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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 33361 ***
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: This Book Belongs To]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+By L. FRANK BAUM
+
+UNIFORM WITH OZMA OF OZ
+
+
+The Land of Oz
+
+John Dough and The Cherub
+
+
+Each elaborately illustrated in colors and black-and-white by
+
+JOHN R. NEILL
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: Ozma of Oz]
+
+[Illustration: Ozma]
+
+    OZMA OF OZ
+
+    A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of
+    Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin
+    Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and
+    the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good
+    People too Numerous to Mention
+    Faithfully Recorded Herein
+
+    BY
+
+    L. FRANK BAUM
+
+    THE AUTHOR OF THE WIZARD OF OZ,
+    THE LAND OF OZ, ETC.
+
+    [Illustration]
+
+    ILLUSTRATED BY
+    JOHN R. NEILL
+
+    CHICAGO:
+    THE REILLY & BRITTON CO.
+    PUBLISHERS
+
+[Illustration: Copyright, 1907, by L. Frank Baum. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED]
+
+[Illustration: To all the boys and girls who read my stories--and
+especially to the Dorothys--this book is lovingly dedicated.]
+
+
+
+
+List of Chapters
+
+
+                                                                    Page
+
+       I. The Girl in the Chicken Coop                                13
+
+      II. The Yellow Hen                                              24
+
+     III. Letters in the Sand                                         37
+
+      IV. Tiktok, the Machine Man                                     49
+
+       V.  Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail                              64
+
+      VI. The Heads of Langwidere                                     76
+
+     VII. Ozma of Oz to the Rescue                                   101
+
+    VIII. The Hungry Tiger                                           117
+
+      IX. The Royal Family of Ev                                     128
+
+       X. The Giant with the Hammer                                  141
+
+      XI. The Nome King                                              156
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+     XII. The Eleven Guesses                                         175
+
+    XIII. The Nome King Laughs                                       182
+
+     XIV. Dorothy Tries to be Brave                                  191
+
+      XV. Billina Frightens the Nome King                            205
+
+     XVI. Purple, Green and Gold                                     216
+
+    XVII. The Scarecrow Wins the Fight                               226
+
+   XVIII. The Fate of the Tin Woodman                                235
+
+     XIX. The King of Ev                                             246
+
+      XX. The Emerald City                                           254
+
+     XXI. Dorothy's Magic Belt                                       263
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Author's Note
+
+
+My friends the children are responsible for this new "Oz Book," as they
+were for the last one, which was called _The Land of Oz_. Their sweet
+little letters plead to know "more about Dorothy"; and they ask: "What
+became of the Cowardly Lion?" and "What did Ozma do
+afterward?"--meaning, of course, after she became the Ruler of Oz. And
+some of them suggest plots to me, saying: "Please have Dorothy go to the
+Land of Oz again"; or, "Why don't you make Ozma and Dorothy meet, and
+have a good time together?" Indeed, could I do all that my little
+friends ask, I would be obliged to write dozens of books to satisfy
+their demands. And I wish I could, for I enjoy writing these stories
+just as much as the children say they enjoy reading them.
+
+Well, here is "more about Dorothy," and about our old friends the
+Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and about the Cowardly Lion, and Ozma,
+and all the rest of them; and here, likewise, is a good deal about some
+new folks that are queer and unusual. One little friend, who read this
+story before it was printed, said to me: "Billina is _real Ozzy_, Mr.
+Baum, and so are Tiktok and the Hungry Tiger."
+
+If this judgment is unbiased and correct, and the little folks find this
+new story "real Ozzy," I shall be very glad indeed that I wrote it. But
+perhaps I shall get some more of those very welcome letters from my
+readers, telling me just how they like "Ozma of Oz." I hope so, anyway.
+
+    L. FRANK BAUM.
+
+    MACATAWA, 1907.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Girl in the Chicken Coop
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The wind blew hard and joggled the water of the ocean, sending ripples
+across its surface. Then the wind pushed the edges of the ripples until
+they became waves, and shoved the waves around until they became
+billows. The billows rolled dreadfully high: higher even than the tops
+of houses. Some of them, indeed, rolled as high as the tops of tall
+trees, and seemed like mountains, and the gulfs between the great
+billows were like deep valleys.
+
+All this mad dashing and splashing of the waters of the big ocean, which
+the mischievous wind caused without any good reason whatever, resulted
+in a terrible storm, and a storm on the ocean is liable to cut many
+queer pranks and do a lot of damage.
+
+At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was sailing far out upon the
+waters. When the waves began to tumble and toss and to grow bigger and
+bigger the ship rolled up and down, and tipped sidewise--first one way
+and then the other--and was jostled around so roughly that even the
+sailor-men had to hold fast to the ropes and railings to keep themselves
+from being swept away by the wind or pitched headlong into the sea.
+
+And the clouds were so thick in the sky that the sunlight couldn't get
+through them; so that the day grew dark as night, which added to the
+terrors of the storm.
+
+The Captain of the ship was not afraid, because he had seen storms
+before, and had sailed his ship through them in safety; but he knew that
+his passengers would be in danger if they tried to stay on deck, so he
+put them all into the cabin and told them to stay there until after the
+storm was over, and to keep brave hearts and not be scared, and all
+would be well with them.
+
+Now, among these passengers was a little Kansas girl named Dorothy
+Gale, who was going with her Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some
+relatives they had never before seen. Uncle Henry, you must know, was
+not very well, because he had been working so hard on his Kansas farm
+that his health had given way and left him weak and nervous. So he left
+Aunt Em at home to watch after the hired men and to take care of the
+farm, while he traveled far away to Australia to visit his cousins and
+have a good rest.
+
+Dorothy was eager to go with him on this journey, and Uncle Henry
+thought she would be good company and help cheer him up; so he decided
+to take her along. The little girl was quite an experienced traveller,
+for she had once been carried by a cyclone as far away from home as the
+marvelous Land of Oz, and she had met with a good many adventures in
+that strange country before she managed to get back to Kansas again. So
+she wasn't easily frightened, whatever happened, and when the wind began
+to howl and whistle, and the waves began to tumble and toss, our little
+girl didn't mind the uproar the least bit.
+
+"Of course we'll have to stay in the cabin," she said to Uncle Henry and
+the other passengers, "and keep as quiet as possible until the storm is
+over. For the Captain says if we go on deck we may be blown overboard."
+
+No one wanted to risk such an accident as that, you may be sure; so all
+the passengers stayed huddled up in the dark cabin, listening to the
+shrieking of the storm and the creaking of the masts and rigging and
+trying to keep from bumping into one another when the ship tipped
+sidewise.
+
+Dorothy had almost fallen asleep when she was aroused with a start to
+find that Uncle Henry was missing. She couldn't imagine where he had
+gone, and as he was not very strong she began to worry about him, and to
+fear he might have been careless enough to go on deck. In that case he
+would be in great danger unless he instantly came down again.
+
+The fact was that Uncle Henry had gone to lie down in his little
+sleeping-berth, but Dorothy did not know that. She only remembered that
+Aunt Em had cautioned her to take good care of her uncle, so at once she
+decided to go on deck and find him, in spite of the fact that the
+tempest was now worse than ever, and the ship was plunging in a really
+dreadful manner. Indeed, the little girl found it was as much as she
+could do to mount the stairs to the deck, and as soon as she got there
+the wind struck her so fiercely that it almost tore away the skirts of
+her dress. Yet Dorothy felt a sort of joyous excitement in defying the
+storm, and while she held fast to the railing she peered around through
+the gloom and thought she saw the dim form of a man clinging to a mast
+not far away from her. This might be her uncle, so she called as loudly
+as she could:
+
+"Uncle Henry! Uncle Henry!"
+
+[Illustration: "UNCLE HENRY! UNCLE HENRY!" CALLED DOROTHY]
+
+But the wind screeched and howled so madly that she scarce heard her own
+voice, and the man certainly failed to hear her, for he did not move.
+
+Dorothy decided she must go to him; so she made a dash forward, during a
+lull in the storm, to where a big square chicken-coop had been lashed to
+the deck with ropes. She reached this place in safety, but no sooner had
+she seized fast hold of the slats of the big box in which the chickens
+were kept than the wind, as if enraged because the little girl dared to
+resist its power, suddenly redoubled its fury. With a scream like that
+of an angry giant it tore away the ropes that held the coop and lifted
+it high into the air, with Dorothy still clinging to the slats. Around
+and over it whirled, this way and that, and a few moments later the
+chicken-coop dropped far away into the sea, where the big waves caught
+it and slid it up-hill to a foaming crest and then downhill into a deep
+valley, as if it were nothing more than a plaything to keep them amused.
+
+Dorothy had a good ducking, you may be sure, but she didn't lose her
+presence of mind even for a second. She kept tight hold of the stout
+slats and as soon as she could get the water out of her eyes she saw
+that the wind had ripped the cover from the coop, and the poor chickens
+were fluttering away in every direction, being blown by the wind until
+they looked like feather dusters without handles. The bottom of the coop
+was made of thick boards, so Dorothy found she was clinging to a sort of
+raft, with sides of slats, which readily bore up her weight. After
+coughing the water out of her throat and getting her breath again, she
+managed to climb over the slats and stand upon the firm wooden bottom of
+the coop, which supported her easily enough.
+
+"Why, I've got a ship of my own!" she thought, more amused than
+frightened at her sudden change of condition; and then, as the coop
+climbed up to the top of a big wave, she looked eagerly around for the
+ship from which she had been blown.
+
+It was far, far away, by this time. Perhaps no one on board had yet
+missed her, or knew of her strange adventure. Down into a valley
+between the waves the coop swept her, and when she climbed another
+crest the ship looked like a toy boat, it was such a long way off. Soon
+it had entirely disappeared in the gloom, and then Dorothy gave a sigh
+of regret at parting with Uncle Henry and began to wonder what was going
+to happen to her next.
+
+Just now she was tossing on the bosom of a big ocean, with nothing to
+keep her afloat but a miserable wooden hen-coop that had a plank bottom
+and slatted sides, through which the water constantly splashed and
+wetted her through to the skin! And there was nothing to eat when she
+became hungry--as she was sure to do before long--and no fresh water to
+drink and no dry clothes to put on.
+
+"Well, I declare!" she exclaimed, with a laugh. "You're in a pretty fix,
+Dorothy Gale, I can tell you! and I haven't the least idea how you're
+going to get out of it!"
+
+As if to add to her troubles the night was now creeping on, and the gray
+clouds overhead changed to inky blackness. But the wind, as if satisfied
+at last with its mischievous pranks, stopped blowing this ocean and
+hurried away to another part of the world to blow something else; so
+that the waves, not being joggled any more, began to quiet down and
+behave themselves.
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY AFLOAT IN THE HEN-COOP]
+
+It was lucky for Dorothy, I think, that the storm subsided; otherwise,
+brave though she was, I fear she might have perished. Many children, in
+her place, would have wept and given way to despair; but because Dorothy
+had encountered so many adventures and come safely through them it did
+not occur to her at this time to be especially afraid. She was wet and
+uncomfortable, it is true; but, after sighing that one sigh I told you
+of, she managed to recall some of her customary cheerfulness and decided
+to patiently await whatever her fate might be.
+
+By and by the black clouds rolled away and showed a blue sky overhead,
+with a silver moon shining sweetly in the middle of it and little stars
+winking merrily at Dorothy when she looked their way. The coop did not
+toss around any more, but rode the waves more gently--almost like a
+cradle rocking--so that the floor upon which Dorothy stood was no longer
+swept by water coming through the slats. Seeing this, and being quite
+exhausted by the excitement of the past few hours, the little girl
+decided that sleep would be the best thing to restore her strength and
+the easiest way in which she could pass the time. The floor was damp and
+she was herself wringing wet, but fortunately this was a warm climate
+and she did not feel at all cold. So she sat down in a corner of the
+coop, leaned her back against the slats, nodded at the friendly stars
+before she closed her eyes, and was asleep in half a minute.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Yellow Hen
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+A strange noise awoke Dorothy, who opened her eyes to find that day had
+dawned and the sun was shining brightly in a clear sky. She had been
+dreaming that she was back in Kansas again, and playing in the old
+barn-yard with the calves and pigs and chickens all around her; and at
+first, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she really imagined she
+was there.
+
+"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-kut! Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-kut!"
+
+Ah; here again was the strange noise that had awakened her. Surely it
+was a hen cackling! But her wide-open eyes first saw, through the slats
+of the coop, the blue waves of the ocean, now calm and placid, and her
+thoughts flew back to the past night, so full of danger and discomfort.
+Also she began to remember that she was a waif of the storm, adrift upon
+a treacherous and unknown sea.
+
+"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-w-w--kut!"
+
+"What's that?" cried Dorothy, starting to her feet.
+
+"Why, I've just laid an egg, that's all," replied a small, but sharp and
+distinct voice, and looking around her the little girl discovered a
+yellow hen squatting in the opposite corner of the coop.
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed, in surprise; "have _you_ been here all night,
+too?"
+
+"Of course," answered the hen, fluttering her wings and yawning. "When
+the coop blew away from the ship I clung fast to this corner, with claws
+and beak, for I knew if I fell into the water I'd surely be drowned.
+Indeed, I nearly drowned, as it was, with all that water washing over
+me. I never was so wet before in my life!"
+
+"Yes," agreed Dorothy, "it was pretty wet, for a time, I know. But do
+you feel comfor'ble now?"
+
+"Not very. The sun has helped to dry my feathers, as it has your dress,
+and I feel better since I laid my morning egg. But what's to become of
+us, I should like to know, afloat on this big pond?"
+
+"I'd like to know that, too," said Dorothy. "But, tell me; how does it
+happen that you are able to talk? I thought hens could only cluck and
+cackle."
+
+"Why, as for that," answered the yellow hen thoughtfully, "I've clucked
+and cackled all my life, and never spoken a word before this morning,
+that I can remember. But when you asked a question, a minute ago, it
+seemed the most natural thing in the world to answer you. So I spoke,
+and I seem to keep on speaking, just as you and other human beings do.
+Strange, isn't it?"
+
+"Very," replied Dorothy. "If we were in the Land of Oz, I wouldn't think
+it so queer, because many of the animals can talk in that fairy country.
+But out here in the ocean must be a good long way from Oz."
+
+"How is my grammar?" asked the yellow hen, anxiously. "Do I speak quite
+properly, in your judgment?"
+
+"Yes," said Dorothy, "you do very well, for a beginner."
+
+"I'm glad to know that," continued the yellow hen, in a confidential
+tone; "because, if one is going to talk, it's best to talk correctly.
+The red rooster has often said that my cluck and my cackle were quite
+perfect; and now it's a comfort to know I am talking properly."
+
+"I'm beginning to get hungry," remarked Dorothy. "It's breakfast time;
+but there's no breakfast."
+
+"You may have my egg," said the yellow hen. "I don't care for it, you
+know."
+
+"Don't you want to hatch it?" asked the little girl, in surprise.
+
+"No, indeed; I never care to hatch eggs unless I've a nice snug nest, in
+some quiet place, with a baker's dozen of eggs under me. That's
+thirteen, you know, and it's a lucky number for hens. So you may as well
+eat this egg."
+
+"Oh, I couldn't _poss'bly_ eat it, unless it was cooked," exclaimed
+Dorothy. "But I'm much obliged for your kindness, just the same."
+
+"Don't mention it, my dear," answered the hen, calmly, and began pruning
+her feathers.
+
+For a moment Dorothy stood looking out over the wide sea. She was still
+thinking of the egg, though; so presently she asked:
+
+"Why do you lay eggs, when you don't expect to hatch them?"
+
+"It's a habit I have," replied the yellow hen. "It has always been my
+pride to lay a fresh egg every morning, except when I'm moulting. I
+never feel like having my morning cackle till the egg is properly laid,
+and without the chance to cackle I would not be happy."
+
+"It's strange," said the girl, reflectively; "But as I'm not a hen I
+can't be 'spected to understand that."
+
+"Certainly not, my dear."
+
+Then Dorothy fell silent again. The yellow hen was some company, and a
+bit of comfort, too; but it was dreadfully lonely out on the big ocean,
+nevertheless.
+
+After a time the hen flew up and perched upon the topmost slat of the
+coop, which was a little above Dorothy's head when she was sitting upon
+the bottom, as she had been doing for some moments past.
+
+"Why, we are not far from land!" exclaimed the hen.
+
+"Where? Where is it?" cried Dorothy, jumping up in great excitement.
+
+"Over there a little way," answered the hen, nodding her head in a
+certain direction. "We seem to be drifting toward it, so that before
+noon we ought to find ourselves upon dry land again."
+
+"I shall like that!" said Dorothy, with a little sigh, for her feet and
+legs were still wetted now and then by the sea-water that came through
+the open slats.
+
+[Illustration: THE YELLOW HEN]
+
+"So shall I," answered her companion. "There is nothing in the world so
+miserable as a wet hen."
+
+The land, which they seemed to be rapidly approaching, since it grew
+more distinct every minute, was quite beautiful as viewed by the little
+girl in the floating hen-coop. Next to the water was a broad beach of
+white sand and gravel, and farther back were several rocky hills, while
+beyond these appeared a strip of green trees that marked the edge of a
+forest. But there were no houses to be seen, nor any sign of people who
+might inhabit this unknown land.
+
+"I hope we shall find something to eat," said Dorothy, looking eagerly
+at the pretty beach toward which they drifted. "It's long past breakfast
+time, now."
+
+"I'm a trifle hungry, myself," declared the yellow hen.
+
+"Why don't you eat the egg?" asked the child. "You don't need to have
+your food cooked, as I do."
+
+"Do you take me for a cannibal?" cried the hen, indignantly. "I do not
+know what I have said or done that leads you to insult me!"
+
+"I beg your pardon, I'm sure Mrs.--Mrs.--by the way, may I inquire your
+name, ma'am?" asked the little girl.
+
+"My name is Bill," said the yellow hen, somewhat gruffly.
+
+"Bill! Why, that's a boy's name."
+
+"What difference does that make?"
+
+"You're a lady hen, aren't you?"
+
+"Of course. But when I was first hatched out no one could tell whether I
+was going to be a hen or a rooster; so the little boy at the farm where
+I was born called me Bill, and made a pet of me because I was the only
+yellow chicken in the whole brood. When I grew up, and he found that I
+didn't crow and fight, as all the roosters do, he did not think to
+change my name, and every creature in the barn-yard, as well as the
+people in the house, knew me as 'Bill.' So Bill I've always been called,
+and Bill is my name."
+
+"But it's all wrong, you know," declared Dorothy, earnestly; "and, if
+you don't mind, I shall call you 'Billina.' Putting the 'eena' on the
+end makes it a girl's name, you see."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind it in the least," returned the yellow hen. "It doesn't
+matter at all what you call me, so long as I know the name means _me_."
+
+"Very well, Billina. _My_ name is Dorothy Gale--just Dorothy to my
+friends and Miss Gale to strangers. You may call me Dorothy, if you
+like. We're getting very near the shore. Do you suppose it is too deep
+for me to wade the rest of the way?"
+
+"Wait a few minutes longer. The sunshine is warm and pleasant, and we
+are in no hurry."
+
+"But my feet are all wet and soggy," said the girl. "My dress is dry
+enough, but I won't feel real comfor'ble till I get my feet dried."
+
+She waited, however, as the hen advised, and before long the big wooden
+coop grated gently on the sandy beach and the dangerous voyage was over.
+
+It did not take the castaways long to reach the shore, you may be sure.
+The yellow hen flew to the sands at once, but Dorothy had to climb over
+the high slats. Still, for a country girl, that was not much of a feat,
+and as soon as she was safe ashore Dorothy drew off her wet shoes and
+stockings and spread them upon the sun-warmed beach to dry.
+
+Then she sat down and watched Billina, who was pick-pecking away with
+her sharp bill in the sand and gravel, which she scratched up and turned
+over with her strong claws.
+
+"What are you doing?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Getting my breakfast, of course," murmured the hen, busily pecking
+away.
+
+[Illustration: "HOW DREADFUL!" EXCLAIMED DOROTHY]
+
+"What do you find?" inquired the girl, curiously.
+
+"Oh, some fat red ants, and some sand-bugs, and once in a while a tiny
+crab. They are very sweet and nice, I assure you."
+
+"How dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy, in a shocked voice.
+
+"What is dreadful?" asked the hen, lifting her head to gaze with one
+bright eye at her companion.
+
+"Why, eating live things, and horrid bugs, and crawly ants. You ought to
+be _'shamed_ of yourself!"
+
+"Goodness me!" returned the hen, in a puzzled tone; "how queer you are,
+Dorothy! Live things are much fresher and more wholesome than dead ones,
+and you humans eat all sorts of dead creatures."
+
+"We don't!" said Dorothy.
+
+"You do, indeed," answered Billina. "You eat lambs and sheep and cows
+and pigs and even chickens."
+
+"But we cook 'em," said Dorothy, triumphantly.
+
+"What difference does that make?"
+
+"A good deal," said the girl, in a graver tone. "I can't just 'splain
+the diff'rence, but it's there. And, anyhow, we never eat such dreadful
+things as _bugs_."
+
+"But you eat the chickens that eat the bugs," retorted the yellow hen,
+with an odd cackle. "So you are just as bad as we chickens are."
+
+This made Dorothy thoughtful. What Billina said was true enough, and it
+almost took away her appetite for breakfast. As for the yellow hen, she
+continued to peck away at the sand busily, and seemed quite contented
+with her bill-of-fare.
+
+Finally, down near the water's edge, Billina stuck her bill deep into
+the sand, and then drew back and shivered.
+
+"Ow!" she cried. "I struck metal, that time, and it nearly broke my
+beak."
+
+"It prob'bly was a rock," said Dorothy, carelessly.
+
+"Nonsense. I know a rock from metal, I guess," said the hen. "There's a
+different feel to it."
+
+"But there couldn't be any metal on this wild, deserted seashore,"
+persisted the girl. "Where's the place? I'll dig it up, and prove to you
+I'm right."
+
+Billina showed her the place where she had "stubbed her bill," as she
+expressed it, and Dorothy dug away the sand until she felt something
+hard. Then, thrusting in her hand, she pulled the thing out, and
+discovered it to be a large sized golden key--rather old, but still
+bright and of perfect shape.
+
+"What did I tell you?" cried the hen, with a cackle of triumph. "Can I
+tell metal when I bump into it, or is the thing a rock?"
+
+"It's metal, sure enough," answered the child, gazing thoughtfully at
+the curious thing she had found. "I think it is pure gold, and it must
+have lain hidden in the sand for a long time. How do you suppose it came
+there, Billina? And what do you suppose this mysterious key unlocks?"
+
+"I can't say," replied the hen. "You ought to know more about locks and
+keys than I do."
+
+Dorothy glanced around. There was no sign of any house in that part of
+the country, and she reasoned that every key must fit a lock and every
+lock must have a purpose. Perhaps the key had been lost by somebody who
+lived far away, but had wandered on this very shore.
+
+Musing on these things the girl put the key in the pocket of her dress
+and then slowly drew on her shoes and stockings, which the sun had fully
+dried.
+
+"I b'lieve, Billina," she said, "I'll have a look 'round, and see if I
+can find some breakfast."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Letters in the Sand
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Walking a little way back from the water's edge, toward the grove of
+trees, Dorothy came to a flat stretch of white sand that seemed to have
+queer signs marked upon its surface, just as one would write upon sand
+with a stick.
+
+"What does it say?" she asked the yellow hen, who trotted along beside
+her in a rather dignified fashion.
+
+"How should I know?" returned the hen. "I cannot read."
+
+"Oh! Can't you?"
+
+"Certainly not; I've never been to school, you know."
+
+"Well, I have," admitted Dorothy; "but the letters are big and far
+apart, and it's hard to spell out the words."
+
+But she looked at each letter carefully, and finally discovered that
+these words were written in the sand:
+
+    "BEWARE THE WHEELERS!"
+
+"That's rather strange," declared the hen, when Dorothy had read aloud
+the words. "What do you suppose the Wheelers are?"
+
+"Folks that wheel, I guess. They must have wheelbarrows, or baby-cabs or
+hand-carts," said Dorothy.
+
+"Perhaps they're automobiles," suggested the yellow hen. "There is no
+need to beware of baby-cabs and wheelbarrows; but automobiles are
+dangerous things. Several of my friends have been run over by them."
+
+"It can't be auto'biles," replied the girl, "for this is a new, wild
+country, without even trolley-cars or tel'phones. The people here havn't
+been discovered yet, I'm sure; that is, if there _are_ any people. So I
+don't b'lieve there _can_ be any auto'biles, Billina."
+
+"Perhaps not," admitted the yellow hen. "Where are you going now?"
+
+"Over to those trees, to see if I can find some fruit or nuts," answered
+Dorothy.
+
+She tramped across the sand, skirting the foot of one of the little
+rocky hills that stood near, and soon reached the edge of the forest.
+
+At first she was greatly disappointed, because the nearer trees were all
+punita, or cotton-wood or eucalyptus, and bore no fruit or nuts at all.
+But, bye and bye, when she was almost in despair, the little girl came
+upon two trees that promised to furnish her with plenty of food.
+
+One was quite full of square paper boxes, which grew in clusters on all
+the limbs, and upon the biggest and ripest boxes the word "Lunch" could
+be read, in neat raised letters. This tree seemed to bear all the year
+around, for there were lunch-box blossoms on some of the branches, and
+on others tiny little lunch-boxes that were as yet quite green, and
+evidently not fit to eat until they had grown bigger.
+
+The leaves of this tree were all paper napkins, and it presented a very
+pleasing appearance to the hungry little girl.
+
+But the tree next to the lunch-box tree was even more wonderful, for it
+bore quantities of tin dinner-pails, which were so full and heavy that
+the stout branches bent underneath their weight. Some were small and
+dark-brown in color; those larger were of a dull tin color; but the
+really ripe ones were pails of bright tin that shone and glistened
+beautifully in the rays of sunshine that touched them.
+
+Dorothy was delighted, and even the yellow hen acknowledged that she was
+surprised.
+
+The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one of the nicest and
+biggest lunch-boxes, and then she sat down upon the ground and eagerly
+opened it. Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a ham
+sandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a slice of new cheese and an
+apple. Each thing had a separate stem, and so had to be picked off the
+side of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be delicious, and she ate
+every bit of luncheon in the box before she had finished.
+
+"A lunch isn't zactly breakfast," she said to Billina, who sat beside
+her curiously watching. "But when one is hungry one can eat even supper
+in the morning, and not complain."
+
+"I hope your lunch-box was perfectly ripe," observed the yellow hen, in
+an anxious tone. "So much sickness is caused by eating green things."
+
+[Illustration: THE LITTLE GIRL PICKED ONE OF THE LUNCH-BOXES]
+
+"Oh, I'm sure it was ripe," declared Dorothy, "all, that is, 'cept the
+pickle, and a pickle just _has_ to be green, Billina. But everything
+tasted perfectly splendid, and I'd rather have it than a church picnic.
+And now I think I'll pick a dinner-pail, to have when I get hungry
+again, and then we'll start out and 'splore the country, and see where
+we are."
+
+"Havn't you any idea what country this is?" inquired Billina.
+
+"None at all. But listen: I'm quite sure it's a fairy country, or such
+things as lunch-boxes and dinner-pails wouldn't be growing upon trees.
+Besides, Billina, being a hen, you wouldn't be able to talk in any
+civ'lized country, like Kansas, where no fairies live at all."
+
+"Perhaps we're in the Land of Oz," said the hen, thoughtfully.
+
+"No, that can't be," answered the little girl; "because I've been to the
+Land of Oz, and it's all surrounded by a horrid desert that no one can
+cross."
+
+"Then how did you get away from there again?" asked Billina.
+
+"I had a pair of silver shoes, that carried me through the air; but I
+lost them," said Dorothy.
+
+"Ah, indeed," remarked the yellow hen, in a tone of unbelief.
+
+"Anyhow," resumed the girl, "there is no seashore near the Land of Oz,
+so this must surely be some other fairy country."
+
+While she was speaking she selected a bright and pretty dinner-pail
+that seemed to have a stout handle, and picked it from its branch. Then,
+accompanied by the yellow hen, she walked out of the shadow of the trees
+toward the sea-shore.
+
+They were part way across the sands when Billina suddenly cried, in a
+voice of terror:
+
+"What's that?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Dorothy turned quickly around, and saw coming out of a path that led
+from between the trees the most peculiar person her eyes had ever
+beheld.
+
+It had the form of a man, except that it walked, or rather rolled, upon
+all fours, and its legs were the same length as its arms, giving them
+the appearance of the four legs of a beast. Yet it was no beast that
+Dorothy had discovered, for the person was clothed most gorgeously in
+embroidered garments of many colors, and wore a straw hat perched
+jauntily upon the side of its head. But it differed from human beings in
+this respect, that instead of hands and feet there grew at the end of
+its arms and legs round wheels, and by means of these wheels it rolled
+very swiftly over the level ground. Afterward Dorothy found that these
+odd wheels were of the same hard substance that our finger-nails and
+toe-nails are composed of, and she also learned that creatures of this
+strange race were born in this queer fashion. But when our little girl
+first caught sight of the first individual of a race that was destined
+to cause her a lot of trouble, she had an idea that the
+brilliantly-clothed personage was on roller-skates, which were attached
+to his hands as well as to his feet.
+
+"Run!" screamed the yellow hen, fluttering away in great fright. "It's a
+Wheeler!"
+
+[Illustration: "IT'S A WHEELER!"]
+
+"A Wheeler?" exclaimed Dorothy. "What can that be?"
+
+"Don't you remember the warning in the sand: 'Beware the Wheelers'? Run,
+I tell you--run!"
+
+So Dorothy ran, and the Wheeler gave a sharp, wild cry and came after
+her in full chase.
+
+Looking over her shoulder as she ran, the girl now saw a great
+procession of Wheelers emerging from the forest--dozens and dozens of
+them--all clad in splendid, tight-fitting garments and all rolling
+swiftly toward her and uttering their wild, strange cries.
+
+"They're sure to catch us!" panted the girl, who was still carrying the
+heavy dinner-pail she had picked. "I can't run much farther, Billina."
+
+"Climb up this hill,--quick!" said the hen; and Dorothy found she was
+very near to the heap of loose and jagged rocks they had passed on their
+way to the forest. The yellow hen was even now fluttering among the
+rocks, and Dorothy followed as best she could, half climbing and half
+tumbling up the rough and rugged steep.
+
+She was none too soon, for the foremost Wheeler reached the hill a
+moment after her; but while the girl scrambled up the rocks the creature
+stopped short with howls of rage and disappointment.
+
+Dorothy now heard the yellow hen laughing, in her cackling, henny way.
+
+"Don't hurry, my dear," cried Billina. "They can't follow us among these
+rocks, so we're safe enough now."
+
+Dorothy stopped at once and sat down upon a broad boulder, for she was
+all out of breath.
+
+The rest of the Wheelers had now reached the foot of the hill, but it
+was evident that their wheels would not roll upon the rough and jagged
+rocks, and therefore they were helpless to follow Dorothy and the hen to
+where they had taken refuge. But they circled all around the little
+hill, so the child and Billina were fast prisoners and could not come
+down without being captured.
+
+Then the creatures shook their front wheels at Dorothy in a threatening
+manner, and it seemed they were able to speak as well as to make their
+dreadful outcries, for several of them shouted:
+
+"We'll get you in time, never fear! And when we do get you, we'll tear
+you into little bits!"
+
+"Why are you so cruel to me?" asked Dorothy. "I'm a stranger in your
+country, and have done you no harm."
+
+"No harm!" cried one who seemed to be their leader. "Did you not pick
+our lunch-boxes and dinner-pails? Have you not a stolen dinner-pail
+still in your hand?"
+
+"I only picked one of each," she answered. "I was hungry, and I didn't
+know the trees were yours."
+
+"That is no excuse," retorted the leader, who was clothed in a most
+gorgeous suit. "It is the law here that whoever picks a dinner-pail
+without our permission must die immediately."
+
+"Don't you believe him," said Billina. "I'm sure the trees do not belong
+to these awful creatures. They are fit for any mischief, and it's my
+opinion they would try to kill us just the same if you hadn't picked a
+dinner-pail."
+
+"I think so, too," agreed Dorothy. "But what shall we do now?"
+
+"Stay where we are," advised the yellow hen. "We are safe from the
+Wheelers until we starve to death, anyhow; and before that time comes a
+good many things can happen."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Tiktok the Machine Man
+
+
+After an hour or so most of the band of Wheelers rolled back into the
+forest, leaving only three of their number to guard the hill. These
+curled themselves up like big dogs and pretended to go to sleep on the
+sands; but neither Dorothy nor Billina were fooled by this trick, so
+they remained in security among the rocks and paid no attention to their
+cunning enemies.
+
+Finally the hen, fluttering over the mound, exclaimed: "Why, here's a
+path!"
+
+So Dorothy at once clambered to where Billina sat, and there, sure
+enough, was a smooth path cut between the rocks. It seemed to wind
+around the mound from top to bottom, like a cork-screw, twisting here
+and there between the rough boulders but always remaining level and easy
+to walk upon.
+
+Indeed, Dorothy wondered at first why the Wheelers did not roll up this
+path; but when she followed it to the foot of the mound she found that
+several big pieces of rock had been placed directly across the end of
+the way, thus preventing any one outside from seeing it and also
+preventing the Wheelers from using it to climb up the mound.
+
+Then Dorothy walked back up the path, and followed it until she came to
+the very top of the hill, where a solitary round rock stood that was
+bigger than any of the others surrounding it. The path came to an end
+just beside this great rock, and for a moment it puzzled the girl to
+know why the path had been made at all. But the hen, who had been
+gravely following her around and was now perched upon a point of rock
+behind Dorothy, suddenly remarked:
+
+"It looks something like a door, doesn't it?"
+
+"What looks like a door?" enquired the child.
+
+"Why, that crack in the rock, just facing you," replied Billina, whose
+little round eyes were very sharp and seemed to see everything. "It runs
+up one side and down the other, and across the top and the bottom."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"What does?"
+
+"Why, the crack. So I think it must be a door of rock, although I do not
+see any hinges."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Dorothy, now observing for the first time the crack in
+the rock. "And isn't this a key-hole, Billina?" pointing to a round,
+deep hole at one side of the door.
+
+"Of course. If we only had the key, now, we could unlock it and see
+what is there," replied the yellow hen. "May be it's a treasure chamber
+full of diamonds and rubies, or heaps of shining gold, or----"
+
+"That reminds me," said Dorothy, "of the golden key I picked up on the
+shore. Do you think that it would fit this key-hole, Billina?"
+
+"Try it and see," suggested the hen.
+
+So Dorothy searched in the pocket of her dress and found the golden key.
+And when she had put it into the hole of the rock, and turned it, a
+sudden sharp snap was heard; then, with a solemn creak that made the
+shivers run down the child's back, the face of the rock fell outward,
+like a door on hinges, and revealed a small dark chamber just inside.
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back as far as the narrow path
+would let her.
+
+For, standing within the narrow chamber of rock, was the form of a
+man--or, at least, it seemed like a man, in the dim light. He was only
+about as tall as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a ball and
+made out of burnished copper. Also his head and limbs were copper, and
+these were jointed or hinged to his body in a peculiar way, with metal
+caps over the joints, like the armor worn by knights in days of old. He
+stood perfectly still, and where the light struck upon his form it
+glittered as if made of pure gold.
+
+[Illustration: "THIS COPPER MAN IS NOT ALIVE AT ALL"]
+
+"Don't be frightened," called Billina, from her perch. "It isn't alive."
+
+"I see it isn't," replied the girl, drawing a long breath.
+
+"It is only made out of copper, like the old kettle in the barn-yard at
+home," continued the hen, turning her head first to one side and then to
+the other, so that both her little round eyes could examine the object.
+
+"Once," said Dorothy, "I knew a man made out of tin, who was a woodman
+named Nick Chopper. But he was as alive as we are, 'cause he was born a
+real man, and got his tin body a little at a time--first a leg and then
+a finger and then an ear--for the reason that he had so many accidents
+with his axe, and cut himself up in a very careless manner."
+
+"Oh," said the hen, with a sniff, as if she did not believe the story.
+
+"But this copper man," continued Dorothy, looking at it with big eyes,
+"is not alive at all, and I wonder what it was made for, and why it was
+locked up in this queer place."
+
+"That is a mystery," remarked the hen, twisting her head to arrange her
+wing-feathers with her bill.
+
+Dorothy stepped inside the little room to get a back view of the copper
+man, and in this way discovered a printed card that hung between his
+shoulders, it being suspended from a small copper peg at the back of his
+neck. She unfastened this card and returned to the path, where the light
+was better, and sat herself down upon a slab of rock to read the
+printing.
+
+"What does it say?" asked the hen, curiously.
+
+Dorothy read the card aloud, spelling out the big words with some
+difficulty; and this is what she read:
+
+
+    SMITH & TINKER'S
+
+    Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive,
+    Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking
+
+    MECHANICAL MAN
+
+    Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment.
+    Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live.
+
+    Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev.
+    All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law.
+
+"How queer!" said the yellow hen. "Do you think that is all true, my
+dear?"
+
+"I don't know," answered Dorothy, who had more to read. "Listen to this,
+Billina:"
+
+    DIRECTIONS FOR USING:
+
+    For THINKING:--Wind the Clock-work Man under his
+    left arm, (marked No. 1.)
+
+    For SPEAKING:--Wind the Clock-work Man under his
+    right arm, (marked No. 2.)
+
+    For WALKING and ACTION:--Wind Clock-work in the
+    middle of his back, (marked No. 3.)
+
+    N. B.--This Mechanism is guaranteed to work perfectly for a thousand
+    years.
+
+"Well, I declare!" gasped the yellow hen, in amazement; "if the copper
+man can do half of these things he is a very wonderful machine. But I
+suppose it is all humbug, like so many other patented articles."
+
+"We might wind him up," suggested Dorothy, "and see what he'll do."
+
+"Where is the key to the clock-work?" asked Billina.
+
+"Hanging on the peg where I found the card."
+
+"Then," said the hen, "let us try him, and find out if he will go. He is
+warranted for a thousand years, it seems; but we do not know how long he
+has been standing inside this rock."
+
+Dorothy had already taken the clock key from the peg.
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY WOUND UP NUMBER ONE]
+
+"Which shall I wind up first?" she asked, looking again at the
+directions on the card.
+
+"Number One, I should think," returned Billina. "That makes him think,
+doesn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said Dorothy, and wound up Number One, under the left arm.
+
+"He doesn't seem any different," remarked the hen, critically.
+
+"Why, of course not; he is only thinking, now," said Dorothy.
+
+"I wonder what he is thinking about."
+
+"I'll wind up his talk, and then perhaps he can tell us," said the girl.
+
+So she wound up Number Two, and immediately the clock-work man said,
+without moving any part of his body except his lips:
+
+"Good morn-ing, lit-tle girl. Good morn-ing, Mrs. Hen."
+
+The words sounded a little hoarse and creakey, and they were uttered all
+in the same tone, without any change of expression whatever; but both
+Dorothy and Billina understood them perfectly.
+
+"Good morning, sir," they answered, politely.
+
+"Thank you for res-cu-ing me," continued the machine, in the same
+monotonous voice, which seemed to be worked by bellows inside of him,
+like the little toy lambs and cats the children squeeze so that they
+will make a noise.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Don't mention it," answered Dorothy. And then, being very curious, she
+asked: "How did you come to be locked up in this place?"
+
+"It is a long sto-ry," replied the copper man; "but I will tell it to
+you brief-ly. I was pur-chased from Smith & Tin-ker, my
+man-u-fac-tur-ers, by a cru-el King of Ev, named Ev-ol-do, who used to
+beat all his serv-ants un-til they died. How-ev-er, he was not a-ble to
+kill me, be-cause I was not a-live, and one must first live in or-der to
+die. So that all his beat-ing did me no harm, and mere-ly kept my
+cop-per bod-y well pol-ished.
+
+"This cru-el king had a love-ly wife and ten beau-ti-ful chil-dren--five
+boys and five girls--but in a fit of an-ger he sold them all to the Nome
+King, who by means of his mag-ic arts changed them all in-to oth-er
+forms and put them in his un-der-ground pal-ace to or-na-ment the rooms.
+
+"Af-ter-ward the King of Ev re-gret-ted his wick-ed ac-tion, and tried
+to get his wife and chil-dren a-way from the Nome King, but with-out
+a-vail. So, in de-spair, he locked me up in this rock, threw the key
+in-to the o-cean, and then jumped in af-ter it and was drowned."
+
+"How very dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy.
+
+"It is, in-deed," said the machine. "When I found my-self im-pris-oned I
+shout-ed for help un-til my voice ran down; and then I walked back and
+forth in this lit-tle room un-til my ac-tion ran down; and then I stood
+still and thought un-til my thoughts ran down. Af-ter that I re-mem-ber
+noth-ing un-til you wound me up a-gain."
+
+"It's a very wonderful story," said Dorothy, "and proves that the Land
+of Ev is really a fairy land, as I thought it was."
+
+[Illustration: THE COPPER MAN WALKED OUT OF THE ROCKY CAVERN]
+
+"Of course it is," answered the copper man. "I do not sup-pose such a
+per-fect ma-chine as I am could be made in an-y place but a fair-y
+land."
+
+"I've never seen one in Kansas," said Dorothy.
+
+"But where did you get the key to un-lock this door?" asked the
+clock-work voice.
+
+"I found it on the shore, where it was prob'ly washed up by the waves,"
+she answered. "And now, sir, if you don't mind, I'll wind up your
+action."
+
+"That will please me ve-ry much," said the machine.
+
+So she wound up Number Three, and at once the copper man in a somewhat
+stiff and jerky fashion walked out of the rocky cavern, took off his
+copper hat and bowed politely, and then kneeled before Dorothy. Said he:
+
+"From this time forth I am your o-be-di-ent ser-vant. What-ev-er you
+com-mand, that I will do will-ing-ly--if you keep me wound up."
+
+"What is your name?" she asked.
+
+"Tik-tok," he replied. "My for-mer mas-ter gave me that name be-cause my
+clock-work al-ways ticks when it is wound up."
+
+"I can hear it now," said the yellow hen.
+
+"So can I," said Dorothy. And then she added, with some anxiety: "You
+don't strike, do you?"
+
+"No," answered Tiktok; "and there is no a-larm con-nec-ted with my
+ma-chin-er-y. I can tell the time, though, by speak-ing, and as I nev-er
+sleep I can wak-en you at an-y hour you wish to get up in the morn-ing."
+
+"That's nice," said the little girl; "only I never wish to get up in the
+morning."
+
+"You can sleep until I lay my egg," said the yellow hen. "Then, when I
+cackle, Tiktok will know it is time to waken you."
+
+"Do you lay your egg very early?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"About eight o'clock," said Billina. "And everybody ought to be up by
+that time, I'm sure."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"Now Tiktok," said Dorothy, "the first thing to be done is to find a way
+for us to escape from these rocks. The Wheelers are down below, you
+know, and threaten to kill us."
+
+"There is no rea-son to be a-fraid of the Wheel-ers," said Tiktok, the
+words coming more slowly than before.
+
+"Why not?" she asked.
+
+"Be-cause they are ag-g-g--gr-gr-r-r-"
+
+He gave a sort of gurgle and stopped short, waving his hands frantically
+until suddenly he became motionless, with one arm in the air and the
+other held stiffly before him with all the copper fingers of the hand
+spread out like a fan.
+
+"Dear me!" said Dorothy, in a frightened tone. "What can the matter be?"
+
+"He's run down, I suppose," said the hen, calmly. "You couldn't have
+wound him up very tight."
+
+"I didn't know how much to wind him," replied the girl; "but I'll try to
+do better next time."
+
+She ran around the copper man to take the key from the peg at the back
+of his neck, but it was not there.
+
+"It's gone!" cried Dorothy, in dismay.
+
+"What's gone?" asked Billina.
+
+"The key."
+
+"It probably fell off when he made that low bow to you," returned the
+hen. "Look around, and see if you cannot find it again."
+
+Dorothy looked, and the hen helped her, and by and by the girl
+discovered the clock-key, which had fallen into a crack of the rock.
+
+At once she wound up Tiktok's voice, taking care to give the key as many
+turns as it would go around. She found this quite a task, as you may
+imagine if you have ever tried to wind a clock, but the machine man's
+first words were to assure Dorothy that he would now run for at least
+twenty-four hours.
+
+"You did not wind me much, at first," he calmly said, "and I told you
+that long sto-ry a-bout King Ev-ol-do; so it is no won-der that I ran
+down."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+She next rewound the action clock-work, and then Billina advised her to
+carry the key to Tiktok in her pocket, so it would not get lost again.
+
+"And now," said Dorothy, when all this was accomplished, "tell me what
+you were going to say about the Wheelers."
+
+"Why, they are noth-ing to be fright-en'd at," said the machine. "They
+try to make folks be-lieve that they are ver-y ter-ri-ble, but as a
+mat-ter of fact the Wheel-ers are harm-less e-nough to an-y one that
+dares to fight them. They might try to hurt a lit-tle girl like you,
+per-haps, be-cause they are ver-y mis-chiev-ous. But if I had a club
+they would run a-way as soon as they saw me."
+
+"Haven't you a club?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"No," said Tiktok.
+
+"And you won't find such a thing among these rocks, either," declared
+the yellow hen.
+
+"Then what shall we do?" asked the girl.
+
+"Wind up my think-works tight-ly, and I will try to think of some oth-er
+plan," said Tiktok.
+
+So Dorothy rewound his thought machinery, and while he was thinking she
+decided to eat her dinner. Billina was already pecking away at the
+cracks in the rocks, to find something to eat, so Dorothy sat down and
+opened her tin dinner-pail.
+
+In the cover she found a small tank that was full of very nice lemonade.
+It was covered by a cup, which might also, when removed, be used to
+drink the lemonade from. Within the pail were three slices of turkey,
+two slices of cold tongue, some lobster salad, four slices of bread and
+butter, a small custard pie, an orange and nine large strawberries, and
+some nuts and raisins. Singularly enough, the nuts in this dinner-pail
+grew already cracked, so that Dorothy had no trouble in picking out
+their meats to eat.
+
+She spread the feast upon the rock beside her and began her dinner,
+first offering some of it to Tiktok, who declined because, as he said,
+he was merely a machine. Afterward she offered to share with Billina,
+but the hen murmured something about "dead things" and said she
+preferred her bugs and ants.
+
+"Do the lunch-box trees and the dinner-pail trees belong to the
+Wheelers?" the child asked Tiktok, while engaged in eating her meal.
+
+"Of course not," he answered. "They be-long to the roy-al fam-il-y of
+Ev, on-ly of course there is no roy-al fam-il-y just now be-cause King
+Ev-ol-do jumped in-to the sea and his wife and ten chil-dren have been
+trans-formed by the Nome King. So there is no one to rule the Land of
+Ev, that I can think of. Per-haps it is for this rea-son that the
+Wheel-ers claim the trees for their own, and pick the lunch-eons and
+din-ners to eat them-selves. But they be-long to the King, and you will
+find the roy-al "E" stamped up-on the bot-tom of ev-er-y din-ner pail."
+
+Dorothy turned the pail over, and at once discovered the royal mark upon
+it, as Tiktok had said.
+
+"Are the Wheelers the only folks living in the Land of Ev?" enquired the
+girl.
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY OPENED HER TIN DINNER-PAIL]
+
+"No; they on-ly in-hab-it a small por-tion of it just back of the
+woods," replied the machine. "But they have al-ways been mis-chiev-ous
+and im-per-ti-nent, and my old mas-ter, King Ev-ol-do, used to car-ry a
+whip with him, when he walked out, to keep the crea-tures in or-der.
+When I was first made the Wheel-ers tried to run o-ver me, and butt me
+with their heads; but they soon found I was built of too sol-id a
+ma-ter-i-al for them to in-jure."
+
+"You seem very durable," said Dorothy. "Who made you?"
+
+"The firm of Smith & Tin-ker, in the town of Ev-na, where the roy-al
+pal-ace stands," answered Tiktok.
+
+"Did they make many of you?" asked the child.
+
+"No; I am the on-ly au-to-mat-ic me-chan-i-cal man they ev-er
+com-plet-ed," he replied. "They were ver-y won-der-ful in-ven-tors, were
+my mak-ers, and quite ar-tis-tic in all they did."
+
+"I am sure of that," said Dorothy. "Do they live in the town of Evna
+now?"
+
+"They are both gone," replied the machine. "Mr. Smith was an art-ist, as
+well as an in-vent-or, and he paint-ed a pic-ture of a riv-er which was
+so nat-ur-al that, as he was reach-ing a-cross it to paint some flow-ers
+on the op-po-site bank, he fell in-to the wa-ter and was drowned."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry for that!" exclaimed the little girl.
+
+"Mis-ter Tin-ker," continued Tiktok, "made a lad-der so tall that he
+could rest the end of it a-gainst the moon, while he stood on the
+high-est rung and picked the lit-tle stars to set in the points of the
+king's crown. But when he got to the moon Mis-ter Tin-ker found it such
+a love-ly place that he de-cid-ed to live there, so he pulled up the
+lad-der af-ter him and we have nev-er seen him since."
+
+"He must have been a great loss to this country," said Dorothy, who was
+by this time eating her custard pie.
+
+"He was," acknowledged Tiktok. "Also he is a great loss to me. For if I
+should get out of or-der I do not know of an-y one a-ble to re-pair me,
+be-cause I am so com-pli-cat-ed. You have no i-de-a how full of
+ma-chin-er-y I am."
+
+"I can imagine it," said Dorothy, readily.
+
+"And now," continued the machine, "I must stop talk-ing and be-gin
+think-ing a-gain of a way to es-cape from this rock." So he turned
+halfway around, in order to think without being disturbed.
+
+"The best thinker I ever knew," said Dorothy to the yellow hen, "was a
+scarecrow."
+
+"Nonsense!" snapped Billina.
+
+"It is true," declared Dorothy. "I met him in the Land of Oz, and he
+travelled with me to the city of the great Wizard of Oz, so as to get
+some brains, for his head was only stuffed with straw. But it seemed to
+me that he thought just as well before he got his brains as he did
+afterward."
+
+"Do you expect me to believe all that rubbish about the Land of Oz?"
+enquired Billina, who seemed a little cross--perhaps because bugs were
+scarce.
+
+"What rubbish?" asked the child, who was now finishing her nuts and
+raisins.
+
+"Why, your impossible stories about animals that can talk, and a tin
+woodman who is alive, and a scarecrow who can think."
+
+"They are all there," said Dorothy, "for I have seen them."
+
+"I don't believe it!" cried the hen, with a toss of her head.
+
+"That's 'cause you're so ign'rant," replied the girl, who was a little
+offended at her friend Billina's speech.
+
+"In the Land of Oz," remarked Tiktok, turning toward them, "an-y-thing
+is pos-si-ble. For it is a won-der-ful fair-y coun-try."
+
+"There, Billina! what did I say?" cried Dorothy. And then she turned to
+the machine and asked in an eager tone: "Do you know the Land of Oz,
+Tiktok?"
+
+[Illustration: MISTER TINKER VISITS THE MOON]
+
+"No; but I have heard a-bout it," said the copper man. "For it is on-ly
+sep-a-ra-ted from this Land of Ev by a broad des-ert."
+
+Dorothy clapped her hands together delightedly.
+
+"I'm glad of that!" she exclaimed. "It makes me quite happy to be so
+near my old friends. The scarecrow I told you of, Billina, is the King
+of the Land of Oz."
+
+"Par-don me. He is not the king now," said Tiktok.
+
+"He was when I left there," declared Dorothy.
+
+"I know," said Tiktok, "but there was a rev-o-lu-tion in the Land of Oz,
+and the Scare-crow was de-posed by a sol-dier wo-man named Gen-er-al
+Jin-jur. And then Jin-jur was de-posed by a lit-tle girl named Oz-ma,
+who was the right-ful heir to the throne and now rules the land un-der
+the ti-tle of Oz-ma of Oz."
+
+"That is news to me," said Dorothy, thoughtfully. "But I s'pose lots of
+things have happened since I left the Land of Oz. I wonder what has
+become of the Scarecrow, and of the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion.
+And I wonder who this girl Ozma is, for I never heard of her before."
+
+But Tiktok did not reply to this. He had turned around again to resume
+his thinking.
+
+Dorothy packed the rest of the food back into the pail, so as not to be
+wasteful of good things, and the yellow hen forgot her dignity far
+enough to pick up all of the scattered crumbs, which she ate rather
+greedily, although she had so lately pretended to despise the things
+that Dorothy preferred as food.
+
+By this time Tiktok approached them with his stiff bow.
+
+"Be kind e-nough to fol-low me," he said, "and I will lead you a-way
+from here to the town of Ev-na, where you will be more com-for-ta-ble,
+and also I will pro-tect you from the Wheel-ers."
+
+"All right," answered Dorothy, promptly. "I'm ready!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Heads of Langwidere
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+They walked slowly down the path between the rocks, Tiktok going first,
+Dorothy following him, and the yellow hen trotting along last of all.
+
+At the foot of the path the copper man leaned down and tossed aside with
+ease the rocks that cumbered the way. Then he turned to Dorothy and
+said:
+
+"Let me car-ry your din-ner-pail."
+
+She placed it in his right hand at once, and the copper fingers closed
+firmly over the stout handle.
+
+Then the little procession marched out upon the level sands.
+
+As soon as the three Wheelers who were guarding the mound saw them, they
+began to shout their wild cries and rolled swiftly toward the little
+group, as if to capture them or bar their way. But when the foremost had
+approached near enough, Tiktok swung the tin dinner-pail and struck the
+Wheeler a sharp blow over its head with the queer weapon. Perhaps it did
+not hurt very much, but it made a great noise, and the Wheeler uttered a
+howl and tumbled over upon its side. The next minute it scrambled to its
+wheels and rolled away as fast as it could go, screeching with fear at
+the same time.
+
+"I told you they were harm-less," began Tiktok; but before he could say
+more another Wheeler was upon them. Crack! went the dinner-pail against
+its head, knocking its straw hat a dozen feet away; and that was enough
+for this Wheeler, also. It rolled away after the first one, and the
+third did not wait to be pounded with the pail, but joined its fellows
+as quickly as its wheels would whirl.
+
+The yellow hen gave a cackle of delight, and flying to a perch upon
+Tiktok's shoulder, she said:
+
+"Bravely done, my copper friend! and wisely thought of, too. Now we are
+free from those ugly creatures."
+
+But just then a large band of Wheelers rolled from the forest, and
+relying upon their numbers to conquer, they advanced fiercely upon
+Tiktok. Dorothy grabbed Billina in her arms and held her tight, and the
+machine embraced the form of the little girl with his left arm, the
+better to protect her. Then the Wheelers were upon them.
+
+Rattlety, bang! bang! went the dinner-pail in every direction, and it
+made so much clatter bumping against the heads of the Wheelers that they
+were much more frightened than hurt and fled in a great panic. All, that
+is, except their leader. This Wheeler had stumbled against another and
+fallen flat upon his back, and before he could get his wheels under him
+to rise again, Tiktok had fastened his copper fingers into the neck of
+the gorgeous jacket of his foe and held him fast.
+
+"Tell your peo-ple to go a-way," commanded the machine.
+
+The leader of the Wheelers hesitated to give this order, so Tiktok shook
+him as a terrier dog does a rat, until the Wheeler's teeth rattled
+together with a noise like hailstones on a window pane. Then, as soon as
+the creature could get its breath, it shouted to the others to roll
+away, which they immediately did.
+
+"Now," said Tiktok, "you shall come with us and tell me what I want to
+know."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"You'll be sorry for treating me in this way," whined the Wheeler. "I'm
+a terribly fierce person."
+
+"As for that," answered Tiktok, "I am only a ma-chine, and can-not feel
+sor-row or joy, no mat-ter what hap-pens. But you are wrong to think
+your-self ter-ri-ble or fierce."
+
+"Why so?" asked the Wheeler.
+
+"Be-cause no one else thinks as you do. Your wheels make you help-less
+to in-jure an-y one. For you have no fists and can not scratch or e-ven
+pull hair. Nor have you an-y feet to kick with. All you can do is to
+yell and shout, and that does not hurt an-y one at all."
+
+The Wheeler burst into a flood of tears, to Dorothy's great surprise.
+
+"Now I and my people are ruined forever!" he sobbed; "for you have
+discovered our secret. Being so helpless, our only hope is to make
+people afraid of us, by pretending we are very fierce and terrible, and
+writing in the sand warnings to Beware the Wheelers. Until now we have
+frightened everyone, but since you have discovered our weakness our
+enemies will fall upon us and make us very miserable and unhappy."
+
+"Oh, no," exclaimed Dorothy, who was sorry to see this beautifully
+dressed Wheeler so miserable; "Tiktok will keep your secret, and so will
+Billina and I. Only, you must promise not to try to frighten children
+any more, if they come near to you."
+
+"I won't--indeed I won't!" promised the Wheeler, ceasing to cry and
+becoming more cheerful. "I'm not really bad, you know; but we have to
+pretend to be terrible in order to prevent others from attacking us."
+
+[Illustration: ON THE WAY TO THE ROYAL PALACE OF EV]
+
+"That is not ex-act-ly true," said Tiktok, starting to walk toward the
+path through the forest, and still holding fast to his prisoner, who
+rolled slowly along beside him. "You and your peo-ple are full of
+mis-chief, and like to both-er those who fear you. And you are of-ten
+im-pu-dent and dis-a-gree-a-ble, too. But if you will try to cure those
+faults I will not tell any-one how help-less you are."
+
+"I'll try, of course," replied the Wheeler, eagerly. "And thank you, Mr.
+Tiktok, for your kindness."
+
+"I am on-ly a ma-chine," said Tiktok. "I can not be kind an-y more than
+I can be sor-ry or glad. I can on-ly do what I am wound up to do."
+
+"Are you wound up to keep my secret?" asked the Wheeler, anxiously.
+
+"Yes; if you be-have your-self. But tell me: who rules the Land of Ev
+now?" asked the machine.
+
+"There is no ruler," was the answer, "because every member of the royal
+family is imprisoned by the Nome King. But the Princess Langwidere, who
+is a niece of our late King Evoldo, lives in a part of the royal palace
+and takes as much money out of the royal treasury as she can spend. The
+Princess Langwidere is not exactly a ruler, you see, because she doesn't
+rule; but she is the nearest approach to a ruler we have at present."
+
+"I do not re-mem-ber her," said Tiktok. "What does she look like?"
+
+"That I cannot say," replied the Wheeler, "although I have seen her
+twenty times. For the Princess Langwidere is a different person every
+time I see her, and the only way her subjects can recognize her at all
+is by means of a beautiful ruby key which she always wears on a chain
+attached to her left wrist. When we see the key we know we are beholding
+the Princess."
+
+"That is strange," said Dorothy, in astonishment. "Do you mean to say
+that so many different princesses are one and the same person?"
+
+"Not exactly," answered the Wheeler. "There is, of course, but one
+princess; but she appears to us in many forms, which are all more or
+less beautiful."
+
+"She must be a witch," exclaimed the girl.
+
+"I do not think so," declared the Wheeler. "But there is some mystery
+connected with her, nevertheless. She is a very vain creature, and lives
+mostly in a room surrounded by mirrors, so that she can admire herself
+whichever way she looks."
+
+No one answered this speech, because they had just passed out of the
+forest and their attention was fixed upon the scene before them--a
+beautiful vale in which were many fruit trees and green fields, with
+pretty farm-houses scattered here and there and broad, smooth roads that
+led in every direction.
+
+In the center of this lovely vale, about a mile from where our friends
+were standing, rose the tall spires of the royal palace, which glittered
+brightly against their background of blue sky. The palace was surrounded
+by charming grounds, full of flowers and shrubbery. Several tinkling
+fountains could be seen, and there were pleasant walks bordered by rows
+of white marble statuary.
+
+All these details Dorothy was, of course, unable to notice or admire
+until they had advanced along the road to a position quite near to the
+palace, and she was still looking at the pretty sights when her little
+party entered the grounds and approached the big front door of the
+king's own apartments. To their disappointment they found the door
+tightly closed. A sign was tacked to the panel which read as follows:
+
+     OWNER ABSENT.
+
+     Please Knock at the Third Door in the Left Wing.
+
+"Now," said Tiktok to the captive Wheeler, "you must show us the way to
+the Left Wing."
+
+[Illustration: A SIGN WAS TACKED TO THE PANEL]
+
+"Very well," agreed the prisoner, "it is around here at the right."
+
+"How can the left wing be at the right?" demanded Dorothy, who feared
+the Wheeler was fooling them.
+
+"Because there used to be three wings, and two were torn down, so the
+one on the right is the only one left. It is a trick of the Princess
+Langwidere to prevent visitors from annoying her."
+
+Then the captive led them around to the wing, after which the machine
+man, having no further use for the Wheeler, permitted him to depart and
+rejoin his fellows. He immediately rolled away at a great pace and was
+soon lost to sight.
+
+Tiktok now counted the doors in the wing and knocked loudly upon the
+third one.
+
+It was opened by a little maid in a cap trimmed with gay ribbons, who
+bowed respectfully and asked:
+
+"What do you wish, good people?"
+
+"Are you the Princess Langwidere?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"No, miss; I am her servant," replied the maid.
+
+"May I see the Princess, please?"
+
+"I will tell her you are here, miss, and ask her to grant you an
+audience," said the maid. "Step in, please, and take a seat in the
+drawing-room."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So Dorothy walked in, followed closely by the machine. But as the yellow
+hen tried to enter after them, the little maid cried "Shoo!" and flapped
+her apron in Billina's face.
+
+"Shoo, yourself!" retorted the hen, drawing back in anger and ruffling
+up her feathers. "Haven't you any better manners than that?"
+
+"Oh, do you talk?" enquired the maid, evidently surprised.
+
+"Can't you hear me?" snapped Billina. "Drop that apron, and get out of
+the doorway, so that I may enter with my friends!"
+
+"The Princess won't like it," said the maid, hesitating.
+
+"I don't care whether she likes it or not," replied Billina, and
+fluttering her wings with a loud noise she flew straight at the maid's
+face. The little servant at once ducked her head, and the hen reached
+Dorothy's side, in safety.
+
+"Very well," sighed the maid; "if you are all ruined because of this
+obstinate hen, don't blame me for it. It isn't safe to annoy the
+Princess Langwidere."
+
+"Tell her we are waiting, if you please," Dorothy requested, with
+dignity. "Billina is my friend, and must go wherever I go."
+
+Without more words the maid led them to a richly furnished drawing-room,
+lighted with subdued rainbow tints that came in through beautiful
+stained-glass windows.
+
+"Remain here," she said. "What names shall I give the Princess?"
+
+"I am Dorothy Gale, of Kansas," replied the child; "and this gentleman
+is a machine named Tiktok, and the yellow hen is my friend Billina."
+
+[Illustration: "THE PRINCESS WONT LIKE IT," SAID THE MAID]
+
+The little servant bowed and withdrew, going through several passages
+and mounting two marble stairways before she came to the apartments
+occupied by her mistress.
+
+Princess Langwidere's sitting-room was panelled with great mirrors,
+which reached from the ceiling to the floor; also the ceiling was
+composed of mirrors, and the floor was of polished silver that reflected
+every object upon it. So when Langwidere sat in her easy chair and
+played soft melodies upon her mandolin, her form was mirrored hundreds
+of times, in walls and ceiling and floor, and whichever way the lady
+turned her head she could see and admire her own features. This she
+loved to do, and just as the maid entered she was saying to herself:
+
+"This head with the auburn hair and hazel eyes is quite attractive. I
+must wear it more often than I have done of late, although it may not be
+the best of my collection."
+
+"You have company, Your Highness," announced the maid, bowing low.
+
+"Who is it?" asked Langwidere, yawning.
+
+"Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Mr. Tiktok and Billina," answered the maid.
+
+"What a queer lot of names!" murmured the Princess, beginning to be a
+little interested. "What are they like? Is Dorothy Gale of Kansas
+pretty?"
+
+"She might be called so," the maid replied.
+
+"And is Mr. Tiktok attractive?" continued the Princess.
+
+"That I cannot say, Your Highness. But he seems very bright. Will Your
+Gracious Highness see them?"
+
+"Oh, I may as well, Nanda. But I am tired admiring this head, and if my
+visitor has any claim to beauty I must take care that she does not
+surpass me. So I will go to my cabinet and change to No. 17, which I
+think is my best appearance. Don't you?"
+
+"Your No. 17 is exceedingly beautiful," answered Nanda, with another
+bow.
+
+Again the Princess yawned. Then she said:
+
+"Help me to rise."
+
+So the maid assisted her to gain her feet, although Langwidere was the
+stronger of the two; and then the Princess slowly walked across the
+silver floor to her cabinet, leaning heavily at every step upon Nanda's
+arm.
+
+Now I must explain to you that the Princess Langwidere had thirty
+heads--as many as there are days in the month. But of course she could
+only wear one of them at a time, because she had but one neck. These
+heads were kept in what she called her "cabinet," which was a beautiful
+dressing-room that lay just between Langwidere's sleeping-chamber and
+the mirrored sitting-room. Each head was in a separate cupboard lined
+with velvet. The cupboards ran all around the sides of the
+dressing-room, and had elaborately carved doors with gold numbers on the
+outside and jewelled-framed mirrors on the inside of them.
+
+When the Princess got out of her crystal bed in the morning she went to
+her cabinet, opened one of the velvet-lined cupboards, and took the head
+it contained from its golden shelf. Then, by the aid of the mirror
+inside the open door, she put on the head--as neat and straight as could
+be--and afterward called her maids to robe her for the day. She always
+wore a simple white costume, that suited all the heads. For, being able
+to change her face whenever she liked, the Princess had no interest in
+wearing a variety of gowns, as have other ladies who are compelled to
+wear the same face constantly.
+
+[Illustration: BY THE AID OF THE MIRROR SHE PUT ON THE HEAD]
+
+Of course the thirty heads were in great variety, no two formed alike
+but all being of exceeding loveliness. There were heads with golden
+hair, brown hair, rich auburn hair and black hair; but none with gray
+hair. The heads had eyes of blue, of gray, of hazel, of brown and of
+black; but there were no red eyes among them, and all were bright and
+handsome. The noses were Grecian, Roman, retroussé and Oriental,
+representing all types of beauty; and the mouths were of assorted sizes
+and shapes, displaying pearly teeth when the heads smiled. As for
+dimples, they appeared in cheeks and chins, wherever they might be most
+charming, and one or two heads had freckles upon the faces to contrast
+the better with the brilliancy of their complexions.
+
+One key unlocked all the velvet cupboards containing these treasures--a
+curious key carved from a single blood-red ruby--and this was fastened
+to a strong but slender chain which the Princess wore around her left
+wrist.
+
+When Nanda had supported Langwidere to a position in front of cupboard
+No. 17, the Princess unlocked the door with her ruby key and after
+handing head No. 9, which she had been wearing, to the maid, she took
+No. 17 from its shelf and fitted it to her neck. It had black hair and
+dark eyes and a lovely pearl-and-white complexion, and when Langwidere
+wore it she knew she was remarkably beautiful in appearance.
+
+There was only one trouble with No. 17; the temper that went with it
+(and which was hidden somewhere under the glossy black hair) was fiery,
+harsh and haughty in the extreme, and it often led the Princess to do
+unpleasant things which she regretted when she came to wear her other
+heads.
+
+But she did not remember this today, and went to meet her guests in the
+drawing-room with a feeling of certainty that she would surprise them
+with her beauty.
+
+However, she was greatly disappointed to find that her visitors were
+merely a small girl in a gingham dress, a copper man that would only go
+when wound up, and a yellow hen that was sitting contentedly in
+Langwidere's best work-basket, where there was a china egg used for
+darning stockings.[A]
+
+[Footnote A: It may surprise you to learn that a princess ever does such
+a common thing as darn stockings. But, if you will stop to think, you
+will realize that a princess is sure to wear holes in her stockings, the
+same as other people; only it isn't considered quite polite to mention
+the matter.]
+
+"Oh!" said Langwidere, slightly lifting the nose of No. 17. "I thought
+some one of importance had called."
+
+"Then you were right," declared Dorothy. "I'm a good deal of 'portance
+myself, and when Billina lays an egg she has the proudest cackle you
+ever heard. As for Tiktok, he's the----"
+
+"Stop--Stop!" commanded the Princess, with an angry flash of her
+splendid eyes. "How dare you annoy me with your senseless chatter?"
+
+"Why, you horrid thing!" said Dorothy, who was not accustomed to being
+treated so rudely.
+
+The Princess looked at her more closely.
+
+"Tell me," she resumed, "are you of royal blood?"
+
+"Better than that, ma'am," said Dorothy. "I came from Kansas."
+
+"Huh!" cried the Princess, scornfully. "You are a foolish child, and I
+cannot allow you to annoy me. Run away, you little goose, and bother
+some one else."
+
+Dorothy was so indignant that for a moment she could find no words to
+reply. But she rose from her chair, and was about to leave the room when
+the Princess, who had been scanning the girl's face, stopped her by
+saying, more gently:
+
+"Come nearer to me."
+
+Dorothy obeyed, without a thought of fear, and stood before the Princess
+while Langwidere examined her face with careful attention.
+
+"You are rather attractive," said the lady, presently. "Not at all
+beautiful, you understand, but you have a certain style of prettiness
+that is different from that of any of my thirty heads. So I believe I'll
+take your head and give you No. 26 for it."
+
+"Well, I b'lieve you won't!" exclaimed Dorothy.
+
+[Illustration: "WELL I B'LIEVE YOU WONT!" EXCLAIMED DOROTHY]
+
+"It will do you no good to refuse," continued the Princess; "for I
+need your head for my collection, and in the Land of Ev my will is law.
+I never have cared much for No. 26, and you will find that it is very
+little worn. Besides, it will do you just as well as the one you're
+wearing, for all practical purposes."
+
+"I don't know anything about your No. 26, and I don't want to," said
+Dorothy, firmly. "I'm not used to taking cast-off things, so I'll just
+keep my own head."
+
+"You refuse?" cried the Princess, with a frown.
+
+"Of course I do," was the reply.
+
+"Then," said Langwidere, "I shall lock you up in a tower until you
+decide to obey me. Nanda," turning to her maid, "call my army."
+
+Nanda rang a silver bell, and at once a big fat colonel in a bright red
+uniform entered the room, followed by ten lean soldiers, who all looked
+sad and discouraged and saluted the princess in a very melancholy
+fashion.
+
+"Carry that girl to the North Tower and lock her up!" cried the
+Princess, pointing to Dorothy.
+
+"To hear is to obey," answered the big red colonel, and caught the child
+by her arm. But at that moment Tiktok raised his dinner-pail and pounded
+it so forcibly against the colonel's head that the big officer sat down
+upon the floor with a sudden bump, looking both dazed and very much
+astonished.
+
+"Help!" he shouted, and the ten lean soldiers sprang to assist their
+leader.
+
+There was great excitement for the next few moments, and Tiktok had
+knocked down seven of the army, who were sprawling in every direction
+upon the carpet, when suddenly the machine paused, with the dinner-pail
+raised for another blow, and remained perfectly motionless.
+
+"My ac-tion has run down," he called to Dorothy. "Wind me up, quick."
+
+She tried to obey, but the big colonel had by this time managed to get
+upon his feet again, so he grabbed fast hold of the girl and she was
+helpless to escape.
+
+"This is too bad," said the machine. "I ought to have run six hours
+lon-ger, at least, but I sup-pose my long walk and my fight with the
+Wheel-ers made me run down fast-er than us-u-al."
+
+"Well, it can't be helped," said Dorothy, with a sigh.
+
+"Will you exchange heads with me?" demanded the Princess.
+
+"No, indeed!" cried Dorothy.
+
+"Then lock her up," said Langwidere to her soldiers, and they led
+Dorothy to a high tower at the north of the palace and locked her
+securely within. The soldiers afterward tried to lift Tiktok, but they
+found the machine so solid and heavy that they could not stir it. So
+they left him standing in the center of the drawing-room.
+
+"People will think I have a new statue," said Langwidere, "so it won't
+matter in the least, and Nanda can keep him well polished."
+
+"What shall we do with the hen?" asked the colonel, who had just
+discovered Billina in the work-basket.
+
+"Put her in the chicken-house," answered the Princess. "Some day I'll
+have her fried for breakfast."
+
+"She looks rather tough, Your Highness," said Nanda, doubtfully.
+
+"That is a base slander!" cried Billina, struggling frantically in the
+colonel's arms. "But the breed of chickens I come from is said to be
+poison to all princesses."
+
+"Then," remarked Langwidere, "I will not fry the hen, but keep her to
+lay eggs; and if she doesn't do her duty I'll have her drowned in the
+horse trough."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Ozma of Oz to the Rescue
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Nanda brought Dorothy bread and water for her supper and she slept upon
+a hard stone couch with a single pillow and a silken coverlet.
+
+In the morning she leaned out of the window of her prison in the tower
+to see if there was any way to escape. The room was not so very high up,
+when compared with our modern buildings, but it was far enough above the
+trees and farm houses to give her a good view of the surrounding
+country.
+
+To the east she saw the forest, with the sands beyond it and the ocean
+beyond that. There was even a dark speck upon the shore that she
+thought might be the chicken-coop in which she had arrived at this
+singular country.
+
+Then she looked to the north, and saw a deep but narrow valley lying
+between two rocky mountains, and a third mountain that shut off the
+valley at the further end.
+
+Westward the fertile Land of Ev suddenly ended a little way from the
+palace, and the girl could see miles and miles of sandy desert that
+stretched farther than her eyes could reach. It was this desert, she
+thought, with much interest, that alone separated her from the wonderful
+Land of Oz, and she remembered sorrowfully that she had been told no one
+had ever been able to cross this dangerous waste but herself. Once a
+cyclone had carried her across it, and a magical pair of silver shoes
+had carried her back again. But now she had neither a cyclone nor silver
+shoes to assist her, and her condition was sad indeed. For she had
+become the prisoner of a disagreeable princess who insisted that she
+must exchange her head for another one that she was not used to, and
+which might not fit her at all.
+
+Really, there seemed no hope of help for her from her old friends in the
+Land of Oz. Thoughtfully she gazed from her narrow window. On all the
+desert not a living thing was stirring.
+
+Wait, though! Something surely _was_ stirring on the desert--something
+her eyes had not observed at first. Now it seemed like a cloud; now it
+seemed like a spot of silver; now it seemed to be a mass of rainbow
+colors that moved swiftly toward her.
+
+What _could_ it be, she wondered?
+
+Then, gradually, but in a brief space of time nevertheless, the vision
+drew near enough to Dorothy to make out what it was.
+
+A broad green carpet was unrolling itself upon the desert, while
+advancing across the carpet was a wonderful procession that made the
+girl open her eyes in amazement as she gazed.
+
+First came a magnificent golden chariot, drawn by a great Lion and an
+immense Tiger, who stood shoulder to shoulder and trotted along as
+gracefully as a well-matched team of thoroughbred horses. And standing
+upright within the chariot was a beautiful girl clothed in flowing robes
+of silver gauze and wearing a jeweled diadem upon her dainty head. She
+held in one hand the satin ribbons that guided her astonishing team, and
+in the other an ivory wand that separated at the top into two prongs,
+the prongs being tipped by the letters "O" and "Z", made of glistening
+diamonds set closely together.
+
+The girl seemed neither older nor larger than Dorothy herself, and at
+once the prisoner in the tower guessed, that the lovely driver of the
+chariot must be that Ozma of Oz of whom she had so lately heard from
+Tiktok.
+
+Following close behind the chariot Dorothy saw her old friend the
+Scarecrow, riding calmly astride a wooden Saw-Horse, which pranced and
+trotted as naturally as any meat horse could have done.
+
+And then came Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, with his funnel-shaped cap
+tipped carelessly over his left ear, his gleaming axe over his right
+shoulder, and his whole body sparkling as brightly as it had ever done
+in the old days when first she knew him.
+
+The Tin Woodman was on foot, marching at the head of a company of
+twenty-seven soldiers, of whom some were lean and some fat, some short
+and some tall; but all the twenty-seven were dressed in handsome
+uniforms of various designs and colors, no two being alike in any
+respect.
+
+Behind the soldiers the green carpet rolled itself up again, so that
+there was always just enough of it for the procession to walk upon, in
+order that their feet might not come in contact with the deadly,
+life-destroying sands of the desert.
+
+[Illustration: THE MAGIC CARPET]
+
+Dorothy knew at once it was a magic carpet she beheld, and her heart
+beat high with hope and joy as she realized she was soon to be rescued
+and allowed to greet her dearly beloved friends of Oz--the Scarecrow,
+the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion.
+
+Indeed, the girl felt herself as good as rescued as soon as she
+recognized those in the procession, for she well knew the courage and
+loyalty of her old comrades, and also believed that any others who came
+from their marvelous country would prove to be pleasant and reliable
+acquaintances.
+
+As soon as the last bit of desert was passed and all the procession,
+from the beautiful and dainty Ozma to the last soldier, had reached the
+grassy meadows of the Land of Ev, the magic carpet rolled itself
+together and entirely disappeared.
+
+Then the chariot driver turned her Lion and Tiger into a broad roadway
+leading up to the palace, and the others followed, while Dorothy still
+gazed from her tower window in eager excitement.
+
+They came quite close to the front door of the palace and then halted,
+the Scarecrow dismounting from his Saw-Horse to approach the sign
+fastened to the door, that he might read what it said.
+
+Dorothy, just above him, could keep silent no longer.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Here I am!" she shouted, as loudly as she could. "Here's Dorothy!"
+
+"Dorothy who?" asked the Scarecrow, tipping his head to look upward
+until he nearly lost his balance and tumbled over backward.
+
+"Dorothy Gale, of course. Your friend from Kansas," she answered.
+
+"Why, hello, Dorothy!" said the Scarecrow. "What in the world are you
+doing up there?"
+
+"Nothing," she called down, "because there's nothing to do. Save me, my
+friend--save me!"
+
+"You seem to be quite safe now," replied the Scarecrow.
+
+"But I'm a prisoner. I'm locked in, so that I can't get out," she
+pleaded.
+
+"That's all right," said the Scarecrow. "You might be worse off, little
+Dorothy. Just consider the matter. You can't get drowned, or be run over
+by a Wheeler, or fall out of an apple-tree. Some folks would think they
+were lucky to be up there."
+
+"Well, I don't," declared the girl, "and I want to get down immed'i'tly
+and see you and the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion."
+
+"Very well," said the Scarecrow, nodding. "It shall be just as you say,
+little friend. Who locked you up?"
+
+"The princess Langwidere, who is a horrid creature," she answered.
+
+At this Ozma, who had been listening carefully to the conversation,
+called to Dorothy from her chariot, asking:
+
+"Why did the Princess lock you up, my dear?"
+
+"Because," exclaimed Dorothy, "I wouldn't let her have my head for her
+collection, and take an old, cast-off head in exchange for it."
+
+[Illustration: "SAVE ME, MY FRIEND--SAVE ME!"]
+
+"I do not blame you," exclaimed Ozma, promptly. "I will see the Princess
+at once, and oblige her to liberate you."
+
+"Oh, thank you very, very much!" cried Dorothy, who as soon as she heard
+the sweet voice of the girlish Ruler of Oz knew that she would soon
+learn to love her dearly.
+
+Ozma now drove her chariot around to the third door of the wing, upon
+which the Tin Woodman boldly proceeded to knock.
+
+As soon as the maid opened the door Ozma, bearing in her hand her ivory
+wand, stepped into the hall and made her way at once to the
+drawing-room, followed by all her company, except the Lion, and the
+Tiger. And the twenty-seven soldiers made such a noise and a clatter
+that the little maid Nanda ran away screaming to her mistress, whereupon
+the Princess Langwidere, roused to great anger by this rude invasion of
+her palace, came running into the drawing-room without any assistance
+whatever.
+
+There she stood before the slight and delicate form of the little girl
+from Oz and cried out;--
+
+"How dare you enter my palace unbidden? Leave this room at once, or I
+will bind you and all your people in chains, and throw you into my
+darkest dungeons!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"What a dangerous lady!" murmured the Scarecrow, in a soft voice.
+
+"She seems a little nervous," replied the Tin Woodman.
+
+But Ozma only smiled at the angry Princess.
+
+"Sit down, please," she said, quietly. "I have traveled a long way to
+see you, and you must listen to what I have to say."
+
+"Must!" screamed the Princess, her black eyes flashing with fury--for
+she still wore her No. 17 head. "Must, to _me_!"
+
+"To be sure," said Ozma. "I am Ruler of the Land of Oz, and I am
+powerful enough to destroy all your kingdom, if I so wish. Yet I did not
+come here to do harm, but rather to free the royal family of Ev from the
+thrall of the Noma King, the news having reached me that he is holding
+the Queen and her children prisoners."
+
+Hearing these words, Langwidere suddenly became quiet.
+
+"I wish you could, indeed, free my aunt and her ten royal children,"
+said she, eagerly. "For if they were restored to their proper forms and
+station they could rule the Kingdom of Ev themselves, and that would
+save me a lot of worry and trouble. At present there are at least ten
+minutes every day that I must devote to affairs of state, and I would
+like to be able to spend my whole time in admiring my beautiful heads."
+
+"Then we will presently discuss this matter," said Ozma, "and try to
+find a way to liberate your aunt and cousins. But first you must
+liberate another prisoner--the little girl you have locked up in your
+tower."
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT A DANGEROUS LADY!" MURMURED THE SCARECROW]
+
+"Of course," said Langwidere, readily. "I had forgotten all about her.
+That was yesterday, you know, and a Princess cannot be expected to
+remember today what she did yesterday. Come with me, and I will release
+the prisoner at once."
+
+So Ozma followed her, and they passed up the stairs that led to the room
+in the tower.
+
+While they were gone Ozma's followers remained in the drawing-room, and
+the Scarecrow was leaning against a form that he had mistaken for a
+copper statue when a harsh, metallic voice said suddenly in his ear:
+
+"Get off my foot, please. You are scratch-ing my pol-ish."
+
+"Oh, excuse me!" he replied, hastily drawing back. "Are you alive?"
+
+"No," said Tiktok, "I am on-ly a ma-chine. But I can think and speak and
+act, when I am pro-per-ly wound up. Just now my ac-tion is run down, and
+Dor-o-thy has the key to it."
+
+"That's all right," replied the Scarecrow. "Dorothy will soon be free,
+and then she'll attend to your works. But it must be a great misfortune
+not to be alive. I'm sorry for you."
+
+"Why?" asked Tiktok.
+
+"Because you have no brains, as I have," said the Scarecrow.
+
+"Oh, yes, I have," returned Tiktok. "I am fit-ted with Smith & Tin-ker's
+Improved Com-bi-na-tion Steel Brains. They are what make me think. What
+sort of brains are you fit-ted with?"
+
+"I don't know," admitted the Scarecrow. "They were given to me by the
+great Wizard of Oz, and I didn't get a chance to examine them before he
+put them in. But they work splendidly and my conscience is very active.
+Have you a conscience?"
+
+"No," said Tiktok.
+
+"And no heart, I suppose?" added the Tin Woodman, who had been listening
+with interest to this conversation.
+
+"No," said Tiktok.
+
+"Then," continued the Tin Woodman, "I regret to say that you are greatly
+inferior to my friend the Scarecrow, and to myself. For we are both
+alive, and he has brains which do not need to be wound up, while I have
+an excellent heart that is continually beating in my bosom."
+
+"I con-grat-u-late you," replied Tiktok. "I can-not help be-ing your
+in-fer-i-or for I am a mere ma-chine. When I am wound up I do my du-ty
+by go-ing just as my ma-chin-er-y is made to go. You have no i-de-a how
+full of ma-chin-er-y I am."
+
+"I can guess," said the Scarecrow, looking at the machine man curiously.
+"Some day I'd like to take you apart and see just how you are made."
+
+"Do not do that, I beg of you," said Tiktok; "for you could not put me
+to-geth-er a-gain, and my use-ful-ness would be de-stroyed."
+
+"Oh! are you useful?" asked the Scarecrow, surprised.
+
+"Ve-ry," said Tiktok.
+
+"In that case," the Scarecrow kindly promised, "I won't fool with your
+interior at all. For I am a poor mechanic, and might mix you up."
+
+"Thank you," said Tiktok.
+
+Just then Ozma re-entered the room, leading Dorothy by the hand and
+followed closely by the Princess Langwidere.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Hungry Tiger
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The first thing Dorothy did was to rush into the embrace of the
+Scarecrow, whose painted face beamed with delight as he pressed her form
+to his straw-padded bosom. Then the Tin Woodman embraced her--very
+gently, for he knew his tin arms might hurt her if he squeezed too
+roughly.
+
+These greetings having been exchanged, Dorothy took the key to Tiktok
+from her pocket and wound up the machine man's action, so that he could
+bow properly when introduced to the rest of the company. While doing
+this she told them now useful Tiktok had been to her, and both the
+Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman shook hands with the machine once more and
+thanked him for protecting their friend.
+
+Then Dorothy asked: "Where is Billina?"
+
+"I don't know," said the Scarecrow. "Who is Billina?"
+
+"She's a yellow hen who is another friend of mine," answered the girl,
+anxiously. "I wonder what has become of her?"
+
+"She is in the chicken house, in the back yard," said the Princess. "My
+drawing-room is no place for hens."
+
+Without waiting to hear more Dorothy ran to get Billina, and just
+outside the door she came upon the Cowardly Lion, still hitched to the
+chariot beside the great Tiger. The Cowardly Lion had a big bow of blue
+ribbon fastened to the long hair between his ears, and the Tiger wore a
+bow of red ribbon on his tail, just in front of the bushy end.
+
+In an instant Dorothy was hugging the huge Lion joyfully.
+
+"I'm _so_ glad to see you again!" she cried.
+
+"I am also glad to see you, Dorothy," said the Lion. "We've had some
+fine adventures together, haven't we?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," she replied. "How are you?"
+
+"As cowardly as ever," the beast answered in a meek voice. "Every little
+thing scares me and makes my heart beat fast. But let me introduce to
+you a new friend of mine, the Hungry Tiger."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Oh! Are you hungry?" she asked, turning to the other beast, who was
+just then yawning so widely that he displayed two rows of terrible teeth
+and a mouth big enough to startle anyone.
+
+"Dreadfully hungry," answered the Tiger, snapping his jaws together with
+a fierce click.
+
+"Then why don't you eat something?" she asked.
+
+"It's no use," said the Tiger sadly. "I've tried that, but I always get
+hungry again."
+
+"Why, it is the same with me," said Dorothy. "Yet I keep on eating."
+
+"But you eat harmless things, so it doesn't matter," replied the Tiger.
+"For my part, I'm a savage beast, and have an appetite for all sorts of
+poor little living creatures, from a chipmonk to fat babies."
+
+"How dreadful!" said Dorothy.
+
+"Isn't it, though?" returned the Hungry Tiger, licking his lips with his
+long red tongue. "Fat babies! Don't they sound delicious? But I've never
+eaten any, because my conscience tells me it is wrong. If I had no
+conscience I would probably eat the babies and then get hungry again,
+which would mean that I had sacrificed the poor babies for nothing. No;
+hungry I was born, and hungry I shall die. But I'll not have any cruel
+deeds on my conscience to be sorry for."
+
+"I think you are a very good tiger," said Dorothy, patting the huge head
+of the beast.
+
+"In that you are mistaken," was the reply. "I am a good beast, perhaps,
+but a disgracefully bad tiger. For it is the nature of tigers to be
+cruel and ferocious, and in refusing to eat harmless living creatures I
+am acting as no good tiger has ever before acted. That is why I left
+the forest and joined my friend the Cowardly Lion."
+
+[Illustration: THE HUNGRY TIGER]
+
+"But the Lion is not really cowardly," said Dorothy. "I have seen him
+act as bravely as can be."
+
+"All a mistake, my dear," protested the Lion gravely. "To others I may
+have seemed brave, at times, but I have never been in any danger that I
+was not afraid."
+
+"Nor I," said Dorothy, truthfully. "But I must go and set free Billina,
+and then I will see you again."
+
+She ran around to the back yard of the palace and soon found the chicken
+house, being guided to it by a loud cackling and crowing and a
+distracting hubbub of sounds such as chickens make when they are
+excited.
+
+Something seemed to be wrong in the chicken house, and when Dorothy
+looked through the slats in the door she saw a group of hens and
+roosters huddled in one corner and watching what appeared to be a
+whirling ball of feathers. It bounded here and there about the chicken
+house, and at first Dorothy could not tell what it was, while the
+screeching of the chickens nearly deafened her.
+
+But suddenly the bunch of feathers stopped whirling, and then, to her
+amazement, the girl saw Billina crouching upon the prostrate form of a
+speckled rooster. For an instant they both remained motionless, and then
+the yellow hen shook her wings to settle the feathers and walked toward
+the door with a strut of proud defiance and a cluck of victory, while
+the speckled rooster limped away to the group of other chickens,
+trailing his crumpled plumage in the dust as he went.
+
+"Why, Billina!" cried Dorothy, in a shocked voice; "have you been
+fighting?"
+
+"I really think I have," retorted Billina. "Do you think I'd let that
+speckled villain of a rooster lord it over _me_, and claim to run this
+chicken house, as long as I'm able to peck and scratch? Not if my name
+is Bill!"
+
+"It isn't Bill, it's Billina; and you're talking slang, which is very
+undig'n'fied," said Dorothy, reprovingly. "Come here, Billina, and I'll
+let you out; for Ozma of Oz is here, and has set us free."
+
+So the yellow hen came to the door, which Dorothy unlatched for her to
+pass through, and the other chickens silently watched them from their
+corner without offering to approach nearer.
+
+The girl lifted her friend in her arms and exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, Billina! how dreadful you look. You've lost a lot of feathers, and
+one of your eyes is nearly pecked out, and your comb is bleeding!"
+
+"That's nothing," said Billina. "Just look at the speckled rooster!
+Didn't I do him up brown?"
+
+Dorothy shook her head.
+
+"I don't 'prove of this, at all," she said, carrying Billina away toward
+the palace. "It isn't a good thing for you to 'sociate with those common
+chickens. They would soon spoil your good manners, and you wouldn't be
+respec'able any more."
+
+"I didn't ask to associate with them," replied Billina. "It is that
+cross old Princess who is to blame. But I was raised in the United
+States, and I won't allow any one-horse chicken of the Land of Ev to run
+over me and put on airs, as long as I can lift a claw in self-defense."
+
+"Very well, Billina," said Dorothy. "We won't talk about it any more."
+
+Soon they came to the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger to whom the
+girl introduced the Yellow Hen.
+
+"Glad to meet any friend of Dorothy's," said the Lion, politely. "To
+judge by your present appearance, you are not a coward, as I am."
+
+[Illustration: "WHY, BILLINA!" CRIED DOROTHY; "HAVE YOU BEEN FIGHTING?"]
+
+"Your present appearance makes my mouth water," said the Tiger, looking
+at Billina greedily. "My, my! how good you would taste if I could only
+crunch you between my jaws. But don't worry. You would only appease my
+appetite for a moment; so it isn't worth while to eat you."
+
+"Thank you," said the hen, nestling closer in Dorothy's arms.
+
+"Besides, it wouldn't be right," continued the Tiger, looking steadily
+at Billina and clicking his jaws together.
+
+"Of course not," cried Dorothy, hastily. "Billina is my friend, and you
+mustn't ever eat her under any circ'mstances."
+
+"I'll try to remember that," said the Tiger; "but I'm a little
+absent-minded, at times."
+
+Then Dorothy carried her pet into the drawing-room of the palace, where
+Tiktok, being invited to do so by Ozma, had seated himself between the
+Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. Opposite to them sat Ozma herself and the
+Princess Langwidere, and beside them there was a vacant chair for
+Dorothy.
+
+Around this important group was ranged the Army of Oz, and as Dorothy
+looked at the handsome uniforms of the Twenty-Seven she said:
+
+"Why, they seem to be all officers."
+
+"They are, all except one," answered the Tin Woodman. "I have in my Army
+eight Generals, six Colonels, seven Majors and five Captains, besides
+one private for them to command. I'd like to promote the private, for I
+believe no private should ever be in public life; and I've also noticed
+that officers usually fight better and are more reliable than common
+soldiers. Besides, the officers are more important looking, and lend
+dignity to our army."
+
+"No doubt you are right," said Dorothy, seating herself beside Ozma.
+
+"And now," announced the girlish Ruler of Oz, "we will hold a solemn
+conference to decide the best manner of liberating the royal family of
+this fair Land of Ev from their long imprisonment."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Royal Family of Ev
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Tin Woodman was the first to address the meeting.
+
+"To begin with," said he, "word came to our noble and illustrous Ruler,
+Ozma of Oz, that the wife and ten children--five boys and five girls--of
+the former King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been enslaved by the Nome
+King and are held prisoners in his underground palace. Also that there
+was no one in Ev powerful enough to release them. Naturally our Ozma
+wished to undertake the adventure of liberating the poor prisoners; but
+for a long time she could find no way to cross the great desert between
+the two countries. Finally she went to a friendly sorceress of our land
+named Glinda the Good, who heard the story and at once presented Ozma a
+magic carpet, which would continually unroll beneath our feet and so
+make a comfortable path for us to cross the desert. As soon as she had
+received the carpet our gracious Ruler ordered me to assemble our army,
+which I did. You behold in these bold warriors the pick of all the
+finest soldiers of Oz; and, if we are obliged to fight the Nome King,
+every officer as well as the private, will battle fiercely unto death."
+
+Then Tiktok spoke.
+
+"Why should you fight the Nome King?" he asked. "He has done no wrong."
+
+"No wrong!" cried Dorothy. "Isn't it wrong to imprison a queen mother
+and her ten children?"
+
+"They were sold to the Nome King by King Ev-ol-do," replied Tiktok. "It
+was the King of Ev who did wrong, and when he re-al-ized what he had
+done he jumped in-to the sea and drowned him-self."
+
+"This is news to me," said Ozma, thoughtfully. "I had supposed the Nome
+King was all to blame in the matter. But, in any case, he must be made
+to liberate the prisoners."
+
+"My uncle Evoldo was a very wicked man," declared the Princess
+Langwidere. "If he had drowned himself before he sold his family, no one
+would have cared. But he sold them to the powerful Nome King in exchange
+for a long life, and afterward destroyed the life by jumping into the
+sea."
+
+"Then," said Ozma, "he did not get the long life, and the Nome King must
+give up the prisoners. Where are they confined?"
+
+"No one knows, exactly," replied the Princess. "For the king, whose name
+is Roquat of the Rocks, owns a splendid palace underneath the great
+mountain which is at the north end of this kingdom, and he has
+transformed the queen and her children into ornaments and bric-a-brac
+with which to decorate his rooms."
+
+"I'd like to know," said Dorothy, "who this Nome King is?"
+
+"I will tell you," replied Ozma. "He is said to be the Ruler of the
+Underground World, and commands the rocks and all that the rocks
+contain. Under his rule are many thousands of the Nomes, who are queerly
+shaped but powerful sprites that labor at the furnaces and forges of
+their king, making gold and silver and other metals which they conceal
+in the crevices of the rocks, so that those living upon the earth's
+surface can only find them with great difficulty. Also they make
+diamonds and rubies and emeralds, which they hide in the ground; so that
+the kingdom of the Nomes is wonderfully rich, and all we have of
+precious stones and silver and gold is what we take from the earth and
+rocks where the Nome King has hidden them."
+
+"I understand," said Dorothy, nodding her little head wisely.
+
+"For the reason that we often steal his treasures," continued Ozma, "the
+Ruler of the Underground World is not fond of those who live upon the
+earth's surface, and never appears among us. If we wish to see King
+Roquat of the Rocks, we must visit his own country, where he is all
+powerful, and therefore it will be a dangerous undertaking."
+
+"But, for the sake of the poor prisoners," said Dorothy, "we ought to do
+it."
+
+"We shall do it," replied the Scarecrow, "although it requires a lot of
+courage for me to go near to the furnaces of the Nome King. For I am
+only stuffed with straw, and a single spark of fire might destroy me
+entirely."
+
+"The furnaces may also melt my tin," said the Tin Woodman; "but I am
+going."
+
+"I can't bear heat," remarked the Princess Langwidere, yawning lazily,
+"so I shall stay at home. But I wish you may have success in your
+undertaking, for I am heartily tired of ruling this stupid kingdom, and
+I need more leisure in which to admire my beautiful heads."
+
+"We do not need you," said Ozma. "For, if with the aid of my brave
+followers I cannot accomplish my purpose, then it would be useless for
+you to undertake the journey."
+
+"Quite true," sighed the Princess. "So, if you'll excuse me, I will now
+retire to my cabinet. I've worn this head quite awhile, and I want to
+change it for another."
+
+When she had left them (and you may be sure no one was sorry to see her
+go) Ozma said to Tiktok:
+
+"Will you join our party?"
+
+"I am the slave of the girl Dor-oth-y, who res-cued me from pris-on,"
+replied the machine. "Where she goes I will go."
+
+"Oh, I am going with my friends, of course," said Dorothy, quickly. "I
+wouldn't miss the fun for anything. Will you go, too, Billina?"
+
+"To be sure," said Billina in a careless tone. She was smoothing down
+the feathers of her back and not paying much attention.
+
+[Illustration: "I CAN'T BEAR HEAT," REMARKED LANGWIDERE]
+
+"Heat is just in her line," remarked the Scarecrow. "If she is nicely
+roasted, she will be better than ever."
+
+"Then," said Ozma, "we will arrange to start for the Kingdom of the Nomes
+at daybreak tomorrow. And, in the meantime, we will rest and prepare
+ourselves for the journey."
+
+Although Princess Langwidere did not again appear to her guests, the
+palace servants waited upon the strangers from Oz and did everything in
+their power to make the party comfortable. There were many vacant rooms
+at their disposal, and the brave Army of twenty-seven was easily
+provided for and liberally feasted.
+
+The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were unharnessed from the chariot
+and allowed to roam at will throughout the palace, where they nearly
+frightened the servants into fits, although they did no harm at all. At
+one time Dorothy found the little maid Nanda crouching in terror in a
+corner, with the Hungry Tiger standing before her.
+
+"You certainly look delicious," the beast was saying. "Will you kindly
+give me permission to eat you?"
+
+"No, no, no!" cried the maid in reply.
+
+"Then," said the Tiger, yawning frightfully, "please to get me about
+thirty pounds of tenderloin steak, cooked rare, with a peck of boiled
+potatoes on the side, and five gallons of ice-cream for dessert."
+
+"I--I'll do the best I can!" said Nanda, and she ran away as fast as she
+could go.
+
+"Are you so very hungry?" asked Dorothy, in wonder.
+
+"You can hardly imagine the size of my appetite," replied the Tiger,
+sadly. "It seems to fill my whole body, from the end of my throat to the
+tip of my tail. I am very sure the appetite doesn't fit me, and is too
+large for the size of my body. Some day, when I meet a dentist with a
+pair of forceps, I'm going to have it pulled."
+
+"What, your tooth?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"No, my appetite," said the Hungry Tiger.
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY RELATED TO THEM HER OWN ADVENTURES]
+
+The little girl spent most of the afternoon talking with the Scarecrow
+and the Tin Woodman, who related to her all that had taken place in the
+Land of Oz since Dorothy had left it. She was much interested in the
+story of Ozma, who had been, when a baby, stolen by a wicked old witch
+and transformed into a boy. She did not know that she had ever been a
+girl until she was restored to her natural form by a kind sorceress.
+Then it was found that she was the only child of the former Ruler of
+Oz, and was entitled to rule in his place. Ozma had many adventures,
+however, before she regained her father's throne, and in these she was
+accompanied by a pumpkin-headed man, a highly magnified and thoroughly
+educated Woggle-Bug, and a wonderful sawhorse that had been brought to
+life by means of a magic powder. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had
+also assisted her; but the Cowardly Lion, who ruled the great forest as
+the King of Beasts, knew nothing of Ozma until after she became the
+reigning princess of Oz. Then he journeyed to the Emerald City to see
+her, and on hearing she was about to visit the Land of Ev to set free
+the royal family of that country, the Cowardly Lion begged to go with
+her, and brought along his friend, the Hungry Tiger, as well.
+
+Having heard this story, Dorothy related to them her own adventures, and
+then went out with her friends to find the Sawhorse, which Ozma had
+caused to be shod with plates of gold, so that its legs would not wear
+out.
+
+They came upon the Sawhorse standing motionless beside the garden gate,
+but when Dorothy was introduced to him he bowed politely and blinked his
+eyes, which were knots of wood, and wagged his tail, which was only the
+branch of a tree.
+
+"What a remarkable thing, to be alive!" exclaimed Dorothy.
+
+"I quite agree with you," replied the Sawhorse, in a rough but not
+unpleasant voice. "A creature like me has no business to live, as we all
+know. But it was the magic powder that did it, so I cannot justly be
+blamed."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Of course not," said Dorothy. "And you seem to be of some use, 'cause I
+noticed the Scarecrow riding upon your back."
+
+"Oh, yes; I'm of use," returned the Sawhorse; "and I never tire, never
+have to be fed, or cared for in any way."
+
+"Are you intel'gent?" asked the girl.
+
+"Not very," said the creature. "It would be foolish to waste intelligence
+on a common Sawhorse, when so many professors need it. But I know enough
+to obey my masters, and to gid-dup, or whoa, when I'm told to. So I'm
+pretty well satisfied."
+
+That night Dorothy slept in a pleasant little bedchamber next to that
+occupied by Ozma of Oz, and Billina perched upon the foot of the bed and
+tucked her head under her wing and slept as soundly in that position as
+did Dorothy upon her soft cushions.
+
+But before daybreak every one was awake and stirring, and soon the
+adventurers were eating a hasty breakfast in the great dining-room of
+the palace. Ozma sat at the head of a long table, on a raised platform,
+with Dorothy on her right hand and the Scarecrow on her left. The
+Scarecrow did not eat, of course; but Ozma placed him near her so that
+she might ask his advice about the journey while she ate.
+
+Lower down the table were the twenty-seven warriors of Oz, and at the
+end of the room the Lion and the Tiger were eating out of a kettle that
+had been placed upon the floor, while Billina fluttered around to pick
+up any scraps that might be scattered.
+
+It did not take long to finish the meal, and then the Lion and the Tiger
+were harnessed to the chariot and the party was ready to start for the
+Nome King's Palace.
+
+First rode Ozma, with Dorothy beside her in the golden chariot and
+holding Billina fast in her arms. Then came the Scarecrow on the
+Sawhorse, with the Tin Woodman and Tiktok marching side by side just
+behind him. After these tramped the Army, looking brave and handsome in
+their splendid uniforms. The generals commanded the colonels and the
+colonels commanded the majors and the majors commanded the captains and
+the captains commanded the private, who marched with an air of proud
+importance because it required so many officers to give him his orders.
+
+And so the magnificent procession left the palace and started along the
+road just as day was breaking, and by the time the sun came out they had
+made good progress toward the valley that led to the Nome King's
+domain.
+
+
+
+
+The Giant with the Hammer
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The road led for a time through a pretty farm country, and then past a
+picnic grove that was very inviting. But the procession continued to
+steadily advance until Billina cried in an abrupt and commanding manner:
+
+"Wait--wait!"
+
+Ozma stopped her chariot so suddenly that the Scarecrow's Sawhorse
+nearly ran into it, and the ranks of the army tumbled over one another
+before they could come to a halt. Immediately the yellow hen struggled
+from Dorothy's arms and flew into a clump of bushes by the roadside.
+
+"What's the matter?" called the Tin Woodman, anxiously.
+
+"Why, Billina wants to lay her egg, that's all," said Dorothy.
+
+"Lay her egg!" repeated the Tin Woodman, in astonishment.
+
+"Yes; she lays one every morning, about this time; and it's quite
+fresh," said the girl.
+
+"But does your foolish old hen suppose that this entire cavalcade, which
+is bound on an important adventure, is going to stand still while she
+lays her egg?" enquired the Tin Woodman, earnestly.
+
+"What else can we do?" asked the girl. "It's a habit of Billina's and
+she can't break herself of it."
+
+"Then she must hurry up," said the Tin Woodman, impatiently.
+
+"No, no!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "If she hurries she may lay scrambled
+eggs."
+
+"That's nonsense," said Dorothy. "But Billina won't be long, I'm sure."
+
+So they stood and waited, although all were restless and anxious to
+proceed. And by and by the yellow hen came from the bushes saying:
+
+"Kut-kut, kut, ka-daw-kutt! Kut, kut, kut--ka-daw-kut!" "What is she
+doing--singing her lay?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"For-ward--march!" shouted the Tin Woodman, waving his axe, and the
+procession started just as Dorothy had once more grabbed Billina in her
+arms.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Isn't anyone going to get my egg?" cried the hen, in great excitement.
+
+"I'll get it," said the Scarecrow; and at his command the Sawhorse
+pranced into the bushes. The straw man soon found the egg, which he
+placed in his jacket pocket. The cavalcade, having moved rapidly on, was
+even then far in advance; but it did not take the Sawhorse long to
+catch up with it, and presently the Scarecrow was riding in his
+accustomed place behind Ozma's chariot.
+
+"What shall I do with the egg?" he asked Dorothy.
+
+"I do not know," the girl answered. "Perhaps the Hungry Tiger would like
+it."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"It would not be enough to fill one of my back teeth," remarked the
+Tiger. "A bushel of them, hard boiled, might take a little of the edge
+off my appetite; but one egg isn't good for anything at all, that I know
+of."
+
+"No; it wouldn't even make a sponge cake," said the Scarecrow,
+thoughtfully. "The Tin Woodman might carry it with his axe and hatch it;
+but after all I may as well keep it myself for a souvenir." So he left
+it in his pocket.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+They had now reached that part of the valley that lay between the two
+high mountains which Dorothy had seen from her tower window. At the far
+end was the third great mountain, which blocked the valley and was the
+northern edge of the Land of Ev. It was underneath this mountain that
+the Nome King's palace was said to be; but it would be some time before
+they reached that place.
+
+The path was becoming rocky and difficult for the wheels of the chariot
+to pass over, and presently a deep gulf appeared at their feet which was
+too wide for them to leap. So Ozma took a small square of green cloth
+from her pocket and threw it upon the ground. At once it became the
+magic carpet, and unrolled itself far enough for all the cavalcade to
+walk upon. The chariot now advanced, and the green carpet unrolled
+before it, crossing the gulf on a level with its banks, so that all
+passed over in safety.
+
+"That's easy enough," said the Scarecrow. "I wonder what will happen
+next."
+
+He was not long in making the discovery, for the sides of the mountain
+came closer together until finally there was but a narrow path between
+them, along which Ozma and her party were forced to pass in single file.
+
+They now heard a low and deep "thump!----thump!----thump!" which echoed
+throughout the valley and seemed to grow louder as they advanced. Then,
+turning a corner of rock, they saw before them a huge form, which
+towered above the path for more than a hundred feet. The form was that
+of a gigantic man built out of plates of cast iron, and it stood with
+one foot on either side of the narrow road and swung over its right
+shoulder an immense iron mallet, with which it constantly pounded the
+earth. These resounding blows explained the thumping sounds they had
+heard, for the mallet was much bigger than a barrel, and where it struck
+the path between the rocky sides of the mountain it filled all the space
+through which our travelers would be obliged to pass.
+
+Of course they at once halted, a safe distance away from the terrible
+iron mallet. The magic carpet would do them no good in this case, for it
+was only meant to protect them from any dangers upon the ground beneath
+their feet, and not from dangers that appeared in the air above them.
+
+"Wow!" said the Cowardly Lion, with a shudder. "It makes me dreadfully
+nervous to see that big hammer pounding so near my head. One blow would
+crush me into a door-mat."
+
+"The ir-on gi-ant is a fine fel-low," said Tiktok, "and works as
+stead-i-ly as a clock. He was made for the Nome King by Smith & Tin-ker,
+who made me, and his du-ty is to keep folks from find-ing the
+un-der-ground pal-ace. Is he not a great work of art?"
+
+"Can he think, and speak, as you do?" asked Ozma, regarding the giant
+with wondering eyes.
+
+"No," replied the machine; "he is on-ly made to pound the road, and has
+no think-ing or speak-ing at-tach-ment. But he pounds ve-ry well, I
+think."
+
+"Too well," observed the Scarecrow. "He is keeping us from going
+farther. Is there no way to stop his machinery?"
+
+"On-ly the Nome King, who has the key, can do that," answered Tiktok.
+
+"Then," said Dorothy, anxiously, "what shall we do?"
+
+"Excuse me for a few minutes," said the Scarecrow, "and I will think it
+over."
+
+He retired, then, to a position in the rear, where he turned his painted
+face to the rocks and began to think.
+
+Meantime the giant continued to raise his iron mallet high in the air
+and to strike the path terrific blows that echoed through the mountains
+like the roar of a cannon. Each time the mallet lifted, however, there
+was a moment when the path beneath the monster was free, and perhaps the
+Scarecrow had noticed this, for when he came back to the others he said:
+
+"The matter is a very simple one, after all. We have but to run under
+the hammer, one at a time, when it is lifted, and pass to the other
+side before it falls again."
+
+[Illustration: THE TIGER WENT NEXT]
+
+"It will require quick work, if we escape the blow," said the Tin
+Woodman, with a shake of his head. "But it really seems the only thing
+to be done. Who will make the first attempt?"
+
+They looked at one another hesitatingly for a moment. Then the Cowardly
+Lion, who was trembling like a leaf in the wind, said to them:
+
+"I suppose the head of the procession must go first--and that's me. But
+I'm terribly afraid of the big hammer!"
+
+"What will become of me?" asked Ozma. "You might rush under the hammer
+yourself, but the chariot would surely be crushed."
+
+"We must leave the chariot," said the Scarecrow. "But you two girls can
+ride upon the backs of the Lion and the Tiger."
+
+So this was decided upon, and Ozma, as soon as the Lion was unfastened
+from the chariot, at once mounted the beast's back and said she was
+ready.
+
+"Cling fast to his mane," advised Dorothy. "I used to ride him myself,
+and that's the way I held on."
+
+So Ozma clung fast to the mane, and the Lion crouched in the path and
+eyed the swinging mallet carefully until he knew just the instant it
+would begin to rise in the air.
+
+Then, before anyone thought he was ready, he made a sudden leap
+straight between the iron giant's legs, and before the mallet struck the
+ground again the Lion and Ozma were safe on the other side.
+
+The Tiger went next. Dorothy sat upon his back and locked her arms
+around his striped neck, for he had no mane to cling to. He made the
+leap straight and true as an arrow from a bow, and ere Dorothy realized
+it she was out of danger and standing by Ozma's side.
+
+Now came the Scarecrow on the Sawhorse, and while they made the dash in
+safety they were within a hair's breadth of being caught by the
+descending hammer.
+
+Tiktok walked up to the very edge of the spot the hammer struck, and as
+it was raised for the next blow he calmly stepped forward and escaped
+its descent. That was an idea for the Tin Woodman to follow, and he also
+crossed in safety while the great hammer was in the air. But when it
+came to the twenty-six officers and the private, their knees were so
+weak that they could not walk a step.
+
+"In battle we are wonderfully courageous," said one of the generals,
+"and our foes find us very terrible to face. But war is one thing and
+this is another. When it comes to being pounded upon the head by an iron
+hammer, and smashed into pancakes, we naturally object."
+
+"Make a run for it," urged the Scarecrow.
+
+"Our knees shake so that we cannot run," answered a captain. "If we
+should try it we would all certainly be pounded to a jelly."
+
+"Well, well" sighed the Cowardly Lion, "I see, friend Tiger, that we
+must place ourselves in great danger to rescue this bold army. Come with
+me, and we will do the best we can."
+
+So, Ozma and Dorothy having already dismounted from their backs, the
+Lion and the Tiger leaped back again under the awful hammer and returned
+with two generals clinging to their necks. They repeated this daring
+passage twelve times, when all the officers had been carried beneath the
+giant's legs and landed safely on the further side. By that time the
+beasts were very tired, and panted so hard that their tongues hung out
+of their great mouths.
+
+"But what is to become of the private?" asked Ozma.
+
+"Oh, leave him there to guard the chariot," said the Lion. "I'm tired
+out, and won't pass under that mallet again."
+
+[Illustration: THE WOODEN HORSE WAS CARELESS]
+
+The officers at once protested that they must have the private with
+them, else there would be no one for them to command. But neither the
+Lion or the Tiger would go after him, and so the Scarecrow sent the
+Sawhorse.
+
+Either the wooden horse was careless, or it failed to properly time the
+descent of the hammer, for the mighty weapon caught it squarely upon its
+head, and thumped it against the ground so powerfully that the private
+flew off its back high into the air, and landed upon one of the giant's
+cast-iron arms. Here he clung desperately while the arm rose and fell
+with each one of the rapid strokes.
+
+The Scarecrow dashed in to rescue his Sawhorse, and had his left foot
+smashed by the hammer before he could pull the creature out of danger.
+They then found that the Sawhorse had been badly dazed by the blow; for
+while the hard wooden knot of which his head was formed could not be
+crushed by the hammer, both his ears were broken off and he would be
+unable to hear a sound until some new ones were made for him. Also his
+left knee was cracked, and had to be bound up with a string.
+
+Billina having fluttered under the hammer, it now remained only to
+rescue the private who was riding upon the iron giant's arm, high in the
+air. The Scarecrow lay flat upon the ground and called to the man to
+jump down upon his body, which was soft because it was stuffed with
+straw. This the private managed to do, waiting until a time when he was
+nearest the ground and then letting himself drop upon the Scarecrow. He
+accomplished the feat without breaking any bones, and the Scarecrow
+declared he was not injured in the least.
+
+Therefore, the Tin Woodman having by this time fitted new ears to the
+Sawhorse, the entire party proceeded upon its way, leaving the giant to
+pound the path behind them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Nome King
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+By and by, when they drew near to the mountain that blocked their path
+and which was the furthermost edge of the Kingdom of Ev, the way grew
+dark and gloomy for the reason that the high peaks on either side shut
+out the sunshine. And it was very silent, too, as there were no birds to
+sing or squirrels to chatter, the trees being left far behind them and
+only the bare rocks remaining.
+
+Ozma and Dorothy were a little awed by the silence, and all the others
+were quiet and grave except the Sawhorse, which, as it trotted along
+with the Scarecrow upon his back, hummed a queer song, of which this was
+the chorus:
+
+    "Would a wooden horse in a woodland go?
+      Aye, aye! I sigh, he would, although
+    Had he not had a wooden head
+      He'd mount the mountain top instead."
+
+But no one paid any attention to this because they were now close to the
+Nome King's dominions, and his splendid underground palace could not be
+very far away.
+
+Suddenly they heard a shout of jeering laughter, and stopped short. They
+would have to stop in a minute, anyway, for the huge mountain barred
+their further progress and the path ran close up to a wall of rock and
+ended.
+
+"Who was that laughing?" asked Ozma.
+
+There was no reply, but in the gloom they could see strange forms flit
+across the face of the rock. Whatever the creations might be they seemed
+very like the rock itself, for they were the color of rocks and their
+shapes were as rough and rugged as if they had been broken away from the
+side of the mountain. They kept close to the steep cliff facing our
+friends, and glided up and down, and this way and that, with a lack of
+regularity that was quite confusing. And they seemed not to need places
+to rest their feet, but clung to the surface of the rock as a fly does
+to a window-pane, and were never still for a moment.
+
+"Do not mind them," said Tiktok, as Dorothy shrank back. "They are on-ly
+the Nomes."
+
+"And what are Nomes?" asked the girl, half frightened.
+
+"They are rock fair-ies, and serve the Nome King," replied the machine.
+"But they will do us no harm. You must call for the King, be-cause
+with-out him you can ne-ver find the en-trance to the pal-ace."
+
+"_You_ call," said Dorothy to Ozma.
+
+Just then the Nomes laughed again, and the sound was so weird and
+disheartening that the twenty-six officers commanded the private to
+"right-about-face!" and they all started to run as fast as they could.
+
+The Tin Woodman at once pursued his army and cried "halt!" and when they
+had stopped their flight he asked: "Where are you going?"
+
+"I--I find I've forgotten the brush for my whiskers," said a general,
+trembling with fear. "S-s-so we are g-going back after it!"
+
+"That is impossible," replied the Tin Woodman. "For the giant with the
+hammer would kill you all if you tried to pass him."
+
+"Oh! I'd forgotten the giant," said the general, turning pale.
+
+"You seem to forget a good many things," remarked the Tin Woodman. "I
+hope you won't forget that you are brave men."
+
+"Never!" cried the general, slapping his gold-embroidered chest.
+
+"Never!" cried all the other officers, indignantly slapping their
+chests.
+
+"For my part," said the private, meekly, "I must obey my officers; so
+when I am told to run, I run; and when I am told to fight, I fight."
+
+"That is right," agreed the Tin Woodman. "And now you must all come back
+to Ozma, and obey _her_ orders. And if you try to run away again I will
+have her reduce all the twenty-six officers to privates, and make the
+private your general."
+
+This terrible threat so frightened them that they at once returned to
+where Ozma was standing beside the Cowardly Lion.
+
+Then Ozma cried out in a loud voice:
+
+"I demand that the Nome King appear to us!"
+
+There was no reply, except that the shifting Nomes upon the mountain
+laughed in derision.
+
+"You must not command the Nome King," said Tiktok, "for you do not rule
+him, as you do your own peo-ple."
+
+[Illustration: ONLY THE MOCKING LAUGHTER REPLIED TO HER]
+
+So Ozma called again, saying:
+
+"I request the Nome King to appear to us."
+
+Only the mocking laughter replied to her, and the shadowy Nomes
+continued to flit here and there upon the rocky cliff.
+
+"Try en-treat-y," said Tiktok to Ozma. "If he will not come at your
+re-quest, then the Nome King may list-en to your plead-ing."
+
+Ozma looked around her proudly.
+
+"Do you wish your ruler to plead with this wicked Nome King?" she asked.
+"Shall Ozma of Oz humble herself to a creature who lives in an
+underground kingdom?"
+
+"No!" they all shouted, with big voices; and the Scarecrow added:
+
+"If he will not come, we will dig him out of his hole, like a fox, and
+conquer his stubbornness. But our sweet little ruler must always
+maintain her dignity, just as I maintain mine."
+
+"I'm not afraid to plead with him," said Dorothy. "I'm only a little
+girl from Kansas, and we've got more dignity at home than we know what
+to do with. _I'll_ call the Nome King."
+
+"Do," said the Hungry Tiger; "and if he makes hash of you I'll willingly
+eat you for breakfast tomorrow morning."
+
+So Dorothy stepped forward and said:
+
+"_Please_ Mr. Nome King, come here and see us."
+
+The Nomes started to laugh again; but a low growl came from the
+mountain, and in a flash they had all vanished from sight and were
+silent.
+
+Then a door in the rock opened, and a voice cried:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Enter!"
+
+"Isn't it a trick?" asked the Tin Woodman.
+
+"Never mind," replied Ozma. "We came here to rescue the poor Queen of Ev
+and her ten children, and we must run some risks to do so."
+
+"The Nome King is hon-est and good na-tured," said Tiktok. "You can
+trust him to do what is right."
+
+So Ozma led the way, hand in hand with Dorothy, and they passed through
+the arched doorway of rock and entered a long passage which was lighted
+by jewels set in the walls and having lamps behind them. There was no
+one to escort them, or to show them the way, but all the party pressed
+through the passage until they came to a round, domed cavern that was
+grandly furnished.
+
+In the center of this room was a throne carved out of a solid boulder of
+rock, rude and rugged in shape but glittering with great rubies and
+diamonds and emeralds on every part of its surface. And upon the throne
+sat the Nome King.
+
+This important monarch of the Underground World was a little fat man
+clothed in gray-brown garments that were the exact color of the rock
+throne in which he was seated. His bushy hair and flowing beard were
+also colored like the rocks, and so was his face. He wore no crown of
+any sort, and his only ornament was a broad, jewel-studded belt that
+encircled his fat little body. As for his features, they seemed kindly
+and good humored, and his eyes were turned merrily upon his visitors as
+Ozma and Dorothy stood before him with their followers ranged in close
+order behind them.
+
+"Why, he looks just like Santa Claus--only he isn't the same color!"
+whispered Dorothy to her friend; but the Nome King heard the speech, and
+it made him laugh aloud.
+
+    "'He had a red face and a round little belly
+    That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly!'"
+
+quoth the monarch, in a pleasant voice; and they could all see that he
+really did shake like jelly when he laughed.
+
+Both Ozma and Dorothy were much relieved to find the Nome King so jolly,
+and a minute later he waved his right hand and the girls each found a
+cushioned stool at her side.
+
+"Sit down, my dears," said the King, "and tell me why you have come all
+this way to see me, and what I can do to make you happy."
+
+While they seated themselves the Nome King picked up a pipe, and taking
+a glowing red coal out of his pocket he placed it in the bowl of the
+pipe and began puffing out clouds of smoke that curled in rings above
+his head. Dorothy thought this made the little monarch look more like
+Santa Claus than ever; but Ozma now began speaking, and every one
+listened intently to her words.
+
+"Your Majesty," said she, "I am the ruler of the Land of Oz, and I have
+come here to ask you to release the good Queen of Ev and her ten
+children, whom you have enchanted and hold as your prisoners."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Oh, no; you are mistaken about that," replied the King. "They are not
+my prisoners, but my slaves, whom I purchased from the King of Ev."
+
+"But that was wrong," said Ozma.
+
+"According to the laws of Ev, the king can do no wrong," answered the
+monarch, eyeing a ring of smoke he had just blown from his mouth; "so
+that he had a perfect right to sell his family to me in exchange for a
+long life."
+
+"You cheated him, though," declared Dorothy; "for the King of Ev did not
+have a long life. He jumped into the sea and was drowned."
+
+"That was not my fault," said the Nome King, crossing his legs and
+smiling contentedly. "I gave him the long life, all right; but he
+destroyed it."
+
+"Then how could it be a long life?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Easily enough," was the reply. "Now suppose, my dear, that I gave you a
+pretty doll in exchange for a lock of your hair, and that after you had
+received the doll you smashed it into pieces and destroyed it. Could you
+say that I had not given you a pretty doll?"
+
+"No," answered Dorothy.
+
+"And could you, in fairness, ask me to return to you the lock of hair,
+just because you had smashed the doll?"
+
+"No," said Dorothy, again.
+
+"Of course not," the Nome King returned. "Nor will I give up the Queen
+and her children because the King of Ev destroyed his long life by
+jumping into the sea. They belong to me and I shall keep them."
+
+[Illustration: "THEY BELONG TO ME AND I SHALL KEEP THEM"]
+
+"But you are treating them cruelly," said Ozma, who was much distressed
+by the King's refusal.
+
+"In what way?" he asked.
+
+"By making them your slaves," said she.
+
+"Cruelty," remarked the monarch, puffing out wreathes of smoke and
+watching them float into the air, "is a thing I can't abide. So, as
+slaves must work hard, and the Queen of Ev and her children were
+delicate and tender, I transformed them all into articles of ornament
+and bric-a-brac and scattered them around the various rooms of my
+palace. Instead of being obliged to labor, they merely decorate my
+apartments, and I really think I have treated them with great kindness."
+
+"But what a dreadful fate is theirs!" exclaimed Ozma, earnestly. "And
+the Kingdom of Ev is in great need of its royal family to govern it. If
+you will liberate them, and restore them to their proper forms, I will
+give you ten ornaments to replace each one you lose."
+
+The Nome King looked grave.
+
+"Suppose I refuse?" he asked.
+
+"Then," said Ozma, firmly, "I am here with my friends and my army to
+conquer your kingdom and oblige you to obey my wishes."
+
+The Nome King laughed until he choked; and he choked until he coughed;
+and he coughed until his face turned from grayish-brown to bright red.
+And then he wiped his eyes with a rock-colored handkerchief and grew
+grave again.
+
+"You are as brave as you are pretty, my dear," he said to Ozma. "But you
+have little idea of the extent of the task you have undertaken. Come
+with me for a moment."
+
+He arose and took Ozma's hand, leading her to a little door at one side
+of the room. This he opened and they stepped out upon a balcony, from
+whence they obtained a wonderful view of the Underground World.
+
+A vast cave extended for miles and miles under the mountain, and in
+every direction were furnaces and forges glowing brightly and Nomes
+hammering upon precious metals or polishing gleaming jewels. All around
+the walls of the cave were thousands of doors of silver and gold, built
+into the solid rock, and these extended in rows far away into the
+distance, as far as Ozma's eyes could follow them.
+
+While the little maid from Oz gazed wonderingly upon this scene the Nome
+King uttered a shrill whistle, and at once all the silver and gold doors
+flew open and solid ranks of Nome soldiers marched out from every one.
+So great were their numbers that they quickly filled the immense
+underground cavern and forced the busy workmen to abandon their tasks.
+
+Although this tremendous army consisted of rock-colored Nomes, all squat
+and fat, they were clothed in glittering armor of polished steel, inlaid
+with beautiful gems. Upon his brow each wore a brilliant electric light,
+and they bore sharp spears and swords and battle-axes of solid bronze.
+It was evident they were perfectly trained, for they stood in straight
+rows, rank after rank, with their weapons held erect and true, as if
+awaiting but the word of command to level them upon their foes.
+
+"This," said the Nome King, "is but a small part of my army. No ruler
+upon Earth has ever dared to fight me, and no ruler ever will, for I am
+too powerful to oppose."
+
+He whistled again, and at once the martial array filed through the
+silver and gold doorways and disappeared, after which the workmen again
+resumed their labors at the furnaces.
+
+Then, sad and discouraged, Ozma of Oz turned to her friends, and the
+Nome King calmly reseated himself on his rock throne.
+
+[Illustration: "THIS IS BUT A SMALL PART OF MY ARMY"]
+
+"It would be foolish for us to fight," the girl said to the Tin Woodman.
+"For our brave Twenty-Seven would be quickly destroyed. I'm sure I do
+not know how to act in this emergency."
+
+"Ask the King where his kitchen is," suggested the Tiger. "I'm hungry as
+a bear."
+
+"I might pounce upon the King and tear him in pieces," remarked the
+Cowardly Lion.
+
+"Try it," said the monarch, lighting his pipe with another hot coal
+which he took from his pocket.
+
+The Lion crouched low and tried to spring upon the Nome King; but he
+hopped only a little way into the air and came down again in the same
+place, not being able to approach the throne by even an inch.
+
+"It seems to me," said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully, "that our best plan
+is to wheedle his Majesty into giving up his slaves, since he is too
+great a magician to oppose."
+
+"This is the most sensible thing any of you have suggested," declared
+the Nome King. "It is folly to threaten me, but I'm so kind-hearted that
+I cannot stand coaxing or wheedling. If you really wish to accomplish
+anything by your journey, my dear Ozma, you must coax me."
+
+"Very well," said Ozma, more cheerfully. "Let us be friends, and talk
+this over in a friendly manner."
+
+"To be sure," agreed the King, his eyes twinkling merrily.
+
+"I am very anxious," she continued, "to liberate the Queen of Ev and her
+children who are now ornaments and bric-a-brac in your Majesty's palace,
+and to restore them to their people. Tell me, sir, how this may be
+accomplished."
+
+The king remained thoughtful for a moment, after which he asked:
+
+"Are you willing to take a few chances and risks yourself, in order to
+set free the people of Ev?"
+
+"Yes, indeed!" answered Ozma, eagerly.
+
+"Then," said the Nome King, "I will make you this offer: You shall go
+alone and unattended into my palace and examine carefully all that the
+rooms contain. Then you shall have permission to touch eleven different
+objects, pronouncing at the time the word 'Ev,' and if any one of them,
+or more than one, proves to be the transformation of the Queen of Ev or
+any of her ten children, then they will instantly be restored to their
+true forms and may leave my palace and my kingdom in your company,
+without any objection whatever. It is possible for you, in this way, to
+free the entire eleven; but if you do not guess all the objects
+correctly, and some of the slaves remain transformed, then each one of
+your friends and followers may, in turn, enter the palace and have the
+same privileges I grant you."
+
+"Oh, thank you! thank you for this kind offer!" said Ozma, eagerly.
+
+"I make but one condition," added the Nome King, his eyes twinkling.
+
+"What is it?" she enquired.
+
+"If none of the eleven objects you touch proves to be the transformation
+of any of the royal family of Ev, then, instead of freeing them, you
+will yourself become enchanted, and transformed into an article of
+bric-a-brac or an ornament. This is only fair and just, and is the risk
+you declared you were willing to take."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Eleven Guesses
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Hearing this condition imposed by the Nome King, Ozma became silent and
+thoughtful, and all her friends looked at her uneasily.
+
+"Don't you do it!" exclaimed Dorothy. "If you guess wrong, you will be
+enslaved yourself."
+
+"But I shall have eleven guesses," answered Ozma. "Surely I ought to
+guess one object in eleven correctly; and, if I do, I shall rescue one
+of the royal family and be safe myself. Then the rest of you may attempt
+it, and soon we shall free all those who are enslaved."
+
+"What if we fail?" enquired the Scarecrow. "I'd look nice as a piece of
+bric-a-brac, wouldn't I?"
+
+"We must not fail!" cried Ozma, courageously. "Having come all this
+distance to free these poor people, it would be weak and cowardly in us
+to abandon the adventure. Therefore I will accept the Nome King's offer,
+and go at once into the royal palace."
+
+"Come along, then, my dear," said the King, climbing down from his
+throne with some difficulty, because he was so fat; "I'll show you the
+way."
+
+He approached a wall of the cave and waved his hand. Instantly an
+opening appeared, through which Ozma, after a smiling farewell to her
+friends, boldly passed.
+
+She found herself in a splendid hall that was more beautiful and grand
+than anything she had ever beheld. The ceilings were composed of great
+arches that rose far above her head, and all the walls and floors were
+of polished marble exquisitely tinted in many colors. Thick velvet
+carpets were on the floor and heavy silken draperies covered the arches
+leading to the various rooms of the palace. The furniture was made of
+rare old woods richly carved and covered with delicate satins, and the
+entire palace was lighted by a mysterious rosy glow that seemed to come
+from no particular place but flooded each apartment with its soft and
+pleasing radiance.
+
+Ozma passed from one room to another, greatly delighted by all she saw.
+The lovely palace had no other occupant, for the Nome King had left her
+at the entrance, which closed behind her, and in all the magnificent
+rooms there appeared to be no other person.
+
+Upon the mantels, and on many shelves and brackets and tables, were
+clustered ornaments of every description, seemingly made out of all
+sorts of metals, glass, china, stones and marbles. There were vases, and
+figures of men and animals, and graven platters and bowls, and mosaics
+of precious gems, and many other things. Pictures, too, were on the
+walls, and the underground palace was quite a museum of rare and curious
+and costly objects.
+
+After her first hasty examination of the rooms Ozma began to wonder
+which of all the numerous ornaments they contained were the
+transformations of the royal family of Ev. There was nothing to guide
+her, for everything seemed without a spark of life. So she must guess
+blindly; and for the first time the girl came to realize how dangerous
+was her task, and how likely she was to lose her own freedom in striving
+to free others from the bondage of the Nome King. No wonder the
+cunning monarch laughed good naturedly with his visitors, when he knew
+how easily they might be entrapped.
+
+[Illustration: OZMA SHUT HER EYES TIGHTLY AND ADVANCED]
+
+But Ozma, having undertaken the venture, would not abandon it. She
+looked at a silver candelabra that had ten branches, and thought: "This
+may be the Queen of Ev and her ten children." So she touched it and
+uttered aloud the word "Ev," as the Nome King had instructed her to do
+when she guessed. But the candelabra remained as it was before.
+
+Then she wandered into another room and touched a china lamb, thinking
+it might be one of the children she sought. But again she was
+unsuccessful. Three guesses; four guesses; five, six, seven, eight, nine
+and ten she made, and still not one of them was right!
+
+The girl shivered a little and grew pale even under the rosy light; for
+now but one guess remained, and her own fate depended upon the result.
+
+She resolved not to be hasty, and strolled through all the rooms once
+more, gazing earnestly upon the various ornaments and trying to decide
+which she would touch. Finally, in despair, she decided to leave it
+entirely to chance. She faced the doorway of a room, shut her eyes
+tightly, and then, thrusting aside the heavy draperies, she advanced
+blindly with her right arm outstretched before her.
+
+Slowly, softly she crept forward until her hand came in contact with an
+object upon a small round table. She did not know what it was, but in a
+low voice she pronounced the word "Ev."
+
+The rooms were quite empty of life after that. The Nome King had gained
+a new ornament. For upon the edge of the table rested a pretty
+grasshopper, that seemed to have been formed from a single emerald. It
+was all that remained of Ozma of Oz.
+
+In the throne room just beyond the palace the Nome King suddenly looked
+up and smiled.
+
+"Next!" he said, in his pleasant voice.
+
+Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, who had been sitting in
+anxious silence, each gave a start of dismay and stared into one
+another's eyes.
+
+"Has she failed?" asked Tiktok.
+
+"So it seems," answered the little monarch, cheerfully. "But that is no
+reason one of you should not succeed. The next may have twelve guesses,
+instead of eleven, for there are now twelve persons transformed into
+ornaments. Well, well! Which of you goes next?"
+
+"I'll go," said Dorothy.
+
+"Not so," replied the Tin Woodman. "As commander of Ozma's army, it is
+my privilege to follow her and attempt her rescue."
+
+"Away you go, then," said the Scarecrow. "But be careful, old friend."
+
+"I will," promised the Tin Woodman; and then he followed the Nome King
+to the entrance to the palace and the rock closed behind him.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Nome King Laughs
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+In a moment the King returned to his throne and relighted his pipe, and
+the rest of the little band of adventurers settled themselves for
+another long wait. They were greatly disheartened by the failure of
+their girl Ruler, and the knowledge that she was now an ornament in the
+Nome King's palace--a dreadful, creepy place in spite of all its
+magnificence. Without their little leader they did not know what to do
+next, and each one, down to the trembling private of the army, began to
+fear he would soon be more ornamental than useful.
+
+Suddenly the Nome King began laughing.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! He, he, he! Ho, ho, ho!"
+
+"What's happened?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"Why, your friend, the Tin Woodman, has become the funniest thing you
+can imagine," replied the King, wiping the tears of merriment from his
+eyes. "No one would ever believe he could make such an amusing ornament.
+Next!"
+
+They gazed at each other with sinking hearts. One of the generals began
+to weep dolefully.
+
+"What are you crying for?" asked the Scarecrow, indignant at such a
+display of weakness.
+
+"He owed me six weeks back pay," said the general, "and I hate to lose
+him."
+
+"Then you shall go and find him," declared the Scarecrow.
+
+"Me!" cried the general, greatly alarmed.
+
+"Certainly. It is your duty to follow your commander. March!"
+
+"I won't," said the general. "I'd like to, of course; but I just simply
+_won't_."
+
+The Scarecrow looked enquiringly at the Nome King.
+
+"Never mind," said the jolly monarch. "If he doesn't care to enter the
+palace and make his guesses I'll throw him into one of my fiery
+furnaces."
+
+"I'll go!--of course I'm going," yelled the general, as quick as scat.
+"Where is the entrance--where is it? Let me go at once!"
+
+So the Nome King escorted him into the palace, and again returned to
+await the result. What the general did, no one can tell; but it was not
+long before the King called for the next victim, and a colonel was
+forced to try his fortune.
+
+Thus, one after another, all of the twenty-six officers filed into the
+palace and made their guesses--and became ornaments.
+
+Meantime the King ordered refreshments to be served to those waiting,
+and at his command a rudely shaped Nome entered, bearing a tray. This
+Nome was not unlike the others that Dorothy had seen, but he wore a
+heavy gold chain around his neck to show that he was the Chief Steward
+of the Nome King, and he assumed an air of much importance, and even
+told his majesty not to eat too much cake late at night, or he would be
+ill.
+
+Dorothy, however, was hungry, and she was not afraid of being ill; so
+she ate several cakes and found them good, and also she drank a cup of
+excellent coffee made of a richly flavored clay, browned in the furnaces
+and then ground fine, and found it most refreshing and not at all
+muddy.
+
+Of all the party which had started upon this adventure, the little
+Kansas girl was now left alone with the Scarecrow, Tiktok, and the
+private for counsellors and companions. Of course the Cowardly Lion and
+the Hungry Tiger were still there, but they, having also eaten some of
+the cakes, had gone to sleep at one side of the cave, while upon the
+other side stood the Sawhorse, motionless and silent, as became a mere
+thing of wood. Billina had quietly walked around and picked up the
+crumbs of cake which had been scattered, and now, as it was long after
+bed-time, she tried to find some dark place in which to go to sleep.
+
+Presently the hen espied a hollow underneath the King's rocky throne,
+and crept into it unnoticed. She could still hear the chattering of
+those around her, but it was almost dark underneath the throne, so that
+soon she had fallen fast asleep.
+
+"Next!" called the King, and the private, whose turn it was to enter the
+fatal palace, shook hands with Dorothy and the Scarecrow and bade them a
+sorrowful good-bye, and passed through the rocky portal.
+
+They waited a long time, for the private was in no hurry to become an
+ornament and made his guesses very slowly. The Nome King, who seemed to
+know, by some magical power, all that took place in his beautiful rooms
+of his palace, grew impatient finally and declared he would sit up no
+longer.
+
+"I love ornaments," said he, "but I can wait until tomorrow to get more
+of them; so, as soon as that stupid private is transformed, we will all
+go to bed and leave the job to be finished in the morning."
+
+"Is it so very late?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Why, it is after midnight," said the King, "and that strikes me as
+being late enough. There is neither night nor day in my kingdom, because
+it is under the earth's surface, where the sun does not shine. But we
+have to sleep, just the same as the up-stairs people do, and for my part
+I'm going to bed in a few minutes."
+
+Indeed, it was not long after this that the private made his last guess.
+Of course he guessed wrongly, and of course he at once became an
+ornament. So the King was greatly pleased, and clapped his hands to
+summon his Chief Steward.
+
+"Show these guests to some of the sleeping apartments," he commanded,
+"and be quick about it, too, for I'm dreadfully sleepy myself."
+
+"You've no business to sit up so late," replied the Steward, gruffly.
+"You'll be as cross as a griffin tomorrow morning."
+
+[Illustration: SOON SHE HAD FALLEN FAST ASLEEP]
+
+His Majesty made no answer to this remark, and the Chief Steward led
+Dorothy through another doorway into a long hall, from which several
+plain but comfortable sleeping rooms opened. The little girl was given
+the first room, and the Scarecrow and Tiktok the next--although they
+never slept--and the Lion and the Tiger the third. The Sawhorse hobbled
+after the Steward into a fourth room, to stand stiffly in the center of
+it until morning. Each night was rather a bore to the Scarecrow, Tiktok
+and the Sawhorse; but they had learned from experience to pass the time
+patiently and quietly, since all their friends who were made of flesh
+had to sleep and did not like to be disturbed.
+
+When the Chief Steward had left them alone the Scarecrow remarked,
+sadly:
+
+"I am in great sorrow over the loss of my old comrade, the Tin Woodman.
+We have had many dangerous adventures together, and escaped them all,
+and now it grieves me to know he has become an ornament, and is lost to
+me forever."
+
+"He was al-ways an or-na-ment to so-ci-e-ty," said Tiktok.
+
+"True; but now the Nome King laughs at him, and calls him the funniest
+ornament in all the palace. It will hurt my poor friend's pride to be
+laughed at," continued the Scarecrow, sadly.
+
+"We will make rath-er ab-surd or-na-ments, our-selves, to-mor-row,"
+observed the machine, in his monotonous voice.
+
+Just then Dorothy ran into their room, in a state of great anxiety,
+crying:
+
+"Where's Billina? Have you seen Billina? Is she here?"
+
+"No," answered the Scarecrow.
+
+"Then what has become of her?" asked the girl.
+
+"Why, I thought she was with you," said the Scarecrow. "Yet I do not
+remember seeing the yellow hen since she picked up the crumbs of cake."
+
+"We must have left her in the room where the King's throne is," decided
+Dorothy, and at once she turned and ran down the hall to the door
+through which they had entered. But it was fast closed and locked on the
+other side, and the heavy slab of rock proved to be so thick that no
+sound could pass through it. So Dorothy was forced to return to her
+chamber.
+
+The Cowardly Lion stuck his head into her room to try to console the
+girl for the loss of her feathered friend.
+
+"The yellow hen is well able to take care of herself," said he; "so
+don't worry about her, but try to get all the sleep you can. It has
+been a long and weary day, and you need rest."
+
+"I'll prob'ly get lots of rest tomorrow, when I become an orn'ment,"
+said Dorothy, sleepily. But she lay down upon her couch, nevertheless,
+and in spite of all her worries was soon in the land of dreams.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Dorothy Tries to be Brave
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Meantime the Chief Steward had returned to the throne room, where he
+said to the King:
+
+"You are a fool to waste so much time upon these people."
+
+"What!" cried his Majesty, in so enraged a voice that it awoke Billina,
+who was asleep under his throne. "How dare you call me a fool?"
+
+"Because I like to speak the truth," said the Steward. "Why didn't you
+enchant them all at once, instead of allowing them to go one by one into
+the palace and guess which ornaments are the Queen of Ev and her
+children?"
+
+"Why, you stupid rascal, it is more fun this way," returned the King,
+"and it serves to keep me amused for a long time."
+
+"But suppose some of them happen to guess aright," persisted the
+Steward; "then you would lose your old ornaments and these new ones,
+too."
+
+"There is no chance of their guessing aright," replied the monarch, with
+a laugh. "How could they know that the Queen of Ev and her family are
+all ornaments of a royal purple color?"
+
+"But there are no other purple ornaments in the palace," said the
+Steward.
+
+"There are many other colors, however, and the purple ones are scattered
+throughout the rooms, and are of many different shapes and sizes. Take
+my word for it, Steward, they will never think of choosing the purple
+ornaments."
+
+Billina, squatting under the throne, had listened carefully to all this
+talk, and now chuckled softly to herself as she heard the King disclose
+his secret.
+
+"Still, you are acting foolishly by running the chance," continued the
+Steward, roughly; "and it is still more foolish of you to transform all
+those people from Oz into green ornaments."
+
+[Illustration: "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A FOOL?"]
+
+"I did that because they came from the Emerald City," replied the
+King; "and I had no green ornaments in my collection until now. I think
+they will look quite pretty, mixed with the others. Don't you?"
+
+The Steward gave an angry grunt.
+
+"Have your own way, since you are the King," he growled. "But if you
+come to grief through your carelessness, remember that I told you so. If
+I wore the magic belt which enables you to work all your
+transformations, and gives you so much other power, I am sure I would
+make a much wiser and better King than you are."
+
+"Oh, cease your tiresome chatter!" commanded the King, getting angry
+again. "Because you are my Chief Steward you have an idea you can scold
+me as much as you please. But the very next time you become impudent, I
+will send you to work in the furnaces, and get another Nome to fill your
+place. Now follow me to my chamber, for I am going to bed. And see that
+I am wakened early tomorrow morning. I want to enjoy the fun of
+transforming the rest of these people into ornaments."
+
+"What color will you make the Kansas girl?" asked the Steward.
+
+"Gray, I think," said his Majesty.
+
+"And the Scarecrow and the machine man?"
+
+"Oh, they shall be of solid gold, because they are so ugly in real
+life."
+
+Then the voices died away, and Billina knew that the King and his
+Steward had left the room. She fixed up some of her tail feathers that
+were not straight, and then tucked her head under her wing again and
+went to sleep.
+
+In the morning Dorothy and the Lion and Tiger were given their breakfast
+in their rooms, and afterward joined the King in his throne room. The
+Tiger complained bitterly that he was half starved, and begged to go
+into the palace and become an ornament, so that he would no longer
+suffer the pangs of hunger.
+
+"Haven't you had your breakfast?" asked the Nome King.
+
+"Oh, I had just a bite," replied the beast. "But what good is a bite, to
+a hungry tiger?"
+
+"He ate seventeen bowls of porridge, a platter full of fried sausages,
+eleven loaves of bread and twenty-one mince pies," said the Steward.
+
+"What more do you want?" demanded the King.
+
+"A fat baby. I want a fat baby," said the Hungry Tiger. "A nice, plump,
+juicy, tender, fat baby. But, of course, if I had one, my conscience
+would not allow me to eat it. So I'll have to be an ornament and forget
+my hunger."
+
+"Impossible!" exclaimed the King. "I'll have no clumsy beasts enter my
+palace, to overturn and break all my pretty nick-nacks. When the rest of
+your friends are transformed you can return to the upper world, and go
+about your business."
+
+"As for that we have no business, when our friends are gone," said the
+Lion. "So we do not care much what becomes of us."
+
+Dorothy begged to be allowed to go first into the palace, but Tiktok
+firmly maintained that the slave should face danger before the mistress.
+The Scarecrow agreed with him in that, so the Nome King opened the door
+for the machine man, who tramped into the palace to meet his fate. Then
+his Majesty returned to his throne and puffed his pipe so contentedly
+that a small cloud of smoke formed above his head.
+
+Bye and bye he said:
+
+"I'm sorry there are so few of you left. Very soon, now, my fun will be
+over, and then for amusement I shall have nothing to do but admire my
+new ornaments."
+
+"It seems to me," said Dorothy, "that you are not so honest as you
+pretend to be."
+
+[Illustration: THE NOME KING PUFFED HIS PIPE]
+
+"How's that?" asked the King.
+
+"Why, you made us think it would be easy to guess what ornaments the
+people of Ev were changed into."
+
+"It _is_ easy," declared the monarch, "if one is a good guesser. But it
+appears that the members of your party are all poor guessers."
+
+"What is Tiktok doing now?" asked the girl, uneasily.
+
+"Nothing," replied the King, with a frown. "He is standing perfectly
+still, in the middle of a room."
+
+"Oh, I expect he's run down," said Dorothy. "I forgot to wind him up
+this morning. How many guesses has he made?"
+
+"All that he is allowed except one," answered the King. "Suppose you go
+in and wind him up, and then you can stay there and make your own
+guesses."
+
+"All right," said Dorothy.
+
+"It is my turn next," declared the Scarecrow.
+
+"Why, you don't want to go away and leave me all alone, do you?" asked
+the girl. "Besides, if I go now I can wind up Tiktok, so that he can
+make his last guess."
+
+"Very well, then," said the Scarecrow, with a sigh. "Run along, little
+Dorothy, and may good luck go with you!"
+
+So Dorothy, trying to be brave in spite of her fears, passed through the
+doorway into the gorgeous rooms of the palace. The stillness of the
+place awed her, at first, and the child drew short breaths, and pressed
+her hand to her heart, and looked all around with wondering eyes.
+
+Yes, it was a beautiful place; but enchantments lurked in every nook and
+corner, and she had not yet grown accustomed to the wizardries of these
+fairy countries, so different from the quiet and sensible common-places
+of her own native land.
+
+Slowly she passed through several rooms until she came upon Tiktok,
+standing motionless. It really seemed, then, that she had found a friend
+in this mysterious palace, so she hastened to wind up the machine man's
+action and speech and thoughts.
+
+"Thank you, Dor-oth-y," were his first words. "I have now one more guess
+to make."
+
+"Oh, be very careful, Tiktok; won't you?" cried the girl.
+
+"Yes. But the Nome King has us in his power, and he has set a trap for
+us. I fear we are all lost," he answered.
+
+"I fear so, too," said Dorothy, sadly.
+
+"If Smith & Tin-ker had giv-en me a guess-ing clock-work at-tach-ment,"
+continued Tiktok, "I might have de-fied the Nome King. But my thoughts
+are plain and sim-ple, and are not of much use in this case."
+
+"Do the best you can," said Dorothy, encouragingly, "and if you fail I
+will watch and see what shape you are changed into."
+
+So Tiktok touched a yellow glass vase that had daisies painted on one
+side, and he spoke at the same time the word "Ev."
+
+In a flash the machine man had disappeared, and although the girl looked
+quickly in every direction, she could not tell which of the many
+ornaments the room contained had a moment before been her faithful
+friend and servant.
+
+So all she could do was to accept the hopeless task set her, and make
+her guesses and abide by the result.
+
+"It can't hurt very much," she thought, "for I haven't heard any of them
+scream or cry out--not even the poor officers. Dear me! I wonder if
+Uncle Henry or Aunt Em will ever know I have become an orn'ment in the
+Nome King's palace, and must stand forever and ever in one place and
+look pretty--'cept when I'm moved to be dusted. It isn't the way I
+thought I'd turn out, at all; but I s'pose it can't be helped."
+
+She walked through all the rooms once more, and examined with care all
+the objects they contained; but there were so many, they bewildered her,
+and she decided, after all, as Ozma had done, that it could be only
+guess work at the best, and that the chances were much against her
+guessing aright.
+
+Timidly she touched an alabaster bowl and said: "Ev."
+
+"That's one failure, anyhow," she thought. "But how am I to know which
+thing is enchanted, and which is not?"
+
+Next she touched the image of a purple kitten that stood on the corner
+of a mantel, and as she pronounced the word "Ev" the kitten disappeared,
+and a pretty, fair-haired boy stood beside her. At the same time a bell
+rang somewhere in the distance, and as Dorothy started back, partly in
+surprise and partly in joy, the little one exclaimed:
+
+"Where am I? And who are you? And what has happened to me?"
+
+"Well, I declare!" said Dorothy. "I've really done it."
+
+"Done what?" asked the boy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Saved myself from being an ornament," replied the girl, with a laugh,
+"and saved you from being forever a purple kitten."
+
+"A purple kitten?" he repeated. "There _is_ no such thing."
+
+"I know," she answered. "But there was, a minute ago. Don't you remember
+standing on a corner of the mantel?"
+
+"Of course not. I am a Prince of Ev, and my name is Evring," the little
+one announced, proudly. "But my father, the King, sold my mother and all
+her children to the cruel ruler of the Nomes, and after that I remember
+nothing at all."
+
+"A purple kitten can't be 'spected to remember, Evring," said Dorothy.
+"But now you are yourself again, and I'm going to try to save some of
+your brothers and sisters, and perhaps your mother, as well. So come
+with me."
+
+She seized the child's hand and eagerly hurried here and there, trying
+to decide which object to choose next. The third guess was another
+failure, and so was the fourth and the fifth.
+
+Little Evring could not imagine what she was doing, but he trotted along
+beside her very willingly, for he liked the new companion he had found.
+
+Dorothy's further quest proved unsuccessful; but after her first
+disappointment was over, the little girl was filled with joy and
+thankfulness to think that after all she had been able to save one
+member of the royal family of Ev, and could restore the little Prince to
+his sorrowing country. Now she might return to the terrible Nome King in
+safety, carrying with her the prize she had won in the person of the
+fair-haired boy.
+
+So she retraced her steps until she found the entrance to the palace,
+and as she approached, the massive doors of rock opened of their own
+accord, allowing both Dorothy and Evring to pass the portals and enter
+the throne room.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Billina Frightens the Nome King
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Now when Dorothy had entered the palace to make her guesses and the
+Scarecrow was left with the Nome King, the two sat in moody silence for
+several minutes. Then the monarch exclaimed, in a tone of satisfaction:
+
+"Very good!"
+
+"Who is very good?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"The machine man. He won't need to be wound up any more, for he has now
+become a very neat ornament. Very neat, indeed."
+
+"How about Dorothy?" the Scarecrow enquired.
+
+"Oh, she will begin to guess, pretty soon," said the King, cheerfully.
+"And then she will join my collection, and it will be your turn."
+
+The good Scarecrow was much distressed by the thought that his little
+friend was about to suffer the fate of Ozma and the rest of their party;
+but while he sat in gloomy reverie a shrill voice suddenly cried:
+
+"Kut, kut, kut--ka-daw-kutt! Kut, kut, kut--ka-daw-kutt!"
+
+The Nome King nearly jumped off his seat, he was so startled.
+
+"Good gracious! What's that?" he yelled.
+
+"Why, it's Billina," said the Scarecrow.
+
+"What do you mean by making a noise like that?" shouted the King,
+angrily, as the yellow hen came from under the throne and strutted
+proudly about the room.
+
+"I've got a right to cackle, I guess," replied Billina. "I've just laid
+my egg."
+
+"What! Laid an egg! In my throne room! How dare you do such a thing?"
+asked the King, in a voice of fury.
+
+"I lay eggs wherever I happen to be," said the hen, ruffling her
+feathers and then shaking them into place.
+
+"But--thunder-ation! Don't you know that eggs are poison?" roared the
+King, while his rock-colored eyes stuck out in great terror.
+
+"Poison! well, I declare," said Billina, indignantly. "I'll have you
+know all my eggs are warranted strictly fresh and up to date. Poison,
+indeed!"
+
+"You don't understand," retorted the little monarch, nervously. "Eggs
+belong only to the outside world--to the world on the earth's surface,
+where you came from. Here, in my underground kingdom, they are rank
+poison, as I said, and we Nomes can't bear them around."
+
+"Well, you'll have to bear this one around," declared Billina; "for I've
+laid it."
+
+"Where?" asked the King.
+
+"Under your throne," said the hen.
+
+The King jumped three feet into the air, so anxious was he to get away
+from the throne.
+
+"Take it away! Take it away at once!" he shouted.
+
+"I can't," said Billina. "I havn't any hands."
+
+"I'll take the egg," said the Scarecrow. "I'm making a collection of
+Billina's eggs. There's one in my pocket now, that she laid yesterday."
+
+Hearing this, the monarch hastened to put a good distance between
+himself and the Scarecrow, who was about to reach under the throne for
+the egg when the hen suddenly cried:
+
+"Stop!"
+
+"What's wrong?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"Don't take the egg unless the King will allow me to enter the palace
+and guess as the others have done," said Billina.
+
+"Pshaw!" returned the King. "You're only a hen. How could you guess my
+enchantments?"
+
+"I can try, I suppose," said Billina. "And, if I fail, you will have
+another ornament."
+
+"A pretty ornament you'd make, wouldn't you?" growled the King. "But you
+shall have your way. It will properly punish you for daring to lay an
+egg in my presence. After the Scarecrow is enchanted you shall follow
+him into the palace. But how will you touch the objects?"
+
+"With my claws," said the hen; "and I can speak the word 'Ev' as plainly
+as anyone. Also I must have the right to guess the enchantments of my
+friends, and to release them if I succeed."
+
+"Very well," said the King. "You have my promise."
+
+"Then," said Billina to the Scarecrow, "you may get the egg."
+
+[Illustration: "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT EGGS ARE POISON?"]
+
+He knelt down and reached underneath the throne and found the egg,
+which he placed in another pocket of his jacket, fearing that if both
+eggs were in one pocket they would knock together and get broken.
+
+Just then a bell above the throne rang briskly, and the King gave
+another nervous jump.
+
+"Well, well!" said he, with a rueful face; "the girl has actually done
+it."
+
+"Done what?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"She has made one guess that is right, and broken one of my neatest
+enchantments. By ricketty, it's too bad! I never thought she would do
+it."
+
+"Do I understand that she will now return to us in safety?" enquired the
+Scarecrow, joyfully wrinkling his painted face into a broad smile.
+
+"Of course," said the King, fretfully pacing up and down the room. "I
+always keep my promises, no matter how foolish they are. But I shall
+make an ornament of the yellow hen to replace the one I have just lost."
+
+"Perhaps you will, and perhaps you won't," murmured Billina, calmly. "I
+may surprise you by guessing right."
+
+"Guessing right?" snapped the King. "How should you guess right, where
+your betters have failed, you stupid fowl?"
+
+Billina did not care to answer this question, and a moment later the
+doors flew open and Dorothy entered, leading the little Prince Evring by
+the hand.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Scarecrow welcomed the girl with a close embrace, and he would have
+embraced Evring, too, in his delight. But the little Prince was shy, and
+shrank away from the painted Scarecrow because he did not yet know his
+many excellent qualities.
+
+[Illustration: "BY RICKETTY, IT'S TOO BAD!"]
+
+But there was little time for the friends to talk, because the Scarecrow
+must now enter the palace. Dorothy's success had greatly encouraged
+him, and they both hoped he would manage to make at least one correct
+guess.
+
+However, he proved as unfortunate as the others except Dorothy, and
+although he took a good deal of time to select his objects, not one did
+the poor Scarecrow guess aright.
+
+So he became a solid gold card-receiver, and the beautiful but terrible
+palace awaited its next visitor.
+
+"It's all over," remarked the King, with a sigh of satisfaction; "and it
+has been a very amusing performance, except for the one good guess the
+Kansas girl made. I am richer by a great many pretty ornaments.
+
+"It is my turn, now," said Billina, briskly.
+
+"Oh, I'd forgotten you," said the King. "But you needn't go if you don't
+wish to. I will be generous, and let you off."
+
+"No you won't," replied the hen. "I insist upon having my guesses, as
+you promised."
+
+"Then go ahead, you absurd feathered fool!" grumbled the King, and he
+caused the opening that led to the palace to appear once more.
+
+"Don't go, Billina," said Dorothy, earnestly. "It isn't easy to guess
+those orn'ments, and only luck saved me from being one myself. Stay with
+me, and we'll go back to the Land of Ev together. I'm sure this little
+Prince will give us a home."
+
+"Indeed I will," said Evring, with much dignity.
+
+"Don't worry, my dear," cried Billina, with a cluck that was meant for a
+laugh. "I may not be human, but I'm no fool, if I _am_ a chicken."
+
+"Oh, Billina!" said Dorothy, "you haven't been a chicken in a long time.
+Not since you--you've been--grown up."
+
+"Perhaps that's true," answered Billina, thoughtfully. "But if a Kansas
+farmer sold me to some one, what would he call me?--a hen or a chicken!"
+
+"You are not a Kansas farmer, Billina," replied the girl, "and you
+said--"
+
+"Never mind that, Dorothy. I'm going. I won't say good-bye, because I'm
+coming back. Keep up your courage, for I'll see you a little later."
+
+Then Billina gave several loud "cluck-clucks" that seemed to make the
+fat little King _more_ nervous than ever, and marched through the
+entrance into the enchanted palace.
+
+"I hope I've seen the last of _that_ bird," declared the monarch,
+seating himself again in his throne and mopping the perspiration from
+his forehead with his rock-colored handkerchief. "Hens are bothersome
+enough at their best, but when they can talk they're simply dreadful."
+
+"Billina's my friend," said Dorothy quietly. "She may not always be
+'zactly polite; but she _means_ well, I'm sure."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Purple, Green and Gold
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The yellow hen, stepping high and with an air of vast importance, walked
+slowly over the rich velvet carpets of the splendid palace, examining
+everything she met with her sharp little eyes.
+
+Billina had a right to feel important; for she alone shared the Nome
+King's secret and knew how to tell the objects that were transformations
+from those that had never been alive. She was very sure that her guesses
+would be correct, but before she began to make them she was curious to
+behold all the magnificence of this underground palace, which was
+perhaps one of the most splendid and beautiful places in any fairyland.
+
+As she went through the rooms she counted the purple ornaments; and
+although some were small and hidden in queer places, Billina spied them
+all, and found the entire ten scattered about the various rooms. The
+green ornaments she did not bother to count, for she thought she could
+find them all when the time came.
+
+Finally, having made a survey of the entire palace and enjoyed its
+splendor, the yellow hen returned to one of the rooms where she had
+noticed a large purple footstool. She placed a claw upon this and said
+"Ev," and at once the footstool vanished and a lovely lady, tall and
+slender and most beautifully robed, stood before her.
+
+The lady's eyes were round with astonishment for a moment, for she could
+not remember her transformation, nor imagine what had restored her to
+life.
+
+"Good morning, ma'am," said Billina, in her sharp voice. "You're looking
+quite well, considering your age."
+
+"Who speaks?" demanded the Queen of Ev, drawing herself up proudly.
+
+"Why, my name's Bill, by rights," answered the hen, who was now perched
+upon the back of a chair; "although Dorothy has put scollops on it and
+made it Billina. But the name doesn't matter. I've saved you from the
+Nome King, and you are a slave no longer."
+
+"Then I thank you for the gracious favor," said the Queen, with a
+graceful courtesy. "But, my children--tell me, I beg of you--where are
+my children?" and she clasped her hands in anxious entreaty.
+
+"Don't worry," advised Billina, pecking at a tiny bug that was crawling
+over the chair back. "Just at present they are out of mischief and
+perfectly safe, for they can't even wiggle."
+
+"What mean you, O kindly stranger?" asked the Queen, striving to repress
+her anxiety.
+
+"They're enchanted," said Billina, "just as you have been--all, that is,
+except the little fellow Dorothy picked out. And the chances are that
+they have been good boys and girls for some time, because they couldn't
+help it."
+
+"Oh, my poor darlings!" cried the Queen, with a sob of anguish.
+
+"Not at all," returned the hen. "Don't let their condition make you
+unhappy, ma'am, because I'll soon have them crowding 'round to bother
+and worry you as naturally as ever. Come with me, if you please, and
+I'll show you how pretty they look."
+
+She flew down from her perch and walked into the next room, the Queen
+following. As she passed a low table a small green grasshopper caught
+her eye, and instantly Billina pounced upon it and snapped it up in her
+sharp bill. For grasshoppers are a favorite food with hens, and they
+usually must be caught quickly, before they can hop away. It might
+easily have been the end of Ozma of Oz, had she been a real grasshopper
+instead of an emerald one. But Billina found the grasshopper hard and
+lifeless, and suspecting it was not good to eat she quickly dropped it
+instead of letting it slide down her throat.
+
+"I might have known better," she muttered to herself, "for where there
+is no grass there can be no live grasshoppers. This is probably one of
+the King's transformations."
+
+A moment later she approached one of the purple ornaments, and while the
+Queen watched her curiously the hen broke the Nome King's enchantment
+and a sweet-faced girl, whose golden hair fell in a cloud over her
+shoulders, stood beside them.
+
+"Evanna!" cried the Queen, "my own Evanna!" and she clasped the girl to
+her bosom and covered her face with kisses.
+
+"That's all right," said Billina, contentedly. "Am I a good guesser, Mr.
+Nome King? Well, I guess!"
+
+Then she disenchanted another girl, whom the Queen addressed as Evrose,
+and afterwards a boy named Evardo, who was older than his brother
+Evring. Indeed, the yellow hen kept the good Queen exclaiming and
+embracing for some time, until five Princesses and four Princes, all
+looking very much alike except for the difference in size, stood in a
+row beside their happy mother.
+
+The Princesses were named, Evanna, Evrose, Evella, Evirene and Evedna,
+while the Princes were Evrob, Evington, Evardo and Evroland. Of these
+Evardo was the eldest and would inherit his father's throne and be
+crowned King of Ev when he returned to his own country. He was a grave
+and quiet youth, and would doubtless rule his people wisely and with
+justice.
+
+[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF EV THANKS BILLINA]
+
+Billina, having restored all of the royal family of Ev to their proper
+forms, now began to select the green ornaments which were the
+transformations of the people of Oz. She had little trouble in finding
+these, and before long all the twenty-six officers, as well as the
+private, were gathered around the yellow hen, joyfully congratulating
+her upon their release. The thirty-seven people who were now alive in
+the rooms of the palace knew very well that they owed their freedom to
+the cleverness of the yellow hen, and they were earnest in thanking her
+for saving them from the magic of the Nome King.
+
+"Now," said Billina, "I must find Ozma. She is sure to be here,
+somewhere, and of course she is green, being from Oz. So look around,
+you stupid soldiers, and help me in my search."
+
+For a while, however, they could discover nothing more that was green.
+But the Queen, who had kissed all her nine children once more and could
+now find time to take an interest in what was going on, said to the hen:
+
+"Mayhap, my gentle friend, it is the grasshopper whom you seek."
+
+"Of course it's the grasshopper!" exclaimed Billina. "I declare, I'm
+nearly as stupid as these brave soldiers. Wait here for me, and I'll go
+back and get it."
+
+So she went into the room where she had seen the grasshopper, and
+presently Ozma of Oz, as lovely and dainty as ever, entered and
+approached the Queen of Ev, greeting her as one high born princess
+greets another.
+
+"But where are my friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman?" asked the
+girl Ruler, when these courtesies had been exchanged.
+
+"I'll hunt them up," replied Billina. "The Scarecrow is solid gold, and
+so is Tiktok; but I don't exactly know what the Tin Woodman is, because
+the Nome King said he had been transformed into something funny."
+
+Ozma eagerly assisted the hen in her quest, and soon the Scarecrow and
+the machine man, being ornaments of shining gold, were discovered and
+restored to their accustomed forms. But, search as they might, in no
+place could they find a funny ornament that might be the transformation
+of the Tin Woodman.
+
+"Only one thing can be done," said Ozma, at last, "and that is to return
+to the Nome King and oblige him to tell us what has become of our
+friend."
+
+"Perhaps he won't," suggested Billina.
+
+"He must," returned Ozma, firmly. "The King has not treated us honestly,
+for under the mask of fairness and good nature he entrapped us all, and
+we would have been forever enchanted had not our wise and clever friend,
+the yellow hen, found a way to save us."
+
+"The King is a villain," declared the Scarecrow.
+
+"His laugh is worse than another man's frown," said the private, with a
+shudder.
+
+"I thought he was hon-est, but I was mis-tak-en," remarked Tiktok. "My
+thoughts are us-u-al-ly cor-rect, but it is Smith & Tin-ker's fault if
+they some-times go wrong or do not work prop-er-ly."
+
+"Smith & Tinker made a very good job of you," said Ozma, kindly. "I do
+not think they should be blamed if you are not quite perfect."
+
+"Thank you," replied Tiktok.
+
+"Then," said Billina, in her brisk little voice, "let us all go back to
+the Nome King, and see what he has to say for himself."
+
+So they started for the entrance, Ozma going first, with the Queen and
+her train of little Princes and Princesses following. Then came Tiktok,
+and the Scarecrow with Billina perched upon his straw-stuffed shoulder.
+The twenty-seven officers and the private brought up the rear.
+
+As they reached the hall the doors flew open before them; but then they
+all stopped and stared into the domed cavern with faces of astonishment
+and dismay. For the room was filled with the mail-clad warriors of the
+Nome King, rank after rank standing in orderly array. The electric
+lights upon their brows gleamed brightly, their battle-axes were poised
+as if to strike down their foes; yet they remained motionless as
+statues, awaiting the word of command.
+
+And in the center of this terrible army sat the little King upon his
+throne of rock. But he neither smiled nor laughed. Instead, his face was
+distorted with rage, and most dreadful to behold.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Scarecrow Wins the Fight
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+After Billina had entered the palace Dorothy and Evring sat down to
+await the success or failure of her mission, and the Nome King occupied
+his throne and smoked his long pipe for a while in a cheerful and
+contented mood.
+
+Then the bell above the throne, which sounded whenever an enchantment
+was broken, began to ring, and the King gave a start of annoyance and
+exclaimed, "Rocketty-ricketts!"
+
+When the bell rang a second time the King shouted angrily, "Smudge and
+blazes!" and at a third ring he screamed in a fury, "Hippikaloric!"
+which must be a dreadful word because we don't know what it means.
+
+After that the bell went on ringing time after time; but the King was
+now so violently enraged that he could not utter a word, but hopped out
+of his throne and all around the room in a mad frenzy, so that he
+reminded Dorothy of a jumping-jack.
+
+The girl was, for her part, filled with joy at every peal of the bell,
+for it announced the fact that Billina had transformed one more ornament
+into a living person. Dorothy was also amazed at Billina's success, for
+she could not imagine how the yellow hen was able to guess correctly
+from all the bewildering number of articles clustered in the rooms of
+the palace. But after she had counted ten, and the bell continued to
+ring, she knew that not only the royal family of Ev, but Ozma and her
+followers also, were being restored to their natural forms, and she was
+so delighted that the antics of the angry King only made her laugh
+merrily.
+
+Perhaps the little monarch could not be more furious than he was before,
+but the girl's laughter nearly drove him frantic, and he roared at her
+like a savage beast. Then, as he found that all his enchantments were
+likely to be dispelled and his victims every one set free, he suddenly
+ran to the little door that opened upon the balcony and gave the shrill
+whistle that summoned his warriors.
+
+At once the army filed out of the gold and silver doors in great
+numbers, and marched up a winding stairs and into the throne room, led
+by a stern featured Nome who was their captain. When they had nearly
+filled the throne room they formed ranks in the big underground cavern
+below, and then stood still until they were told what to do next.
+
+Dorothy had pressed back to one side of the cavern when the warriors
+entered, and now she stood holding little Prince Evring's hand while the
+great Lion crouched upon one side and the enormous Tiger crouched an the
+other side.
+
+"Seize that girl!" shouted the King to his captain, and a group of
+warriors sprang forward to obey. But both the Lion and Tiger snarled so
+fiercely and bared their strong, sharp teeth so threateningly, that the
+men drew back in alarm.
+
+"Don't mind them!" cried the Nome King; "they cannot leap beyond the
+places where they now stand."
+
+"But they can bite those who attempt to touch the girl," said the
+captain.
+
+"I'll fix that," answered the King. "I'll enchant them again, so that
+they can't open their jaws."
+
+He stepped out of the throne to do this, but just then the Sawhorse ran
+up behind him and gave the fat monarch a powerful kick with both his
+wooden hind legs.
+
+"Ow! Murder! Treason!" yelled the King, who had been hurled against
+several of his warriors and was considerably bruised. "Who did that?"
+
+"I did," growled the Sawhorse, viciously. "You let Dorothy alone, or
+I'll kick you again."
+
+"We'll see about that," replied the King, and at once he waved his hand
+toward the Sawhorse and muttered a magical word. "Aha!" he continued;
+"_now_ let us see you move, you wooden mule!"
+
+But in spite of the magic the Sawhorse moved; and he moved so quickly
+toward the King, that the fat little man could not get out of his way.
+Thump--_bang!_ came the wooden heels, right against his round body, and
+the King flew into the air and fell upon the head of his captain, who
+let him drop flat upon the ground.
+
+"Well, well!" said the King, sitting up and looking surprised. "Why
+didn't my magic belt work, I wonder?"
+
+"The creature is made of wood," replied the captain. "Your magic will
+not work on wood, you know."
+
+"Ah, I'd forgotten that," said the King, getting up and limping to his
+throne. "Very well, let the girl alone. She can't escape us, anyway."
+
+The warriors, who had been rather confused by these incidents, now
+formed their ranks again, and the Sawhorse pranced across the room to
+Dorothy and took a position beside the Hungry Tiger.
+
+At that moment the doors that led to the palace flew open and the people
+of Ev and the people of Oz were disclosed to view. They paused,
+astonished, at sight of the warriors and the angry Nome King, seated in
+their midst.
+
+"Surrender!" cried the King, in a loud voice. "You are my prisoners."
+
+"Go 'long!" answered Billina, from the Scarecrow's shoulder. "You
+promised me that if I guessed correctly my friends and I might depart in
+safety. And you always keep your promises."
+
+"I said you might leave the palace in safety," retorted the King; "and
+so you may, but you cannot leave my dominions. You are my prisoners, and
+I will hurl you all into my underground dungeons, where the volcanic
+fires glow and the molten lava flows in every direction, and the air is
+hotter than blue blazes."
+
+[Illustration: "HELP, HELP!" SCREAMED THE KING]
+
+"That will be the end of me, all right," said the Scarecrow,
+sorrowfully. "One small blaze, blue or green, is enough to reduce me to
+an ash-heap."
+
+"Do you surrender?" demanded the King.
+
+Billina whispered something in the Scarecrow's ear that made him smile
+and put his hands in his jacket pockets.
+
+"No!" returned Ozma, boldly answering the King. Then she said to her
+army:
+
+"Forward, my brave soldiers, and fight for your Ruler and yourselves,
+unto death!"
+
+"Pardon me, Most Royal Ozma," replied one of her generals; "but I find
+that I and my brother officers all suffer from heart disease, and the
+slightest excitement might kill us. If we fight we may get excited.
+Would it not be well for us to avoid this grave danger?"
+
+"Soldiers should not have heart disease," said Ozma.
+
+"Private soldiers are not, I believe, afflicted that way," declared
+another general, twirling his moustache thoughtfully. "If your Royal
+Highness desires, we will order our private to attack yonder warriors."
+
+"Do so," replied Ozma.
+
+"For-ward--march!" cried all the generals, with one voice.
+"For-ward--march!" yelled the colonels. "For-ward--march!" shouted the
+majors. "For-ward--march!" commanded the captains.
+
+And at that the private leveled his spear and dashed furiously upon the
+foe.
+
+The captain of the Nomes was so surprised by this sudden onslaught that
+he forgot to command his warriors to fight, so that the ten men in the
+first row, who stood in front of the private's spear, fell over like so
+many toy soldiers. The spear could not go through their steel armor,
+however, so the warriors scrambled to their feet again, and by that time
+the private had knocked over another row of them.
+
+Then the captain brought down his battle-axe with such a strong blow
+that the private's spear was shattered and knocked from his grasp, and
+he was helpless to fight any longer.
+
+The Nome King had left his throne and pressed through his warriors to
+the front ranks, so he could see what was going on; but as he faced Ozma
+and her friends the Scarecrow, as if aroused to action by the valor of
+the private, drew one of Billina's eggs from his right jacket pocket and
+hurled it straight at the little monarch's head.
+
+It struck him squarely in his left eye, where the egg smashed and
+scattered, as eggs will, and covered his face and hair and beard with
+its sticky contents.
+
+"Help, help!" screamed the King, clawing with his fingers at the egg, in
+a struggle to remove it.
+
+"An egg! an egg! Run for your lives!" shouted the captain of the Nomes,
+in a voice of horror.
+
+And how they _did_ run! The warriors fairly tumbled over one another in
+their efforts to escape the fatal poison of that awful egg, and those
+who could not rush down the winding stair fell off the balcony into the
+great cavern beneath, knocking over those who stood below them.
+
+Even while the King was still yelling for help his throne room became
+emptied of every one of his warriors, and before the monarch had managed
+to clear the egg away from his left eye the Scarecrow threw the second
+egg against his right eye, where it smashed and blinded him entirely.
+The King was unable to flee because he could not see which way to run;
+so he stood still and howled and shouted and screamed in abject fear.
+
+While this was going on, Billina flew over to Dorothy, and perching
+herself upon the Lion's back the hen whispered eagerly to the girl:
+
+"Get his belt! Get the Nome King's jeweled belt! It unbuckles in the
+back. Quick, Dorothy--quick!"
+
+
+
+
+The Fate of the Tin Woodman
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy obeyed. She ran at once behind the Nome King, who was still
+trying to free his eyes from the egg, and in a twinkling she had
+unbuckled his splendid jeweled belt and carried it away with her to her
+place beside the Tiger and Lion, where, because she did not know what
+else to do with it, she fastened it around her own slim waist.
+
+Just then the Chief Steward rushed in with a sponge and a bowl of water,
+and began mopping away the broken eggs from his master's face. In a few
+minutes, and while all the party stood looking on, the King regained
+the use of his eyes, and the first thing he did was to glare wickedly
+upon the Scarecrow and exclaim:
+
+"I'll make you suffer for this, you hay-stuffed dummy! Don't you know
+eggs are poison to Nomes?"
+
+"Really," said the Scarecrow, "they _don't_ seem to agree with you,
+although I wonder why."
+
+"They were strictly fresh and above suspicion," said Billina. "You ought
+to be glad to get them."
+
+"I'll transform you all into scorpions!" cried the King, angrily, and
+began waving his arms and muttering magic words.
+
+But none of the people became scorpions, so the King stopped and looked
+at them in surprise.
+
+"What's wrong?" he asked.
+
+"Why, you are not wearing your magic belt," replied the Chief Steward,
+after looking the King over carefully. "Where is it? What have you done
+with it?"
+
+The Nome King clapped his hand to his waist, and his rock colored face
+turned white as chalk.
+
+"It's gone," he cried, helplessly. "It's gone, and I am ruined!"
+
+Dorothy now stepped forward and said:
+
+"Royal Ozma, and you, Queen of Ev, I welcome you and your people back to
+the land of the living. Billina has saved you from your troubles, and
+now we will leave this drea'ful place, and return to Ev as soon as
+poss'ble."
+
+While the child spoke they could all see that she wore the magic belt,
+and a great cheer went up from all her friends, which was led by the
+voices of the Scarecrow and the private. But the Nome King did not join
+them. He crept back onto his throne like a whipped dog, and lay there
+bitterly bemoaning his defeat.
+
+"But we have not yet found my faithful follower, the Tin Woodman," said
+Ozma to Dorothy, "and without him I do not wish to go away."
+
+"Nor I," replied Dorothy, quickly. "Wasn't he in the palace?"
+
+"He must be there," said Billina; "but I had no clew to guide me in
+guessing the Tin Woodman, so I must have missed him."
+
+"We will go back into the rooms," said Dorothy. "This magic belt, I am
+sure, will help us to find our dear old friend."
+
+So she re-entered the palace, the doors of which still stood open, and
+everyone followed her except the Nome King, the Queen of Ev and Prince
+Evring. The mother had taken the little Prince in her lap and was
+fondling and kissing him lovingly, for he was her youngest born.
+
+But the others went with Dorothy, and when she came to the middle of the
+first room the girl waved her hand, as she had seen the King do, and
+commanded the Tin Woodman, whatever form he might then have, to resume
+his proper shape. No result followed this attempt, so Dorothy went into
+another room and repeated it, and so through all the rooms of the
+palace. Yet the Tin Woodman did not appear to them, nor could they
+imagine which among the thousands of ornaments was their transformed
+friend.
+
+Sadly they returned to the throne room, where the King, seeing that they
+had met with failure, jeered at Dorothy, saying:
+
+"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is of no use to you. Give it
+back to me and I will let you go free--you and all the people who came
+with you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are my slaves, and shall
+remain here."
+
+"I shall keep the belt," said Dorothy.
+
+"But how can you escape, without my consent?" asked the King.
+
+"Easily enough," answered the girl. "All we need to do is to walk out
+the way that we came in."
+
+[Illustration: DOROTHY AND BILLINA ARGUE WITH THE KING]
+
+"Oh, that's all, is it?" sneered the King. "Well, where is the passage
+through which you entered this room?"
+
+They all looked around, but could not discover the place, for it had
+long since been closed. Dorothy, however, would not be dismayed. She
+waved her hand toward the seemingly solid wall of the cavern and said:
+
+"I command the passage to open!"
+
+Instantly the order was obeyed; the opening appeared and the passage lay
+plainly before them.
+
+The King was amazed, and all the others overjoyed.
+
+"Why, then, if the belt obeys you, were we unable to discover the Tin
+Woodman?" asked Ozma.
+
+"I can't imagine," said Dorothy.
+
+"See here, girl," proposed the King, eagerly; "give me the belt, and I
+will tell you what shape the Tin Woodman was changed into, and then you
+can easily find him."
+
+Dorothy hesitated, but Billina cried out:
+
+"Don't you do it! If the Nome King gets the belt again he will make
+every one of us prisoners, for we will be in his power. Only by keeping
+the belt, Dorothy, will you ever be able to leave this place in
+safety."
+
+"I think that is true," said the Scarecrow. "But I have another idea,
+due to my excellent brains. Let Dorothy transform the King into a
+goose-egg unless he agrees to go into the palace and bring out to us the
+ornament which is our friend Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman."
+
+"A goose-egg!" echoed the horrified King. "How dreadful!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Well, a goose-egg you will be unless you go and fetch us the ornament
+we want," declared Billina, with a joyful chuckle.
+
+"You can see for yourself that Dorothy is able to use the magic belt all
+right," added the Scarecrow.
+
+The Nome King thought it over and finally consented, for he did not want
+to be a goose-egg. So he went into the palace to get the ornament which
+was the transformation of the Tin Woodman, and they all awaited his
+return with considerable impatience, for they were anxious to leave this
+underground cavern and see the sunshine once more. But when the Nome
+King came back he brought nothing with him except a puzzled and anxious
+expression upon his face.
+
+"He's gone!" he said. "The Tin Woodman is nowhere in the palace."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked Ozma, sternly.
+
+"I'm very sure," answered the King, trembling, "for I know just what I
+transformed him into, and exactly where he stood. But he is not there,
+and please don't change me into a goose-egg, because I've done the best
+I could."
+
+They were all silent for a time, and then Dorothy said:
+
+"There is no use punishing the Nome King any more, and I'm 'fraid we'll
+have to go away without our friend."
+
+"If he is not here, we cannot rescue him," agreed the Scarecrow, sadly.
+"Poor Nick! I wonder what has become of him."
+
+"And he owed me six weeks back pay!" said one of the generals, wiping
+the tears from his eyes with his gold-laced coat sleeve.
+
+Very sorrowfully they determined to return to the upper world without
+their former companion, and so Ozma gave the order to begin the march
+through the passage.
+
+The army went first, and then the royal family of Ev, and afterward came
+Dorothy, Ozma, Billina, the Scarecrow and Tiktok.
+
+They left the Nome King scowling at them from his throne, and had no
+thought of danger until Ozma chanced to look back and saw a large number
+of the warriors following them in full chase, with their swords and
+spears and axes raised to strike down the fugitives as soon as they drew
+near enough.
+
+Evidently the Nome King had made this last attempt to prevent their
+escaping him; but it did him no good, for when Dorothy saw the danger
+they were in she stopped and waved her hand and whispered a command to
+the magic belt.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Instantly the foremost warriors became eggs, which rolled upon the floor
+of the cavern in such numbers that those behind could not advance
+without stepping upon them. But, when they saw the eggs, all desire to
+advance departed from the warriors, and they turned and fled madly into
+the cavern, and refused to go back again.
+
+Our friends had no farther trouble in reaching the end of the passage,
+and soon were standing in the outer air upon the gloomy path between
+the two high mountains. But the way to Ev lay plainly before them, and
+they fervently hoped that they had seen the last of the Nome King and of
+his dreadful palace.
+
+The cavalcade was led by Ozma, mounted on the Cowardly Lion, and the
+Queen of Ev, who rode upon the back of the Tiger. The children of the
+Queen walked behind her, hand in hand. Dorothy rode the Sawhorse, while
+the Scarecrow walked and commanded the army in the absence of the Tin
+Woodman.
+
+Presently the way began to lighten and more of the sunshine to come in
+between the two mountains. And before long they heard the "thump! thump!
+thump!" of the giant's hammer upon the road.
+
+"How may we pass the monstrous man of iron?" asked the Queen, anxious
+for the safety of her children. But Dorothy solved the problem by a word
+to the magic belt.
+
+The giant paused, with his hammer held motionless in the air, thus
+allowing the entire party to pass between his cast-iron legs in safety.
+
+
+
+
+The King of Ev
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+If there were any shifting, rock-colored Nomes on the mountain side now,
+they were silent and respectful, for our adventurers were not annoyed,
+as before, by their impudent laughter. Really the Nomes had nothing to
+laugh at, since the defeat of their King.
+
+On the other side they found Ozma's golden chariot, standing as they had
+left it. Soon the Lion and the Tiger were harnessed to the beautiful
+chariot, in which was enough room for Ozma and the Queen and six of the
+royal children.
+
+Little Evring preferred to ride with Dorothy upon the Sawhorse, which
+had a long back. The Prince had recovered from his shyness and had
+become very fond of the girl who had rescued him, so they were fast
+friends and chatted pleasantly together as they rode along. Billina was
+also perched upon the head of the wooden steed, which seemed not to mind
+the added weight in the least, and the boy was full of wonder that a hen
+could talk, and say such sensible things.
+
+When they came to the gulf, Ozma's magic carpet carried them all over in
+safety; and now they began to pass the trees, in which birds were
+singing; and the breeze that was wafted to them from the farms of Ev was
+spicy with flowers and new-mown hay; and the sunshine fell full upon
+them, to warm them and drive away from their bodies the chill and
+dampness of the underground kingdom of the Nomes.
+
+"I would be quite content," said the Scarecrow to Tiktok, "were only the
+Tin Woodman with us. But it breaks my heart to leave him behind."
+
+"He was a fine fel-low," replied Tiktok, "al-though his ma-ter-i-al was
+not ve-ry du-ra-ble."
+
+"Oh, tin is an excellent material," the Scarecrow hastened to say; "and
+if anything ever happened to poor Nick Chopper he was always easily
+soldered. Besides, he did not have to be wound up, and was not liable
+to get out of order."
+
+"I some-times wish," said Tiktok, "that I was stuffed with straw, as you
+are. It is hard to be made of cop-per."
+
+"I have no reason to complain of my lot," replied the Scarecrow. "A
+little fresh straw, now and then, makes me as good as new. But I can
+never be the polished gentleman that my poor departed friend, the Tin
+Woodman, was."
+
+You may be sure the royal children of Ev and their Queen mother were
+delighted at seeing again their beloved country; and when the towers of
+the palace of Ev came into view they could not forbear cheering at the
+sight. Little Evring, riding in front of Dorothy, was so overjoyed that
+he took a curious tin whistle from his pocket and blew a shrill blast
+that made the Sawhorse leap and prance in sudden alarm.
+
+"What is that?" asked Billina, who had been obliged to flutter her wings
+in order to keep her seat upon the head of the frightened Sawhorse.
+
+"That's my whistle," said Prince Evring, holding it out upon his hand.
+
+It was in the shape of a little fat pig, made of tin and painted green.
+The whistle was in the tail of the pig.
+
+"Where did you get it?" asked the yellow hen, closely examining the toy
+with her bright eyes.
+
+"Why, I picked it up in the Nome King's palace, while Dorothy was making
+her guesses, and I put it in my pocket," answered the little Prince.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Billina laughed; or at least she made the peculiar cackle that served
+her for a laugh.
+
+"No wonder I couldn't find the Tin Woodman," she said; "and no wonder the
+magic belt didn't make him appear, or the King couldn't find him,
+either!"
+
+"What do you mean?" questioned Dorothy.
+
+"Why, the Prince had him in his pocket," cried Billina, cackling again.
+
+"I did not!" protested little Evring. "I only took the whistle."
+
+"Well, then, watch me," returned the hen, and reaching out a claw she
+touched the whistle and said "Ev."
+
+Swish!
+
+"Good afternoon," said the Tin Woodman, taking off his funnel cap and
+bowing to Dorothy and the Prince. "I think I must have been asleep for
+the first time since I was made of tin, for I do not remember our
+leaving the Nome King."
+
+"You have been enchanted," answered the girl, throwing an arm around her
+old friend and hugging him tight in her joy. "But it's all right, now."
+
+"I want my whistle!" said the little Prince, beginning to cry.
+
+"Hush!" cautioned Billina. "The whistle is lost, but you may have
+another when you get home."
+
+[Illustration: "YOUR FUTURE RULER, KING EVARDO FIFTEENTH"]
+
+The Scarecrow had fairly thrown himself upon the bosom of his old
+comrade, so surprised and delighted was he to see him again, and Tiktok
+squeezed the Tin Woodman's hand so earnestly that he dented some of his
+fingers. Then they had to make way for Ozma to welcome the tin man,
+and the army caught sight of him and set up a cheer, and everybody was
+delighted and happy.
+
+For the Tin Woodman was a great favorite with all who knew him, and his
+sudden recovery after they had thought he was lost to them forever was
+indeed a pleasant surprise.
+
+Before long, the cavalcade arrived at the royal palace, where a great
+crowd of people had gathered to welcome their Queen and her ten
+children. There was much shouting and cheering, and the people threw
+flowers in their path, and every face wore a happy smile.
+
+They found the Princess Langwidere in her mirrored chamber, where she
+was admiring one of her handsomest heads--one with rich chestnut hair,
+dreamy walnut eyes and a shapely hickorynut nose. She was very glad to
+be relieved of her duties to the people of Ev, and the Queen graciously
+permitted her to retain her rooms and her cabinet of heads as long as
+she lived.
+
+Then the Queen took her eldest son out upon a balcony that overlooked
+the crowd of subjects gathered below, and said to them:
+
+"Here is your future ruler, King Evardo Fifteenth. He is fifteen years
+of age, has fifteen silver buckles on his jacket and is the fifteenth
+Evardo to rule the land of Ev."
+
+The people shouted their approval fifteen times, and even the Wheelers,
+some of whom were present, loudly promised to obey the new King.
+
+So the Queen placed a big crown of gold, set with rubies, upon Evardo's
+head, and threw an ermine robe over his shoulders, and proclaimed him
+King; and he bowed gratefully to all his subjects and then went away to
+see if he could find any cake in the royal pantry.
+
+Ozma of Oz and her people, as well as Dorothy, Tiktok and Billina, were
+splendidly entertained by the Queen mother, who owed all her happiness
+to their kind offices; and that evening the yellow hen was publicly
+presented with a beautiful necklace of pearls and sapphires, as a token
+of esteem from the new King.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Emerald City
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy decided to accept Ozma's invitation to return with her to the
+Land of Oz. There was no greater chance of her getting home from Ev than
+from Oz, and the little girl was anxious to see once more the country
+where she had encountered such wonderful adventures. By this time Uncle
+Henry would have reached Australia in his ship, and had probably given
+her up for lost; so he couldn't worry any more than he did if she stayed
+away from him a while longer. So she would go to Oz.
+
+They bade good-bye to the people of Ev, and the King promised Ozma that
+he would ever be grateful to her and render the Land of Oz any service
+that might lie within his power.
+
+And then they approached the edge of the dangerous desert, and Ozma
+threw down the magic carpet, which at once unrolled far enough for all
+of them to walk upon it without being crowded.
+
+Tiktok, claiming to be Dorothy's faithful follower because he belonged
+to her, had been permitted to join the party, and before they started
+the girl wound up his machinery as far as possible, and the copper man
+stepped off as briskly as any one of them.
+
+Ozma also invited Billina to visit the Land of Oz, and the yellow hen
+was glad enough to go where new sights and scenes awaited her.
+
+They began the trip across the desert early in the morning, and as they
+stopped only long enough for Billina to lay her daily egg, before sunset
+they espied the green slopes and wooded hills of the beautiful Land of
+Oz. They entered it in the Munchkin territory, and the King of the
+Munchkins met them at the border and welcomed Ozma with great respect,
+being very pleased by her safe return. For Ozma of Oz ruled the King of
+the Munchkins, the King of the Winkies, the King of the Quadlings and
+the King of the Gillikins just as those kings ruled their own people;
+and this supreme ruler of the Land of Oz lived in a great town of her
+own, called the Emerald City, which was in the exact center of the four
+kingdoms of the Land of Oz.
+
+The Munchkin king entertained them at his palace that night, and in the
+morning they set out for the Emerald City, travelling over a road of
+yellow brick that led straight to the jewel-studded gates. Everywhere
+the people turned out to greet their beloved Ozma and to hail joyfully
+the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, who were popular
+favorites. Dorothy, too, remembered some of the people, who had
+befriended her on the occasion of her first visit to Oz, and they were
+well pleased to see the little Kansas girl again, and showered her with
+compliments and good wishes.
+
+At one place, where they stopped to refresh themselves, Ozma accepted a
+bowl of milk from the hands of a pretty dairy-maid. Then she looked at
+the girl more closely, and exclaimed:
+
+"Why, it's Jinjur--isn't it!"
+
+"Yes, your Highness," was the reply, as Jinjur dropped a low curtsy. And
+Dorothy looked wonderingly at this lively appearing person, who had once
+assembled an army of women and driven the Scarecrow from the throne of
+the Emerald City, and even fought a battle with the powerful army of
+Glinda the Sorceress.
+
+"I've married a man who owns nine cows," said Jinjur to Ozma, "and now I
+am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own
+business."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Where is your husband?" asked Ozma.
+
+"He is in the house, nursing a black eye," replied Jinjur, calmly. "The
+foolish man would insist upon milking the red cow when I wanted him to
+milk the white one; but he will know better next time, I am sure."
+
+Then the party moved on again, and after crossing a broad river on a
+ferry and passing many fine farm houses that were dome shaped and
+painted a pretty green color, they came in sight of a large building
+that was covered with flags and bunting.
+
+"I don't remember that building," said Dorothy. "What is it?"
+
+"That is the College of Art and Athletic Perfection," replied Ozma. "I
+had it built quite recently, and the Woggle-Bug is its president. It
+keeps him busy, and the young men who attend the college are no worse
+off than they were before. You see, in this country are a number of
+youths who do not like to work, and the college is an excellent place
+for them."
+
+And now they came in sight of the Emerald City, and the people flocked
+out to greet their lovely ruler. There were several bands and many
+officers and officials of the realm, and a crowd of citizens in their
+holiday attire.
+
+Thus the beautiful Ozma was escorted by a brilliant procession to her
+royal city, and so great was the cheering that she was obliged to
+constantly bow to the right and left to acknowledge the greetings of her
+subjects.
+
+[Illustration: "I PROMOTE YOU TO BE CAPTAIN-GENERAL"]
+
+That evening there was a grand reception in the royal palace, attended
+by the most important persons of Oz, and Jack Pumpkinhead, who was a
+little over-ripe but still active, read an address congratulating Ozma
+of Oz upon the success of her generous mission to rescue the royal
+family of a neighboring kingdom.
+
+Then magnificent gold medals set with precious stones were presented to
+each of the twenty-six officers; and the Tin Woodman was given a new axe
+studded with diamonds; and the Scarecrow received a silver jar of
+complexion powder. Dorothy was presented with a pretty coronet and made
+a Princess of Oz, and Tiktok received two bracelets set with eight rows
+of very clear and sparkling emeralds.
+
+Afterward they sat down to a splendid feast, and Ozma put Dorothy at her
+right and Billina at her left, where the hen sat upon a golden roost and
+ate from a jeweled platter. Then were placed the Scarecrow, the Tin
+Woodman and Tiktok, with baskets of lovely flowers before them, because
+they did not require food. The twenty-six officers were at the lower end
+of the table, and the Lion and the Tiger also had seats, and were served
+on golden platters, that held a half a bushel at one time.
+
+The wealthiest and most important citizens of the Emerald City were
+proud to wait upon these famous adventurers, and they were assisted by a
+sprightly little maid named Jellia Jamb, whom the Scarecrow pinched upon
+her rosy cheeks and seemed to know very well.
+
+During the feast Ozma grew thoughtful, and suddenly she asked:
+
+"Where is the private?"
+
+"Oh, he is sweeping out the barracks," replied one of the generals, who
+was busy eating a leg of a turkey. "But I have ordered him a dish of
+bread and molasses to eat when his work is done."
+
+"Let him be sent for," said the girl ruler.
+
+While they waited for this command to be obeyed, she enquired:
+
+"Have we any other privates in the armies?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied the Tin Woodman, "I believe there are three,
+altogether."
+
+The private now entered, saluting his officers and the royal Ozma very
+respectfully.
+
+"What is your name, my man?" asked the girl.
+
+"Omby Amby," answered the private.
+
+"Then, Omby Amby," said she, "I promote you to be Captain General of all
+the armies of my kingdom, and especially to be Commander of my Body
+Guard at the royal palace."
+
+"It is very expensive to hold so many offices," said the private,
+hesitating. "I have no money with which to buy uniforms."
+
+"You shall be supplied from the royal treasury," said Ozma.
+
+Then the private was given a seat at the table, where the other officers
+welcomed him cordially, and the feasting and merriment were resumed.
+
+Suddenly Jellia Jamb exclaimed:
+
+"There is nothing more to eat! The Hungry Tiger has consumed
+everything!"
+
+"But that is not the worst of it," declared the Tiger, mournfully.
+"Somewhere or somehow, I've actually lost my appetite!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Dorothy's Magic Belt
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy passed several very happy weeks in the Land of Oz as the guest
+of the royal Ozma, who delighted to please and interest the little
+Kansas girl. Many new acquaintances were formed and many old ones
+renewed, and wherever she went Dorothy found herself among friends.
+
+One day, however, as she sat in Ozma's private room, she noticed hanging
+upon the wall a picture which constantly changed in appearance, at one
+time showing a meadow and at another time a forest, a lake or a
+village.
+
+"How curious!" she exclaimed, after watching the shifting scenes for a
+few moments.
+
+"Yes," said Ozma, "that is really a wonderful invention in magic. If I
+wish to see any part of the world or any person living, I need only
+express the wish and it is shown in the picture."
+
+"May I use it?" asked Dorothy, eagerly.
+
+"Of course, my dear."
+
+"Then I'd like to see the old Kansas farm, and Aunt Em," said the girl.
+
+Instantly the well remembered farmhouse appeared in the picture, and
+Aunt Em could be seen quite plainly. She was engaged in washing dishes
+by the kitchen window and seemed quite well and contented. The hired men
+and the teams were in the harvest fields behind the house, and the corn
+and wheat seemed to the child to be in prime condition. On the side
+porch Dorothy's pet dog, Toto, was lying fast asleep in the sun, and to
+her surprise old Speckles was running around with a brood of twelve new
+chickens trailing after her.
+
+"Everything seems all right at home," said Dorothy, with a sigh of
+relief. "Now I wonder what Uncle Henry is doing."
+
+The scene in the picture at once shifted to Australia, where, in a
+pleasant room in Sydney, Uncle Henry was seated in an easy chair,
+solemnly smoking his briar pipe. He looked sad and lonely, and his hair
+was now quite white and his hands and face thin and wasted.
+
+"Oh!" cried Dorothy, in an anxious voice, "I'm sure Uncle Henry isn't
+getting any better, and it's because he is worried about me. Ozma, dear,
+I must go to him at once!"
+
+"How can you?" asked Ozma.
+
+"I don't know," replied Dorothy; "but let us go to Glinda the Good. I'm
+sure she will help me, and advise me how to get to Uncle Henry."
+
+Ozma readily agreed to this plan and caused the Sawhorse to be harnessed
+to a pretty green and pink phaeton, and the two girls rode away to visit
+the famous sorceress.
+
+Glinda received them graciously, and listened to Dorothy's story with
+attention.
+
+"I have the magic belt, you know," said the little girl. "If I buckled
+it around my waist and commanded it to take me to Uncle Henry, wouldn't
+it do it?"
+
+"I think so," replied Glinda, with a smile.
+
+"And then," continued Dorothy, "if I ever wanted to come back here
+again, the belt would bring me."
+
+[Illustration: "THAT IS A WISE PLAN," REPLIED GLINDA]
+
+"In that you are wrong," said the sorceress. "The belt has magical
+powers only while it is in some fairy country, such as the Land of Oz,
+or the Land of Ev. Indeed, my little friend, were you to wear it and
+wish yourself in Australia, with your uncle, the wish would doubtless be
+fulfilled, because it was made in fairyland. But you would not find the
+magic belt around you when you arrived at your destination."
+
+"What would become of it?" asked the girl.
+
+"It would be lost, as were your silver shoes when you visited Oz before,
+and no one would ever see it again. It seems too bad to destroy the use
+of the magic belt in that way, doesn't it?"
+
+"Then," said Dorothy, after a moment's thought, "I will give the magic
+belt to Ozma, for she can use it in her own country. And she can wish me
+transported to Uncle Henry without losing the belt."
+
+"That is a wise plan," replied Glinda.
+
+So they rode back to the Emerald City, and on the way it was arranged
+that every Saturday morning Ozma would look at Dorothy in her magic
+picture, wherever the little girl might chance to be. And, if she saw
+Dorothy make a certain signal, then Ozma would know that the little
+Kansas girl wanted to revisit the Land of Oz, and by means of the Nome
+King's magic belt would wish that she might instantly return.
+
+This having been agreed upon, Dorothy bade good-bye to all her friends.
+Tiktok wanted to go to Australia, too; but Dorothy knew that the machine
+man would never do for a servant in a civilized country, and the chances
+were that his machinery wouldn't work at all. So she left him in Ozma's
+care.
+
+Billina, on the contrary, preferred the Land of Oz to any other country,
+and refused to accompany Dorothy.
+
+"The bugs and ants that I find here are the finest flavored in the
+world," declared the yellow hen, "and there are plenty of them. So here
+I shall end my days; and I must say, Dorothy, my dear, that you are very
+foolish to go back into that stupid, humdrum world again."
+
+"Uncle Henry needs me," said Dorothy, simply; and every one except
+Billina thought it was right that she should go.
+
+All Dorothy's friends of the Land of Oz--both old and new--gathered in a
+group in front of the palace to bid her a sorrowful good-bye and to wish
+her long life and happiness. After much hand shaking, Dorothy kissed
+Ozma once more, and then handed her the Nome King's magic belt, saying:
+
+"Now, dear Princess, when I wave my handkerchief, please wish me with
+Uncle Henry. I'm aw'fly sorry to leave you--and the Scarecrow--and the
+Tin Woodman--and the Cowardly Lion--and Tiktok--and--and everybody--but
+I do want my Uncle Henry! So good-bye, all of you."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Then the little girl stood on one of the big emeralds which decorated
+the courtyard, and after looking once again at each of her friends,
+waved her handkerchief.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"No," said Dorothy, "I wasn't drowned at all. And I've come to nurse you
+and take care of you, Uncle Henry, and you must promise to get well as
+soon as poss'ble."
+
+Uncle Henry smiled and cuddled his little niece close in his lap.
+
+"I'm better already, my darling," said he.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Books by L. Frank Baum
+
+Illustrated by John R. Neill
+
+Each book handsomely bound in artistic pictorial cover. $1.25 per
+volume.
+
+
+THE LAND OF OZ
+
+An account of the adventures of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Jack
+Punpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse, the Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug,
+the Gump and many other delightful characters.
+
+     Nearly 150 black-and-white illustrations and sixteen full-page
+     pictures in color.
+
+OZMA OF OZ
+
+The story tells "more about Dorothy," as well as those famous
+characters, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, and
+something of several new creations equally delightful, including Tiktok
+the machine man, the Yellow Hen, the Nome King and the Hungry Tiger.
+
+     Forty-one full-page colored pictures; twenty-two half pages in
+     color and fifty black-and-white text pictures.
+
+DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ
+
+In this book Dorothy, with Zeb, a little boy friend, and Jim, the Cab
+Horse, are swallowed up in an earthquake and reach a strange vegetable
+land, whence they escape to the land of Oz, and meet all their old
+friends. Among the new characters are Eureka, Dorothy's Pink Kitten, and
+the Nine Tiny Piglets.
+
+     Gorgeously illustrated with sixteen full color pages and numerous
+     black-and-white pictures.
+
+THE ROAD TO OZ
+
+Tells how to reach the Magic City of Oz over a road leading through
+lands of many colors, peopled with odd characters, surcharged with
+adventure suitable for the minds and imaginations of young children. The
+manufacture represents an entirely new idea--the paper used is of
+various colors to indicate the several countries traversed by the road
+leading to Oz and the Emerald City.
+
+     Unique and gorgeous Jacket in colors and gold.
+
+THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ
+
+In this story, the Nome King threatens to capture the Emerald City. Ozma
+and Dorothy, with the help of Glinda the Good defeat his plan. All the
+old characters and many new ones enliven this story.
+
+     16 full-page pictures in four colors and green bronze. 100
+     black-and-white illustrations. Jacket in four colors and aluminum
+     and green bronze.
+
+THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ
+
+In many ways the most successful of the Oz Books. A new and fascinating
+character, the Patchwork Girl, and Ojo, a new boy, have adventures of
+lively interest.
+
+     Over 100 full-page pictures in full color and in black and white.
+     Full-length chapter heads in full color. Jacket in four colors;
+     cover in four stampings.
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 33361 ***