip-flop into the thistles and dancingamong them without feeling their sharp points. "I could tell you inhalf a minute how to get over the thistles, if I wanted to."

"Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy.

"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied thePatchwork Girl.

"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked Betsyreproachfully.

"Yes, indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does atthe circus.

"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," declaredDorothy.

Scraps danced around them two or three times, without reply. Then shesaid:

"Don't look at me, you stupid folks; look at those blankets."

The Wizard's face brightened at once.

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of those blanketsbefore?"

"Because you haven't magic brains," laughed Scraps. "Such brains as youhave are of the common sort that grow in your heads, like weeds in agarden. I'm sorry for you people who have to be born in order to bealive."

But the Wizard was not listening to her. He quickly removed the blanketsfrom the back of the Sawhorse and spread one of them upon the thistles,just next the grass. The thick cloth rendered the prickers harmless, sothe Wizard walked over this first blanket and spread the second onefarther on, in the direction of the phantom city.

"These blankets," said he, "are for the Lion and the Mule to walk upon.The Sawhorse and the Woozy can walk on the thistles."

So the Lion and the Mule walked over the first blanket and stood uponthe second one until the Wizard had picked up the one they had passedover and spread it in front of them, when they advanced to that one andwaited while the one behind them was again spread in front.

"This is slow work," said the Wizard, "but it will get us to the cityafter a while."

"The city is a good half mile away, yet," announced Button-Bright.

"And this is awful hard work for the Wizard," added Trot.

"Why couldn't the Lion ride on the Woozy's back?" asked Dorothy. "It's abig, flat back, and the Woozy's mighty strong. Perhaps the Lion wouldn'tfall off."

"You may try it, if you like," said the Woozy to the Lion. "I can takeyou to the city in a jiffy and then come back for Hank."

"I'm—I'm afraid," said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big as theWoozy.

"Try it," pleaded Dorothy.

"And take a tumble among the thistles?" asked the Lion reproachfully.But when the Woozy came close to him the big beast suddenly bounded uponits back and managed to balance himself there, although forced to holdhis four legs so close together that he was in danger of toppling over.The great weight of the monster Lion did not seem to affect the Woozy,who called to his rider: "Hold on tight!" and ran swiftly over thethistles toward the city.

The others stood on the blankets and watched the strange sightanxiously. Of course the Lion couldn't "hold on tight" because there wasnothing to hold to, and he swayed from side to side as if likely to falloff any moment. Still, he managed to stick to the Woozy's back untilthey were close to the walls of the city, when he leaped to the ground.Next moment the Woozy came dashing back at full speed.

"There's a little strip of ground next the wall where there are nothistles," he told them, when he had reached the adventurers once more."Now, then, friend Hank, see if you can ride as well as the Lion did."

"Take the others first," proposed the Mule. So the Sawhorse and theWoozy made a couple of trips over the thistles to the city walls andcarried all the people in safety, Dorothy holding little Toto in herarms. The travelers then sat in a group on a little hillock, justoutside the wall, and looked at the great blocks of gray stone andwaited for the Woozy to bring Hank to them. The Mule was very awkwardand his legs trembled so badly that more than once they thought he wouldtumble off, but finally he reached them in safety and the entire partywas now reunited. More than that, they had reached the city that hadeluded them for so long and in so strange a manner.

"The gates must be around the other side," said the Wizard. "Let usfollow the curve of the wall until we reach an opening in it."

"Which way?" asked Dorothy.

"We must guess at that," he replied. "Suppose we go to the left? Onedirection is as good as another."

They formed in marching order and went around the city wall to the left.It wasn't a big city, as I have said, but to go way around it, outsidethe high wall, was quite a walk, as they became aware. But around it ouradventurers went, without finding any sign of a gateway or otheropening. When they had returned to the little mound from which they hadstarted, they dismounted from the animals and again seated themselves onthe grassy mound.

"It's mighty queer, isn't it?" asked Button-Bright.

"There must be some way for the people to get out and in," declaredDorothy. "Do you s'pose they have flying machines, Wizard?"

"No," he replied, "for in that case they would be flying all over theLand of Oz, and we know they have not done that. Flying machines areunknown here. I think it more likely that the people use ladders to getover the walls."

"It would be an awful climb, over that high stone wall," said Betsy.

"Stone, is it?" cried Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, forshe never tired and could never keep still for long.

"Course it's stone," answered Betsy scornfully. "Can't you see?"

"Yes," said Scraps, going closer, "I can see the wall, but I can'tfeel it." And then, with her arms outstretched, she did a very queerthing. She walked right into the wall and disappeared.

"For goodness sake!" cried Dorothy amazed, as indeed they all were.

"Come on!" she called. "It isn't there. There isn't any wall at all."

"What! No wall?" exclaimed the Wizard.

"Nothing like it," said Scraps. "It's a make-believe. You see it, but itisn't. Come on into the city; we've been wasting time."

With this she danced into the wall again and once more disappeared.Button-Bright, who was rather venturesome, dashed away after her andalso became invisible to them. The others followed more cautiously,stretching out their hands to feel the wall and finding, to theirastonishment, that they could feel nothing because nothing opposed them.They walked on a few steps and found themselves in the streets of a verybeautiful city. Behind them they again saw the wall, grim and forbiddingas ever; but now they knew it was merely an illusion, prepared to keepstrangers from entering the city.

But the wall was soon forgotten, for in front of them were a number ofquaint people who stared at them in amazement, as if wondering wherethey had come from. Our friends forgot their good manners, for a time,and returned the stares with interest, for so remarkable a people hadnever before been discovered in all the remarkable Land of Oz.

Their heads were shaped like diamonds and their bodies like hearts. Allthe hair they had was a little bunch at the tip top of theirdiamond-shaped heads and their eyes were very large and round and theirnoses and mouths very small. Their clothing was tight-fitting and ofbrilliant colors, being handsomely embroidered in quaint designs withgold or silver threads; but on their feet they wore sandals, with nostockings whatever. The expression of their faces was pleasant enough,although they now showed surprise at the appearance of strangers sounlike themselves, and our friends thought they seemed quite harmless.

"I beg your pardon," said the Wizard, speaking for his party, "forintruding upon you uninvited, but we are traveling on important businessand find it necessary to visit your city. Will you kindly tell us bywhat name your city is called?"

They looked at one another uncertainly, each expecting some other toanswer. Finally a short one whose heart-shaped body was very broadreplied:

"We have no occasion to call our city anything. It is where we live,that is all."

"But by what name do others call your city?" asked the Wizard.

"We know of no others, except yourselves," said the man. And then heinquired: "Were you born with those queer forms you have, or has somecruel magician transformed you to them from your natural shapes?"

"These are our natural shapes," declared the Wizard, "and we considerthem very good shapes, too."

The group of inhabitants was constantly being enlarged by others whojoined it. All were evidently startled and uneasy at the arrival ofstrangers.

"Have you a King?" asked Dorothy, who knew it was better to speak withsomeone in authority. But the man shook his diamond-like head.

"What is a King?" he asked.

"Isn't there anyone who rules over you?" inquired the Wizard.

"No," was the reply, "each of us rules himself; or, at least, tries todo so. It is not an easy thing to do, as you probably know."

The Wizard reflected.

"If you have disputes among you," said he, after a little thought, "whosettles them?"

"The High Coco-Lorum," they answered in a chorus.

"And who is he?"

"The judge who enforces the laws," said the man who had first spoken.

"Then he is the principal person here?" continued the Wizard.

"Well, I would not say that," returned the man in a puzzled way. "TheHigh Coco-Lorum is a public servant. However, he represents the laws,which we must all obey."

"I think," said the Wizard, "we ought to see your High Coco-Lorum andtalk with him. Our mission here requires us to consult one high inauthority, and the High Coco-Lorum ought to be high, whatever else heis."

The inhabitants seemed to consider this proposition reasonable, for theynodded their diamond-shaped heads in approval. So the broad one who hadbeen their spokesman said: "Follow me," and, turning, led the way alongone of the streets.

The entire party followed him, the natives falling in behind. Thedwellings they passed were quite nicely planned and seemed comfortableand convenient. After leading them a few blocks their conductor stoppedbefore a house which was neither better nor worse than the others. Thedoorway was shaped to admit the strangely formed bodies of these people,being narrow at the top, broad in the middle and tapering at the bottom.The windows were made in much the same way, giving the house a mostpeculiar appearance. When their guide opened the gate a music-boxconcealed in the gate-post began to play, and the sound attracted theattention of the High Coco-Lorum, who appeared at an open window andinquired:

"What has happened now?"

But in the same moment his eyes fell upon the strangers and he hastenedto open the door and admit them—all but the animals, which were leftoutside with the throng of natives that had now gathered. For a smallcity there seemed to be a large number of inhabitants, but they did nottry to enter the house and contented themselves with staring curiouslyat the strange animals. Toto followed Dorothy.

Our friends entered a large room at the front of the house, where theHigh Coco-Lorum asked them to be seated.

"I hope your mission here is a peaceful one," he said, looking a littleworried, "for the Thists are not very good fighters and object to beingconquered."

"Are your people called Thists?" asked Dorothy.

"Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi."

"Oh!"

"We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know," continued the HighCoco-Lorum.

"Do you really eat those prickly things?" inquired Button-Brightwonderingly.

"Why not?" replied the other. "The sharp points of the thistles cannothurt us, because all our insides are gold-lined."

"Gold-lined!"

"To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid gold, and wefind the thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a matter of fact, thereis nothing else in our country that is fit for food. All around the Cityof Thi grow countless thistles, and all we need do is to go and gatherthem. If we wanted anything else to eat we would have to plant it, andgrow it, and harvest it, and that would be a lot of trouble and make uswork, which is an occupation we detest."

"But, tell me, please," said the Wizard, "how does it happen that yourcity jumps around so, from one part of the country to another?"

"The city doesn't jump; it doesn't move at all," declared the HighCoco-Lorum. "However, I will admit that the land that surrounds it has atrick of turning this way or that; and so, if one is standing upon theplain and facing north, he is likely to find himself suddenly facingwest—or east—or south. But once you reach the thistle fields you areon solid ground."

"Ah, I begin to understand," said the Wizard, nodding his head. "But Ihave another question to ask: How does it happen that the Thists have noKing to rule over them?"

"Hush!" whispered the High Coco-Lorum, looking uneasily around to makesure they were not overheard. "In reality, I am the King, but the peopledon't know it. They think they rule themselves, but the fact is I haveeverything my own way. No one else knows anything about our laws, and soI make the laws to suit myself. If any oppose me, or question my acts, Itell them it's the law, and that settles it. If I called myself King,however, and wore a crown and lived in royal state, the people would notlike me, and might do me harm. As the High Coco-Lorum of Thi, I'mconsidered a very agreeable person."

"It seems a very clever arrangement," said the Wizard. "And now, as youare the principal person in Thi, I beg you to tell us if the Royal Ozmais a captive in your city."

"No," answered the diamond-headed man, "we have no captives. Nostrangers but yourselves are here, and we have never before heard of theRoyal Ozma."

"She rules all of Oz," said Dorothy, "and so she rules your city andyou, because you are in the Winkie Country, which is a part of the Landof Oz."

"It may be," returned the High Coco-Lorum, "for we do not studygeography and have never inquired whether we live in the Land of Oz ornot. And any Ruler who rules us from a distance, and unknown to us, iswelcome to the job. But what has happened to your Royal Ozma?"

"Someone has stolen her," said the Wizard. "Do you happen to have anytalented magician among your people—one who is especially clever, youknow?"

"No, none especially clever. We do some magic, of course, but it is allof the ordinary kind. I do not think any of us has yet aspired tostealing Rulers, either by magic or otherwise."

"Then we've come a long way for nothing!" exclaimed Trot regretfully.

"But we are going farther than this," asserted the Patchwork Girl,bending her stuffed body backward until her yarn hair touched the floorand then walking around on her hands with her feet in the air.

The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly.

"You may go farther on, of course," said he, "but I advise you not to.The Herkus live back of us, beyond the thistles and the twisting lands,and they are not very nice people to meet, I assure you."

"Are they giants?" asked Betsy.

"They are worse than that," was the reply. "They have giants for theirslaves and they are so much stronger than giants that the poor slavesdare not rebel, for fear of being torn to pieces."

"How do you know?" asked Scraps.

"Everyone says so," answered the High Coco-Lorum.

"Have you seen the Herkus yourself?" inquired Dorothy.

"No, but what everyone says must be true; otherwise, what would be theuse of their saying it?"

"We were told, before we got here, that you people hitch dragons to yourchariots," said the little girl.

"So we do," declared the High Coco-Lorum. "And that reminds me that Iought to entertain you, as strangers and my guests, by taking you for aride around our splendid City of Thi."

He touched a button and a band began to play; at least, they heard themusic of a band, but couldn't tell where it came from.

"That tune is the order to my charioteer to bring around mydragon-chariot," said the High Coco-Lorum. "Every time I give an orderit is in music, which is a much more pleasant way to address servantsthan in cold, stern words."

"Does this dragon of yours bite?" asked Button-Bright.

"Mercy, no! Do you think I'd risk the safety of my innocent people byusing a biting dragon to draw my chariot? I'm proud to say that mydragon is harmless—unless his steering-gear breaks—and he wasmanufactured at the famous dragon-factory in this City of Thi. Here hecomes and you may examine him for yourselves."

They heard a low rumble and a shrill squeaking sound and, going out tothe front of the house, they saw coming around the corner a car drawn bya gorgeous jeweled dragon, which moved its head to right and left andflashed its eyes like the headlights of an automobile and uttered agrowling noise as it slowly moved toward them.

When it stopped before the High Coco-Lorum's house Toto barked sharplyat the sprawling beast, but even tiny Trot could see that the dragon wasnot alive. Its scales were of gold and each one was set with sparklingjewels, while it walked in such a stiff, regular manner that it could benothing else than a machine. The chariot that trailed behind it waslikewise of gold and jewels, and when they entered it they found therewere no seats. Everyone was supposed to stand up while riding.

The charioteer was a little diamond-headed fellow who straddled the neckof the dragon and moved the levers that made it go.

"This," said the High Coco-Lorum, pompously, "is a wonderful invention.We are all very proud of our auto-dragons, many of which are in use byour wealthy inhabitants. Start the thing going, charioteer!"

The charioteer did not move.

"You forgot to order him in music," suggested Dorothy.

"Ah, so I did." He touched a button and a music-box in the dragon's headbegan to play a tune. At once the little charioteer pulled over a leverand the dragon began to move—very slowly and groaning dismally as itdrew the clumsy chariot after it. Toto trotted between the wheels. TheSawhorse, the Mule, the Lion and the Woozy followed after and had notrouble in keeping up with the machine; indeed, they had to go slow tokeep from running into it. When the wheels turned another music-boxconcealed somewhere under the chariot played a lively march tune whichwas in striking contrast with the dragging movement of the strangevehicle and Button-Bright decided that the music he had heard when theyfirst sighted this city was nothing else than a chariot plodding itsweary way through the streets.

All the travelers from the Emerald City thought this ride the mostuninteresting and dreary they had ever experienced, but the HighCoco-Lorum seemed to think it was grand. He pointed out the differentbuildings and parks and fountains, in much the same way that theconductor of an American "sight-seeing wagon" does, and being gueststhey were obliged to submit to the ordeal. But they became a littleworried when their host told them he had ordered a banquet prepared forthem in the City Hall.

"What are we going to eat?" asked Button-Bright suspiciously.

"Thistles," was the reply; "fine, fresh thistles, gathered this veryday."

Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in aprotesting voice:

"Our insides are not lined with gold, you know."

"How sad!" exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum; and then he added, as anafterthought: "But we can have the thistles boiled, if you prefer."

"I'm 'fraid they wouldn't taste good, even then," said little Trot."Haven't you anything else to eat?"

The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head.

"Nothing that I know of," said he. "But why should we have anythingelse, when we have so many thistles? However, if you can't eat what weeat, don't eat anything. We shall not be offended and the banquet willbe just as merry and delightful."

Knowing his companions were all hungry the Wizard said:

"I trust you will excuse us from the banquet, sir, which will be merryenough without us, although it is given in our honor. For, as Ozma isnot in your city, we must leave here at once and seek her elsewhere."

"Sure we must!" agreed Dorothy, and she whispered to Betsy and Trot:"I'd rather starve somewhere else than in this city, and—who knows?—wemay run across somebody who eats reg'lar food and will give us some."

So, when the ride was finished, in spite of the protests of the HighCoco-Lorum they insisted on continuing their journey.

"It will soon be dark," he objected.

"We don't mind the darkness," replied the Wizard.

"Some wandering Herku may get you."

"Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?" asked Dorothy.

"I cannot say, not having the honor of their acquaintance. But they aresaid to be so strong that, if they had any other place to stand upon,they could lift the world."

"All of them together?" asked Button-Bright wonderingly.

"Any one of them could do it," said the High Coco-Lorum.

"Have you heard of any magicians being among them?" asked the Wizard,knowing that only a magician could have stolen Ozma in the way she hadbeen stolen.

"I am told it is quite a magical country," declared the High Coco-Lorum,"and magic is usually performed by magicians. But I have never heardthat they have any invention or sorcery to equal our wonderfulauto-dragons."

They thanked him for his courtesy and, mounting their own animals, rodeto the farther side of the city and right through the Wall of Illusionout into the open country.

"I'm glad we got away so easily," said Betsy. "I didn't like thosequeer-shaped people."

"Nor did I," agreed Dorothy. "It seems dreadful to be lined with sheetsof pure gold and have nothing to eat but thistles."

"They seemed happy and contented, though," remarked the little Wizard,"and those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing more towish for."

the thistle fields they again found themselves upon theturning-lands, which swung them around in such a freakish manner thatfirst they were headed one way and then another. But by keeping the Cityof Thi constantly behind them the adventurers finally passed thetreacherous turning-lands and came upon a stony country where no grassgrew at all. There were plenty of bushes, however, and although it wasnow almost dark the girls discovered some delicious yellow berriesgrowing upon the bushes, one taste of which set them all to picking asmany as they could find. The berries relieved their pangs of hunger, fora time, and as it now became too dark to see anything they camped wherethey were.

The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets—all in a row—andthen the Wizard covered them with the other blanket and tucked them in.Button-Bright crawled under the shelter of some bushes and was asleep inhalf a minute. The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone andlooked at the stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerousadventure they had undertaken, wondering if they would ever be able tofind their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in a group by themselves,a little distance from the others.

"I've lost my growl!" said Toto, who had been very silent and sober allthat day. "What do you suppose has become of it?"

"If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be able totell you," remarked the Lion sleepily. "But, frankly, Toto, I supposedyou were taking care of it yourself."

"It's an awful thing to lose one's growl," said Toto, wagging his taildisconsolately. "What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn't you feelterrible?"

"My roar," replied the Lion, "is the fiercest thing about me. I dependon it to frighten my enemies so badly that they won't dare to fight me."

"Once," said the Mule, "I lost my bray, so that I couldn't call to Betsyto let her know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, you know,for I had not yet come into the Land of Oz, and I found it was certainlyvery uncomfortable not to be able to make a noise."

"You make enough noise now," declared Toto. "But none of you hasanswered my question: Where is my growl?"

"You may search me" said the Woozy. "I don't care for such thingsmyself."

"You snore terribly," asserted Toto.

"It may be," said the Woozy. "What one does when asleep one is notaccountable for. I wish you would wake me up, some time when I'msnoring, and let me hear the sound. Then I can judge whether it isterrible or delightful."

"It isn't pleasant, I assure you," said the Lion, yawning.

"To me it seems wholly unnecessary," declared Hank the Mule.

"You ought to break yourself of the habit," said the Sawhorse. "Younever hear me snore, because I never sleep. I don't even whinny, asthose puffy meat horses do. I wish that whoever stole Toto's growl hadtaken the Mule's bray and the Lion's roar and the Woozy's snore at thesame time."

"Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?"

"You have never lost it before, have you?" inquired the Sawhorse.

"Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the moon."

"Is your throat sore now?" asked the Woozy.

"No," replied the dog.

"I can't understand," said Hank, "why dogs bark at the moon. They can'tscare the moon, and the moon doesn't pay any attention to the bark. Sowhy do dogs do it?"

"Were you ever a dog?" asked Toto.

"No, indeed," replied Hank. "I am thankful to say I was created amule—the most beautiful of all beasts—and have always remained one."

The Woozy sat upon his square haunches to examine Hank with care.

"Beauty," said he, "must be a matter of taste. I don't say your judgmentis bad, friend Hank, or that you are so vulgar as to be conceited. Butif you admire big waggly ears, and a tail like a paint-brush, and hoofsbig enough for an elephant, and a long neck and a body so skinny thatone can count the ribs with one eye shut—if that's your idea of beauty,Hank—then either you or I must be much mistaken."

"You're full of edges," sneered the Mule. "If I were square, as you are,I suppose you'd think me lovely."

"Outwardly, dear Hank, I would," replied the Woozy. "But to be reallylovely one must be beautiful without and within."

The Mule couldn't deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted grunt androlled over so that his back was toward the Woozy. But the Lion,regarding the two calmly with his great yellow eyes, said to the dog:

"My dear Toto, our friends have taught us a lesson in humility. If theWoozy and the Mule are indeed beautiful creatures, as they seem tothink, you and I must be decidedly ugly."

"Not to ourselves," protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. "Youand I, Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a fine dog andyou are a fine lion. Only in point of comparison, one with another, canwe be properly judged, so I will leave it to the poor old Sawhorse todecide which is the most beautiful animal among us all. The Sawhorse iswood, so he won't be prejudiced and will speak the truth."

"I surely will," responded the Sawhorse, wagging his ears, which werechips set in his wooden head. "Are you all agreed to accept myjudgment?"

"We are!" they declared, each one hopeful.

"Then," said the Sawhorse, "I must point out to you the fact that youare all meat creatures, who tire unless they sleep, and starve unlessthey eat, and suffer from thirst unless they drink. Such animals must bevery imperfect, and imperfect creatures cannot be beautiful. Now, I ammade of wood."

"You surely have a wooden head," said the Mule.

"Yes, and a wooden body and wooden legs—which are as swift as the windand as tireless. I've heard Dorothy say that 'handsome is as handsomedoes,' and I surely perform my duties in a handsome manner. Therefore,if you wish my honest judgment, I will confess that among us all I amthe most beautiful."

The Mule snorted and the Woozy laughed; Toto had lost his growl andcould only look scornfully at the Sawhorse, who stood in his placeunmoved. But the Lion stretched himself and yawned, saying quietly:

"Were we all like the Sawhorse we would all be Sawhorses, which would betoo many of the kind; were we all like Hank, we would be a herd ofmules; if like Toto, we would be a pack of dogs; should we all becomethe shape of the Woozy, he would no longer be remarkable for his unusualappearance. Finally, were you all like me, I would consider you socommon that I would not care to associate with you. To be individual, myfriends, to be different from others, is the only way to becomedistinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, that wediffer from one another in form and in disposition. Variety is the spiceof life and we are various enough to enjoy one another's society; so letus be content."

"There is some truth in that speech," remarked Toto reflectively. "Buthow about my lost growl?"

"The growl is of importance only to you," responded the Lion, "so it isyour business to worry over the loss, not ours. If you love us, do notinflict your burdens on us; be unhappy all by yourself."

"If the same person stole my growl who stole Ozma," said the little dog,"I hope we shall find him very soon and punish him as he deserves. Hemust be the most cruel person in all the world, for to prevent a dogfrom growling when it is his nature to growl is just as wicked, in myopinion, as stealing all the magic in Oz."

dark, had wandered among the rocks and bushes all night long, with theresult that she was able to tell some good news the next morning.

"Over the crest of the hill before us," she said, "is a big grove oftrees of many kinds, on which all sorts of fruits grow. If you will gothere you will find a nice breakfast awaiting you."

This made them eager to start, so as soon as the blankets were foldedand strapped to the back of the Sawhorse they all took their places onthe animals and set out for the big grove Scraps had told them of.

As soon as they got over the brow of the hill they discovered it to be areally immense orchard, extending for miles to the right and left ofthem. As their way led straight through the trees they hurried forwardas fast as possible.

The first trees they came to bore quinces, which they did not like. Thenthere were rows of citron trees and then crab apples and afterward limesand lemons. But beyond these they found a grove of big golden oranges,juicy and sweet, and the fruit hung low on the branches, so they couldpluck it easily.

They helped themselves freely and all ate oranges as they continued ontheir way. Then, a little farther along, they came to some trees bearingfine red apples, which they also feasted on, and the Wizard stopped herelong enough to tie a lot of the apples in one end of a blanket.

"We do not know what will happen to us after we leave this delightfulorchard," he said, "so I think it wise to carry a supply of apples withus. We can't starve as long as we have apples, you know."

Scraps wasn't riding the Woozy just now. She loved to climb the treesand swing herself by the branches from one tree to another. Some of thechoicest fruit was gathered by the Patchwork Girl from the very highestlimbs and tossed down to the others.

Suddenly Trot asked: "Where's Button-Bright?" and when the others lookedfor him they found the boy had disappeared.

"Dear me!" cried Dorothy. "I guess he's lost again, and that will meanour waiting here until we can find him."

"It's a good place to wait," suggested Betsy, who had found a plum treeand was eating some of its fruit.

"How can you wait here, and find Button-Bright, at one and the sametime?" inquired the Patchwork Girl, hanging by her toes on a limb justover the heads of the three mortal girls.

"Perhaps he'll come back here," answered Dorothy.

"If he tries that, he'll prob'ly lose his way," said Trot. "I've knownhim to do that, lots of times. It's losing his way that gets him lost."

"Very true," said the Wizard. "So all the rest of you must stay herewhile I go look for the boy."

"Won't you get lost, too?" asked Betsy.

"I hope not, my dear."

"Let me go," said Scraps, dropping lightly to the ground. "I can't getlost, and I'm more likely to find Button-Bright than any of you."

Without waiting for permission she darted away through the trees andsoon disappeared from their view.

"Dorothy," said Toto, squatting beside his little mistress, "I've lostmy growl."

"How did that happen?" she asked.

"I don't know," replied Toto. "Yesterday morning the Woozy nearlystepped on me and I tried to growl at him and found I couldn't growl abit."

"Can you bark?" inquired Dorothy.

"Oh, yes, indeed!"

"Then never mind the growl," said she.

"But what will I do when I get home to the Glass Cat and the PinkKitten?" asked the little dog in an anxious voice.

"They won't mind, if you can't growl at them, I'm sure," said Dorothy."I'm sorry for you, of course, Toto, for it's just those things we can'tdo that we want to do most of all; but before we get back you may findyour growl again."

"Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?"

Dorothy smiled.

"Perhaps, Toto."

"Then he's a scoundrel!" cried the little dog.

"Anyone who would steal Ozma is as bad as bad can be," agreed Dorothy,"and when we remember that our dear friend, the lovely Ruler of Oz, islost, we ought not to worry over just a growl."

Toto was not entirely satisfied with this remark, for the more hethought upon his lost growl the more important his misfortune became.When no one was looking he went away among the trees and tried his bestto growl—even a little bit—but could not manage to do so. All he coulddo was bark, and a bark cannot take the place of a growl, so he sadlyreturned to the others.

Now, Button-Bright had no idea that he was lost, at first. He had merelywandered from tree to tree, seeking the finest fruit, until hediscovered he was alone in the great orchard. But that didn't worry himjust then and seeing some apricot trees farther on he went to them; thenhe discovered some cherry trees; just beyond these were some tangerines.

"We've found 'most ev'ry kind of fruit but peaches," he said tohimself, "so I guess there are peaches here, too, if I can find thetrees."

He searched here and there, paying no attention to his way, until hefound that the trees surrounding him bore only nuts. He put some walnutsin his pockets and kept on searching and at last—right among the nuttrees—he came upon one solitary peach tree. It was a graceful,beautiful tree, but although it was thickly leaved it bore no fruitexcept one large, splendid peach, rosy-cheeked and fuzzy and just rightto eat.

Button-Bright had some trouble getting that lonesome peach, for it hungfar out of reach; but he climbed the tree nimbly and crept out on thebranch on which it grew and after several trials, during which he was indanger of falling, he finally managed to pick it. Then he got back tothe ground and decided the fruit was well worth his trouble. It wasdelightfully fragrant and when he bit into it he found it the mostdelicious morsel he had ever tasted.

"I really ought to divide it with Trot and Dorothy and Betsy," he said;"but p'rhaps there are plenty more in some other part of the orchard."

In his heart he doubted this statement, for this was a solitary peachtree, while all the other fruits grew upon many trees set close to oneanother; but that one luscious bite made him unable to resist eating therest of it and soon the peach was all gone except the pit.

Button-Bright was about to throw this peach-pit away when he noticedthat it was of pure gold. Of course this surprised him, but so manythings in the Land of Oz were surprising that he did not give muchthought to the golden peach-pit. He put it in his pocket, however, toshow to the girls, and five minutes afterward had forgotten all aboutit.

For now he realized that he was far separated from his companions, andknowing that this would worry them and delay their journey, he began toshout as loud as he could. His voice did not penetrate very far amongall those trees, and after shouting a dozen times and getting no answerhe sat down on the ground and said:

"Well, I'm lost again. It's too bad, but I don't see how it can behelped."

As he leaned his back against a tree he looked up and saw a Bluefinchfly down from the sky and alight upon a branch just before him. The birdlooked and looked at him. First it looked with one bright eye and thenturned its head and looked at him with the other eye. Then,fluttering its wings a little, it said:

"Oho! so you've eaten the enchanted peach, have you?"

"Was it enchanted?" asked Button-Bright.

"Of course," replied the Bluefinch. "Ugu the Shoemaker did that."

"But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who eatsit?" questioned the boy.

"Ask Ugu the Shoemaker; he knows," said the bird, pruning its featherswith its bill.

"And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?"

"The one who enchanted the peach, and placed it here—in the exactcenter of the Great Orchard—so no one would ever find it. We birdsdidn't dare to eat it; we are too wise for that. But you areButton-Bright, from the Emerald City, and you—you—YOU ate theenchanted peach! You must explain to Ugu the Shoemaker why you didthat."

And then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flewaway and left him alone.

Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had eatenwas enchanted. It certainly had tasted very good and his stomach didn'tache a bit. So again he began to reflect upon the best way to rejoin hisfriends.

"Whichever direction I follow is likely to be the wrong one," he said tohimself, "so I'd better stay just where I am and let them findme—if they can."

A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a little wayoff to look at him.

"Don't be afraid," said Button-Bright; "I won't hurt you."

"Oh, I'm not afraid for myself," returned the White Rabbit. "It's youI'm worried about."

"Yes; I'm lost," said the boy.

"I fear you are, indeed," answered the Rabbit. "Why on earth did you eatthe enchanted peach?"

The boy looked at the excited little animal thoughtfully.

"There were two reasons," he explained. "One reason was that I likepeaches, and the other reason was that I didn't know it was enchanted."

"That won't save you from Ugu the Shoemaker," declared the White Rabbitand it scurried away before the boy could ask any more questions.

"Rabbits and birds," he thought, "are timid creatures and seem afraid ofthis shoemaker—whoever he may be. If there was another peach half asgood as that other, I'd eat it in spite of a dozen enchantments or ahundred shoemakers!"

Just then Scraps came dancing along and saw him sitting at the foot ofthe tree.

"Oh, here you are!" she said. "Up to your old tricks, eh? Don't you knowit's impolite to get lost and keep everybody waiting for you? Comealong, and I'll lead you back to Dorothy and the others."

Button-Bright rose slowly to accompany her.

"That wasn't much of a loss," he said cheerfully. "I haven't been gonehalf a day, so there's no harm done."

Dorothy, however, when the boy rejoined the party, gave him a goodscolding.

"When we're doing such an important thing as searching for Ozma," saidshe, "it's naughty for you to wander away and keep us from getting on.S'pose she's a pris'ner—in a dungeon cell!—do you want to keep ourdear Ozma there any longer than we can help?"

"If she's in a dungeon cell, how are you going to get her out?" inquiredthe boy.

"Never you mind; we'll leave that to the Wizard; he's sure to find away."

The Wizard said nothing, for he realized that without his magic tools hecould do no more than any other person. But there was no use remindinghis companions of that fact; it might discourage them.

"The important thing just now," he remarked, "is to find Ozma; and, asour party is again happily reunited, I propose we move on."

As they came to the edge of the Great Orchard the sun was setting andthey knew it would soon be dark. So it was decided to camp under thetrees, as another broad plain was before them. The Wizard spread theblankets on a bed of soft leaves and presently all of them except Scrapsand the Sawhorse were fast asleep. Toto snuggled close to his friend theLion, and the Woozy snored so loudly that the Patchwork Girl covered hissquare head with her apron to deaden the sound.

went to the edge of the Great Orchard and looked across the plain.Something glittered in the far distance.

"That looks like another city," she said half aloud.

"And another city it is," declared Scraps, who had crept to Trot's sideunheard, for her stuffed feet made no sound. "The Sawhorse and I made ajourney in the dark, while you were all asleep, and we found over therea bigger city than Thi. There's a wall around it, too, but it has gatesand plenty of pathways."

"Did you go in?" asked Trot.

"No, for the gates were locked and the wall was a real wall. So we cameback here again. It isn't far to the city. We can reach it in two hoursafter you've had your breakfasts."

Trot went back and, finding the other girls now awake, told them whatScraps had said. So they hurriedly ate some fruit—there were plenty ofplums and fijoas in this part of the orchard—and then they mounted theanimals and set out upon the journey to the strange city. Hank the Mulehad breakfasted on grass and the Lion had stolen away and found abreakfast to his liking; he never told what it was, but Dorothy hopedthe little rabbits and the field mice had kept out of his way. Shewarned Toto not to chase birds and gave the dog some apple, with whichhe was quite content. The Woozy was as fond of fruit as of any otherfood, except honey, and the Sawhorse never ate at all.

Except for their worry over Ozma they were all in good spirits as theyproceeded swiftly over the plain. Toto still worried over his lostgrowl, but like a wise little dog kept his worry to himself. Before longthe city grew nearer and they could examine it with interest.

In outward appearance the place was more imposing than Thi, and it was asquare city, with a square, four-sided wall around it and on each sidewas a square gate of burnished copper. Everything about the city lookedsolid and substantial; there were no banners flying and the towers thatrose above the city wall seemed bare of any ornament whatever.

A path led from the fruit orchard directly to one of the city gates,showing that the inhabitants preferred fruit to thistles. Our friendsfollowed this path to the gate, which they found fast shut. But theWizard advanced and pounded upon it with his fist, saying in a loudvoice: "Open!"

At once there rose above the great wall a row of immense heads, all ofwhich looked down at them as if to see who was intruding. The size ofthese heads was astonishing and our friends at once realized that theybelonged to giants, who were standing within the city. All had thick,bushy hair and whiskers, on some the hair being white and on othersblack or red or yellow, while the hair of a few was just turning gray,showing that the giants were of all ages. However fierce the heads mightseem the eyes were mild in expression, as if the creatures had been longsubdued, and their faces expressed patience rather than ferocity.

"What's wanted?" asked one old giant, in a low, grumbling voice.

"We are strangers and we wish to enter the city," replied the Wizard.

"Do you come in war or peace?" asked another.

"In peace, of course," retorted the Wizard, and he added impatiently:"Do we look like an army of conquest?"

"No," said the first giant who had spoken, "you look like innocenttramps; but one never can tell by appearances. Wait here until we reportto our masters. No one can enter here without the permission of Vig, theCzarover."

"Who's that?" inquired Dorothy. But the heads had all bobbed down anddisappeared behind the wall, so there was no answer.

They waited a long time before the gate rolled back with a rumblingsound and a loud voice cried: "Enter!" But they lost no time in takingadvantage of the invitation.

On either side of the broad street that led into the city from the gatestood a row of huge giants—twenty of them on a side and all standing soclose together that their elbows touched. They wore uniforms of blue andyellow and were armed with clubs as big around as tree-trunks. Eachgiant had around his neck a broad band of gold, riveted on, to show hewas a slave.

As our friends entered, riding upon the Lion, the Woozy, the Sawhorseand the Mule, the giants half turned and walked in two files on eitherside of them, as if escorting them on their way. It looked to Dorothy asif all her party had been made prisoners, for even mounted on theiranimals their heads scarcely reached to the knees of the marchinggiants. The girls and Button-Bright were anxious to know what sort of acity they had entered, and what the people were like who had made thesepowerful creatures their slaves. Through the legs of the giants, as theywalked, Dorothy could see rows of houses on each side the street andthrongs of people standing on the sidewalks; but the people were ofordinary size and the only remarkable thing about them was the fact thatthey were dreadfully lean and thin. Between their skin and their bonesthere seemed to be little or no flesh, and they were mostlystoop-shouldered and weary looking, even to the little children.

More and more Dorothy wondered how and why the great giants had eversubmitted to become slaves of such skinny, languid masters, but therewas no chance to question anyone until they arrived at a big palacelocated in the heart of the city. Here the giants formed lines to theentrance and stood still while our friends rode into the courtyard ofthe palace. Then the gates closed behind them and before them was askinny little man who bowed low and said in a sad voice:

"If you will be so obliging as to dismount, it will give me pleasure tolead you into the presence of the World's Most Mighty Ruler, Vig theCzarover."

"I don't believe it!" said Dorothy indignantly.

"What don't you believe?" asked the man.

"I don't believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our Ozma."

"He wouldn't hold a candle under any circ*mstances, or to any livingperson," replied the man very seriously, "for he has slaves to do suchthings and the Mighty Vig is too dignified to do anything that otherscan do for him. He even obliges a slave to sneeze for him, if ever hecatches cold. However, if you dare to face our powerful ruler, followme."

"We dare anything," said the Wizard, "so go ahead."

Through several marble corridors having lofty ceilings they passed,finding each corridor and doorway guarded by servants; but theseservants of the palace were of the people and not giants, and they wereso thin that they almost resembled skeletons. Finally they entered agreat circular room with a high domed ceiling where the Czarover sat ona throne cut from a solid block of white marble and decorated withpurple silk hangings and gold tassels.

The ruler of these people was combing his eyebrows when our friendsentered his throne-room and stood before him, but he put the comb in hispocket and examined the strangers with evident curiosity. Then he said:

"Dear me, what a surprise! You have really shocked me. For no outsiderhas ever before come to our City of Herku, and I cannot imagine whyyou have ventured to do so."

"We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz," repliedthe Wizard.

"Do you see her anywhere around here?" asked the Czarover.

"Not yet, Your Majesty; but perhaps you may tell us where she is."

"No; I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I find themhard to manage because they are so tremendously strong."

"They don't look very strong," said Dorothy. "It seems as if a good windwould blow 'em way out of the city, if it wasn't for the wall."

"Just so—just so," admitted the Czarover. "They really look that way,don't they? But you must never trust to appearances, which have a way offooling one. Perhaps you noticed that I prevented you from meeting anyof my people. I protected you with my giants while you were on the wayfrom the gates to my palace, so that not a Herku got near you."

"Are your people so dangerous, then?" asked the Wizard.

"To strangers, yes; but only because they are so friendly. For, if theyshake hands with you, they are likely to break your arms or crush yourfingers to a jelly."

"Why?" asked Button-Bright.

"Because we are the strongest people in all the world."

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the boy, "that's bragging. You prob'ly don't knowhow strong other people are. Why, once I knew a man in Philadelphi' whocould bend iron bars with just his hands!"

"But—mercy me!—it's no trick to bend iron bars," said His Majesty."Tell me, could this man crush a block of stone with his bare hands?"

"No one could do that," declared the boy.

"If I had a block of stone I'd show you," said the Czarover, lookingaround the room. "Ah, here is my throne. The back is too high, anyhow,so I'll just break off a piece of that."

He rose to his feet and tottered in an uncertain way around the throne.Then he took hold of the back and broke off a piece of marble over afoot thick.

"This," said he, coming back to his seat, "is very solid marble and muchharder than ordinary stone. Yet I can crumble it easily with myfingers—a proof that I am very strong."

Even as he spoke he began breaking off chunks of marble and crumblingthem as one would a bit of earth. The Wizard was so astonished that hetook a piece in his own hands and tested it, finding it very hardindeed.

Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed:

"Oh, Your Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?"

"How dare you interrupt me?" asked the Czarover, and grasping theimmense giant by one of his legs he raised him in the air and threw himheadfirst out of an open window.

"Now, tell me," he said, turning to Button-Bright, "could your man inPhiladelphia crumble marble in his fingers?"

"I guess not," said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinnymonarch's strength.

"What makes you so strong?" inquired Dorothy.

"It's the zosozo," he explained, "which is an invention of my own. I andall my people eat zosozo, and it gives us tremendous strength. Would youlike to eat some?"

"No, thank you," replied the girl. "I—I don't want to get so thin."

"Well, of course one can't have strength and flesh at the same time,"said the Czarover. "Zosozo is pure energy, and it's the only compound ofits sort in existence. I never allow our giants to have it, you know, orthey would soon become our masters, since they are bigger than we; so Ikeep all the stuff locked up in my private laboratory. Once a year Ifeed a teaspoonful of it to each of my people—men, women andchildren—so every one of them is nearly as strong as I am. Wouldn'tyou like a dose, sir?" he asked, turning to the Wizard.

"Well," said the Wizard, "if you would give me a little zosozo in abottle, I'd like to take it with me on my travels. It might come handy,on occasion."

"To be sure. I'll give you enough for six doses," promised the Czarover."But don't take more than a teaspoonful at a time. Once Ugu theShoemaker took two teaspoonsful, and it made him so strong that when heleaned against the city wall he pushed it over, and we had to build itup again."

"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" asked Button-Bright curiously, for he nowremembered that the bird and the rabbit had claimed Ugu the Shoemakerhad enchanted the peach he had eaten.

"Why, Ugu is a great magician, who used to live here. But he's goneaway, now," replied the Czarover.

"Where has he gone?" asked the Wizard quickly.

"I am told he lives in a wickerwork castle in the mountains to the westof here. You see, Ugu became such a powerful magician that he didn'tcare to live in our city any longer, for fear we would discover some ofhis secrets. So he went to the mountains and built him a splendidwicker castle, which is so strong that even I and my people could notbatter it down, and there he lives all by himself."

"This is good news," declared the Wizard, "for I think this is just themagician we are searching for. But why is he called Ugu the Shoemaker?"

"Once he was a very common citizen here and made shoes for a living,"replied the monarch of Herku. "But he was descended from the greatestwizard and sorcerer who has ever lived—in this or in any othercountry—and one day Ugu the Shoemaker discovered all the magical booksand recipes of his famous great-grandfather, which had been hidden awayin the attic of his house. So he began to study the papers and books andto practice magic, and in time he became so skillful that, as I said, hescorned our city and built a solitary castle for himself."

"Do you think," asked Dorothy anxiously, "that Ugu the Shoemaker wouldbe wicked enough to steal our Ozma of Oz?"

"And the Magic Picture?" asked Trot.

"And the Great Book of Records of Glinda the Good?" asked Betsy.

"And my own magic tools?" asked the Wizard.

"Well," replied the Czarover, "I won't say that Ugu is wicked, exactly,but he is very ambitious to become the most powerful magician in theworld, and so I suppose he would not be too proud to steal any magicthings that belonged to anybody else—if he could manage to do so."

"But how about Ozma? Why would he wish to steal her?" questionedDorothy.

"Don't ask me, my dear. Ugu doesn't tell me why he does things, I assureyou."

"Then we must go and ask him ourselves," declared the little girl.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," advised the Czarover, looking firstat the three girls and then at the boy and the little Wizard and finallyat the stuffed Patchwork Girl. "If Ugu has really stolen your Ozma, hewill probably keep her a prisoner, in spite of all your threats orentreaties. And, with all his magical knowledge, he would be a dangerousperson to attack. Therefore, if you are wise, you will go home again andfind a new Ruler for the Emerald City and the Land of Oz. But perhaps itisn't Ugu the Shoemaker who has stolen your Ozma."

"The only way to settle that question," replied the Wizard, "is to go toUgu's castle and see if Ozma is there. If she is, we will report thematter to the great Sorceress, Glinda the Good, and I'm pretty sure shewill find a way to rescue our darling ruler from the Shoemaker."

"Well, do as you please," said the Czarover. "But, if you are alltransformed into hummingbirds or caterpillars, don't blame me for notwarning you."

They stayed the rest of that day in the City of Herku and were fed atthe royal table of the Czarover and given sleeping rooms in his palace.The strong monarch treated them very nicely and gave the Wizard a littlegolden vial of zosozo, to use if ever he or any of his party wished toacquire great strength.

Even at the last the Czarover tried to persuade them not to go near Uguthe Shoemaker, but they were resolved on the venture and the nextmorning bade the friendly monarch a cordial good-bye and, mounting upontheir animals, left the Herkus and the City of Herku and headed for themountains that lay to the west.

Cayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of thediamond-studded gold dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the samenight that Ozma had disappeared from the Emerald City. But you mustremember that while the Frogman and the Cookie Cook were preparing todescend from their mountain-top, and even while on their way to thefarmhouse of Wiljon the Winkie, Dorothy and the Wizard and their friendswere encountering the adventures we have just related.

So it was that on the very morning when the travelers from the EmeraldCity bade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, Cayke and theFrogman awoke in a grove in which they had passed the night sleeping onbeds of leaves. There were plenty of farmhouses in the neighborhood, butno one seemed to welcome the puffy, haughty Frogman or the littledried-up Cookie Cook, and so they slept comfortably enough underneaththe trees of the grove.

The Frogman wakened first, on this morning, and after going to the treewhere Cayke slept and finding her still wrapt in slumber, he decided totake a little walk and seek some breakfast. Coming to the edge of thegrove he observed, half a mile away, a pretty yellow house that wassurrounded by a yellow picket fence, so he walked toward this house andon entering the yard found a Winkie woman picking up sticks with whichto build a fire to cook her morning meal.

"For goodness sakes!" she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman, "what are youdoing out of your frog-pond?"

"I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good woman," hereplied, with an air of great dignity.

"You won't find it here, then," said she. "Our dishpans are tin, andthey're good enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and leave mealone."

She spoke rather crossly and with a lack of respect that greatly annoyedthe Frogman.

"Allow me to tell you, madam," he said, "that although I am a frog I amthe Greatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may add that I possessmuch more wisdom than any Winkie—man or woman—in this land. Wherever Igo, people fall on their knees before me and render homage to the GreatFrogman! No one else knows so much as I; no one else is so grand—somagnificent!"

"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where yourdishpan is, instead of chasing around the country after it?"

"Presently," he answered, "I am going where it is; but just now I amtraveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by asking youfor something to eat."

"Oho! the Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick upthese sticks and help me to build the fire," said the womancontemptuously.

"Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?" he exclaimed in horror. "In theYip Country, where I am more honored and powerful than any King couldbe, people weep with joy when I ask them to feed me."

"Then that's the place to go for your breakfast," declared the woman.

"I fear you do not realize my importance," urged the Frogman. "Exceedingwisdom renders me superior to menial duties."

"It's a great wonder to me," remarked the woman, carrying her sticks tothe house, "that your wisdom doesn't inform you that you'll get nobreakfast here," and she went in and slammed the door behind her.

The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak ofindignation and turned away. After going a short distance he came upon afaint path which led across a meadow in the direction of a grove ofpretty trees, and thinking this circle of evergreens must surround ahouse—where perhaps he would be kindly received—he decided to followthe path. And by and by he came to the trees, which were set closetogether, and pushing aside some branches he found no house inside thecircle, but instead a very beautiful pond of clear water.

Now the Frogman, although he was so big and so well educated and nowaped the ways and customs of human beings, was still a frog. As he gazedat this solitary, deserted pond, his love for water returned to him withirresistible force.

"If I cannot get a breakfast I may at least have a fine swim," said he,and pushing his way between the trees he reached the bank. There he tookoff his fine clothing, laying his shiny purple hat and his gold-headedcane beside it. A moment later he sprang with one leap into the waterand dived to the very bottom of the pond.

The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, rough skin,and the Frogman swam around the pond several times before he stopped torest. Then he floated upon the surface and examined the pond with somecuriosity. The bottom and sides were all lined with glossy tiles of alight pink color; just one place in the bottom, where the water bubbledup from a hidden spring, had been left free. On the banks the greengrass grew to the edge of the pink tiling.

And now, as the Frogman examined the place, he found that on one sidethe pool, just above the water line, had been set a golden plate onwhich some words were deeply engraved. He swam toward this plate and onreaching it read the following inscription:

This is
THE TRUTH POND
Whoever bathes in this
water must always
afterward tell
THE TRUTH

This statement startled the Frogman. It even worried him, so that heleaped upon the bank and hurriedly began to dress himself.

"A great misfortune has befallen me," he told himself, "for hereafter Icannot tell people I am wise, since it is not the truth. The truth isthat my boasted wisdom is all a sham, assumed by me to deceive peopleand make them defer to me. In truth, no living creature can know muchmore than his fellows, for one may know one thing, and another knowanother thing, so that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout the world.But—ah, me!—what a terrible fate will now be mine. Even Cayke theCookie Cook will soon discover that my knowledge is no greater than herown; for having bathed in the enchanted water of the Truth Pond, I canno longer deceive her or tell a lie."

More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went back tothe grove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now awake andwashing her face in a tiny brook.

"Where has Your Honor been?" she asked.

"To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat," said he, "but the womanrefused me."

"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "But never mind; there are other houses,where the people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature in all theWorld."

"Do you mean yourself?" he asked.

"No, I mean you."

The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but struggled hardagainst it. His reason told him there was no use in letting Cayke knowhe was not wise, for then she would lose much respect for him, but eachtime he opened his mouth to speak he realized he was about to tell thetruth and shut it again as quickly as possible. He tried to talk aboutsomething else, but the words necessary to undeceive the woman wouldforce themselves to his lips in spite of all his struggles. Finally,knowing that he must either remain dumb or let the truth prevail, hegave a low groan of despair and said:

"Cayke, I am not the Wisest Creature in all the World; I am not wiseat all."

"Oh, you must be!" she protested. "You told me so yourself, only lastevening."

"Then last evening I failed to tell you the truth," he admitted, lookingvery shamefaced, for a frog. "I am sorry I told you that lie, my goodCayke; but, if you must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing butthe truth, I am not really as wise as you are."

The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it shattered oneof her most pleasing illusions. She looked at the gorgeously dressedFrogman in amazement.

"What has caused you to change your mind so suddenly?" she inquired.

"I have bathed in the Truth Pond," he said, "and whoever bathes in thatwater is ever afterward obliged to tell the truth."

"You were foolish to do that," declared the woman. "It is often veryembarrassing to tell the truth. I'm glad I didn't bathe in thatdreadful water!"

The Frogman looked at his companion thoughtfully.

"Cayke," said he, "I want you to go to the Truth Pond and take a bath inits water. For, if we are to travel together and encounter unknownadventures, it would not be fair that I alone must always tell you thetruth, while you could tell me whatever you pleased. If we both dip inthe enchanted water there will be no chance in the future of ourdeceiving one another."

"No," she asserted, shaking her head positively, "I won't do it, YourHonor. For, if I told you the truth, I'm sure you wouldn't like me. NoTruth Pond for me. I'll be just as I am, an honest woman who can saywhat she wants to without hurting anyone's feelings."

With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although he wassorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice.

Cookturned to the east to seek another house and after a short walk came toone where the people received them very politely. The children staredrather hard at the big, pompous Frogman, but the woman of the house,when Cayke asked for something to eat, at once brought them food andsaid they were welcome to it.

"Few people in need of help pass this way," she remarked, "for theWinkies are all prosperous and love to stay in their own homes. Butperhaps you are not a Winkle," she added.

"No," said Cayke, "I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain at thesoutheast of your country."

"And the Frogman—is he, also, a Yip?"

"I do not know what he is, other than a very remarkable and highlyeducated creature," replied the Cookie Cook. "But he has lived manyyears among the Yips, who have found him so wise and intelligent thatthey always go to him for advice."

"May I ask why you have left your home, and where you are going?" saidthe Winkie woman.

Then Cayke told her of the diamond-studded gold dishpan and how it hadbeen mysteriously stolen from her house, after which she had discoveredthat she could no longer cook good cookies. So she had resolved tosearch until she found her dishpan again, because a Cookie Cook whocannot cook good cookies is not of much use. The Frogman, who wanted tosee more of the world, had accompanied her to assist in the search. Whenthe woman had listened to this story she asked.

"Then you have no idea, as yet, who has stolen your dishpan?"

"I only know it must have been some mischievous fairy, or a magician, orsome such powerful person, because none other could have climbed thesteep mountain to the Yip Country. And who else could have carried awaymy beautiful, magic dishpan without being seen?"

The woman thought about this during the time that Cayke and the Frogmanate their breakfast. When they had finished she said:

"Where are you going next?"

"We have not decided," answered the Cookie Cook.

"Our plan," explained the Frogman, in his important way, "is to travelfrom place to place until we learn where the thief is located, and thento force him to return the dishpan to its proper owner."

"The plan is all right," agreed the woman, "but it may take you a longtime before you succeed, your method being sort of haphazard andindefinite. However, I advise you to travel toward the east."

"Why?" asked the Frogman.

"Because if you went west you would soon come to the desert, and alsobecause in this part of the Winkie Country no one steals, so your timehere would be wasted. But toward the east, beyond the river, live manystrange people whose honesty I would not vouch for. Moreover, if youjourney far enough east and cross the river for a second time, you willcome to the Emerald City, where there is much magic and sorcery. TheEmerald City is ruled by a dear little girl called Ozma, who also rulesthe Emperor of the Winkies and all the Land of Oz. So, as Ozma is afairy, she may be able to tell you just who has taken your preciousdishpan. Provided, of course, you do not find it before you reach her."

"This seems to me to be excellent advice," said the Frogman, and Caykeagreed with him.

"The most sensible thing for you to do," continued the woman, "would beto return to your home and use another dishpan, learning to cook cookiesas other people cook cookies, without the aid of magic. But, if youcannot be happy without the magic dishpan you have lost, you are likelyto learn more about it in the Emerald City than at any other place inOz."

They thanked the good woman and on leaving her house faced the east andcontinued in that direction all the way. Toward evening they came to thewest branch of the Winkie River and there, on the river bank, found aferryman who lived all alone in a little yellow house.

This ferryman was a Winkie with a very small head and a very largebody. He was sitting in his doorway as the travelers approached him anddid not even turn his head to look at them.

"Good evening," said the Frogman.

The ferryman made no reply.

"We would like some supper and the privilege of sleeping in your houseuntil morning," continued the Frogman. "At daybreak we would like somebreakfast and then we would like to have you row us across the river."

The ferryman neither moved nor spoke. He sat in his doorway and lookedstraight ahead.

"I think he must be deaf and dumb," Cayke whispered to her companion.Then she stood directly in front of the ferryman and putting her mouthclose to his ear she yelled as loudly as she could:

"Good evening!"

The ferryman scowled.

"Why do you yell at me, woman?" he asked.

"Can you hear what I say?" she asked in her ordinary tone of voice.

"Of course," replied the man.

"Then why didn't you answer the Frogman?"

"Because," said the ferryman, "I don't understand the frog language."

"He speaks the same words that I do and in the same way," declaredCayke.

"Perhaps," replied the ferryman; "but to me his voice sounded like afrog's croak. I know that in the Land of Oz animals can speak ourlanguage, and so can the birds and bugs and fishes; but in my earsthey sound merely like growls and chirps and croaks."

"Why is that?" asked the Cookie Cook in surprise.

"Once, many years ago, I cut the tail off a fox which had taunted me;and I stole some birds' eggs from a nest to make an omelet with, andalso I pulled a fish from the river and left it lying on the bank togasp for lack of water until it died. I don't know why I did thosewicked things, but I did them. So the Emperor of the Winkies—who is theTin Woodman and has a very tender tin heart—punished me by denying meany communication with beasts, birds or fishes. I cannot understand themwhen they speak to me, although I know that other people can do so, norcan the creatures understand a word I say to them. Every time I meet oneof them I am reminded of my former cruelty, and it makes me veryunhappy."

"Really," said Cayke, "I'm sorry for you, although the Tin Woodman isnot to blame for punishing you."

"What is he mumbling about?" asked the Frogman.

"He is talking to me, but you don't understand him," she replied. Andthen she told him of the ferryman's punishment and afterward explainedto the ferryman that they wanted to stay all night with him and be fed.

He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the only sort of food hehad, and he allowed Cayke to sleep in a room of his cottage. But theFrogman he refused to admit to his house, saying that the frog'spresence made him miserable and unhappy. At no time would he lookdirectly at the Frogman, or even toward him, fearing he would shed tearsif he did so; so the big frog slept on the river bank, where he couldhear little frogs croaking in the river all the night through. But thatdid not keep him awake; it merely soothed him to slumber, for herealized how much superior he was to them.

Just as the sun was rising on a new day the ferryman rowed the twotravelers across the river—keeping his back to the Frogman all theway—and then Cayke thanked him and bade him good-bye and the ferrymanrowed home again.

On this side the river there were no paths at all, so it was evidentthey had reached a part of the country little frequented by travelers.There was a marsh at the south of them, sandhills at the north and agrowth of scrubby underbrush leading toward a forest at the east. So theeast was really the least difficult way to go and that direction was theone they had determined to follow.

Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes with rubybuttons, had very large and flat feet, and when he tramped through thescrub his weight crushed down the underbrush and made a path for Cayketo follow him. Therefore they soon reached the forest, where the talltrees were set far apart but were so leafy that they shaded all thespaces between them with their branches.

"There are no bushes here," said Cayke, much pleased, "so we can nowtravel faster and with more comfort."

at a brisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted:

"Halt!"

They looked around in surprise, seeing at first no one at all. Then frombehind a tree there stepped a brown fuzzy bear, whose head came about ashigh as Cayke's waist—and Cayke was a small woman. The bear was chubbyas well as fuzzy; his body was even puffy, while his legs and armsseemed jointed at the knees and elbows and fastened to his body by pinsor rivets. His ears were round in shape and stuck out in a comical way,while his round black eyes were bright and sparkling as beads. Over hisshoulder the little brown bear bore a gun with a tin barrel. The barrelhad a cork in the end of it and a string was attached to the cork and tothe handle of the gun.

Both the Frogman and Cayke gazed hard at this curious bear, standingsilent for some time. But finally the Frogman recovered from hissurprise and remarked:

"It seems to me that you are stuffed with sawdust and ought not to bealive."

"That's all you know about it," answered the little Brown Bear in asqueaky voice. "I am stuffed with a very good quality of curled hair andmy skin is the best plush that was ever made. As for my being alive,that is my own affair and cannot concern you at all—except that itgives me the privilege to say you are my prisoners."

"Prisoners! Why do you speak such nonsense?" asked the Frogman angrily."Do you think we are afraid of a toy bear with a toy gun?"

"You ought to be," was the confident reply, "for I am merely the sentryguarding the way to Bear Center, which is a city containing hundreds ofmy race, who are ruled by a very powerful sorcerer known as the LavenderBear. He ought to be a purple color, you know, seeing he is a King, buthe's only light lavender, which is, of course, second-cousin to royalpurple. So, unless you come with me peaceably, as my prisoners, I shallfire my gun and bring a hundred bears—of all sizes and colors—tocapture you."

"Why do you wish to capture us?" inquired the Frogman, who had listenedto this speech with much astonishment.

"I don't wish to, as a matter of fact," replied the little Brown Bear,"but it is my duty to, because you are now trespassing on the domain ofHis Majesty the King of Bear Center. Also I will admit that things arerather quiet in our city, just now, and the excitement of your capture,followed by your trial and execution, should afford us muchentertainment."

"We defy you!" said the Frogman.

"Oh, no; don't do that," pleaded Cayke, speaking to her companion. "Hesays his King is a sorcerer, so perhaps it is he or one of his bears whoventured to steal my jeweled dishpan. Let us go to the City of the Bearsand discover if my dishpan is there."

"I must now register one more charge against you," remarked the littleBrown Bear, with evident satisfaction. "You have just accused us ofstealing, and that is such a dreadful thing to say that I am quite sureour noble King will command you to be executed."

"But how could you execute us?" inquired the Cookie Cook.

"I've no idea. But our King is a wonderful inventor and there is nodoubt he can find a proper way to destroy you. So, tell me, are yougoing to struggle, or will you go peaceably to meet your doom?"

It was all so ridiculous that Cayke laughed aloud and even the Frogman'swide mouth curled in a smile. Neither was a bit afraid to go to the BearCity and it seemed to both that there was a possibility they mightdiscover the missing dishpan. So the Frogman said:

"Lead the way, little Bear, and we will follow without a struggle."

"That's very sensible of you; very sensible, indeed!" declared the BrownBear. "So—for-ward march!" and with the command he turned around andbegan to waddle along a path that led between the trees.

Cayke and the Frogman, as they followed their conductor, could scarceforbear laughing at his stiff, awkward manner of walking and, althoughhe moved his stuffy legs fast, his steps were so short that they had togo slowly in order not to run into him. But after a time they reached alarge, circular space in the center of the forest, which was clear ofany stumps or underbrush. The ground was covered by a soft gray moss,pleasant to tread upon. All the trees surrounding this space seemed tobe hollow and had round holes in their trunks, set a little way abovethe ground, but otherwise there was nothing unusual about the place andnothing, in the opinion of the prisoners, to indicate a settlement. Butthe little Brown Bear said in a proud and impressive voice (although itstill squeaked):

"This is the wonderful city known to fame as Bear Center!"

"But there are no houses; there are no bears living here at all!"exclaimed Cayke.

"Oh, indeed!" retorted their captor and raising his gun he pulled thetrigger. The cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud "pop!" and atonce from every hole in every tree within view of the clearing appearedthe head of a bear. They were of many colors and of many sizes, butall were made in the same manner as the bear who had met and capturedthem.

At first a chorus of growls arose and then a sharp voice cried:

"What has happened, Corporal Waddle?"

"Captives, Your Majesty!" answered the Brown Bear. "Intruders upon ourdomain and slanderers of our good name."

"Ah, that's important," answered the voice.

Then from out the hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of stuffedbears, some carrying tin swords, some popguns and others long spearswith gay ribbons tied to the handles. There were hundreds of them,altogether, and they quickly formed a circle around the Frogman and theCookie Cook but kept at a distance and left a large space for theprisoners to stand in.

Presently this circle parted and into the center of it stalked a hugetoy bear of a lovely lavender color. He walked upon his hind legs, asdid all the others, and on his head he wore a tin crown set withdiamonds and amethysts, while in one paw he carried a short wand of someglittering metal that resembled silver but wasn't.

"His Majesty the King!" shouted Corporal Waddle, and all the bearsbowed low. Some bowed so low that they lost their balance and toppledover, but they soon scrambled up again and the Lavender King squatted onhis haunches before the prisoners and gazed at them steadily with hisbright pink eyes.

carefully examined the strangers.

"I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak,"remonstrated the Frogman.

"She is the Person," asserted the King. "Unless I am mistaken, it is youwho are the Freak."

The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it.

"Why have you dared intrude in my forest?" demanded the Bear King.

"We didn't know it was your forest," said Cayke, "and we are on ourway to the far east, where the Emerald City is."

"Ah, it's a long way from here to the Emerald City," remarked the King."It is so far away, indeed, that no bear among us has ever been there.But what errand requires you to travel such a distance?"

"Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan," explained Cayke;"and, as I cannot be happy without it, I have decided to search theworld over until I find it again. The Frogman, who is very learned andwonderfully wise, has come with me to give me his assistance. Isn't itkind of him?"

The King looked at the Frogman.

"What makes you so wonderfully wise?" he asked.

"I'm not," was the candid reply. "The Cookie Cook, and some others inthe Yip Country, think because I am a big frog and talk and act like aman, that I must be very wise. I have learned more than a frog usuallyknows, it is true, but I am not yet so wise as I hope to become at somefuture time."

The King nodded, and when he did so something squeaked in his chest.

"Did Your Majesty speak?" asked Cayke.

"Not just then," answered the Lavender Bear, seeming to be somewhatembarrassed. "I am so built, you must know, that when anything pushesagainst my chest, as my chin accidentally did just then, I make thatsilly noise. In this city it isn't considered good manners to notice it.But I like your Frogman. He is honest and truthful, which is more thancan be said of many others. As for your late lamented dishpan, I'll showit to you."

With this he waved three times the metal wand which he held in his pawand instantly there appeared upon the ground, midway between the Kingand Cayke, a big round pan made of beaten gold. Around the top edge wasa row of small diamonds; around the center of the pan was another row oflarger diamonds; and at the bottom was a row of exceedingly large andbrilliant diamonds. In fact, they all sparkled magnificently and the panwas so big and broad that it took a lot of diamonds to go around itthree times.

Cayke stared so hard that her eyes seemed about to pop out of her head.

"O-o-o-oh!" she exclaimed, drawing a deep breath of delight.

"Is this your dishpan?" inquired the King.

"It is—it is!" cried the Cookie Cook, and rushing forward she fell onher knees and threw her arms around the precious pan. But her arms cametogether without meeting any resistance at all. Cayke tried to seize theedge, but found nothing to grasp. The pan was surely there, she thought,for she could see it plainly; but it was not solid; she could not feelit at all. With a moan of astonishment and despair she raised her headto look at the Bear King, who was watching her actions curiously. Thenshe turned to the pan again, only to find it had completely disappeared.

"Poor creature!" murmured the King pityingly. "You must have thought,for the moment, that you had actually recovered your dishpan. But whatyou saw was merely the image of it, conjured up by means of my magic. Itis a pretty dishpan, indeed, though rather big and awkward to handle. Ihope you will some day find it."

Cayke was grievously disappointed. She began to cry, wiping her eyes onher apron. The King turned to the throng of toy bears surrounding himand asked:

"Has any of you ever seen this golden dishpan before?"

"No," they answered in a chorus.

The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired:

"Where is the Little Pink Bear?"

"At home, Your Majesty," was the reply, "Fetch him here," commanded theKing.

Several of the bears waddled over to one of the trees and pulled fromits hollow a tiny pink bear, smaller than any of the others. A big whitebear carried the pink one in his arms and set it down beside the King,arranging the joints of its legs so that it would stand upright.

This Pink Bear seemed lifeless until the King turned a crank whichprotruded from its side, when the little creature turned its headstiffly from side to side and said in a small shrill voice:

"Hurrah for the King of Bear Center!"

"Very good," said the big Lavender Bear; "he seems to be working verywell to-day. Tell me, my Pink Pinkerton, what has become of this lady'sjeweled dishpan?"

"U—u—u," said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short.

The King turned the crank again.

"U-g-u the Shoemaker has it," said the Pink Bear.

"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" demanded the King, again turning the crank.

"A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle," was thereply.

"Where is this mountain?" was the next question.

"Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the northeast."

"And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?" asked theKing.

"It is."

The King turned to Cayke.

"You may rely on this information," said he. "The Pink Bear can tell usanything we wish to know, and his words are always words of truth."

"Is he alive?" asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink Bear.

"Something animates him—when you turn his crank," replied the King. "Ido not know if it is life, or what it is, or how it happens that theLittle Pink Bear can answer correctly every question put to him. Wediscovered his talent a long time ago and whenever we wish to knowanything—which is not very often—we ask the Pink Bear. There is nodoubt whatever, madam, that Ugu the Magician has your dishpan, and ifyou dare go to him you may be able to recover it. But of that I am notcertain."

"Can't the Pink Bear tell?" asked Cayke anxiously.

"No, for that is in the future. He can tell anything that hashappened, but nothing that is going to happen. Don't ask me why, for Idon't know."

"Well," said the Cookie Cook, after a little thought, "I mean to go tothis magician, anyhow, and tell him I want my dishpan. I wish I knewwhat Ugu the Shoemaker is like."

"Then I'll show him to you," promised the King. "But do not befrightened; it won't be Ugu, remember, but only his image."

With this he waved his metal wand again and in the circle suddenlyappeared a thin little man, very old and skinny, who was seated on awicker stool before a wicker table. On the table lay a Great Book withgold clasps. The Book was open and the man was reading in it. He woregreat spectacles, which were fastened before his eyes by means of aribbon that passed around his head and was tied in a bow at the back.His hair was very thin and white; his skin, which clung fast to hisbones, was brown and seared with furrows; he had a big, fat nose andlittle eyes set close together.

On no account was Ugu the Shoemaker a pleasant person to gaze at. As hisimage appeared before them, all were silent and intent until CorporalWaddle, the Brown Bear, became nervous and pulled the trigger of hisgun. Instantly the cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud "pop!"that made them all jump. And, at this sound, the image of the magicianvanished.

"So! that's the thief, is it?" said Cayke, in an angry voice. "Ishould think he'd be ashamed of himself for stealing a poor woman'sdiamond dishpan! But I mean to face him in his wicker castle and forcehim to return my property."

"To me," said the Bear King, reflectively, "he looked like a dangerousperson. I hope he won't be so unkind as to argue the matter with you."

The Frogman was much disturbed by the vision of Ugu the Shoemaker, andCayke's determination to go to the magician filled her companion withmisgivings. But he would not break his pledged word to assist the CookieCook and after breathing a deep sigh of resignation he asked the King:

"Will Your Majesty lend us this Pink Bear who answers questions, that wemay take him with us on our journey? He would be very useful to us andwe will promise to bring him safely back to you."

The King did not reply at once; he seemed to be thinking.

"Please let us take the Pink Bear," begged Cayke. "I'm sure he wouldbe a great help to us."

"The Pink Bear," said the King, "is the best bit of magic I possess, andthere is not another like him in the world. I do not care to let him outof my sight; nor do I wish to disappoint you; so I believe I will makethe journey in your company and carry my Pink Bear with me. He can walk,when you wind the other side of him, but so slowly and awkwardly that hewould delay you. But if I go along I can carry him in my arms, so I willjoin your party. Whenever you are ready to start, let me know."

"But—Your Majesty!" exclaimed Corporal Waddle in protest, "I hope youdo not intend to let these prisoners escape without punishment."

"Of what crime do you accuse them?" inquired the King.

"Why, they trespassed on your domain, for one thing," said the BrownBear.

"We didn't know it was private property, Your Majesty," said the CookieCook.

"And they asked if any of us had stolen the dishpan!" continued CorporalWaddle indignantly. "That is the same thing as calling us thieves androbbers, and bandits and brigands, is it not?"

"Every person has the right to ask questions," said the Frogman.

"But the Corporal is quite correct," declared the Lavender Bear. "Icondemn you both to death, the execution to take place ten years fromthis hour."

"But we belong in the Land of Oz, where no one ever dies," Caykereminded him.

"Very true," said the King. "I condemn you to death merely as a matterof form. It sounds quite terrible, and in ten years we shall haveforgotten all about it. Are you ready to start for the wicker castle ofUgu the Shoemaker?"

"Quite ready, Your Majesty."

"But who will rule in your place, while you are gone?" asked a bigYellow Bear.

"I myself will rule while I am gone," was the reply. "A King isn'trequired to stay at home forever, and if he takes a notion to travel,whose business is it but his own? All I ask is that you bears behaveyourselves while I am away. If any of you is naughty, I'll send him tosome girl or boy in America to play with."

This dreadful threat made all the toy bears look solemn. They assuredthe King, in a chorus of growls, that they would be good. Then the bigLavender Bear picked up the little Pink Bear and after tucking itcarefully under one arm he said "Good-bye till I come back!" and waddledalong the path that led through the forest. The Frogman and Cayke theCookie Cook also said good-bye to the bears and then followed after theKing, much to the regret of the little Brown Bear, who pulled thetrigger of his gun and popped the cork as a parting salute.

Dorothyand her party were advancing from the east, and so it happened that onthe following night they all camped at a little hill that was only a fewmiles from the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. But the two partiesdid not see one another that night, for one camped on one side of thehill while the other camped on the opposite side. But the next morningthe Frogman thought he would climb the hill and see what was on top ofit, and at the same time Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, also decided toclimb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visible from its top. Soshe stuck her head over an edge just as the Frogman's head appeared overanother edge and both, being surprised, kept still while they took agood look at one another.

Scraps recovered from her astonishment first and bounding upward sheturned a somersault and landed sitting down and facing the big Frogman,who slowly advanced and sat opposite her.

"Well met, Stranger!" cried the Patchwork Girl, with a whoop oflaughter. "You are quite the funniest individual I have seen in all mytravels."

"Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?" asked the Frogman,gazing at her in wonder.

"I'm not funny to myself, you know," returned Scraps. "I wish I were.And perhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that you do notlaugh whenever you see your reflection in a pool, or in a mirror."

"No," said the Frogman gravely, "I do not. I used to be proud of mygreat size and vain of my culture and education, but since I bathed inthe Truth Pond I sometimes think it is not right that I should bedifferent from all other frogs."

"Right or wrong," said the Patchwork Girl, "to be different is to bedistinguished. Now, in my case, I'm just like all other Patchwork Girlsbecause I'm the only one there is. But, tell me, where did you comefrom?"

"The Yip Country," said he.

"Is that in the Land of Oz?"

"Of course," replied the Frogman.

"And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?"

"I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn't know thatshe was stolen."

"Well, you have. All the people of Oz," explained Scraps, "are ruled byOzma, whether they know it or not. And she has been stolen. Aren't youangry? Aren't you indignant? Your Ruler, whom you didn't know you had,has positively been stolen!"

"That is queer," remarked the Frogman thoughtfully. "Stealing is a thingpractically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken and a friend ofmine has also had her dishpan stolen. With her I have traveled all theway from the Yip Country in order to recover it."

"I don't see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a dishpan!"declared Scraps.

"They've both been stolen, haven't they?"

"True. But why can't your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?"asked Scraps.

"Why can't you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the one whois lost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is made of gold andstudded with diamonds and has magic powers."

"Magic, eh?" exclaimed Scraps. "There is a link that connects the twosteals, anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the Land of Oz wasstolen at the same time, whether it was in the Emerald City or inGlinda's castle or in the Yip Country. Seems mighty strange andmysterious, doesn't it?"

"It used to seem that way to us," admitted the Frogman, "but we have nowdiscovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the Shoemaker."

"Ugu? Good gracious! That's the same magician we think has stolen Ozma.We are now on our way to the castle of this Shoemaker."

"So are we," said the Frogman.

"Then follow me, quick! and let me introduce you to Dorothy and theother girls and to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of us."

She sprang up and seized his coat-sleeve, dragging him off the hilltopand down the other side from that whence he had come. And at the foot ofthe hill the Frogman was astonished to find the three girls and theWizard and Button-Bright, who were surrounded by a wooden Sawhorse, alean Mule, a square Woozy and a Cowardly Lion. A little black dog ran upand smelled at the Frogman, but couldn't growl at him.

"I've discovered another party that has been robbed," shouted Scraps asshe joined them. "This is their leader and they're all going to Ugu'scastle to fight the wicked Shoemaker!"

They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest and, findingall eyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his necktie and smoothedhis beautiful vest and swung his gold-headed cane like a regular dandy.The big spectacles over his eyes quite altered his froglike countenanceand gave him a learned and impressive look. Used as she was to seeingstrange creatures in the Land of Oz, Dorothy was amazed at discoveringthe Frogman. So were all her companions. Toto wanted to growl at him,but couldn't, and he didn't dare bark. The Sawhorse snorted rathercontemptuously, but the Lion whispered to the wooden steed: "Bear withthis strange creature, my friend, and remember he is no moreextraordinary than you are. Indeed, it is more natural for a frog to bebig than for a Sawhorse to be alive."

On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of the lossof Cayke's highly prized dishpan and their adventures in search of it.When he came to tell of the Lavender Bear King and of the Little PinkBear who could tell anything you wanted to know, his hearers becameeager to see such interesting animals.

"It will be best," said the Wizard, "to unite our two parties and shareour fortunes together, for we are all bound on the same errand and asone band we may more easily defy this shoemaker magician than ifseparate. Let us be allies."

"I will ask my friends about that," replied the Frogman, and climbedover the hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The Patchwork Girlaccompanied him and when they came upon the Cookie Cook and the LavenderBear and the Pink Bear it was hard to tell which of the lot was the mostsurprised.

"Mercy me!" cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. "However did youcome alive?"

Scraps stared at the bears.

"Mercy me!" she echoed; "you are stuffed, as I am, with cotton, and yetyou appear to be living. That makes me feel ashamed, for I have pridedmyself on being the only live cotton-stuffed person in Oz."

"Perhaps you are," returned the Lavender Bear, "for I am stuffed withextra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear."

"You have relieved my mind of a great anxiety," declared the PatchworkGirl, now speaking more cheerfully. "The Scarecrow is stuffed withstraw, and you with hair, so I am still the Original and OnlyCotton-Stuffed!"

"I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton, as compared with curledhair," said the King, "especially as you seem satisfied with it."

Then the Frogman told of his interview with the party from the EmeraldCity and added that the Wizard of Oz had invited the bears and Cayke andhimself to travel in company with them to the castle of Ugu theShoemaker. Cayke was much pleased, but the Bear King looked solemn. Heset the Little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the crank in its side andasked:

"Is it safe for us to associate with those people from the EmeraldCity?"

And the Pink Bear at once replied:

"That 'perhaps' need not worry us," said the King; "so let us join theothers and offer them our protection."

Even the Lavender Bear was astonished, however, when on climbing overthe hill he found on the other side the group of queer animals and thepeople from the Emerald City. The bears and Cayke were received verycordially, although Button-Bright was cross when they wouldn't let himplay with the Little Pink Bear. The three girls greatly admired the toybears, and especially the pink one, which they longed to hold.

"You see," explained the Lavender King, in denying them this privilege,"he's a very valuable bear, because his magic is a correct guide on alloccasions, and especially if one is in difficulties. It was the PinkBear who told us that Ugu the Shoemaker had stolen the Cookie Cook'sdishpan."

"And the King's magic is just as wonderful," added Cayke, "because itshowed us the Magician himself."

"What did he look like?" inquired Dorothy.

"He was dreadful!"

"He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which had threegolden clasps," remarked the King.

"Why, that must have been Glinda's Great Book of Records!" exclaimedDorothy. "If it is, it proves that Ugu the Shoemaker stole Ozma, andwith her all the magic in the Emerald City."

"And my dishpan," said Cayke. And the Wizard added:

"It also proves that he is following our adventures in the Book ofRecords, and therefore knows that we are seeking him and that we aredetermined to find him and rescue Ozma at all hazards."

"If we can," added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at him.

The Wizard's statement was so true that the faces around him were veryserious until the Patchwork Girl broke into a peal of laughter.

"Wouldn't it be a rich joke if he made prisoners of us, too?" shesaid.

"No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider that a joke,"grumbled Button-Bright. And then the Lavender Bear King asked:

"Would you like to see this magical shoemaker?"

"Wouldn't he know it?" Dorothy inquired.

"No, I think not."

Then the King waved his metal wand and before them appeared a room inthe wicker castle of Ugu. On the wall of the room hung Ozma's MagicPicture, and seated before it was the Magician. They could see thePicture as well as he could, because it faced them, and in the Picturewas the hillside where they were now sitting, all their forms beingreproduced in miniature. And, curiously enough, within the scene of thePicture was the scene they were now beholding, so they knew that theMagician was at this moment watching them in the Picture, and also thathe saw himself and the room he was in become visible to the people onthe hillside. Therefore he knew very well that they were watching himwhile he was watching them.

In proof of this, Ugu sprang from his seat and turned a scowling face intheir direction; but now he could not see the travelers who were seekinghim, although they could still see him. His actions were so distinct,indeed, that it seemed he was actually before them.

"It is only a ghost," said the Bear King. "It isn't real at all, exceptthat it shows us Ugu just as he looks and tells us truly just what he isdoing."

"I don't see anything of my lost growl, though," said Toto, as if tohimself.

Then the vision faded away and they could see nothing but the grass andtrees and bushes around them.

what to do when we get to Ugu's wicker castle. There can be no doubtthat the Shoemaker is a powerful Magician, and his powers have beenincreased a hundredfold since he secured the Great Book of Records, theMagic Picture, all of Glinda's recipes for sorcery and my own blackbag—which was full of tools of wizardry. The man who could rob us ofthose things, and the man with all their powers at his command, is onewho may prove somewhat difficult to conquer; therefore we should planour actions well before we venture too near to his castle."

"I didn't see Ozma in the Magic Picture," said Trot. "What do yousuppose Ugu has done with her?"

"Couldn't the Little Pink Bear tell us what he did with Ozma?" askedButton-Bright.

"To be sure," replied the Lavender King; "I'll ask him."

So he turned the crank in the Little Pink Bear's side and inquired:

"Did Ugu the Shoemaker steal Ozma of Oz?"

"Yes," answered the Little Pink Bear.

"Then what did he do with her?" asked the King.

"Shut her up in a dark place," answered the Little Pink Bear.

"Oh, that must be a dungeon cell!" cried Dorothy, horrified. "Howdreadful!"

"Well, we must get her out of it," said the Wizard. "That is what wecame for and of course we must rescue Ozma. But—how?"

Each one looked at some other one for an answer and all shook theirheads in a grave and dismal manner. All but Scraps, who danced aroundthem gleefully.

"You're afraid," said the Patchwork Girl, "because so many things canhurt your meat bodies. Why don't you give it up and go home? How can youfight a great magician when you have nothing to fight with?"

Dorothy looked at her reflectively.

"Scraps," said she, "you know that Ugu couldn't hurt you, a bit,whatever he did; nor could he hurt me, 'cause I wear the Nome King'sMagic Belt. S'pose just we two go on together, and leave the others hereto wait for us?"

"No, no!" said the Wizard positively. "That won't do at all. Ozma ismore powerful than either of you, yet she could not defeat the wickedUgu, who has shut her up in a dungeon. We must go to the Shoemaker inone mighty band, for only in union is there strength."

"That is excellent advice," said the Lavender Bear, approvingly.

"But what can we do, when we get to Ugu?" inquired the Cookie Cookanxiously.

"Do not expect a prompt answer to that important question," replied theWizard, "for we must first plan our line of conduct. Ugu knows, ofcourse, that we are after him, for he has seen our approach in the MagicPicture, and he has read of all we have done up to the present moment inthe Great Book of Records. Therefore we cannot expect to take him bysurprise."

"Don't you suppose Ugu would listen to reason?" asked Betsy. "If weexplained to him how wicked he has been, don't you think he'd let poorOzma go?"

"And give me back my dishpan?" added the Cookie Cook eagerly.

"Yes, yes; won't he say he's sorry and get on his knees and beg ourpardon?" cried Scraps, turning a flip-flop to show her scorn of thesuggestion. "When Ugu the Shoemaker does that, please knock at the frontdoor and let me know."

The Wizard sighed and rubbed his bald head with a puzzled air.

"I'm quite sure Ugu will not be polite to us," said he, "so we mustconquer this cruel magician by force, much as we dislike to be rude toanyone. But none of you has yet suggested a way to do that. Couldn't theLittle Pink Bear tell us how?" he asked, turning to the Bear King.

"No, for that is something that is going to happen," replied theLavender Bear. "He can only tell us what already has happened."

Again they were grave and thoughtful. But after a time Betsy said in ahesitating voice:

"Hank is a great fighter; perhaps he could conquer the magician."

The Mule turned his head to look reproachfully at his old friend, theyoung girl.

"Who can fight against magic?" he asked.

"The Cowardly Lion could," said Dorothy.

The Lion, who was lying with his front legs spread out, his chin on hispaws, raised his shaggy head.

"I can fight when I'm not afraid," said he calmly; "but the mere mentionof a fight sets me to trembling."

"Ugu's magic couldn't hurt the Sawhorse," suggested tiny Trot.

"And the Sawhorse couldn't hurt the Magician," declared that woodenanimal.

"For my part," said Toto, "I am helpless, having lost my growl."

"Then," said Cayke the Cookie Cook, "we must depend upon the Frogman.His marvelous wisdom will surely inform him how to conquer the wickedMagician and restore to me my dishpan."

All eyes were now turned questioningly upon the Frogman. Finding himselfthe center of observation, he swung his gold-headed cane, adjusted hisbig spectacles and after swelling out his chest, sighed and said in amodest tone of voice:

"Respect for truth obliges me to confess that Cayke is mistaken inregard to my superior wisdom. I am not very wise. Neither have I had anypractical experience in conquering magicians. But let us consider thiscase. What is Ugu, and what is a magician? Ugu is a renegade shoemakerand a magician is an ordinary man who, having learned how to do magicaltricks, considers himself above his fellows. In this case, the Shoemakerhas been naughty enough to steal a lot of magical tools and things thatdid not belong to him, and it is more wicked to steal than to be amagician. Yet, with all the arts at his command, Ugu is still a man, andsurely there are ways in which a man may be conquered. How, do you say,how? Allow me to state that I don't know. In my judgment we cannotdecide how best to act until we get to Ugu's castle. So let us go to itand take a look at it. After that we may discover an idea that willguide us to victory."

"That may not be a wise speech, but it sounds good," said Dorothyapprovingly. "Ugu the Shoemaker is not only a common man, but he's awicked man and a cruel man and deserves to be conquered. We mustn't haveany mercy on him till Ozma is set free. So let's go to his castle, asthe Frogman says, and see what the place looks like."

No one offered an objection to this plan and so it was adopted. Theybroke camp and were about to start on the journey to Ugu's castle whenthey discovered that Button-Bright was lost again. The girls and theWizard shouted his name and the Lion roared and the Donkey brayed andthe Frogman croaked and the Big Lavender Bear growled (to the envy ofToto, who couldn't growl but barked his loudest) yet none of them couldmake Button-Bright hear. So, after vainly searching for the boy a fullhour, they formed a procession and proceeded in the direction of thewicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker.

"Button-Bright's always getting lost," said Dorothy. "And, if he wasn'talways getting found again, I'd prob'ly worry. He may have gone ahead ofus, and he may have gone back; but, wherever he is, we'll find himsometime and somewhere, I'm almost sure."

in the least, that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful and great and hehoped to make himself master of all the Land of Oz, that he might compeleveryone in that fairy country to obey him. His ambition blinded him tothe rights of others and he imagined anyone else would act just as hedid if anyone else happened to be as clever as himself.

When he inhabited his little shoemaking shop in the City of Herku he hadbeen discontented, for a shoemaker is not looked upon with high respectand Ugu knew that his ancestors had been famous magicians for manycenturies past and therefore his family was above the ordinary. Even hisfather practiced magic, when Ugu was a boy; but his father had wanderedaway from Herku and had never come back again. So, when Ugu grew up, hewas forced to make shoes for a living, knowing nothing of the magic ofhis forefathers. But one day, in searching through the attic of hishouse, he discovered all the books of magical recipes and many magicalinstruments which had formerly been in use in his family. From that dayhe stopped making shoes and began to study magic. Finally he aspired tobecome the greatest magician in Oz, and for days and weeks and months hethought on a plan to render all the other sorcerers and wizards, as wellas those with fairy powers, helpless to oppose him.

From the books of his ancestors he learned the following facts:

(1) That Ozma of Oz was the fairy ruler of the Emerald City and the Landof Oz, and that she could not be destroyed by any magic ever devised.Also, by means of her Magic Picture she would be able to discoveranyone who approached her royal palace with the idea of conquering it.

(2) That Glinda the Good was the most powerful Sorceress in Oz, amongher other magical possessions being the Great Book of Records, whichtold her all that happened anywhere in the world. This Book of Recordswas very dangerous to Ugu's plans and Glinda was in the service of Ozmaand would use her arts of sorcery to protect the girl Ruler.

(3) That the Wizard of Oz, who lived in Ozma's palace, had been taughtmuch powerful magic by Glinda and had a bag of magic tools with which hemight be able to conquer the Shoemaker.

(4) That there existed in Oz—in the Yip Country—a jeweled dishpan madeof gold, which dishpan possessed marvelous powers of magic. At a magicword, which Ugu learned from the book, the dishpan would grow largeenough for a man to sit inside it. Then, when he grasped both the goldenhandles, the dishpan would transport him in an instant to any place hewished to go within the borders of the Land of Oz.

No one now living, except Ugu, knew of the powers of this Magic Dishpan;so, after long study, the shoemaker decided that if he could manage tosecure the dishpan he could, by its means, rob Ozma and Glinda and theWizard of Oz of all their magic, thus becoming himself the most powerfulperson in all the land.

His first act was to go away from the City of Herku and build forhimself the Wicker Castle in the hills. Here he carried his books andinstruments of magic and here for a full year he diligently practicedall the magical arts learned from his ancestors. At the end of that timehe could do a good many wonderful things.

Then, when all his preparations were made, he set out for the YipCountry and climbing the steep mountain at night he entered the house ofCayke the Cookie Cook and stole her diamond-studded gold dishpan whileall the Yips were asleep. Taking his prize outside, he set the pan uponthe ground and uttered the required magic word. Instantly the dishpangrew as large as a big washtub and Ugu seated himself in it and graspedthe two handles. Then he wished himself in the great drawing-room ofGlinda the Good.

He was there in a flash. First he took the Great Book of Records and putit in the dishpan. Then he went to Glinda's laboratory and took all herrare chemical compounds and her instruments of sorcery, placing thesealso in the dishpan, which he caused to grow large enough to hold them.Next he seated himself amongst the treasures he had stolen and wishedhimself in the room in Ozma's palace which the Wizard occupied and wherehe kept his bag of magic tools. This bag Ugu added to his plunder andthen wished himself in the apartments of Ozma.

Here he first took the Magic Picture from the wall and then seized allthe other magical things which Ozma possessed. Having placed these inthe dishpan he was about to climb in himself when he looked up and sawOzma standing beside him. Her fairy instinct had warned her that dangerwas threatening her, so the beautiful girl Ruler rose from her couch andleaving her bedchamber at once confronted the thief.

Ugu had to think quickly, for he realized that if he permitted Ozma torouse the inmates of her palace all his plans and his present successeswere likely to come to naught. So he threw a scarf over the girl's head,so she could not scream, and pushed her into the dishpan and tied herfast, so she could not move. Then he climbed in beside her and wishedhimself in his own wicker castle. The Magic Dishpan was there in aninstant, with all its contents, and Ugu rubbed his hands together intriumphant joy as he realized that he now possessed all the importantmagic in the Land of Oz and could force all the inhabitants of thatfairyland to do as he willed.

So quickly had his journey been accomplished that before daylight therobber magician had locked Ozma in a room, making her a prisoner, andhad unpacked and arranged all his stolen goods. The next day he placedthe Book of Records on his table and hung the Magic Picture on his walland put away in his cupboards and drawers all the elixirs and magiccompounds he had stolen. The magical instruments he polished andarranged, and this was fascinating work and made him very happy. Theonly thing that bothered him was Ozma. By turns the imprisoned Rulerwept and scolded the Shoemaker, haughtily threatening him with direpunishment for the wicked deeds he had done. Ugu became somewhat afraidof his fairy prisoner, in spite of the fact that he believed he hadrobbed her of all her powers; so he performed an enchantment thatquickly disposed of her and placed her out of his sight and hearing.After that, being occupied with other things, he soon forgot her.

But now, when he looked into the Magic Picture and read the Great Bookof Records, the Shoemaker learned that his wickedness was not to gounchallenged. Two important expeditions had set out to find him andforce him to give up his stolen property. One was the party headed bythe Wizard and Dorothy, while the other consisted of Cayke and theFrogman. Others were also searching, but not in the right places. Thesetwo groups, however, were headed straight for the wicker castle and soUgu began to plan how best to meet them and to defeat their efforts toconquer him.

steadily toward the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. Whennight came they camped in a little grove and passed a pleasant eveningtogether, although some of them were worried because Button-Bright wasstill lost.

"Perhaps," said Toto, as the animals lay grouped together for the night,"this Shoemaker who stole my growl, and who stole Ozma, has also stolenButton-Bright."

"How do you know that the Shoemaker stole your growl?" demanded theWoozy.

"He has stolen about everything else of value in Oz, hasn't he?" repliedthe dog.

"He has stolen everything he wants, perhaps," agreed the Lion; "but whatcould anyone want with your growl?"

"Well," said the dog, wagging his tail slowly, "my recollection is thatit was a wonderful growl, soft and low and—and—"

"And ragged at the edges," said the Sawhorse.

"So," continued Toto, "if that magician hadn't any growl of his own, hemight have wanted mine and stolen it."

"And, if he has, he will soon wish he hadn't," remarked the Mule. "Also,if he has stolen Button-Bright he will be sorry."

"Don't you like Button-Bright, then?" asked the Lion in surprise.

"It isn't a question of liking him," replied the Mule. "It's a questionof watching him and looking after him. Any boy who causes his friends somuch worry isn't worth having around. I never get lost."

"If you did," said Toto, "no one would worry a bit. I thinkButton-Bright is a very lucky boy, because he always gets found."

"See here," said the Lion, "this chatter is keeping us all awake andto-morrow is likely to be a busy day. Go to sleep and forget yourquarrels."

"Friend Lion," retorted the dog, "if I hadn't lost my growl you wouldhear it now. I have as much right to talk as you have to sleep."

The Lion sighed.

"If only you had lost your voice, when you lost your growl," said he,"you would be a more agreeable companion."

But they quieted down, after that, and soon the entire camp was wrappedin slumber.

Next morning they made an early start but had hardly proceeded on theirway an hour when, on climbing a slight elevation, they beheld in thedistance a low mountain, on top of which stood Ugu's wicker castle. Itwas a good-sized building and rather pretty because the sides, roofs anddomes were all of wicker closely woven, as it is in fine baskets.

"I wonder if it is strong?" said Dorothy musingly, as she eyed the queercastle.

"I suppose it is, since a magician built it," answered the Wizard."With magic to protect it, even a paper castle might be as strong as ifmade of stone. This Ugu must be a man of ideas, because he does thingsin a different way from other people."

"Yes; no one else would steal our dear Ozma," sighed tiny Trot.

"I wonder if Ozma is there?" said Betsy, indicating the castle with anod of her head.

"Where else could she be?" asked Scraps.

"S'pose we ask the Pink Bear," suggested Dorothy.

That seemed a good idea, so they halted the procession and the Bear Kingheld the little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the crank in its sideand asked:

"Where is Ozma of Oz?"

And the little Pink Bear answered:

"She is in a hole in the ground, a half mile away, at your left."

"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy. "Then she is not in Ugu's castle atall."

"It is lucky we asked that question," said the Wizard; "for, if we canfind Ozma and rescue her, there will be no need for us to fight thatwicked and dangerous magician."

"Indeed!" said Cayke. "Then what about my dishpan?"

The Wizard looked puzzled at her tone of remonstrance, so she added:

"Didn't you people from the Emerald City promise that we would all sticktogether, and that you would help me to get my dishpan if I would helpyou to get your Ozma? And didn't I bring to you the little Pink Bear,which has told you where Ozma is hidden?"

"She's right," said Dorothy to the Wizard. "We must do as we agreed."

"Well, first of all, let us go and rescue Ozma," proposed the Wizard."Then our beloved Ruler may be able to advise us how to conquer Ugu theShoemaker."

So they turned to the left and marched for half a mile until they cameto a small but deep hole in the ground. At once all rushed to the brimto peer into the hole, but instead of finding there Princess Ozma of Oz,all that they saw was Button-Bright, who was lying asleep on the bottom.

Their cries soon wakened the boy, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. Whenhe recognized his friends he smiled sweetly, saying: "Found again!"

"Where is Ozma?" inquired Dorothy anxiously.

"I don't know," answered Button-Bright from the depths of the hole. "Igot lost, yesterday, as you may remember, and in the night, while I waswandering around in the moonlight, trying to find my way back to you, Isuddenly fell into this hole."

"And wasn't Ozma in it then?"

"There was no one in it but me, and I was sorry it wasn't entirelyempty. The sides are so steep I can't climb out, so there was nothing tobe done but sleep until someone found me. Thank you for coming. Ifyou'll please let down a rope I'll empty this hole in a hurry."

"How strange!" said Dorothy, greatly disappointed. "It's evident thePink Bear didn't tell us the truth."

"He never makes a mistake," declared the Lavender Bear King, in a tonethat showed his feelings were hurt. And then he turned the crank of thelittle Pink Bear again and asked: "Is this the hole that Ozma of Oz isin?"

"Yes," answered the Pink Bear.

"That settles it," said the King, positively. "Your Ozma is in this holein the ground."

"Don't be silly," returned Dorothy impatiently. "Even your beady eyescan see there is no one in the hole but Button-Bright."

"Perhaps Button-Bright is Ozma," suggested the King.

"And perhaps he isn't! Ozma is a girl, and Button-Bright is a boy."

"Your Pink Bear must be out of order," said the Wizard; "for, this timeat least, his machinery has caused him to make an untrue statement."

The Bear King was so angry at this remark that he turned away, holdingthe Pink Bear in his paws, and refused to discuss the matter in anyfurther way.

"At any rate," said the Frogman, "the Pink Bear has led us to your boyfriend and so enabled you to rescue him."

Scraps was leaning so far over the hole, trying to find Ozma in it, thatsuddenly she lost her balance and pitched in headforemost. She fell uponButton-Bright and tumbled him over, but he was not hurt by her softstuffed body and only laughed at the mishap. The Wizard buckled somestraps together and let one end of them down into the hole, and soonboth Scraps and the boy had climbed up and were standing safely besidethe others.

They looked once more for Ozma, but the hole was now absolutely vacant.It was a round hole, so from the top they could plainly see every partof it. Before they left the place Dorothy went to the Bear King andsaid:

"I'm sorry we couldn't believe what the little Pink Bear said, 'cause wedon't want to make you feel bad by doubting him. There must be amistake, somewhere, and we prob'ly don't understand just what the littlePink Bear means. Will you let me ask him one more question?"

The Lavender Bear King was a good-natured bear, considering how he wasmade and stuffed and jointed, so he accepted Dorothy's apology andturned the crank and allowed the little girl to question his wee PinkBear.

"Is Ozma really in this hole?" asked Dorothy.

"No," said the little Pink Bear.

This surprised everybody. Even the Bear King was now puzzled by thecontradictory statements of his oracle.

"Where is she?" asked the King.

"Here, among you," answered the little Pink Bear.

"Well," said Dorothy, "this beats me, entirely! I guess the little PinkBear has gone crazy."

"Perhaps," called Scraps, who was rapidly turning "cart-wheels" allaround the perplexed group, "Ozma is invisible."

"Of course!" cried Betsy. "That would account for it."

"Well, I've noticed that people can speak, even when they've been madeinvisible," said the Wizard. And then he looked all around him and saidin a solemn voice: "Ozma, are you here?"

There was no reply. Dorothy asked the question, too, and so didButton-Bright and Trot and Betsy; but none received any reply at all.

"It's strange—it's terrible strange!" muttered Cayke the Cookie Cook."I was sure that the little Pink Bear always tells the truth."

"I still believe in his honesty," said the Frogman, and this tribute sopleased the Bear King that he gave these last speakers grateful looks,but still gazed sourly on the others.

"Come to think of it," remarked the Wizard, "Ozma couldn't be invisible,for she is a fairy and fairies cannot be made invisible against theirwill. Of course she could be imprisoned by the magician, or evenenchanted, or transformed, in spite of her fairy powers; but Ugu couldnot render her invisible by any magic at his command."

"I wonder if she's been transformed into Button-Bright?" said Dorothynervously. Then she looked steadily at the boy and asked: "Are you Ozma?Tell me truly!"

Button-Bright laughed.

"You're getting rattled, Dorothy," he replied. "Nothing ever enchantsme. If I were Ozma, do you think I'd have tumbled into that hole?"

"Anyhow," said the Wizard, "Ozma would never try to deceive her friends,or prevent them from recognizing her, in whatever form she happened tobe. The puzzle is still a puzzle, so let us go on to the wicker castleand question the magician himself. Since it was he who stole our Ozma,Ugu is the one who must tell us where to find her."

the low mountain on the crest of which the wicker castle had been built.They had been gradually advancing up hill, so now the elevation seemedto them more like a round knoll than a mountain-top. However, the sidesof the knoll were sloping and covered with green grass, so there was astiff climb before them yet.

Undaunted, they plodded on and had almost reached the knoll when theysuddenly observed that it was surrounded by a circle of flame. At firstthe flames barely rose above the ground, but presently they grew higherand higher until a circle of flaming tongues of fire taller than any oftheir heads quite surrounded the hill on which the wicker castle stood.When they approached the flames the heat was so intense that it drovethem back again.

"This will never do for me!" exclaimed the Patchwork Girl. "I catch firevery easily."

"It won't do for me, either," grumbled the Sawhorse, prancing to therear.

"I also object strongly to fire," said the Bear King, following theSawhorse to a safe distance and hugging the little Pink Bear with hispaws.

"I suppose the foolish Shoemaker imagines these blazes will stop us,"remarked the Wizard, with a smile of scorn for Ugu. "But I am able toinform you that this is merely a simple magic trick which the robberstole from Glinda the Good, and by good fortune I know how to destroythese flames, as well as how to produce them. Will some one of youkindly give me a match?"

You may be sure the girls carried no matches, nor did the Frogman orCayke or any of the animals. But Button-Bright, after searchingcarefully through his pockets, which contained all sorts of useful anduseless things, finally produced a match and handed it to the Wizard,who tied it to the end of a branch which he tore from a small treegrowing near them. Then the little Wizard carefully lighted the matchand running forward thrust it into the nearest flame. Instantly thecircle of fire began to die away and soon vanished completely, leavingthe way clear for them to proceed.

"That was funny!" laughed Button-Bright.

"Yes," agreed the Wizard, "it seems odd that a little match coulddestroy such a great circle of fire, but when Glinda invented this trickshe believed no one would ever think of a match being a remedy for fire.I suppose even Ugu doesn't know how we managed to quench the flames ofhis barrier, for only Glinda and I know the secret. Glinda's Book ofMagic, which Ugu stole, told how to make the flames, but not how to putthem out."

They now formed in marching order and proceeded to advance up the slopeof the hill; but had not gone far when before them rose a wall of steel,the surface of which was thickly covered with sharp, gleaming pointsresembling daggers. The wall completely surrounded the wicker castleand its sharp points prevented anyone from climbing it. Even thePatchwork Girl might be ripped to pieces if she dared attempt it.

"Ah!" exclaimed the Wizard cheerfully, "Ugu is now using one of my owntricks against me. But this is more serious than the Barrier of Fire,because the only way to destroy the wall is to get on the other side ofit."

"How can that be done?" asked Dorothy.

The Wizard looked thoughtfully around his little party and his face grewtroubled.

"It's a pretty high wall," he sadly remarked. "I'm pretty sure theCowardly Lion could not leap over it."

"I'm sure of that, too!" said the Lion with a shudder of fear. "If Ifoolishly tried such a leap I would be caught on those dreadful spikes."

"I think I could do it, sir," said the Frogman, with a bow to theWizard. "It is an up-hill jump, as well as being a high jump, but I'mconsidered something of a jumper by my friends in the Yip Country and Ibelieve a good strong leap will carry me to the other side."

"I'm sure it would," agreed the Cookie Cook.

"Leaping, you know, is a froglike accomplishment," continued theFrogman, modestly, "but please tell me what I am to do when I reach theother side of the wall."

"You're a brave creature," said the Wizard, admiringly. "Has anyone apin?"

Betsy had one, which she gave him.

"All you need do," said the Wizard to the Frogman, giving him the pin,"is to stick this into the other side of the wall."

"But the wall is of steel!" exclaimed the big frog.

"I know; at least, it seems to be steel; but do as I tell you. Stickthe pin into the wall and it will disappear."

The Frogman took off his handsome coat and carefully folded it and laidit on the grass. Then he removed his hat and laid it, together with hisgold-headed cane, beside the coat. He then went back a way and madethree powerful leaps, in rapid succession. The first two leaps took himto the wall and the third leap carried him well over it, to theamazement of all. For a short time he disappeared from their view, butwhen he had obeyed the Wizard's injunction and had thrust the pin intothe wall, the huge barrier vanished and showed them the form of theFrogman, who now went to where his coat lay and put it on again.

"We thank you very much," said the delighted Wizard. "That was the mostwonderful leap I ever saw and it has saved us from defeat by our enemy.Let us now hurry on to the castle before Ugu the Shoemaker thinks ofsome other means to stop us."

"We must have surprised him, so far," declared Dorothy.

"Yes, indeed. The fellow knows a lot of magic—all of our tricks andsome of his own," replied the Wizard. "So, if he is half as clever as heought to be, we shall have trouble with him yet."

He had scarcely spoken these words when out from the gates of the wickercastle marched a regiment of soldiers, clad in gay uniforms and allbearing long, pointed spears and sharp battle-axes. These soldiers weregirls, and the uniforms were short skirts of yellow and black satin,golden shoes, bands of gold across their foreheads and necklaces ofglittering jewels. Their jackets were scarlet, braided with silvercords. There were hundreds of these girl-soldiers, and they were moreterrible than beautiful, being strong and fierce in appearance. Theyformed a circle all around the castle and faced outward, their spearspointed toward the invaders and their battle-axes held over theirshoulders, ready to strike.

Of course our friends halted at once, for they had not expected thisdreadful array of soldiery. The Wizard seemed puzzled and his companionsexchanged discouraged looks.

"I'd no idea Ugu had such an army as that," said Dorothy. "The castledoesn't look big enough to hold them all."

"It isn't," declared the Wizard.

"But they all marched out of it."

"They seemed to; but I don't believe it is a real army at all. If Uguthe Shoemaker had so many people living with him, I'm sure the Czaroverof Herku would have mentioned the fact to us."

"They're only girls!" laughed Scraps.

"Girls are the fiercest soldiers of all," declared the Frogman. "Theyare more brave than men and they have better nerves. That is probablywhy the magician uses them for soldiers and has sent them to oppose us."

No one argued this statement, for all were staring hard at the line ofsoldiers, which now, having taken a defiant position, remainedmotionless.

"Here is a trick of magic new to me," admitted the Wizard, after a time."I do not believe the army is real, but the spears may be sharp enoughto prick us, nevertheless, so we must be cautious. Let us take time toconsider how to meet this difficulty."

While they were thinking it over Scraps danced closer to the line ofgirl soldiers. Her button eyes sometimes saw more than did the naturaleyes of her comrades and so, after staring hard at the magician's army,she boldly advanced and danced right through the threatening line! Onthe other side she waved her stuffed arms and called out:

"Come on, folks. The spears can't hurt you."

"Ah!" said the Wizard, gayly, "an optical illusion, as I thought. Let usall follow the Patchwork Girl."

The three little girls were somewhat nervous in attempting to brave thespears and battle-axes, but after the others had safely passed the linethey ventured to follow. And, when all had passed through the ranks ofthe girl army, the army itself magically disappeared from view.

All this time our friends had been getting farther up the hill andnearer to the wicker castle. Now, continuing their advance, theyexpected something else to oppose their way, but to their astonishmentnothing happened and presently they arrived at the wicker gates, whichstood wide open, and boldly entered the domain of Ugu the Shoemaker.

entrance when the big gates swung to with a clang and heavy bars droppedacross them. They looked at one another uneasily, but no one cared tospeak of the incident. If they were indeed prisoners in the wickercastle it was evident they must find a way to escape, but their firstduty was to attend to the errand on which they had come and seek theRoyal Ozma, whom they believed to be a prisoner of the magician, andrescue her.

They found they had entered a square courtyard, from which an entranceled into the main building of the castle. No person had appeared togreet them, so far, although a gaudy peaco*ck, perched upon the wall,cackled with laughter and said in its sharp, shrill voice: "Poor fools!Poor fools!"

"I hope the peaco*ck is mistaken," remarked the Frogman, but no one elsepaid any attention to the bird. They were a little awed by the stillnessand loneliness of the place.

As they entered the doors of the castle, which stood invitingly open,these also closed behind them and huge bolts shot into place. Theanimals had all accompanied the party into the castle, because they feltit would be dangerous for them to separate. They were forced to follow azigzag passage, turning this way and that, until finally they entered agreat central hall, circular in form and with a high dome from which wassuspended an enormous chandelier.

The Wizard went first, and Dorothy, Betsy and Trot followed him, Totokeeping at the heels of his little mistress. Then came the Lion, theWoozy and the Sawhorse; then Cayke the Cookie Cook and Button-Bright;then the Lavender Bear carrying the Pink Bear, and finally the Frogmanand the Patchwork Girl, with Hank the Mule tagging behind. So it was theWizard who caught the first glimpse of the big domed hall, but theothers quickly followed and gathered in a wondering group just withinthe entrance.

Upon a raised platform at one side was a heavy table on which layGlinda's Great Book of Records; but the platform was firmly fastened tothe floor and the table was fastened to the platform and the Book waschained fast to the table—just as it had been when it was kept inGlinda's palace. On the wall over the table hung Ozma's Magic Picture.On a row of shelves at the opposite side of the hall stood all thechemicals and essences of magic and all the magical instruments that hadbeen stolen from Glinda and Ozma and the Wizard, with glass doorscovering the shelves so that no one could get at them.

And in a far corner sat Ugu the Shoemaker, his feet lazily extended, hisskinny hands clasped behind his head. He was leaning back at his easeand calmly smoking a long pipe. Around the magician was a sort of cage,seemingly made of golden bars set wide apart, and at his feet—alsowithin the cage—reposed the long-sought diamond-studded dishpan ofCayke the Cookie Cook.

Princess Ozma of Oz was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, well," said Ugu, when the invaders had stood in silence for amoment, staring about them, "this visit is an expected pleasure, Iassure you. I knew you were coming and I know why you are here. You arenot welcome, for I cannot use any of you to my advantage, but as youhave insisted on coming I hope you will make the afternoon call as briefas possible. It won't take long to transact your business with me. Youwill ask me for Ozma, and my reply will be that you may find her—if youcan."

"Sir," answered the Wizard, in a tone of rebuke, "you are a very wickedand cruel person. I suppose you imagine, because you have stolen thispoor woman's dishpan and all the best magic in Oz, that you are morepowerful than we are and will be able to triumph over us."

"Yes," said Ugu the Shoemaker, slowly filling his pipe with freshtobacco from a silver bowl that stood beside him, "that is exactly whatI imagine. It will do you no good to demand from me the girl who wasformerly the Ruler of Oz, because I will not tell you where I havehidden her—and you can't guess in a thousand years. Neither will Irestore to you any of the magic I have captured. I am not so foolish.But bear this in mind: I mean to be the Ruler of Oz myself, hereafter,so I advise you to be careful how you address your future Monarch."

"Ozma is still Ruler of Oz, wherever you may have hidden her," declaredthe Wizard. "And bear this in mind, miserable Shoemaker: We intend tofind her and to rescue her, in time, but our first duty and pleasurewill be to conquer you and then punish you for your misdeeds."

"Very well; go ahead and conquer," said Ugu. "I'd really like to see howyou can do it."

Now, although the little Wizard had spoken so boldly, he had at themoment no idea how they might conquer the magician. He had that morninggiven the Frogman, at his request, a dose of zosozo from his bottle, andthe Frogman had promised to fight a good fight if it was necessary; butthe Wizard knew that strength alone could not avail against magicalarts. The toy Bear King seemed to have some pretty good magic, however,and the Wizard depended to an extent on that. But something ought to bedone right away, and the Wizard didn't know what it was.

While he considered this perplexing question and the others stoodlooking at him as their leader, a queer thing happened. The floor of thegreat circular hall, on which they were standing, suddenly began to tip.Instead of being flat and level it became a slant, and the slant grewsteeper and steeper until none of the party could manage to stand uponit. Presently they all slid down to the wall, which was now under them,and then it became evident that the whole vast room was slowly turningupside down! Only Ugu the Shoemaker, kept in place by the bars of hisgolden cage, remained in his former position, and the wicked magicianseemed to enjoy the surprise of his victims immensely.

First, they all slid down to the wall back of them, but as the roomcontinued to turn over they next slid down the wall and found themselvesat the bottom of the great dome, bumping against the big chandelierwhich, like everything else, was now upside-down.

The turning movement now stopped and the room became stationary. Lookingfar up, they saw Ugu suspended in his cage at the very top, which hadonce been the floor.

"Ah," said he, grinning down at them, "the way to conquer is to act, andhe who acts promptly is sure to win. This makes a very good prison, fromwhich I am sure you cannot escape. Please amuse yourselves in any wayyou like, but I must beg you to excuse me, as I have business in anotherpart of my castle."

Saying this, he opened a trap door in the floor of his cage (which wasnow over his head) and climbed through it and disappeared from theirview. The diamond dishpan still remained in the cage, but the bars keptit from falling down on their heads.

"Well, I declare!" said the Patchwork Girl, seizing one of the bars ofthe chandelier and swinging from it, "we must peg one for the Shoemaker,for he has trapped us very cleverly."

"Get off my foot, please," said the Lion to the Sawhorse.

"And oblige me, Mr. Mule," remarked the Woozy, "by taking your tail outof my left eye."

"It's rather crowded down here," explained Dorothy, "because the dome isrounding and we have all slid into the middle of it. But let us keep asquiet as possible until we can think what's best to be done."

"Dear, dear!" wailed Cayke; "I wish I had my darling dishpan," and sheheld her arms longingly toward it.

"I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there," sighed the Wizard.

"Don't you s'pose we could get to it?" asked Trot anxiously.

"We'd have to fly," laughed the Patchwork Girl.

But the Wizard took the suggestion seriously, and so did the Frogman.They talked it over and soon planned an attempt to reach the shelveswhere the magical instruments were. First the Frogman lay against therounding dome and braced his foot on the stem of the chandelier; thenthe Wizard climbed over him and lay on the dome with his feet on theFrogman's shoulders; the Cookie Cook came next; then Button-Brightclimbed to the woman's shoulders; then Dorothy climbed up, and Betsy andTrot, and finally the Patchwork Girl, and all their lengths made a longline that reached far up the dome but not far enough for Scraps to touchthe shelves.

"Wait a minute; perhaps I can reach the magic," called the Bear King,and began scrambling up the bodies of the others. But when he came tothe Cookie Cook his soft paws tickled her side so that she squirmed andupset the whole line. Down they came, tumbling in a heap against theanimals, and although no one was much hurt it was a bad mix-up and theFrogman, who was at the bottom, almost lost his temper before he couldget on his feet again.

Cayke positively refused to try what she called "the pyramid act" again,and as the Wizard was now convinced they could not reach the magic toolsin that manner the attempt was abandoned.

"But something must be done," said the Wizard, and then he turned tothe Lavender Bear and asked: "Cannot Your Majesty's magic help us toescape from here?"

"My magic powers are limited," was the reply. "When I was stuffed, thefairies stood by and slyly dropped some magic into my stuffing.Therefore I can do any of the magic that's inside me, but nothing else.You, however, are a wizard, and a wizard should be able to do anything."

"Your Majesty forgets that my tools of magic have been stolen," said theWizard sadly, "and a wizard without tools is as helpless as a carpenterwithout a hammer or saw."

"Don't give up," pleaded Button-Bright, "'cause if we can't get out ofthis queer prison we'll all starve to death."

"Not I!" laughed the Patchwork Girl, now standing on top the chandelier,at the place that was meant to be the bottom of it.

"Don't talk of such dreadful things," said Trot, shuddering. "We camehere to capture the Shoemaker, didn't we?"

"And here we are, captured ourselves, and my darling dishpan up there inplain sight!" wailed the Cookie Cook, wiping her eyes on the tail of theFrogman's coat.

"Hush!" called the Lion, with a low, deep growl. "Give the Wizard timeto think."

"He has plenty of time," said Scraps. "What he needs is the Scarecrow'sbrains."

After all, it was little Dorothy who came to their rescue, and herability to save them was almost as much a surprise to the girl as it wasto her friends. Dorothy had been secretly testing the powers of herMagic Belt, which she had once captured from the Nome King, andexperimenting with it in various ways, ever since she had started onthis eventful journey. At different times she had stolen away from theothers of her party and in solitude had tried to find out what the MagicBelt could do and what it could not do. There were a lot of things itcould not do, she discovered, but she learned some things about the Beltwhich even her girl friends did not suspect she knew.

For one thing, she had remembered that when the Nome King owned it theMagic Belt used to perform transformations, and by thinking hard she hadfinally recalled the way in which such transformations had beenaccomplished. Better than this, however, was the discovery that theMagic Belt would grant its wearer one wish a day. All she need do wasclose her right eye and wiggle her left toe and then draw a long breathand make her wish. Yesterday she had wished in secret for a box ofcaramels, and instantly found the box beside her. To-day she had savedher daily wish, in case she might need it in an emergency, and the timehad now come when she must use the wish to enable her to escape with herfriends from the prison in which Ugu had caught them.

So, without telling anyone what she intended to do—for she had onlyused the wish once and could not be certain how powerful the Magic Beltmight be—Dorothy closed her right eye and wiggled her left big toe anddrew a long breath and wished with all her might. The next moment theroom began to revolve again, as slowly as before, and by degrees theyall slid to the side wall and down the wall to the floor—all butScraps, who was so astonished that she still clung to the chandelier.When the big hall was in its proper position again and the others stoodfirmly upon the floor of it, they looked far up to the dome and saw thePatchwork Girl swinging from the chandelier.

"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy. "How ever will you get down?"

"Won't the room keep turning?" asked Scraps.

"I hope not. I believe it has stopped for good," said Princess Dorothy.

"Then stand from under, so you won't get hurt!" shouted the PatchworkGirl, and as soon as they had obeyed this request she let go thechandelier and came tumbling down heels over head and twisting andturning in a very exciting manner. Plump! she fell on the tiled floorand they ran to her and rolled her and patted her into shape again.

theshelves to secure the magic instruments so badly needed. Even Caykeneglected to get her diamond-studded dishpan because she was watchingthe Patchwork Girl. And now the magician had opened his trap door andappeared in his golden cage again, frowning angrily because hisprisoners had been able to turn their upside-down prison right-side-up.

"Which of you has dared defy my magic?" he shouted in a terrible voice.

"It was I," answered Dorothy calmly.

"Then I shall destroy you, for you are only an Earth girl and no fairy,"he said, and began to mumble some magic words.

Dorothy now realized that Ugu must be treated as an enemy, so sheadvanced toward the corner in which he sat, saying as she went:

"I am not afraid of you, Mr. Shoemaker, and I think you'll be sorry,pretty soon, that you're such a bad man. You can't destroy me and Iwon't destroy you, but I'm going to punish you for your wickedness."

Ugu laughed a laugh that was not nice to hear, and then he waved hishand. Dorothy was halfway across the room when suddenly a wall of glassrose before her and stopped her progress. Through the glass she couldsee the magician sneering at her because she was a weak little girl, andthis provoked her. Although the glass wall obliged her to halt sheinstantly pressed both hands to her Magic Belt and cried in a loudvoice:

"Ugu the Shoemaker, by the magic virtues of the Magic Belt, I commandyou to become a dove!"

The magician instantly realized he was being enchanted, for he couldfeel his form changing. He struggled desperately against theenchantment, mumbling magic words and making magic passes with hishands. And in one way he succeeded in defeating Dorothy's purpose, forwhile his form soon changed to that of a gray dove, the dove was of anenormous size—bigger even than Ugu had been as a man—and this feat hehad been able to accomplish before his powers of magic wholly desertedhim.

And the dove was not gentle, as doves usually are, for Ugu was terriblyenraged at the little girl's success. His books had told him nothing ofthe Nome King's Magic Belt, the Country of the Nomes being outside theLand of Oz. He knew, however, that he was likely to be conquered unlesshe made a fierce fight, so he spread his wings and rose in the air andflew directly toward Dorothy. The Wall of Glass had disappeared theinstant Ugu became transformed.

Dorothy had meant to command the Belt to transform the magician into aDove of Peace, but in her excitement she forgot to say more than "dove,"and now Ugu was not a Dove of Peace by any means, but rather a spitefulDove of War. His size made his sharp beak and claws very dangerous, butDorothy was not afraid when he came darting toward her with his talonsoutstretched and his sword-like beak open.

She knew the Magic Belt would protect its wearer from harm.

But the Frogman did not know that fact and became alarmed at the littlegirl's seeming danger. So he gave a sudden leap and leaped full upon theback of the great dove.

Then began a desperate struggle. The dove was as strong as Ugu had been,and in size it was considerably bigger than the Frogman. But the Frogmanhad eaten the zosozo and it had made him fully as strong as Ugu theDove. At the first leap he bore the dove to the floor, but the giantbird got free and began to bite and claw the Frogman, beating him downwith its great wings whenever he attempted to rise. The thick, toughskin of the big frog was not easily damaged, but Dorothy feared for herchampion and by again using the transformation power of the Magic Beltshe made the dove grow small, until it was no larger than a canary bird.

Ugu had not lost his knowledge of magic when he lost his shape as a man,and he now realized it was hopeless to oppose the power of the MagicBelt and knew that his only hope of escape lay in instant action. So hequickly flew into the golden jeweled dishpan he had stolen from Caykethe Cookie Cook and, as birds can talk as well as beasts or men in theFairyland of Oz, he muttered the magic word that was required and wishedhimself in the Country of the Quadlings—which was as far away from thewicker castle as he believed he could get.

Our friends did not know, of course, what Ugu was about to do. They sawthe dishpan tremble an instant and then disappear, the dove disappearingwith it, and although they waited expectantly for some minutes for themagician's return, Ugu did not come back again.

"Seems to me," said the Wizard in a cheerful voice, "that we haveconquered the wicked magician more quickly than we expected to."

"Don't say 'we'—Dorothy did it!" cried the Patchwork Girl, turningthree somersaults in succession and then walking around on her hands."Hurrah for Dorothy!"

"I thought you said you did not know how to use the magic of the NomeKing's Belt," said the Wizard to Dorothy.

"I didn't know, at that time," she replied, "but afterward I rememberedhow the Nome King once used the Magic Belt to enchant people andtransform 'em into ornaments and all sorts of things; so I tried someenchantments in secret and after awhile I transformed the Sawhorse intoa potato-masher and back again, and the Cowardly Lion into a puss*catand back again, and then I knew the thing would work all right."

"When did you perform those enchantments?" asked the Wizard, muchsurprised.

"One night when all the rest of you were asleep but Scraps, and she hadgone chasing moonbeams."

"Well," remarked the Wizard, "your discovery has certainly saved us alot of trouble, and we must all thank the Frogman, too, for making sucha good fight. The dove's shape had Ugu's evil disposition inside it, andthat made the monster bird dangerous."

The Frogman was looking sad because the bird's talons had torn hispretty clothes, but he bowed with much dignity at this well-deservedpraise. Cayke, however, had squatted on the floor and was sobbingbitterly.

"My precious dishpan is gone!" she wailed. "Gone, just as I had found itagain!"

"Never mind," said Trot, trying to comfort her, "it's sure to besomewhere, so we'll cert'nly run across it some day."

"Yes, indeed," added Betsy; "now that we have Ozma's Magic Picture, wecan tell just where the Dove went with your dishpan."

They all approached the Magic Picture, and Dorothy wished it to show theenchanted form of Ugu the Shoemaker, wherever it might be. At once thereappeared in the frame of the Picture a scene in the far QuadlingCountry, where the Dove was perched disconsolately on the limb of a treeand the jeweled dishpan lay on the ground just underneath the limb.

"But where is the place—how far or how near?" asked Cayke anxiously.

"The Book of Records will tell us that," answered the Wizard. So theylooked in the Great Book and read the following:

"Ugu the Magician, being transformed into a dove by PrincessDorothy of Oz, has used the magic of the golden dishpan to carryhim instantly to the northeast corner of the Quadling Country."

"That's all right," said Dorothy. "Don't worry, Cayke, for the Scarecrowand the Tin Woodman are in that part of the country, looking for Ozma,and they'll surely find your dishpan."

"Good gracious!" exclaimed Button-Bright, "we've forgot all about Ozma.Let's find out where the magician hid her."

Back to the Magic Picture they trooped, but when they wished to seeOzma, wherever she might be hidden, only a round black spot appeared inthe center of the canvas.

"I don't see how that can be Ozma!" said Dorothy, much puzzled.

"It seems to be the best the Magic Picture can do, however," said theWizard, no less surprised. "If it's an enchantment, it looks as if themagician had transformed Ozma into a chunk of pitch."

canvas of the Magic Picture, wondering what it could mean.

"P'r'aps we'd better ask the little Pink Bear about Ozma," suggestedTrot.

"Pshaw!" said Button-Bright, "he don't know anything."

"He never makes a mistake," declared the King.

"He did once, surely," said Betsy. "But perhaps he wouldn't make amistake again."

"He won't have the chance," grumbled the Bear King.

"We might hear what he has to say," said Dorothy. "It won't do any harmto ask the Pink Bear where Ozma is."

"I will not have him questioned," declared the King, in a surly voice."I do not intend to allow my little Pink Bear to be again insulted byyour foolish doubts. He never makes a mistake."

"Didn't he say Ozma was in that hole in the ground?" asked Betsy.

"He did; and I am certain she was there," replied the Lavender Bear.

Scraps laughed jeeringly and the others saw there was no use arguingwith the stubborn Bear King, who seemed to have absolute faith in hisPink Bear. The Wizard, who knew that magical things can usually bedepended upon, and that the little Pink Bear was able to answerquestions by some remarkable power of magic, thought it wise toapologize to the Lavender Bear for the unbelief of his friends, at thesame time urging the King to consent to question the Pink Bear oncemore. Cayke and the Frogman also pleaded with the big Bear, whofinally agreed, although rather ungraciously, to put the little Bear'swisdom to the test once more. So he sat the little one on his knee andturned the crank and the Wizard himself asked the questions in a veryrespectful tone of voice.

"Where is Ozma?" was his first query.

"Here, in this room," answered the little Pink Bear.

They all looked around the room, but of course did not see her.

"In what part of this room is she?" was the Wizard's next question.

"In Button-Bright's pocket," said the little Pink Bear.

This reply amazed them all, you may be sure, and although the threegirls smiled and Scraps yelled: "Hoo-ray!" in derision, the Wizardseemed to consider the matter with grave thoughtfulness.

"In which one of Button-Bright's pockets is Ozma?" he presentlyinquired.

"In the lefthand jacket-pocket," said the little Pink Bear.

"The pink one has gone crazy!" exclaimed Button-Bright, staring hard atthe little bear on the big bear's knee.

"I am not so sure of that," declared the Wizard. "If Ozma proves to bereally in your pocket, then the little Pink Bear spoke truly when hesaid Ozma was in that hole in the ground. For at that time you were alsoin the hole, and after we had pulled you out of it the little Pink Bearsaid Ozma was not in the hole."

"He never makes a mistake," asserted the Bear King, stoutly.

"Empty that pocket, Button-Bright, and let's see what's in it,"requested Dorothy.

So Button-Bright laid the contents of his left jacket-pocket on thetable. These proved to be a peg-top, a bunch of string, a small rubberball and a golden peach-pit.

"What's this?" asked the Wizard, picking up the peach-pit and examiningit closely.

"Oh," said the boy, "I saved that to show to the girls, and then forgotall about it. It came out of a lonesome peach that I found in theorchard back yonder, and which I ate while I was lost. It looks likegold, and I never saw a peach-pit like it before."

"Nor I," said the Wizard, "and that makes it seem suspicious."

All heads were bent over the golden peach-pit. The Wizard turned it overseveral times and then took out his pocket-knife and pried the pitopen.

As the two halves fell apart a pink, cloud-like haze came pouring fromthe golden peach-pit, almost filling the big room, and from the haze aform took shape and settled beside them. Then, as the haze faded away, asweet voice said: "Thank you, my friends!" and there before them stoodtheir lovely girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz.

With a cry of delight Dorothy rushed forward and embraced her. Scrapsturned gleeful flip-flops all around the room. Button-Bright gave a lowwhistle of astonishment. The Frogman took off his tall hat and bowed lowbefore the beautiful girl who had been freed from her enchantment in sostartling a manner.

For a time no sound was heard beyond the low murmur of delight that camefrom the amazed group, but presently the growl of the big Lavender Beargrew louder and he said in a tone of triumph:

"He never makes a mistake!"

his tail, "but I've found my growl at last! I am positive, now, that itwas the cruel magician who stole it."

"Let's hear your growl," requested the Lion.

"Gr-r-r-r-r-r!" said Toto.

"That is fine," declared the big beast. "It isn't as loud or as deep asthe growl of the big Lavender Bear, but it is a very respectable growlfor a small dog. Where did you find it, Toto?"

"I was smelling in the corner, yonder," said Toto, "when suddenly amouse ran out—and I growled!"

The others were all busy congratulating Ozma, who was very happy atbeing released from the confinement of the golden peach-pit, where themagician had placed her with the notion that she never could be found orliberated.

"And only to think," cried Dorothy, "that Button-Bright has beencarrying you in his pocket all this time, and we never knew it!"

"The little Pink Bear told you," said the Bear King, "but you wouldn'tbelieve him."

"Never mind, my dears," said Ozma graciously; "all is well that endswell, and you couldn't be expected to know I was inside the peach-pit.Indeed, I feared I would remain a captive much longer than I did, forUgu is a bold and clever magician and he had hidden me very securely."

"You were in a fine peach," said Button-Bright; "the best I ever ate."

"The magician was foolish to make the peach so tempting," remarked theWizard; "but Ozma would lend beauty to any transformation."

"How did you manage to conquer Ugu the Shoemaker?" inquired the girlRuler of Oz.

Dorothy started to tell the story and Trot helped her, and Button-Brightwanted to relate it in his own way, and the Wizard tried to make itclear to Ozma, and Betsy had to remind them of important things theyleft out, and all together there was such a chatter that it was a wonderthat Ozma understood any of it. But she listened patiently, with a smileon her lovely face at their eagerness, and presently had gleaned all thedetails of their adventures.

Ozma thanked the Frogman very earnestly for his assistance and sheadvised Cayke the Cookie Cook to dry her weeping eyes, for she promisedto take her to the Emerald City and see that her cherished dishpan wasrestored to her. Then the beautiful Ruler took a chain of emeralds fromaround her own neck and placed it around the neck of the little PinkBear.

"Your wise answers to the questions of my friends," said she, "helpedthem to rescue me. Therefore I am deeply grateful to you and to yournoble King."

The bead eyes of the little Pink Bear stared unresponsive to this praiseuntil the Big Lavender Bear turned the crank in its side, when it saidin its squeaky voice:

"I thank Your Majesty."

"For my part," returned the Bear King, "I realize that you were wellworth saving, Miss Ozma, and so I am much pleased that we could be ofservice to you. By means of my Magic Wand I have been creating exactimages of your Emerald City and your Royal Palace, and I must confessthat they are more attractive than any places I have ever seen—notexcepting Bear Center."

"I would like to entertain you in my palace," returned Ozma, sweetly,"and you are welcome to return with me and to make me a long visit, ifyour bear subjects can spare you from your own kingdom."

"As for that," answered the King, "my kingdom causes me little worry,and I often find it somewhat tame and uninteresting. Therefore I am inno hurry to return to it and will be glad to accept your kindinvitation. Corporal Waddle may be trusted to care for my bears in myabsence."

"And you'll bring the little Pink Bear?" asked Dorothy eagerly.

"Of course, my dear; I would not willingly part with him."

They remained in the wicker castle for three days, carefully packing allthe magical things that had been stolen by Ugu and also taking whateverin the way of magic the shoemaker had inherited from his ancestors.

"For," said Ozma, "I have forbidden any of my subjects except Glinda theGood and the Wizard of Oz to practice magical arts, because they cannotbe trusted to do good and not harm. Therefore Ugu must never again bepermitted to work magic of any sort."

"Well," remarked Dorothy cheerfully, "a dove can't do much in the way ofmagic, anyhow, and I'm going to keep Ugu in the form of a dove until hereforms and becomes a good and honest shoemaker."

When everything was packed and loaded on the backs of the animals, theyset out for the river, taking a more direct route than that by whichCayke and the Frogman had come. In this way they avoided the Cities ofThi and Herku and Bear Center and after a pleasant journey reached theWinkie River and found a jolly ferryman who had a fine big boat and waswilling to carry the entire party by water to a place quite near to theEmerald City.

The river had many windings and many branches, and the journey did notend in a day, but finally the boat floated into a pretty lake which wasbut a short distance from Ozma's home. Here the jolly ferryman wasrewarded for his labors and then the entire party set out in a grandprocession to march to the Emerald City.

News that the Royal Ozma had been found spread quickly throughout theneighborhood and both sides of the road soon became lined with loyalsubjects of the beautiful and beloved Ruler. Therefore Ozma's ears heardlittle but cheers and her eyes beheld little else than wavinghandkerchiefs and banners during all the triumphal march from the laketo the city's gates.

And there she met a still greater concourse, for all the inhabitants ofthe Emerald City turned out to welcome her return and several bandsplayed gay music and all the houses were decorated with flags andbunting and never before were the people so joyous and happy as at thismoment when they welcomed home their girl Ruler. For she had been lostand was now found again, and surely that was cause for rejoicing.

Glinda was at the royal palace to meet the returning party and the goodSorceress was indeed glad to have her Great Book of Records returned toher, as well as all the precious collection of magic instruments andelixirs and chemicals that had been stolen from her castle. Cap'n Billand the Wizard at once hung the Magic Picture upon the wall of Ozma'sboudoir and the Wizard was so light-hearted that he did several trickswith the tools in his black bag to amuse his companions and prove thatonce again he was a powerful wizard.

For a whole week there was feasting and merriment and all sorts ofjoyous festivities at the palace, in honor of Ozma's safe return. TheLavender Bear and the little Pink Bear received much attention and werehonored by all, much to the Bear King's satisfaction. The Frogmanspeedily became a favorite at the Emerald City and the Shaggy Man andTik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead, who had now returned from their search,were very polite to the big frog and made him feel quite at home. Eventhe Cookie Cook, because she was a stranger and Ozma's guest, was shownas much deference as if she had been a queen.

"All the same, Your Majesty," said Cayke to Ozma, day after day, withtiresome repetition, "I hope you will soon find my jeweled dishpan, fornever can I be quite happy without it."

its tree inthe far Quadling Country and moped, chirping dismally and brooding overits misfortunes. After a time the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman camealong and sat beneath the tree, paying no heed to the mutterings of thegray dove.

The Tin Woodman took a small oilcan from his tin pocket and carefullyoiled his tin joints with it. While he was thus engaged the Scarecrowremarked:

"I feel much better, dear comrade, since we found that heap of niceclean straw and you stuffed me anew with it."

"And I feel much better now that my joints are oiled," returned the TinWoodman, with a sigh of pleasure. "You and I, friend Scarecrow, are muchmore easily cared for than those clumsy meat people, who spend halftheir time dressing in fine clothes and who must live in splendiddwellings in order to be contented and happy. You and I do not eat, andso we are spared the dreadful bother of getting three meals a day. Nordo we waste half our lives in sleep, a condition that causes the meatpeople to lose all consciousness and become as thoughtless and helplessas logs of wood."

"You speak truly," responded the Scarecrow, tucking some wisps of strawinto his breast with his padded fingers. "I often feel sorry for themeat people, many of whom are my friends. Even the beasts are happierthan they, for they require less to make them content. And the birds arethe luckiest creatures of all, for they can fly swiftly where they willand find a home at any place they care to perch; their food consists ofseeds and grains they gather from the fields and their drink is a sipof water from some running brook. If I could not be a Scarecrow—or aTin Woodman—my next choice would be to live as a bird does."

The gray dove had listened carefully to this speech and seemed to findcomfort in it, for it hushed its moaning. And just then the Tin Woodmandiscovered Cayke's dishpan, which was on the ground quite near to him.

"Here is a rather pretty utensil," he said, taking it in his tin handsto examine it, "but I would not care to own it. Whoever fashioned it ofgold and covered it with diamonds did not add to its usefulness, nor doI consider it as beautiful as the bright dishpans of tin one usuallysees. No yellow color is ever so handsome as the silver sheen of tin,"and he turned to look at his tin legs and body with approval.

"I cannot quite agree with you there," replied the Scarecrow. "My strawstuffing has a light yellow color, and it is not only pretty to look atbut it crunkles most delightfully when I move."

"Let us admit that all colors are good in their proper places," said theTin Woodman, who was too kind-hearted to quarrel; "but you must agreewith me that a dishpan that is yellow is unnatural. What shall we dowith this one, which we have just found?"

"Let us carry it back to the Emerald City," suggested the Scarecrow."Some of our friends might like to have it for a foot-bath, and in usingit that way its golden color and sparkling ornaments would not injureits usefulness."

So they went away and took the jeweled dishpan with them. And, afterwandering through the country for a day or so longer, they learned thenews that Ozma had been found. Therefore they straightway returned tothe Emerald City and presented the dishpan to Princess Ozma as a tokenof their joy that she had been restored to them.

Ozma promptly gave the diamond-studded gold dishpan to Cayke the CookieCook, who was so delighted at regaining her lost treasure that shedanced up and down in glee and then threw her skinny arms around Ozma'sneck and kissed her gratefully. Cayke's mission was now successfullyaccomplished, but she was having such a good time at the Emerald Citythat she seemed in no hurry to go back to the Country of the Yips.

It was several weeks after the dishpan had been restored to the CookieCook when one day, as Dorothy was seated in the royal gardens with Trotand Betsy beside her, a gray dove came flying down and alighted at thegirl's feet.

"I am Ugu the Shoemaker," said the dove in a soft, mourning voice, "andI have come to ask you to forgive me for the great wrong I did instealing Ozma and the magic that belonged to her and to others."

"Are you sorry, then?" asked Dorothy, looking hard at the bird.

"I am very sorry," declared Ugu. "I've been thinking over my misdeedsfor a long time, for doves have little else to do but think, and I'msurprised that I was such a wicked man and had so little regard for therights of others. I am now convinced that even had I succeeded in makingmyself ruler of all Oz I should not have been happy, for many days ofquiet thought have shown me that only those things one acquires honestlyare able to render one content."

"I guess that's so," said Trot.

"Anyhow," said Betsy, "the bad man seems truly sorry, and if he has nowbecome a good and honest man we ought to forgive him."

"I fear I cannot become a good man again," said Ugu, "for thetransformation I am under will always keep me in the form of a dove.But, with the kind forgiveness of my former enemies, I hope to become avery good dove, and highly respected."

"Wait here till I run for my Magic Belt," said Dorothy, "and I'lltransform you back to your reg'lar shape in a jiffy."

"No—don't do that!" pleaded the dove, fluttering its wings in anexcited way. "I only want your forgiveness; I don't want to be a managain. As Ugu the Shoemaker I was skinny and old and unlovely; as a doveI am quite pretty to look at. As a man I was ambitious and cruel, whileas a dove I can be content with my lot and happy in my simple life. Ihave learned to love the free and independent life of a bird and I'drather not change back."

"Just as you like, Ugu," said Dorothy, resuming her seat. "Perhaps youare right, for you're cert'nly a better dove than you were a man, and ifyou should ever backslide, an' feel wicked again, you couldn't do muchharm as a gray dove."

"Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?" he askedearnestly.

"Of course; anyone who's sorry just has to be forgiven."

"Thank you," said the gray dove, and flew away again.

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