erve this engraved  star  upon  my
left breast. It not only indicates where  my  excellent  heart  lies,  but
covers very neatly the patch made by the Wonderful Wizard when  he  placed
that valued organ in my breast with his own skillful hands."
     "Is  your  heart,  then,  a  hand-organ?"  asked   the   Pumpkinhead,
curiously.
     "By no means," responded the emperor, with  dignity.  "It  is,  I  am
convinced, a strictly orthodox heart, although somewhat larger and  warmer
than most people possess."
     Then he turned to the Scarecrow and asked:
     "Are your subjects happy and contented, my dear friend?"
     "I cannot, say" was the reply. "for the girls of  Oz  have  risen  in
revolt and driven me out of the emerald City."
     "Great Goodness!" cried the  Tin  Woodman,  "What  a  calamity!  They
surely do not complain of your wise and gracious rule?"
     "No; but they say it is a poor  rule  that  don't  work  both  ways,"
answered the Scarecrow; "and these females are also of  the  opinion  that
men have ruled the land long enough. So they have captured my city, robbed
the treasury of all its jewels, and are running things to suit themselves.
"
     "Dear me! What an extraordinary idea!" cried  the  Emperor,  who  was
both shocked and surprised.
     "And I heard some of them say," said Tip, "that they intend to  march
here and capture the castle and city of the Tin Woodman."
     "Ah! we must not give them  time  to  do  that,"  said  the  Emperor,
quickly; "we will go at once and recapture the Emerald City and place  the
Scarecrow again upon his throne."
     "I was sure you would help me," remarked the Scarecrow in  a  pleased
voice. "How large an army can you assemble?"
     "We do not need an army," replied the Woodman. "We four, with the aid
of my gleaming axe, are enough to strike terror into  the  hearts  of  the
rebels."
     "We five," corrected the Pumpkinhead.
     "Five?" repeated the Tin Woodman.
     "Yes; the Saw-Horse is brave and fearless," answered Jack, forgetting
his recent quarrel with the quadruped.
     The Tin Woodman looked around him in a puzzled way, for the Saw-Horse
had until now remained quietly standing in a corner, where the Emperor had
not noticed him. Tip immediately called the odd-looking creature to  them,
and it  approached  so  awkwardly  that  it  nearly  upset  the  beautiful
center-table and the engraved oil-can.
     "I begin to think," remarked the Tin Woodman as he  looked  earnestly
at the Saw-Horse, "that wonders will never cease! How came  this  creature
alive?"
     "I did it with a magic powder," modestly asserted the boy.  "and  the
SawHorse has been very useful to us."
     "He enabled us to escape the rebels," added the Scarecrow.
     "Then we must surely accept him as a comrade," declared the  emperor.
"A live Saw-Horse is a distinct novelty, and should prove  an  interesting
study. Does he know anything?"
     "Well, I cannot claim any great experience in  life,"  the  Saw-Horse
answered for himself. "but I seem to learn  very  quickly,  and  often  it
occurs to me that I know more than any of those around me."
     "Perhaps you do," said the emperor; "for experience does  not  always
mean wisdom. But time is  precious  Just  now,  so  let  us  quickly  make
preparations to start upon our Journey.
     The emperor called his Lord High Chancellor and instructed him how to
run the kingdom during his absence.  Meanwhile  the  Scarecrow  was  taken
apart and the painted sack that  served  him  for  a  head  was  carefully
laundered and restuffed with the brains originally given him by the  great
Wizard. His clothes were also cleaned and pressed by the Imperial tailors,
and his crown polished and again sewed upon his head, for the Tin  Woodman
insisted he should not renounce this badge of royalty. The  Scarecrow  now
presented a very respectable appearance, and although in no  way  addicted
to vanity he was quite pleased with himself and strutted a  trifle  as  he
walked. While this was being done Tip mended  the  wooden  limbs  of  Jack
Pumpkinhead and made them stronger than before, and the Saw-Horse was also
inspected to see if he was in good working order.
     Then bright and early the next morning they set out upon  the  return
Journey to the emerald City, the Tin Woodman bearing upon his  shoulder  a
gleaming axe and leading the way, while  the  Pumpkinhead  rode  upon  the
Saw-Horse and Tip and the Scarecrow walked upon either side to  make  sure
that he didn't fall off or become damaged.



        Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E.

     Now, General Jinjur - who, you will remember, commanded the  Army  of
Revolt - was rendered very uneasy by the escape of the Scarecrow from  the
Emerald City. She feared, and with good reason, that if  his  Majesty  and
the Tin Woodman Joined forces, it would mean danger to her and her  entire
army; for the people of Oz had not yet forgotten the deeds of these famous
heroes, who had passed successfully through so many startling adventures.
     So Jinjur sent post-haste for old Mombi, the witch, and promised  her
large rewards if she would come to the assistance of the rebel army.
     Mombi was furious at the trick Tip had played upon her as well as  at
his escape and the theft of the precious Powder of Life; so she needed  no
urging to induce her to travel to the Emerald City  to  assist  Jinjur  in
defeating the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, who had made Tip one of their
friends.
     Mombi had no sooner arrived at the royal palace than she  discovered,
by means of her secret magic, that  the  adventurers  were  starting  upon
their Journey to the Emerald City; so she retired to a small room high  up
in a tower and locked herself in while she  practised  such  arts  as  she
could command to prevent the return of the Scarecrow and his companions.
     That was why the Tin Woodman presently stopped and said:
     "Something very curious has happened. I ought to know  by  heart  and
every step of this Journey, yet I fear we have already lost our way."
     "That is quite impossible!" protested  the  Scarecrow.  "Why  do  you
think, my dear friend, that we have gone astray?"
     "Why, here before us is a great field of sunflowers - and I never saw
this field before in all my life."
     At these words they all looked around, only to find  that  they  were
indeed surrounded by a field of tall stalks, every stalk  bearing  at  its
top a gigantic sunflower. And not only were these flowers almost  blinding
in their vivid hues of red and gold, but each one whirled around upon  its
stalk like a miniature wind-mill, completely dazzling the  vision  of  the
beholders and so mystifying them that they knew not which way to turn.
     "It's witchcraft!" exclaimed Tip.
     While they paused, hesitating and wondering, the Tin Woodman  uttered
a cry of impatience and advanced with swinging axe to cut down the  stalks
before him. But now the sunflowers suddenly stopped their rapid  whirling,
and the travelers plainly saw a girl's face appear in the center  of  each
flower. These lovely faces looked upon the astonished  band  with  mocking
smiles, and then burst into a chorus of merry laughter at the dismay their
appearance caused.
     "Stop! stop!" cried Tip, seizing the Woodman's arm;  "they're  alive!
they're girls!"
     At that moment the flowers began whirling again, and the faces  faded
away and were lost in the rapid revolutions.
     The Tin Woodman dropped his axe and sat down upon the ground.
     "It would be heartless to chop down those pretty creatures," said he,
despondently. "and yet I do not know how else we can proceed upon our way"
     "They looked to me strangely like the faces of the Army  of  Revolt,"
mused the Scarecrow. "But I cannot  conceive  how  the  girls  could  have
followed us here so quickly."
     "I believe it's magic," said Tip, positively, "and  that  someone  is
playing a trick upon us. I've known old Mombi do things like that  before.
Probably it's nothing more than an illusion, and there are  no  sunflowers
here at all."
     "Then let us shut our eyes and walk forward," suggested the Woodman.
     "Excuse me," replied the Scarecrow. "My eyes are not painted to shut.
Because you happen to have tin eyelids, you must not imagine  we  are  all
built in the same way."
     "And the eyes of the Saw-Horse are knot  eyes,"  said  Jack,  leaning
forward to examine them.
     "Nevertheless, you must ride quickly forward," commanded Tip, "and we
will follow after you and so try to escape. My eyes are already so dazzled
that I can scarcely see."
     So the Pumpkinhead rode boldly forward, and Tip grasped the stub tail
of the Saw-Horse and followed with closed eyes. The Scarecrow and the  Tin
Woodman brought up the rear, and before they had gone many yards a  Joyful
shout from Jack announced that the way was clear before them.
     Then all paused to look backward, but not a trace  of  the  field  of
sunflowers remained.
     More cheerfully, now they proceeded upon their Journey; but old Mombi
had so changed the appearance of the landscape that they would surely have
been lost had not the Scarecrow wisely concluded to take  their  direction
from the sun. For no witch-craft could change the course of the  sun,  and
it was therefore a safe guide.
     However, other difficulties lay before them.  The  Saw-Horse  stepped
into a rabbit hole and fell to the ground.  The  Pumpkinhead  was  pitched
high into the air, and his history would probably have ended at that exact
moment had not the  Tin  Woodman  skillfully  caught  the  pumpkin  as  it
descended and saved it from injury.
     Tip soon had it fitted to the neck again and replaced Jack  upon  his
feet. But the Saw-Horse did not escape so easily. For  when  his  leg  was
pulled from the rabbit hole it was found to be broken short off, and  must
be replaced or repaired before he could go a step farther.
     "This is quite serious," said the Tin Woodman." If there  were  trees
near by I might soon manufacture another leg for this animal; but I cannot
see even a shrub for miles around."
     "And there are neither fences nor houses in this part of the land  of
Oz," added the Scarecrow, disconsolately.
     "Then what shall we do?" enquired the boy.
     "I suppose I must start my brains working," replied his  Majesty  the
Scarecrow; "for experience has, taught me that I can do anything if I  but
take time to think it out."
     "Let us all think," said Tip; "and perhaps we shall  find  a  way  to
repair the Saw-Horse."
     So they sat in a row upon the grass and began  to  think,  while  the
Saw-Horse occupied itself by gazing curiously upon its broken limb.
     "Does it hurt?" asked the Tin Woodman, in a soft, sympathetic voice.
     "Not in the least," returned the Saw-Horse; "but my pride is  injured
to find that my anatomy is so brittle."
     For a time the little group remained in silent thought. Presently the
Tin Woodman raised his head and looked over the fields.
     "What sort of creature  is  that  which  approaches  us?"  he  asked,
wonderingly.
     The others followed his gaze, and discovered coming toward  them  the
most extraordinary object they had ever beheld. It  advanced  quickly  and
noiselessly over the soft grass and in a  few  minutes  stood  before  the
adventurers and regarded them with an astonishment equal to their own.
     The Scarecrow was calm under all circumstances.
     "Good morning!" he said, politely.
     The stranger removed his hat with a flourish,  bowed  very  low,  and
then responded:
     "Good morning, one and all.  I  hope  you  are,  as  an  aggregation,
enjoying excellent health. Permit me to present my card."
     With this courteous speech it extended a card toward  the  Scarecrow,
who accepted it, turned it over and over, and handed it with  a  shake  of
his head to Tip.
     The boy read aloud:

              "MR. H. M. WOGGLE-BUG, T. E."

     "Dear me!" ejaculated the Pumpkinhead, staring somewhat intently.
     "How very peculiar!" said the Tin Woodman.
     Tip's eyes were round and wondering, and the Saw-Horse uttered a sigh
and turned away its head.
     "Are you really a Woggle-Bug?" enquired the Scarecrow.
     "Most certainly, my dear sir!" answered the  stranger,  briskly.  "Is
not my name upon the card?"
     "It is," said the Scarecrow. "But may I ask what 'H. M.' stands for?"
     "'H. M.' means Highly Magnified," returned the Woggle-Bug, proudly.
     "Oh, I see." The Scarecrow viewed the stranger critically.  "And  are
you, in truth, highly magnified?"
     "Sir," said the Woggle-Bug, "I take you for a gentleman  of  judgment
and discernment. Does it not occur to you that I am several thousand times
greater than any Woggle-Bug you ever saw before? Therefore it  is  plainly
evident that I am Highly Magnified, and there is no good  reason  why  you
should doubt the fact."
     "Pardon me," returned the Scarecrow. "My brains  are  slightly  mixed
since I was last laundered. Would it be improper for me to ask, also, what
the 'T.E.' at the end of your name stands for?"
     "Those letters express my degree," answered the  Woggle-Bug,  with  a
condescending smile. "To be more explicit, the initials  mean  that  I  am
Thoroughly Educated."
     "Oh!" said the Scarecrow, much relieved.
     Tip had not yet taken his eyes off this wonderful personage. What  he
saw was a great, round, buglike body supported upon two slender legs which
ended in delicate feet  -  the  toes  curling  upward.  The  body  of  the
Woggle-Bug was rather flat, and judging from what could be seen of it  was
of a glistening dark brown color  upon  the  back,  while  the  front  was
striped with alternate bands of light brown and white,  blending  together
at the edges. Its arms were fully as slender  as  its  legs,  and  upon  a
rather long neck was perched its head - not unlike  the  head  of  a  man,
except that its nose ended in a curling antenna, or "feeler," and its ears
from the upper points bore antennae that decorated the sides of  its  head
like two miniature, curling pig tails. It must be admitted that the round,
black eyes were rather bulging in appearance; but the expression upon  the
Woggle-Bug's face was by no means unpleasant.
     For dress the insect wore a dark-blue swallowtail coat with a  yellow
silk lining and a flower in the button-hole; a vest  of  white  duck  that
stretched tightly across the wide  body;  knickerbockers  of  fawn-colored
plush, fastened at the knees with gilt  buckles;  and,  perched  upon  its
small head, was jauntily set a tall silk hat.
     Standing upright before our amazed friends the Woggle-Bug appeared to
be fully as tall as the Tin Woodman; and surely no bug in all the Land  of
Oz had ever before attained so enormous a size.
     "I confess," said the Scarecrow, "that  your  abrupt  appearance  has
caused me surprise, and no doubt  has  startled  my  companions.  I  hope,
however, that this circumstance will not distress you. We  shall  probably
get used to you in time."
     "Do not apologize, I beg of you!" returned the Woggle-Bug, earnestly.
"It affords me great pleasure to surprise people; for surely I  cannot  be
classed with ordinary insects  and  am  entitled  to  both  curiosity  and
admiration from those I meet."
     "You are, indeed," agreed his Majesty.
     "If you will permit me  to  seat  myself  in  your  august  company,"
continued the stranger, "I will gladly relate my history, so that you will
be better able to  comprehend  my  unusual  -  may  I  say  remarkable?  -
appearance."
     "You may say what you please," answered the Tin Woodman, briefly.
     So the Woggle-Bug sat down upon the grass, facing the little group of
wanderers, and told them the following story:



        A Highly Magnified History

     "It is but honest that I should acknowledge at the  beginning  of  my
recital that I was born an ordinary Woggle-Bug," began the creature, in  a
frank and friendly tone. "Knowing no better, I used my arms as well as  my
legs for walking, and crawled under the edges of stones or hid  among  the
roots of grasses with no thought beyond finding a few insects smaller than
myself to feed upon.
     "The chill nights rendered me stiff and motionless,  for  I  wore  no
clothing, but each morning the warm rays of the sun gave me new  life  and
restored me to activity. A  horrible  existence  is  this,  but  you  must
remember it is the regular ordained existence of Woggle-Bugs, as  well  as
of many other tiny creatures that inhabit the earth.
     "But Destiny had singled me out, humble though I was, for  a  grander
fate! One day I crawled near to a country school house, and  my  curiosity
being excited by the monotonous hum of the students within, I made bold to
enter and creep along a crack between two boards until I reached  the  far
end, where, in front of a hearth of glowing embers, sat the master at  his
desk.
     "No one noticed so small a creature as a Woggle-Bug, and when I found
that the hearth was even warmer and more comfortable than the sunshine,  I
resolved to establish my future home beside it. So I found a charming nest
between two bricks and hid myself therein for many, many months.
     "Professor Nowitall is, doubtless, the most  famous  scholar  in  the
land of Oz, and after a few days I began to listen  to  the  lectures  and
discourses he gave his pupils. Not one of them was more attentive than the
humble, unnoticed Woggle-Bug, and  I  acquired  in  this  way  a  fund  of
knowledge that I will myself confess is simply marvelous. That  is  why  I
place 'T.E.' Thoroughly Educated upon my cards; for my greatest pride lies
in the fact that the world cannot produce another Woggle-Bug with a  tenth
part of my own culture and erudition."
     "I do not blame you," said the Scarecrow. "Education is a thing to be
proud of. I'm educated myself. The mess of brains given me  by  the  Great
Wizard is considered by my friends to be unexcelled."
     "Nevertheless," interrupted the Tin Woodman,  "a  good  heart  is,  I
believe, much more desirable than education or brains."
     "To me," said the Saw-Horse, "a  good  leg  is  more  desirable  than
either."
     "Could seeds be considered in the  light  of  brains?"  enquired  the
Pumpkinhead, abruptly.
     "Keep quiet!" commanded Tip, sternly.
     "Very well, dear father," answered the obedient Jack.
     The Woggle-Bug listened patiently -  even  respectfully  -  to  these
remarks, and then resumed his story.
     "I must have lived fully three years in  that  secluded  school-house
hearth," said he, "drinking thirstily of the ever-flowing fount of  limpid
knowledge before me."
     "Quite  poetical,"  commented  the  Scarecrow,   nodding   his   head
approvingly.
     "But one, day" continued the Bug, "a marvelous circumstance  occurred
that altered my very existence and brought me to my  present  pinnacle  of
greatness. The Professor discovered me in the act of crawling  across  the
hearth, and before I could escape he had caught me between his  thumb  and
forefinger.
     "'My dear children,' said he, 'I have captured a Woggle-Bug - a  very
rare and interesting specimen. Do any of you know what a Woggle-Bug is?'
     "'No!' yelled the scholars, in chorus.
     "'Then,'  said  the  Professor,   'I   will   get   out   my   famous
magnifying-glass and throw the insect upon a screen in a  highly-magnified
condition, that you may all study carefully its peculiar construction  and
become acquainted with its habits and manner of life.'
     "He then brought from a  cupboard  a  most  curious  instrument,  and
before I could realize what had happened I  found  myself  thrown  upon  a
screen in a highly-magnified state - even as you now behold me.
     "The students stood up on their stools and craned their heads forward
to get a better view of me, and two little girls jumped upon the  sill  of
an open window where they could see more plainly.
     "'Behold!'  cried   the   Professor,   in   a   loud   voice,   'this
highly-magnified Woggle-Bug; one of the most curious insects in existence!
'
     "Being Thoroughly  Educated,  and  knowing  what  is  required  of  a
cultured gentleman, at this juncture I stood upright and, placing my  hand
upon my bosom, made a very polite bow. My action, being  unexpected,  must
have startled  them,  for  one  of  the  little  girls  perched  upon  the
window-sill gave a scream and fell backward out the  window,  drawing  her
companion with her as she disappeared.
     "The Professor uttered a cry of horror and rushed  away  through  the
door to see if the poor children were injured by the  fall.  The  scholars
followed after him in a wild mob, and I was left alone in the school-room,
still in a Highly-Magnified state and free to do as I pleased.
     "It immediately occurred to me that this was a  good  opportunity  to
escape. I was proud of my great size, and realized that now I could safely
travel anywhere in the world, while my superior culture would  make  me  a
fit associate for the most learned person I might chance to meet.
     "So, while the Professor picked the little  girls  -  who  were  more
frightened than hurt - off the ground, and the pupils clustered around him
closely grouped, I calmly walked out of the school-house, turned a corner,
and escaped unnoticed to a grove of trees that stood near"
     "Wonderful!" exclaimed the Pumpkinhead, admiringly.
     "It was, indeed," agreed the Woggle-Bug.  "I  have  never  ceased  to
congratulate myself for escaping while I was Highly Magnified; for even my
excessive knowledge would have proved of little use to me had I remained a
tiny, insignificant insect."
     "I didn't know before," said Tip, looking at the  Woggle-Bug  with  a
puzzled expression, "that insects wore clothes."
     "Nor do they, in their natural state," returned the stranger. "But in
the course of my wanderings I had the good fortune to save the ninth  life
of a tailor - tailors having, like cats, nine lives, as you probably know.
The fellow was exceedingly grateful, for had he lost that  ninth  life  it
would have been the end of him; so he begged permission to furnish me with
the stylish costume I now wear. It fits very nicely, does it not?" and the
Woggle-Bug stood up and turned  himself  around  slowly,  that  all  might
examine his person.
     "He must have been a  good  tailor,"  said  the  Scarecrow,  somewhat
enviously.
     "He was a good-hearted tailor, at any rate," observed Nick Chopper.
     "But  where  were  you  going,  when  you  met  us?"  Tip  asked  the
Woggle-Bug.
     "Nowhere in particular," was the reply, "although it is my  intention
soon to visit the Emerald City and arrange to give a course of lectures to
select audiences on the 'Advantages of Magnification.'"
     "We are bound for the Emerald City now," said the Tin  Woodman;  "so,
if it pleases you to do so, you are welcome to travel in our company."
     The Woggle-Bug bowed with profound grace.
     "It will give me great  pleasure,"  said  he  "to  accept  your  kind
invitation; for nowhere in the Land of Oz could I hope  to  meet  with  so
congenial a company."
     "That is true,"  acknowledged  the  Pumpkinhead.  "We  are  quite  as
congenial as flies and honey."
     "But - pardon me if I seem inquisitive - are you  not  all  rather  -
ahem! rather unusual?" asked the Woggle-Bug, looking from one  to  another
with unconcealed interest.
     "Not more so than yourself," answered the Scarecrow.  "Everything  in
life is unusual until you get accustomed to it."
     "What rare philosophy!" exclaimed the Woggle-Bug, admiringly.
     "Yes; my brains are working well today," admitted the  Scarecrow,  an
accent of pride in his voice.
     "Then, if you are sufficiently rested and refreshed, let us bend  our
steps toward the Emerald City," suggested the magnified one.
     "We can't," said Tip. "The Saw-Horse has broken a leg,  so  he  can't
bend his steps. And there is no wood around to make him a new  limb  from.
And we can't leave the horse behind because the Pumpkinhead is so stiff in
his Joints that he has to ride."
     "How very unfortunate!" cried the  Woggle-Bug.  Then  he  looked  the
party over carefully and said:
     "If the Pumpkinhead is to ride, why not use one of his legs to make a
leg for the horse that carries him? I judge that both are made of wood."
     "Now, that is what I  call  real  cleverness,"  said  the  Scarecrow,
approvingly. "I wonder my brains did not think of that long  ago!  Get  to
work, my dear Nick, and fit the Pumpkinhead's leg to the Saw-Horse."
     Jack was not especially pleased with this idea; but he  submitted  to
having his left leg amputated by the Tin Woodman and whittled down to  fit
the left leg of the Saw-Horse. Nor was the  Saw-Horse  especially  pleased
with the operation, either;  for  he  growled  a  good  deal  about  being
"butchered," as he called it, and afterward declared that the new leg  was
a disgrace to a respectable Saw-Horse.
     "I beg you to be more careful in your speech," said the  Pumpkinhead,
sharply. "Remember, if you please, that it is my leg you are abusing."
     "I cannot forget it," retorted the Saw-Horse, "for  it  is  quite  as
flimsy as the rest of your person."
     "Flimsy! me flimsy!" cried Jack, in a rage. "How  dare  you  call  me
flimsy?"
     "Because you are built as absurdly as a  jumping-jack,"  sneered  the
horse, rolling his knotty eyes in a vicious manner. "Even your head  won't
stay straight, and you never can tell whether you are looking backwards or
forwards!"
     "Friends, I entreat you not to quarrel!"  pleaded  the  Tin  Woodman,
anxiously." As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let
us bear with each others' faults."
     "An excellent suggestion," said  the  Woggle-Bug,  approvingly.  "You
must have an excellent heart, my metallic friend."
     "I have," returned Nick, well pleased. "My heart is  quite  the  best
part of me. But now let us start upon our Journey.
     They perched the one-legged Pumpkinhead upon the Saw-Horse, and  tied
him to his seat with cords, so that he could not possibly fall off.
     And then, following the lead of the Scarecrow, they all  advanced  in
the direction of the Emerald City.



        Old Mombi indulges in Witchcraft

     They soon discovered that the Saw-Horse limped, for his new leg was a
trifle too long. So they were  obliged  to  halt  while  the  Tin  Woodman
chopped it down with his axe, after which the  wooden  steed  paced  along
more comfortably. But the Saw-Horse was not entirely satisfied, even yet.
     "It was a shame that I broke my other leg!" it growled.
     "On the contrary," airily remarked the Woggle-Bug,  who  was  walking
alongside, "you should consider the accident most fortunate. For  a  horse
is never of much use until he has been broken."
     "I beg your pardon," said Tip, rather provoked, for he  felt  a  warm
interest in both the Saw-Horse and his man Jack; "but  permit  me  to  say
that your joke is a poor one, and as old as it is poor."
     "Still, it is a Joke," declared the Woggle-Bug; firmly, "and  a  Joke
derived from a play upon words is considered among educated people  to  be
eminently proper."
     "What does that mean?" enquired the Pumpkinhead, stupidly.
     "It means, my dear  friend,"  explained  the  Woggle-Bug,  "that  our
language contains  many  words  having  a  double  meaning;  and  that  to
pronounce a joke that allows both meanings of a certain word,  proves  the
joker a person of culture and refinement, who has,  moreover,  a  thorough
command of the language."
     "I don't believe that," said Tip, plainly; "anybody can make a pun."
     "Not so," rejoined the Woggle-Bug, stiffly. "It requires education of
a high order. Are you educated, young sir?"
     "Not especially," admitted Tip.
     "Then you cannot judge the matter. I myself am  Thoroughly  Educated,
and I say that puns display genius. For instance, were I to ride upon this
SawHorse, he would not only be an animal he would become an equipage.  For
he would then be a horse-and-buggy."
     At this the Scarecrow gave a gasp and the Tin Woodman  stopped  short
and looked reproachfully at the Woggle-Bug. At the same time the Saw-Horse
loudly snorted his derision; and even the Pumpkinhead put up his  hand  to
hide the smile which, because it was carved upon his face,  he  could  not
change to a frown.
     But the Woggle-Bug strutted along as if he had  made  some  brilliant
remark, and the Scarecrow was obliged to say:
     "I  have  heard,  my  dear  friend,  that   a   person   can   become
over-educated; and although I have a high respect for  brains,  no  matter
how they may be arranged or classified, I begin to suspect that yours  are
slightly tangled. In any event, I must beg you to restrain  your  superior
education while in our society."
     "We are not very particular," added the  Tin  Woodman;  "and  we  are
exceedingly kind hearted. But if your superior culture gets leaky again  -
" He did not complete the sentence, but he twirled  his  gleaming  axe  so
carelessly that the Woggle-Bug looked frightened, and  shrank  away  to  a
safe distance.
     The others marched on in silence, and the Highly Magnified one, after
a period of deep thought, said in an humble voice:
     "I will endeavor to restrain myself."
     "That is all we can expect," returned the Scarecrow  pleasantly;  and
good nature being thus happily restored to the party, they proceeded  upon
their way.
     When they again stopped to allow Tip to rest - the boy being the only
one that seemed to tire - the Tin Woodman noticed many small, round  holes
in the grassy meadow.
     "This must be a village of the Field Mice," he said to the Scarecrow.
" I wonder  if  my  old  friend,  the  Queen  of  the  Mice,  is  in  this
neighborhood."
     "If she is, she  may  be  of  great  service  to  us,"  answered  the
Scarecrow, who was impressed by a sudden thought. "See  if  you  can  call
her, my dear Nick."
     So the Tin Woodman blew a shrill note upon a silver whistle that hung
around his neck, and presently a tiny grey mouse  popped  from  a  near-by
hole and advanced fearlessly toward them. For the  Tin  Woodman  had  once
saved her life, and the Queen of the Field Mice knew he was to be trusted.
"
     "Good day, your Majesty, said Nick, politely addressing the mouse; "I
trust you are enjoying good health?"
     "Thank you, I am quite well," answered the Queen,  demurely,  as  she
sat up and displayed the tiny golden  crown  upon  her  head.  "Can  I  do
anything to assist my old friends?"
     "You can, indeed," replied the Scarecrow, eagerly. "Let me, I intreat
you, take a dozen of your subjects with me to the Emerald City."
     "Will they be injured in any way?" asked the Queen, doubtfully.
     "I think not," replied the Scarecrow. "I will carry  them  hidden  in
the straw which stuffs my body,  and  when  I  give  them  the  signal  by
unbuttoning my jacket, they have only to rush out and scamper  home  again
as fast as they can. By doing this  they  will  assist  me  to  regain  my
throne, which the Army of Revolt has taken from me."
     "In that case," said the Queen, "I  will  not  refuse  your  request.
Whenever you are  ready,  I  will  call  twelve  of  my  most  intelligent
subjects."
     "I am ready now" returned the Scarecrow. Then he lay  flat  upon  the
ground and unbuttoned his jacket, displaying the mass of straw with  which
he was stuffed.
     The Queen uttered a little piping call, and in  an  instant  a  dozen
pretty field mice had emerged from their  holes  and  stood  before  their
ruler, awaiting her orders.
     What the Queen said to them none of our travelers  could  understand,
for it was in the mouse  language;  but  the  field  mice  obeyed  without
hesitation, running one after  the  other  to  the  Scarecrow  and  hiding
themselves in the straw of his breast.
     When all of the  twelve  mice  had  thus  concealed  themselves,  the
Scarecrow buttoned his Jacket securely and  then  arose  and  thanked  the
Queen for her kindness.
     "One thing more you might do to serve us," suggested the Tin Woodman;
"and that is to run ahead and show us the way to  the  Emerald  City.  For
some enemy is evidently trying to prevent us from reaching it."
     "I will do that gladly," returned the Queen. "Are you ready?"
     The Tin Woodman looked at Tip.
     "I'm rested," said the boy. "Let us start."
     Then they resumed their journey, the little grey Queen of  the  Field
Mice running swiftly ahead and then pausing until the travelers drew near,
when away she would dart again.
     Without this unerring guide the  Scarecrow  and  his  comrades  might
never have gained the Emerald City; for many were the obstacles thrown  in
their way by the arts of old Mombi. Yet not one of  the  obstacles  really
existed - all were cleverly contrived deceptions. For when  they  came  to
the banks of a rushing river that threatened to bar their way  the  little
Queen kept steadily on, passing through the seeming flood in  safety;  and
our travelers followed her without encountering a single drop of water.
     Again, a high wall of granite towered  high  above  their  heads  and
opposed their advance. But the grey Field Mouse  walked  straight  through
it, and the others did the same, the wall melting into mist as they passed
it.
     Afterward, when they had stopped for a moment to allow Tip  to  rest,
they saw forty roads branching off from  their  feet  in  forty  different
directions; and soon these forty roads began whirling around like a mighty
wheel,  first  in  one  direction  and  then  in  the  other,   completely
bewildering their vision.
     But the Queen called for them to follow  her  and  darted  off  in  a
straight line; and when they had gone a few paces  the  whirling  pathways
vanished and were seen no more.
     Mombi's last trick was the most fearful of all. She sent a  sheet  of
crackling flame rushing over the meadow to consume them; and for the first
time the Scarecrow became afraid and turned to fly.
     "If that fire reaches me I  will  be  gone  in  no  time!"  said  he,
trembling until his straw rattled. "It's the most dangerous thing  I  ever
encountered."
     "I'm off, too!"  cried  the  Saw-Horse,  turning  and  prancing  with
agitation; "for my wood is so dry it would burn like kindlings."
     "Is fire dangerous to pumpkins?" asked Jack, fearfully.
     "You'll be baked  like  a  tart  -  and  so  will  I!"  answered  the
Woggle-Bug, getting down on all fours so he could run the faster.
     But the Tin Woodman, having no fear of fire, averted the stampede  by
a few sensible words.
     "Look at the Field Mouse!" he shouted. "The fire does not burn her in
the least. In fact, it is no fire at all, but only a deception."
     Indeed, to watch the little Queen march calmly through the  advancing
flames restored courage to every member of the party,  and  they  followed
her without being even scorched.
     "This is surely a most extraordinary adventure," said the Woggle-Bug,
who was greatly amazed; "for it upsets all the Natural Laws that  I  heard
Professor Nowitall teach in the school-house."
     "Of course it does,"  said  the  Scarecrow,  wisely.  "All  magic  is
unnatural, and for that reason is to be feared  and  avoided.  But  I  see
before us the gates of the Emerald City, so I imagine we have now overcome
all the magical obstacles that seemed to oppose us."
     Indeed, the walls of the City were plainly visible, and the Queen  of
the Field Mice, who had guided them so faithfully, came near to  bid  them
goodbye.
     "We are very grateful to your Majesty for your kind assistance," said
the Tin Woodman, bowing before the pretty creature.
     "I am always pleased to be of service to my  friends,"  answered  the
Queen, and in a flash she had darted away upon her journey home.



        The Prisoners of the Queen

     Approaching the gateway of the Emerald City the  travelers  found  it
guarded by two girls of the Army of Revolt, who opposed their entrance  by
drawing the knitting-needles from their hair and threatening to  prod  the
first that came near.
     But the Tin Woodman was not afraid."
     At the worst they can but  scratch  my  beautiful  nickel-plate,"  he
said. "But there will be no 'worst,' for I think I can manage to  frighten
these absurd soldiers very easily. Follow me closely, all of you!"
     Then, swinging his axe in a great circle to  right  and  left  before
him, he advanced upon the  gate,  and  the  others  followed  him  without
hesitation.
     The girls, who had expected no resistance whatever, were terrified by
the sweep of the glittering axe and fled screaming into the city; so  that
our travelers passed the gates in safety and marched down the green marble
pavement of the wide street toward the royal palace.
     "At this rate we will soon have your Majesty upon the throne  again,"
said the Tin Woodman, laughing at his easy conquest of the guards.
     "Thank  you,  friend  Nick,"  returned  the  Scarecrow,   gratefully.
"Nothing can resist your kind heart and your sharp axe."
     As they passed the rows of houses they saw  through  the  open  doors
that men were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat
around in groups, gossiping and laughing.
     "What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a  sad-looking  man  with  a
bushy beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along  the
sidewalk.
     "Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty as you ought to know  very
well," replied the man; "and since you  went  away  the  women  have  been
running things to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come  back
and restore order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing
out the strength of every man in the Emerald City."
     "Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it is such hard  work  as
you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
     "I really do not know" replied the man, with a  deep  sigh.  "Perhaps
the women are made of castiron."
     No movement was made, as they passed  along  the  street,  to  oppose
their progress. Several of the women stopped their gossip long  enough  to
cast curious looks upon our friends, but immediately they would turn  away
with a laugh or a sneer and resume their chatter. And when they  met  with
several girls belonging to the Army of Revolt, those soldiers, instead  of
being alarmed or appearing surprised, merely stepped out of  the  way  and
allowed them to advance without protest.
     This action rendered the Scarecrow uneasy."
     I'm afraid we are walking into a trap," said he.
     "Nonsense!" returned Nick Chopper, confidently; "the silly  creatures
are conquered already!"
     But the Scarecrow shook his head in a way that expressed  doubt,  and
Tip said:
     "It's too easy, altogether. Look out for trouble ahead."
     "I will," returned his Majesty.  Unopposed  they  reached  the  royal
palace and marched up the  marble  steps,  which  had  once  been  thickly
crusted with emeralds but were now filled with tiny holes where the jewels
had been ruthlessly torn from their settings by the Army of Revolt. And so
far not a rebel barred their way.
     Through the arched hallways and  into  the  magnificent  throne  room
marched the Tin Woodman and his followers, and here, when the green silken
curtains fell behind them, they saw a curious sight.
     Seated within the glittering throne  was  General  Jinjur,  with  the
Scarecrow's second-best crown upon her head, and the royal sceptre in  her
right hand. A box of caramels, from which she was eating,  rested  in  her
lap, and the girl seemed entirely at ease in her royal surroundings.
     The Scarecrow stepped forward  and  confronted  her,  while  the  Tin
Woodman leaned upon his axe and the others formed a  half-circle  back  of
his Majesty's person.
     "How dare you sit in my  throne?"  demanded  the  Scarecrow,  sternly
eyeing the intruder. "Don't you know you are guilty of treason,  and  that
there is a law against treason?"
     "The throne belongs to whoever is able to take it," answered  Jinjur,
as she slowly ate another caramel. "I have taken it, as you see;  so  just
now I am the Queen, and all who oppose me are guilty of treason, and  must
be punished by the law you have just mentioned."
     This view of the case puzzled the Scarecrow.
     "How is it, friend Nick?" he asked, turning to the Tin Woodman.
     "Why, when it comes to Law, I have nothing  to,  say"  answered  that
personage. "for laws were never meant to be understood, and it is  foolish
to make the attempt."
     "Then what shall we do?" asked the Scarecrow, in dismay.
     "Why don't you  marry  the  Queen?  And  then  you  can  both  rule,"
suggested the Woggle-Bug.
     Jinjur glared at the insect fiercely. "Why don't you send her back to
her mother, where she belongs?" asked Jack Pumpkinhead.
     Jinjur frowned.
     "Why don't you shut her up in a closet until she behaves herself, and
promises to be good?" enquired Tip. Jinjur's lip curled scornfully.
     "Or give her a good shaking!" added the Saw-Horse.
     "No," said the Tin  Woodman,  "we  must  treat  the  poor  girl  with
gentleness. Let us give her all the Jewels she can  carry,  and  send  her
away happy and contented."
     At this Queen Jinjur laughed aloud, and the next minute  clapped  her
pretty hands together thrice, as if for a signal.
     "You are very absurd creatures," said she; "but I am  tired  of  your
nonsense and have no time to bother with you longer."
     While the monarch and his  friends  listened  in  amazement  to  this
impudent speech, a startling thing happened. The  Tin  Woodman's  axe  was
snatched from his grasp by some person behind him, and  he  found  himself
disarmed and helpless. At the same instant a shout of laughter rang in the
ears of the devoted band, and turning to see whence this came  they  found
themselves surrounded by the Army of Revolt, the girls bearing  in  either
hand their glistening knitting-needles. The entire throne room  seemed  to
be filled with the rebels, and the Scarecrow  and  his  comrades  realized
that they were prisoners.
     "You see how foolish it is to oppose a  woman's  wit,"  said  Jinjur,
gaily; "and this event only proves that I am more fit to rule the  Emerald
City than a Scarecrow. I bear you no ill will, I assure you; but lest  you
should prove troublesome to me in the future I shall order you all  to  be
destroyed. That is, all except the boy, who belongs to old Mombi and  must
be restored to her keeping. The rest of you are not human,  and  therefore
it will not be wicked to demolish you. The Saw-Horse and the Pumpkinhead's
body I will have chopped up for kindlingwood; and  the  pumpkin  shall  be
made into tarts. The Scarecrow will do nicely to start a bonfire, and  the
tin man can be cut into small pieces and fed to the  goats.  As  for  this
immense Woggle-Bug - "
     "Highly Magnified, if you please!" interrupted the insect.
     "I think I will ask the cook  to  make  green-turtle  soup  of  you,"
continued the Queen, reflectively.
     The Woggle-Bug shuddered.
     "Or, if that won't do, we might use  you  for  a  Hungarian  goulash,
stewed and highly spiced," she added, cruelly.
     This programme of extermination was so terrible  that  the  prisoners
looked upon one another in a panic of fear. The Scarecrow  alone  did  not
give way to despair. He stood quietly before the Queen and  his  brow  was
wrinkled in deep thought as he strove to find some means to escape.
     While thus engaged he felt the straw within his breast  move  gently.
At once his expression changed from sadness to joy, and raising  his  hand
he quickly unbuttoned the front of his jacket.
     This action did not pass unnoticed by the crowd of  girls  clustering
about him, but none of them suspected what he was doing until a tiny  grey
mouse leaped from his bosom to the floor and scampered  away  between  the
feet of the Army of Revolt. Another mouse quickly followed;  then  another
and another, in rapid succession. And suddenly such  a  scream  of  terror
went up from the Army that it might easily have filled the stoutest  heart
with consternation. The flight that ensued turned to a stampede,  and  the
stampede to a panic.
     For while  the  startled  mice  rushed  wildly  about  the  room  the
Scarecrow had only time to note a whirl of skirts and a twinkling of  feet
as the girls disappeared from  the  palace  -  pushing  and  crowding  one
another in their mad efforts to escape.
     The Queen, at the first alarm, stood up on the cushions of the throne
and began to dance frantically upon her tiptoes. Then a mouse ran  up  the
cushions, and with a terrified leap poor Jinjur shot clear over  the  head
of the Scarecrow and escaped through an archway -  never  pausing  in  her
wild career until she had reached the city gates.
     So, in less time than I can explain, the throne room was deserted  by
all save the Scarecrow and his friends, and the Woggle-Bug heaved  a  deep
sigh of relief as he exclaimed:
     "Thank goodness, we are saved!"
     "For a time, yes;" answered the Tin Woodman. "But the enemy will soon
return, I fear."
     "Let us bar all the entrances to the  palace!"  said  the  Scarecrow.
"Then we shall have time to think what is best to be done."
     So all except Jack Pumpkinhead,  who  was  still  tied  fast  to  the
Saw-Horse, ran to the various entrances of the royal palace and closed the
heavy doors, bolting and locking them securely.  Then,  knowing  that  the
Army of Revolt could not batter down the barriers  in  several  days,  the
adventurers gathered once more in the throne room for a council of war.



        The Scarecrow Takes Time to Think

     "It seems to me," began the Scarecrow, when all were again  assembled
in the throne room, "that the girl Jinjur is quite right in claiming to be
Queen. And if she is right, then I am wrong, and we have no business to be
occupying her palace."
     "But you  were  the  King  until  she  came,"  said  the  Woggle-Bug,
strutting up and down with his hands in his pockets; "so it appears to  me
that she is the interloper instead of you."
     "Especially as we have just conquered her and  put  her  to  flight,"
added the Pumpkinhead, as he raised his hands to turn his face toward  the
Scarecrow.
     "Have we really conquered her?" asked the Scarecrow,  quietly.  "Look
out of the window, and tell me what you see."
     Tip ran to the window and looked out.
     "The palace is surrounded by a  double  row  of  girl  soldiers,"  he
announced.
     "I thought so," returned  the  Scarecrow.  "We  are  as  truly  their
prisoners as we were before the mice frightened them from the palace."
     "My friend is right," said Nick Chopper, who had been  polishing  his
breast with a bit of chamois-leather. "Jinjur is still the Queen,  and  we
are her prisoners."
     "But I hope she cannot get at us," exclaimed the Pumpkinhead, with  a
shiver of fear. "She threatened to make tarts of me, you know."
     "Don't worry," said the Tin Woodman. "It cannot  matter  greatly.  If
you stay shut up here you will spoil in time, anyway. A good tart  is  far
more admirable than a decayed intellect."
     "Very true," agreed the Scarecrow.
     "Oh, dear!" moaned Jack; "what an unhappy  lot  is  mine!  Why,  dear
father, did you not make me out of tin - or even out of straw - so that  I
would keep indefinitely."
     "Shucks!" returned Tip, indignantly. "You ought to  be  glad  that  I
made you at all." Then he added, reflectively, "everything has to come  to
an end, some time."
     "But I beg to remind  you,"  broke  in  the  Woggle-Bug,  who  had  a
distressed look in his bulging, round  eyes,  "that  this  terrible  Queen
Jinjur suggested making a goulash of me - Me! the  only  Highly  Magnified
and Thoroughly Educated Woggle-Bug in the wide, wide world!"
     "I  think  it  was  a  brilliant  idea,"  remarked   the   Scarecrow,
approvingly.
     "Don't you imagine he would  make  a  better  soup?"  asked  the  Tin
Woodman, turning toward his friend.
     "Well, perhaps," acknowledged the Scarecrow.
     The Woggle-Bug groaned.
     "I can see, in my mind's eye," said he, mournfully, "the goats eating
small pieces of my dear comrade, the Tin Woodman, while my soup  is  being
cooked on a bonfire built of the Saw-Horse and  Jack  Pumpkinhead's  body,
and Queen Jinjur watches me boil while she feeds the flames with my friend
the Scarecrow!"
     This morbid picture cast a gloom over the entire party,  making  them
restless and anxious.
     "It can't happen for some time," said  the  Tin  Woodman,  trying  to
speak cheerfully; "for we shall be able to keep Jinjur out of  the  palace
until she manages to break down the doors."
     "And in the meantime I am liable to starve to death, and  so  is  the
WoggleBug," announced Tip.
     "As for me," said the Woggle-Bug, "I think that I could live for some
time on Jack Pumpkinhead. Not that I  prefer  pumpkins  for  food;  but  I
believe they are somewhat nutritious, and Jack's head is large and plump."
     "How heartless!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, greatly shocked. "Are  we
cannibals, let me ask? Or are we faithful friends?"
     "I see very clearly that we cannot stay shut up in this palace," said
the Scarecrow, with decision. "So let us end this mournful talk and try to
discover a means to escape."
     At this suggestion they  all  gathered  eagerly  around  the  throne,
wherein was seated the Scarecrow, and as Tip sat down upon a  stool  there
fell from his pocket a pepper-box, which rolled upon the floor.
     "What is this?" asked Nick Chopper, picking up the box.
     "Be careful!" cried the boy. "That's my Powder of Life.  Don't  spill
it, for it is nearly gone."
     "And what is the Powder of Life?"  enquired  the  Scarecrow,  as  Tip
replaced the box carefully in his pocket.
     "It's some magical stuff old Mombi  got  from  a  crooked  sorcerer,"
explained the boy. "She brought Jack to life with it, and afterward I used
it to bring the Saw-Horse to life. I guess it will make anything live that
is sprinkled with it; but there's only about one dose left."
     "Then it is very precious," said the Tin Woodman.
     "Indeed it is," agreed the Scarecrow. "It may prove our best means of
escape from our difficulties. I believe I will think for a few minutes; so
I will thank you, friend Tip, to get out your knife  and  rip  this  heavy
crown from my forehead."
     Tip soon cut  the  stitches  that  had  fastened  the  crown  to  the
Scarecrow's head, and the former monarch of the Emerald  City  removed  it
with a sigh of relief and hung it on a peg beside the throne.
     "That is my last memento of royalty" said he; "and I'm  glad  to  get
rid of it. The former King of this City, who was named Pastoria, lost  the
crown to the Wonderful Wizard, who passed it on to me. Now the girl Jinjur
claims it, and I sincerely hope it will not give her a headache."
     "A kindly thought, which I greatly admire,"  said  the  Tin  Woodman,
nodding approvingly.
     "And now I will indulge in a quiet think," continued  the  Scarecrow,
lying back in the throne.
     The others remained as silent and still as possible,  so  as  not  to
disturb him; for all had great confidence in the extraordinary  brains  of
the Scarecrow.
     And, after what seemed  a  very  long  time  indeed  to  the  anxious
watchers, the thinker sat up,  looked  upon  his  friends  with  his  most
whimsical expression, and said:
     "My brains work beautifully today. I'm  quite  proud  of  them.  Now,
listen! If we attempt to escape through the doors of the palace  we  shall
surely be captured. And, as we can't escape through the ground,  there  is
only one other thing to be done. We must escape through the air!"
     He paused to note the effect of these  words;  but  all  his  hearers
seemed puzzled and unconvinced.
     "The Wonderful Wizard escaped in a balloon," he continued. "We  don't
know how to make a balloon, of course; but any sort of thing that can  fly
through the air can carry us easily. So I suggest that my friend  the  Tin
Woodman, who is a skillful mechanic, shall build some sort of  a  machine,
with good strong wings, to carry us; and our friend Tip can then bring the
Thing to life with his magical powder."
     "Bravo!" cried Nick Chopper.
     "What splendid brains!" murmured Jack.
     "Really quite clever!" said the Educated Woggle-Bug.
     "I believe it can be done,"  declared  Tip;  "that  is,  if  the  Tin
Woodman is equal to making the Thing."
     "I'll do my best," said Nick, cheerily; "and, as a matter of fact,  I
do not often fail in what I attempt. But the Thing will have to  be  built
on the roof of the palace, so it can rise comfortably into the air."
     "To be sure," said the Scarecrow.
     "Then let us search through the palace," continued the  Tin  Woodman,
"and carry all the material we can find to the roof, where I will begin my
work."
     "First, however," said the Pumpkinhead, "I beg you  will  release  me
from this horse, and make me another leg to walk with. For in  my  present
condition I am of no use to myself or to anyone else."
     So the Tin Woodman knocked a mahogany center-table to pieces with his
axe and fitted one of the legs, which was beautifully carved,  on  to  the
body of Jack Pumpkinhead, who was very proud of the acquisition.
     "It seems strange," said he, as he  watched  the  Tin  Woodman  work,
"that my left leg should be the most elegant and substantial part of me."
     "That proves you are unusual," returned  the  Scarecrow.  "and  I  am
convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this  world  are
the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree,  and
live and die unnoticed."
     "Spoken like a philosopher!" cried the Woggle-Bug, as he assisted the
Tin Woodman to set Jack upon his feet.
     "How do you feel now?" asked  Tip,  watching  the  Pumpkinhead  stump
around to try his new leg."
     As good as new" answered Jack, Joyfully, "and quite ready  to  assist
you all to escape."
     "Then let us get to work," said the  Scarecrow,  in  a  business-like
tone.
     So, glad to be doing anything that might lead to  the  end  of  their
captivity, the friends separated to wander over the palace  in  search  of
fitting material to use in the construction of their aerial machine.



        The Astonishing Flight of the Gump

     When the adventurers reassembled upon the roof it was  found  that  a
remarkably queer assortment of articles had been selected by  the  various
members of the party. No one seemed to have a very clear idea of what  was
required, but all had brought something.
     The Woggle-Bug had taken from its position over the  mantle-piece  in
the  great  hallway  the  head  of  a  Gump,  which   was   adorned   with
wide-spreading antlers; and this, with great care and greater  difficulty,
the insect had carried up the stairs to the roof. This Gump  resembled  an
Elk's head, only the nose turned upward in a saucy manner and  there  were
whiskers upon its chin, like those of a  billy-goat.  Why  the  Woggle-Bug
selected this article he could not have  explained,  except  that  it  had
aroused his curiosity.
     Tip, with the aid of the Saw-Horse, had brought a large,  upholstered
sofa to the roof. It was an oldfashioned piece  of  furniture,  with  high
back and ends, and it was so heavy  that  even  by  resting  the  greatest
weight upon the back of the Saw-Horse, the boy found himself out of breath
when at last the clumsy sofa was dumped upon the roof.
     The Pumpkinhead had brought a broom, which was  the  first  thing  he
saw. The Scarecrow arrived with a coil of clothes-lines and ropes which he
had taken from the courtyard, and in his trip up the stairs he had  become
so entangled in the loose ends of the ropes that both he  and  his  burden
tumbled in a heap upon the roof and might have rolled off if Tip  had  not
rescued him.
     The Tin Woodman appeared last. He also had  been  to  the  courtyard,
where he had cut four great, spreading leaves from a huge  palm-tree  that
was the pride of all the inhabitants of the Emerald City.
     "My dear Nick!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, seeing what his  friend  had
done; "you have been guilty of the greatest crime any person can commit in
the Emerald City. If I remember rightly, the penalty for  chopping  leaves
from the royal palm-tree  is  to  be  killed  seven  times  and  afterward
imprisoned for life."
     "It cannot be helped now" answered the Tin Woodman, throwing down the
big leaves upon the roof. "But it  may  be  one  more  reason  why  it  is
necessary for us to escape. And now let us see what you have found for  me
to work with."
     Many were the doubtful looks cast  upon  the  heap  of  miscellaneous
material that now cluttered the roof, and finally the Scarecrow shook  his
head and remarked:
     "Well, if friend Nick can manufacture, from this mess of  rubbish,  a
Thing that will fly through the air and carry us to safety,  then  I  will
acknowledge him to be a better mechanic than I suspected."
     But the Tin Woodman seemed at first by no means sure of  his  powers,
and only after polishing his forehead vigorously with the  chamois-leather
did he resolve to undertake the task.
     "The first thing required for the machine," said he, "is a  body  big
enough to carry the entire party. This sofa is the biggest thing we  have,
and might be used for a body. But, should the machine ever  tip  sideways,
we would all slide off and fall to the ground."
     "Why not use two sofas?" asked Tip. "There's another  one  just  like
this down stairs."
     "That is a very sensible suggestion," exclaimed the Tin Woodman. "You
must fetch the other sofa at once."
     So Tip and the Saw-Horse managed, with much labor, to get the  second
sofa to the roof; and when the two were placed together, edge to edge, the
backs and ends formed a protecting rampart all around the seats.
     "Excellent!" cried the Scarecrow. "We can ride within this snug  nest
quite at our ease."
     The  two  sofas  were  now  bound  firmly  together  with  ropes  and
clothes-lines, and then Nick Chopper fastened the Gump's head to one end.
     "That will show which is the  front  end  of  the  Thing,"  said  he,
greatly pleased with the idea." And, really, if you examine it critically,
the Gump looks very well as a figure-head. These  great  palm-leaves,  for
which I have endangered my life seven times, must serve us as wings."
     "Are they strong enough?" asked the boy.
     "They are as strong as anything we can get,"  answered  the  Woodman;
"and although they are not in proportion to the Thing's body, we  are  not
in a position to be very particular."
     So he fastened the palm-leaves to the sofas, two on each side.
     Said the Woggle-Bug, with considerable admiration:
     "The Thing is now complete, and only needs to be brought to life."
     "Stop a moment!" exclaimed Jack." Are you not going to use my broom?"
     "What for?" asked the Scarecrow.
     "Why, it can be fastened to the back end for a  tail,"  answered  the
Pumpkinhead. "Surely you would not call the Thing complete without a tail.
"
     "Hm!" said the Tin Woodman, "I do not see the use of a tail.  We  are
not trying to copy a beast, or a fish, or a bird. All we ask of the  Thing
is to carry us through the air.
     "Perhaps, after the Thing is brought to life, it can use  a  tail  to
steer with," suggested the Scarecrow. "For if it flies through the air  it
will not be unlike a bird, and I've noticed that  all  birds  have  tails,
which they use for a rudder while flying."
     "Very well," answered Nick, "the broom shall be used for a tail," and
he fastened it firmly to the back end of the sofa body.
     Tip took the pepper-box from his pocket.
     "The Thing looks very big," said he, anxiously; "and I  am  not  sure
there is enough powder left to bring all of it to life. But I'll  make  it
go as far as possible."
     "Put most on the wings," said Nick Chopper; "for they must be made as
strong as possible."
     "And don't forget the head!" exclaimed the Woggle-Bug.
     "Or the tail!" added Jack Pumpkinhead.
     "Do be quiet," said Tip, nervously; "you must give  me  a  chance  to
work the magic charm in the proper manner."
     Very carefully he  began  sprinkling  the  Thing  with  the  precious
powder. Each of the four wings was first lightly  covered  with  a  layer.
then the sofas were sprinkled, and the broom given a slight coating.
     "The head! The head! Don't, I beg of you, forget the head!" cried the
Woggle-Bug, excitedly.
     "There's only a little of the powder left,"  announced  Tip,  looking
within the box." And it seems to me it is more important to bring the legs
of the sofas to life than the head."
     "Not so," decided the Scarecrow. "Every thing must  have  a  head  to
direct it; and since this creature is to fly, and not walk, it  is  really
unimportant whether its legs are alive or not."
     So Tip abided by this decision and sprinkled the Gump's head with the
remainder of the powder.
     "Now" said he, "keep silence while I work the, charm!"
     Having heard old Mombi pronounce the magic  words,  and  having  also
succeeded in bringing the Saw-Horse to  life,  Tip  did  not  hesitate  an
instant in speaking the three cabalistic words, each  accompanied  by  the
peculiar gesture of the hands.
     It was a grave and impressive ceremony.
     As he finished the incantation the  Thing  shuddered  throughout  its
huge bulk, the Gump gave the screeching cry  that  is  familiar  to  those
animals, and then the four wings began flopping furiously.
     Tip managed to grasp a chimney, else he would have been blown off the
roof by the terrible breeze raised by  the  wings.  The  Scarecrow,  being
light in weight, was caught up bodily and borne through the air until  Tip
luckily seized him by one leg and held him fast. The Woggle-Bug  lay  flat
upon the roof and so escaped harm, and the Tin Woodman,  whose  weight  of
tin anchored him firmly, threw  both  arms  around  Jack  Pumpkinhead  and
managed to save him. The Saw-Horse toppled over upon his back and lay with
his legs waving helplessly above him.
     And now, while all were struggling to recover themselves,  the  Thing
rose slowly from the roof and mounted into the air.
     "Here! Come back!" cried Tip, in a frightened voice, as he  clung  to
the chimney with one hand and the Scarecrow with the other. "Come back  at
once, I command you!"
     It was now that the wisdom of the Scarecrow, in bringing the head  of
the Thing to life instead of the legs, was proved beyond a doubt. For  the
Gump, already high in the air,  turned  its  head  at  Tip's  command  and
gradually circled around until it could view the roof of the palace.
     "Come back!" shouted the boy, again.
     And the Gump obeyed, slowly and gracefully waving its four  wings  in
the air until the Thing had settled once more upon  the  roof  and  become
still.



        In the Jackdaw's Nest

     "This," said the Gump, in a squeaky voice not at all proportioned  to
the size of its great body, "is the most novel experience I ever heard of.
The last thing I remember distinctly is walking  through  the  forest  and
hearing a loud noise. Something probably killed me then, and it  certainly
ought to have been the end of me. Yet here I am, alive  again,  with  four
monstrous wings and  a  body  which  I  venture  to  say  would  make  any
respectable animal or fowl weep with shame to own. What does it all  mean?
Am I a Gump, or am I a juggernaut?" The creature, as it spoke, wiggled its
chin whiskers in a very comical manner.
     "You're just a Thing," answered Tip, "with a Gump's head on  it.  And
we have made you and brought you to life so that you may carry us  through
the air wherever we wish to go."
     "Very good!" said the Thing. "As I am not a Gump,  I  cannot  have  a
Gump's pride or independent spirit. So I may as well become  your  servant
as anything else. My only satisfaction is that I do not  seem  to  have  a
very strong constitution, and am not likely to live long  in  a  state  of
slavery."
     "Don't say that,  I  beg  of  you!"  cried  the  Tin  Woodman,  whose
excellent heart was strongly affected by this sad  speech."  Are  you  not
feeling well today?"
     "Oh, as for that,"  returned  the  Gump,  "it  is  my  first  day  of
existence; so I cannot Judge whether I am feeling well  or  ill."  And  it
waved its broom tail to and fro in a pensive manner.
     "Come, come!" said  the  Scarecrow,  kindly.  "do  try,  to  be  more
cheerful and take life as you find it. We shall be kind masters, and  will
strive to render your existence as pleasant as possible. Are  you  willing
to carry us through the air wherever we wish to go?"
     "Certainly," answered the Gump. "I greatly  prefer  to  navigate  the
air. For should I travel on the earth and meet with one of my own species,
my embarrassment would be something awful!"
     "I can appreciate that," said the Tin Woodman, sympathetically.
     "And yet," continued the Thing, "when I carefully look you  over,  my
masters, none of you seems to be constructed much more artistically than I
am."
     "Appearances are deceitful," said the Woggle-Bug,  earnestly.  "I  am
both Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated."
     "Indeed!" murmured the Gump, indifferently.
     "And my brains are considered remarkably rare specimens,"  added  the
Scarecrow, proudly.
     "How strange!" remarked the Gump.
     "Although I am of tin," said the Woodman, "I own a  heart  altogether
the warmest and most admirable in the whole world."
     "I'm delighted to hear it," replied the Gump, with a slight cough.
     "My smile," said Jack Pumpkinhead, "is worthy your best attention. It
is always the same."
     "Semper idem," explained the  Woggle-Bug,  pompously;  and  the  Gump
turned to stare at him.
     "And I," declared the Saw-Horse, filling in  an  awkward  pause,  "am
only remarkable because I can't help it."
     "I am proud, indeed, to meet with such exceptional masters," said the
Gump, in  a  careless  tone.  "If  I  could  but  secure  so  complete  an
introduction to myself, I would be more than satisfied."
     "That will come in time," remarked the Scarecrow. "To 'Know  Thyself'
is considered quite an accomplishment, which it has taken us, who are your
elders, months to perfect. But now," he added, turning to the others, "let
us get aboard and start upon our journey."
     "Where shall we go?" asked Tip, as he clambered  to  a  seat  on  the
sofas and assisted the Pumpkinhead to follow him.
     "In the South Country rules a very delightful Queen called Glinda the
Good, who I am sure will gladly receive us," said the  Scarecrow,  getting
into the Thing clumsily. "Let us go to her and ask her advice."
     "That is cleverly thought of,"  declared  Nick  Chopper,  giving  the
Woggle-Bug a boost and then toppling the Saw-Horse into the  rear  end  of
the cushioned seats." I know Glinda the Good, and believe she will prove a
friend indeed."
     "Are we all ready?" asked the boy.
     "Yes,"  announced  the  Tin  Woodman,  seating  himself  beside   the
Scarecrow.
     "Then," said Tip, addressing the Gump, "be kind enough to fly with us
to the Southward; and do not go higher  than  to  escape  the  houses  and
trees, for it makes me dizzy to be up so far."
     "All right," answered the Gump, briefly.
     It flopped its four huge wings and rose  slowly  into  the  air;  and
then, while our little band of adventurers clung to the backs and sides of
the sofas for support, the Gump turned toward the South and soared swiftly
and majestically away.
     "The scenic effect, from this altitude, is marvelous," commented  the
educated Woggle-Bug, as they rode along.
     "Never mind the scenery," said the Scarecrow. "Hold on tight, or  you
may get a tumble. The Thing seems to rock badly.'
     "It will be dark soon," said Tip, observing that the sun was  low  on
the horizon. "Perhaps we should have waited until morning. I wonder if the
Gump can fly in the night."
     "I've been wondering that myself," returned the  Gump  quietly.  "You
see, this is a new experience to me. I used to have legs that  carried  me
swiftly over the ground. But now my legs feel as if they were asleep."
     "They are," said Tip. "We didn't bring 'em to life."
     "You're expected to fly," explained the Scarecrow. "not to walk."
     "We can walk ourselves," said the Woggle-Bug."
     I begin to understand what is required of me," remarked the Gump; "so
I will do my best to please you," and he flew on for a time in silence.
     Presently Jack Pumpkinhead became uneasy.
     "I wonder if riding through the air is liable to spoil pumpkins,"  he
said.
     "Not unless you carelessly drop your head over  the  side,"  answered
the Woggle-Bug. "In that event your head would no longer be a pumpkin, for
it would become a squash."
     "Have I not asked you to restrain these  unfeeling  jokes?"  demanded
Tip, looking at the Woggle-Bug with a severe expression.
     "You have; and I've restrained a good  many  of  them,"  replied  the
insect. "But there are opportunities for so many  excellent  puns  in  our
language that, to an  educated  person  like  myself,  the  temptation  to
express them is almost irresistible."
     "People with more or less education discovered those  puns  centuries
ago," said Tip.
     "Are you sure?" asked the Woggle-Bug, with a startled look.
     "Of course I am," answered the boy. "An educated Woggle-Bug may be  a
new thing; but a Woggle-Bug education is as old as the hills, judging from
the display you make of it."
     The insect seemed much impressed by  this  remark,  and  for  a  time
maintained a meek silence.
     The Scarecrow, in shifting  his  seat,  saw  upon  the  cushions  the
pepper-box which Tip had cast aside, and began to examine it.
     "Throw it overboard," said  the  boy;  "it's  quite  empty  now,  and
there's no use keeping it."
     "Is it really empty?" asked the Scarecrow, looking curiously into the
box.
     "Of course it is," answered Tip. "I shook  out  every  grain  of  the
powder.
     "Then the box has two bottoms," announced  the  Scarecrow,  "for  the
bottom on the inside is fully an inch away from the bottom on the outside.
"
     "Let me see," said the Tin Woodman, taking the box from  his  friend.
"Yes," he declared, after looking it over,  "the  thing  certainly  has  a
false bottom. Now, I wonder what that is for?"
     "Can't you get it apart, and  find  out?"  enquired  Tip,  now  quite
interested in the mystery.
     "Why, yes; the lower bottom unscrews,"  said  the  Tin  Woodman.  "My
fingers are rather stiff; please see if you can open it."
     He handed the pepper-box to Tip, who had no difficulty in  unscrewing
the bottom. And in the cavity  below  were  three  silver  pills,  with  a
carefully folded paper lying underneath them.
     This paper the boy proceeded to unfold, taking care not to spill  the
pills, and found several lines clearly written in red ink.
     "Read it aloud," said the Scarecrow. so Tip read, as follows:

               "DR. NIKIDIK'S CELEBRATED WISHING PILLS.
                "Directions for Use: Swallow one pill;
              count seventeen by twos; then make a Wish.
                - The Wish will immediately be granted.
                CAUTION: Keep in a Dry and Dark Place."

     "Why, this is a very valuable discovery!" cried the Scarecrow.
     "It is, indeed," replied Tip, gravely. "These pills may be  of  great
use to us. I wonder if old Mombi knew they  were  in  the  bottom  of  the
pepper-box. I remember hearing her say that she got  the  Powder  of  Life
from this same Nikidik."
     "He must be a powerful Sorcerer!" exclaimed  the  Tin  Woodman;  "and
since the powder proved a success we  ought  to  have  confidence  in  the
pills."
     "But how," asked the Scarecrow, "can anyone count seventeen by  twos?
Seventeen is an odd number."
     "That is true,"  replied  Tip,  greatly  disappointed.  "No  one  can
possibly count seventeen by twos."
     "Then the pills are of no use to us," wailed  the  Pumpkinhead;  "and
this fact overwhelms me with grief. For I had  intended  wishing  that  my
head would never spoil."
     "Nonsense!" said the Scarecrow, sharply. "If we could use  the  pills
at all we would make far better wishes than that."
     "I do not see how anything could be better," protested poor Jack. "If
you were liable to spoil at any time you could understand my anxiety."
     "For my part," said the Tin Woodman, "I sympathize with you in  every
respect. But since we cannot count seventeen by twos, sympathy is all  you
are liable to get."
     By this time it had become quite dark, and the voyagers  found  above
them a cloudy sky, through which the rays of the moon could not penetrate.
     The Gump flew steadily on, and for some  reason  the  huge  sofa-body
rocked more and more dizzily every hour.
     The Woggle-Bug declared he was sea-sick; and Tip was  also  pale  and
somewhat distressed. But the others clung to the backs of  the  sofas  and
did not seem to mind the motion as long as they were not tipped out.
     Darker and darker grew the night, and on and on sped the Gump through
the black heavens. The travelers could not even see one  another,  and  an
oppressive silence settled down upon them.
     After a long time Tip, who had been thinking deeply, spoke.
     "How are we to know when we come to the pallace of Glinda the  Good?"
he asked.
     "It's a long way to Glinda's palace,"  answered  the  Woodman;  "I've
traveled it."
     "But how are we to know how fast the Gump is flying?"  persisted  the
boy. "We cannot see a single thing down on the earth, and  before  morning
we may be far beyond the place we want to reach."
     "That is all true enough," the Scarecrow replied, a little  uneasily.
"But I do not see how we can stop just now;  for  we  might  alight  in  a
river, or on, the top of a steeple; and that would be a great disaster."
     So they permitted the Gump to fly on, with regular flops of its great
wings, and waited patiently for morning.
     Then Tip's fears were proven to be well founded; for with  the  first
streaks of gray  dawn  they  looked  over  the  sides  of  the  sofas  and
discovered rolling plains dotted with queer villages,  where  the  houses,
instead of being domeshaped - as they all are in the  Land  of  Oz  -  had
slanting roofs that rose to a peak in the center. Odd looking animals were
also moving about upon the open plains, and the country was unfamiliar  to
both the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, who had  formerly  visited  Glinda
the Good's domain and knew it well.
     "We are lost!" said the Scarecrow, dolefully.  "The  Gump  must  have
carried us entirely out of the Land of Oz and over the sandy  deserts  and
into the terrible outside world that Dorothy told us about."
     "We must get back," exclaimed the Tin Woodman,  earnestly.  "we  must
get back as soon as possible!"
     "Turn around!" cried Tip to the Gump. "turn as quickly as you can!"
     "If I do I shall upset," answered the Gump. "I'm not at all  used  to
flying, and the best plan would be for me to alight  in  some  place,  and
then I can turn around and take a fresh start."
     Just then, however, there seemed to be no stopping-place  that  would
answer their purpose. They flew over a village so big that the  Woggle-Bug
declared it was a city. and then they came to a range  of  high  mountains
with many deep gorges and steep cliffs showing plainly.
     "Now is our chance to stop," said the boy,  finding  they  were  very
close to the mountain tops. Then he turned  to  the  Gump  and  commanded:
"Stop at the first level place you see!"
     "Very well," answered the Gump, and settled down upon a table of rock
that stood between two cliffs.
     But not being experienced in such matters, the Gump did not judge his
speed correctly; and instead of coming to a stop upon  the  flat  rock  he
missed it by half the width of his body, breaking off both his right wings
against the sharp edge of the rock and then tumbling over  and  over  down
the cliff.
     Our friends held on to the sofas as long as they could, but when  the
Gump caught on a proJecting rock the Thing stopped suddenly - bottom  side
up - and all were immediately dumped out.
     By good fortune they fell only a few feet; for underneath them was  a
monster nest, built by a colony of Jackdaws in a hollow ledge of rock;  so
none of them - not even the Pumpkinhead - was injured  by  the  fall.  For
Jack found his precious head resting on the soft breast of the  Scarecrow,
which made an excellent cushion; and Tip fell on  a  mass  of  leaves  and
papers, which saved him from injury. The Woggle-Bug had bumped  his  round
head against the Saw-Horse, but without causing him more than  a  moment's
inconvenience.
     The Tin Woodman was at first much alarmed; but finding he had escaped
without even a scratch upon his beautiful nickle-plate he at once regained
his accustomed cheerfulness and turned to address his comrades.
     "Our Journey had ended rather suddenly,"  said  he;  "and  we  cannot
justly blame our friend the Gump for our accident, because he did the best
he could under the circumstances. But how we are ever to escape from  this
nest I must leave to someone with better brains than I possess."
     Here he gazed at the Scarecrow; who crawled to the edge of  the  nest
and looked over. Below them was a sheer precipice several hundred feet  in
depth. Above them was a smooth cliff unbroken save by the  point  of  rock
where the wrecked body of the Gump still hung suspended from  the  end  of
one of the sofas. There really seemed to be no means  of  escape,  and  as
they realized their helpless plight the little band  of  adventurers  gave
way to their bewilderment.
     "This is  a  worse  prison  than  the  palace,"  sadly  remarked  the
Woggle-Bug.
     "I wish we had stayed there," moaned Jack.
     "I'm afraid the mountain air isn't good for pumpkins."
     "It won't be when the Jackdaws come  back,"  growled  the  Saw-Horse,
which lay waving its legs in a vain endeavor to get upon its  feet  again.
"Jackdaws are especially fond of pumpkins."
     "Do you think the birds will come here?" asked Jack, much distressed.
     "Of course they will," said Tip; "for this is their nest.  And  there
must be hundreds of them," he continued, "for see what  a  lot  of  things
they have brought here!"
     Indeed, the nest was half filled with a most  curious  collection  of
small articles for which the birds  could  have  no  use,  but  which  the
thieving Jackdaws had stolen during many years from the homes of men.  And
as the nest was safely hidden where no human being could  reach  it,  this
lost property would never be recovered.
     The Woggle-Bug, searching among the rubbish - for the Jackdaws  stole
useless things as well as valuable ones  -  turned  up  with  his  foot  a
beautiful diamond necklace. This was so greatly admired by the Tin Woodman
that the Woggle-Bug presented it to him  with  a  graceful  speech,  after
which the Woodman hung it around  his  neck  with  much  pride,  rejoicing
exceedingly when the big diamonds glittered in the sun's rays.
     But now they heard a great jabbering and flopping of  wings,  and  as
the sound grew nearer to them Tip exclaimed:
     "The Jackdaws are coming! And if they find us here they  will  surely
kill us in their anger."
     "I was afraid of this!" moaned the Pumpkinhead. "My time has come!"
     "And mine, also!" said the Woggle-Bug; "for Jackdaws are the greatest
enemies of my race."
     The others were not at all afraid; but the Scarecrow at once  decided
to save those of the party who were liable to  be  injured  by  the  angry
birds. So he commanded Tip to take off Jack's head and lie down with it in
the bottom of the nest, and when this was done he ordered  the  Woggle-Bug
to lie beside Tip. Nick Chopper, who knew from past experience  Just  what
to do, then took the  Scarecrow  to  pieces  (all  except  his  head)  and
scattered the straw over Tip and the Woggle-Bug, completely covering their
bodies.
     Hardly had this been accomplished when the flock of Jackdaws  reached
them. Perceiving the intruders in their nest the birds flew down upon them
with screams of rage.



        Dr. Nikidik's Famous Wishing Pills

     The Tin Woodman  was  usually  a  peaceful  man,  but  when  occasion
required he could fight as fiercely as a Roman  gladiator.  So,  when  the
Jackdaws nearly knocked him down in their rush of wings, and  their  sharp
beaks and claws threatened to damage his brilliant  plating,  the  Woodman
picked up his axe and made it whirl swiftly around his head.
     But although many were beaten off in this  way,  the  birds  were  so
numerous and so brave that they  continued  the  attack  as  furiously  as
before. Some of them pecked at the eyes of the Gump, which hung  over  the
nest in a helpless condition; but the Gump's eyes were of glass and  could
not be injured. Others of the Jackdaws rushed at the Saw-Horse;  but  that
animal, being still upon his back, kicked out so viciously with his wooden
legs that he beat off as many assailants as did the Woodman's axe.
     Finding themselves thus opposed, the birds fell upon the  Scarecrow's
straw, which lay  at  the  center  of  the  nest,  covering  Tip  and  the
Woggle-Bug and Jack's pumpkin head, and began tearing it away  and  flying
off with it, only to let it drop, straw  by  straw  into  the  great  gulf
beneath.
     The Scarecrow's head, noting with dismay this wanton  destruction  of
his interior, cried to the Tin Woodman to save him; and that  good  friend
responded with renewed energy. His axe fairly flashed among the  Jackdaws,
and fortunately the Gump began wildly waving the two  wings  remaining  on
the left side of its body. The flutter of these  great  wings  filled  the
Jackdaws with terror, and when the Gump by its exertions freed itself from
the peg of rock on which it hung, and sank flopping  into  the  nest,  the
alarm of the birds knew  no  bounds  and  they  fled  screaming  over  the
mountains.
     When the last foe had disappeared, Tip crawled from under  the  sofas
and assisted the Woggle-Bug to follow him.
     "We are saved!" shouted the boy, delightedly.
     "We are, indeed!" responded the Educated Insect, fairly  hugging  the
stiff head of the Gump in his joy. "and we owe it all to the  flopping  of
the Thing, and the good axe of the Woodman!"
     "If I am saved, get me out of here!"  called  Jack;  whose  head  was
still beneath the sofas; and Tip managed to roll the pumpkin out and place
it upon its neck again. He also set the Saw-Horse upright, and said to it:
     "We owe you many thanks for the gallant fight you made."
     "I really think we  have  escaped  very  nicely,"  remarked  the  Tin
Woodman, in a tone of pride.
     "Not so!" exclaimed a hollow voice.
     At this they all turned in surprise to look at the Scarecrow's  head,
which lay at the back of the nest.
     "I am completely ruined!" declared the Scarecrow, as he  noted  their
astonishment. "For where is the straw that stuffs my body?"
     The awful question startled them all. They gazed around the nest with
horror, for not a vestige of straw remained. The Jackdaws had stolen it to
the last wisp and flung it all into the chasm that yawned for hundreds  of
feet beneath the nest.
     "My  poor,  poor  friend!"  said  the  Tin  Woodman,  taking  up  the
Scarecrow's head and caressing it tenderly;  "whoever  could  imagine  you
would come to this untimely end?"
     "I did it to save my friends," returned the head; "and I am glad that
I perished in so noble and unselfish a manner."
     "But why are you all so despondent?" inquired  the  Woggle-Bug.  "The
Scarecrow's clothing is still safe."
     "Yes," answered the  Tin  Woodman;  "but  our  friend's  clothes  are
useless without stuffing."
     "Why not stuff him with money?" asked Tip.
     "Money!" they all cried, in an amazed chorus.
     "To be sure," said the boy. "In the bottom of the nest are  thousands
of dollar bills - and two-dollar bills - and five-dollar bills - and tens,
and twenties, and fifties. There are enough  of  them  to  stuff  a  dozen
Scarecrows. Why not use the money?"
     The Tin Woodman began to turn over the rubbish with the handle of his
axe; and, sure enough, what they had first thought only  worthless  papers
were found to be all bills of various denominations, which the mischievous
Jackdaws had for years been engaged in  stealing  from  the  villages  and
cities they visited.
     There was an immense fortune lying in  that  inaccessible  nest;  and
Tip's suggestion was, with the Scarecrow's consent, quickly acted upon.
     They selected all the newest and cleanest  bills  and  assorted  them
into various piles. The Scarecrow's left leg and boot  were  stuffed  with
fivedollar bills; his right leg was stuffed with ten-dollar bills, and his
body so closely filled with fifties, one-hundreds and  one-thousands  that
he could scarcely button his jacket with comfort.
     "You are now" said the Woggle-Bug, impressively, when  the  task  had
been completed, "the most valuable member of our party;  and  as  you  are
among faithful friends there is little danger of your being spent."
     "Thank you," returned the Scarecrow, gratefully. "I feel like  a  new
man; and although at first glance I might be mistaken for a Safety Deposit
Vault, I beg you to remember that my Brains are still composed of the same
old material. And these are the possessions that have  always  made  me  a
person to be depended upon in an emergency."
     "Well, the emergency is here," observed Tip; "and unless your  brains
help us out of it we shall be compelled to pass the remainder of our lives
in this nest."
     "How about these wishing pills?" enquired the Scarecrow,  taking  the
box from his jacket pocket. "Can't we use them to escape?"
     "Not unless we  can  count  seventeen  by  twos,"  answered  the  Tin
Woodman. "But our friend the Woggle-Bug claims to be highly  educated,  so
he ought easily to figure out how that can be done."
     "It isn't a question of education," returned the Insect; "it's merely
a question of mathematics. I've seen the professor work lots  of  sums  on
the blackboard, and he claimed anything could be done with x's and y's and
a's, and such things, by mixing them up with plenty of plusses and minuses
and equals, and so forth. But he never said anything,  so  far  as  I  can
remember, about counting up to the odd number of  seventeen  by  the  even
numbers of twos."
     "Stop! stop!" cried the Pumpkinhead. "You're making my head ache."
     "And mine," added the Scarecrow. "Your mathematics seem  to  me  very
like a bottle of mixed pickles the more you fish for  what  you  want  the
less chance you have of getting it. I am certain that if the thing can  be
accomplished at all, it is in a very simple manner."
     "Yes," said Tip. "old Mombi couldn't use x's  and  minuses,  for  she
never went to school."
     "Why not start counting at a  half  of  one?"  asked  the  Saw-Horse,
abruptly. "Then anyone can count up to seventeen by twos very easily."
     They looked  at  each  other  in  surprise,  for  the  Saw-Horse  was
considered the most stupid of the entire party.
     "You make me quite ashamed of myself," said the Scarecrow, bowing low
to the Saw-Horse.
     "Nevertheless, the creature is right," declared the  Woggle-Bug;  for
twice one-half is one, and if you get to one it is easy to count from  one
up to seventeen by twos."
     "I wonder I didn't think of that myself," said the Pumpkinhead.
     "I don't," returned the Scarecrow. "You're no wiser than the rest  of
us, are you? But let us make a wish at once. Who will  swallow  the  first
pill?"
     "Suppose you do it," suggested Tip.
     "I can't," said the Scarecrow.
     "Why not? You've a mouth, haven't you?" asked the boy.
     "Yes; but my mouth is painted on, and there's  no  swallow  connected
with it,' answered the Scarecrow. "In fact," he  continued,  looking  from
one to another critically, "I believe the boy and the Woggle-Bug  are  the
only ones in our party that are able to swallow."
     Observing the truth of this remark, Tip said:
     "Then I will undertake to make the first wish. Give  me  one  of  the
Silver Pills."
     This the Scarecrow tried to do; but his padded gloves were too clumsy
to clutch so small an object, and he held the box toward the boy while Tip
selected one of the pills and swallowed it.
     "Count!" cried the Scarecrow.
     "One-half, one, three, five,  seven,  nine,  eleven,!"  counted  Tip.
thirteen, fifteen, seventeen.
     "Now wish!" said the Tin Woodman anxiously:
     But Just then the boy began to suffer  such  fearful  pains  that  he
became alarmed.
     "The pill has poisoned me!" he  gasped;  "O  -  h!  O-o-o-o-o!  Ouch!
Murder! Fire! O-o-h!" and here he rolled upon the bottom of  the  nest  in
such contortions that he frightened them all.
     "What can we do for you. Speak, I beg!" entreated  the  Tin  Woodman,
tears of sympathy running down his nickel cheeks.
     "I - I don't know!" answered Tip. "O - h! I wish I'd never  swallowed
that pill!"
     Then at once the pain stopped, and the boy rose to his feet again and
found the Scarecrow looking with amazement at the end of the pepper-box.
     "What's happened?" asked the boy, a  little  ashamed  of  his  recent
exhibition.
     "Why, the three pills are in the box again!" said the Scarecrow.
     "Of course they are," the Woggle-Bug declared. "Didn't Tip wish  that
he'd never swallowed one of them? Well, the wish came true, and he  didn't
swallow one of them. So of course they are all three in the box."
     "That may be; but the pill gave me a dreadful pain, just  the  same,"
said the boy.
     "Impossible!" declared the Woggle-Bug. "If you have  never  swallowed
it, the pill can not have given you  a  pain.  And  as  your  wish,  being
granted, proves you did not swallow the pill, it is also  plain  that  you
suffered no pain."
     "Then it was a splendid imitation of a pain," retorted Tip,  angrily.
"Suppose you try the next pill yourself. We've wasted one wish already."
     "Oh, no, we haven't!" protested the Scarecrow. "Here are still  three
pills in the box, and each pill is good for a wish."
     "Now you're making my head ache," said Tip. "I can't  understand  the
thing at all. But I won't take another pill, I promise you!" and with this
remark he retired sulkily to the back of the nest.
     "Well," said the Woggle-Bug, "it remains for me to save us in my most
Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated manner; for I seem to be the only
one able and willing to make a wish. Let me have one of the pills."
     He swallowed it without hesitation, and they all stood  admiring  his
courage while the Insect counted seventeen by twos in the  same  way  that
Tip had done. And for some  reason  -  perhaps  because  Woggle-Bugs  have
stronger stomachs than  boys  -  the  silver  pellet  caused  it  no  pain
whatever.
     "I wish the Gump's broken wings mended, and as good as new!" said the
Woggle-Bug, in a slow; impressive voice.
     All turned to look at the Thing, and so quickly  had  the  wish  been
granted that the Gump lay before them in perfect repair, and as well  able
to fly through the air as when it had first been brought to  life  on  the
roof of the palace.



        The Scarecrow Appeals to Glenda the Good

     "Hooray!" shouted the  Scarecrow,  gaily.  "We  can  now  leave  this
miserable Jackdaws' nest whenever we please."
     "But it is nearly dark," said the Tin Woodman; "and  unless  we  wait
until morning to make our flight we may get into  more  trouble.  I  don't
like these night trips, for one never knows what will happen."
     So it was decided to wait until daylight, and the adventurers  amused
themselves in the twilight by searching the Jackdaws' nest for treasures.
     The Woggle-Bug found two handsome bracelets of  wrought  gold,  which
fitted his slender arms very well. The Scarecrow took a fancy  for  rings,
of which there were many in the nest. Before long he had fitted a ring  to
each finger of his padded gloves, and not being content with that  display
he added one more to each thumb. As he carefully  chose  those  rings  set
with sparkling stones,  such  as  rubies,  amethysts  and  sapphires,  the
Scarecrow's hands now presented a most brilliant appearance.
     "This nest would be a picnic for Queen Jinjur,"  said  he,  musingly.
"for as nearly as I can make out she and her girls conquered me merely  to
rob my city of its emeralds."
     The Tin Woodman was content with his diamond necklace and refused  to
accept any additional decorations; but Tip  secured  a  fine  gold  watch,
which was attached to a heavy fob, and placed it in his pocket  with  much
pride. He also pinned several jeweled brooches to Jack  Pumpkinhead's  red
waistcoat, and attached a lorgnette, by means of a fine chain, to the neck
of the SawHorse.
     "It's very  pretty,"  said  the  creature,  regarding  the  lorgnette
approvingly; "but what is it for?"
     None of them could answer that question, however;  so  the  Saw-Horse
decided it was some rare decoration and became very fond of it.
     That none of the party might  be  slighted,  they  ended  by  placing
several large seal rings upon the points of the Gump's  antlers,  although
that odd personage seemed by no means gratified by the attention.
     Darkness soon fell upon them, and Tip  and  the  Woggle-Bug  went  to
sleep while the others sat down to wait patiently for the day.
     Next morning they had  cause  to  congratulate  themselves  upon  the
useful condition of the Gump; for with daylight a great flock of  Jackdaws
approached to engage in one more battle for the possession of the nest.
     But our adventurers did not wait for the assault. They  tumbled  into
the cushioned seats of the sofas as quickly as possible, and Tip gave  the
word to the Gump to start.
     At once it rose into the air, the great wings flopping  strongly  and
with regular motions, and in a few moments they were so far from the  nest
that the chattering  Jackdaws  took  possession  without  any  attempt  at
pursuit.
     The Thing flew due North, going in the same direction from whence  it
had come. At least, that was  the  Scarecrow's  opinion,  and  the  others
agreed that the Scarecrow was the best judge of direction.  After  passing
over several cities and villages the Gump carried them high above a  broad
plain where houses became more and more scattered until  they  disappeared
altogether. Next came the wide, sandy desert separating the  rest  of  the
world from the Land of Oz, and before noon they saw the dome-shaped houses
that proved they were once more within the borders of their native land.
     "But the houses and fences are blue," said the Tin Woodman, "and that
indicates we are in the land  of  the  Munchkins,  and  therefore  a  long
distance from Glinda the Good."
     "What shall we do?" asked the boy, turning to their guide.
     "I don't know" replied the Scarecrow, frankly. "If  we  were  at  the
Emerald City we could then move  directly  southward,  and  so  reach  our
destination. But we dare not go to the  Emerald  City,  and  the  Gump  is
probably carrying us further in the wrong direction with every flop of its
wings."
     "Then the Woggle-Bug must swallow another pill," said Tip, decidedly,
"and wish us headed in the right direction."
     "Very well," returned the Highly Magnified one; "I'm willing."
     But when the Scarecrow searched in  his  pocket  for  the  pepper-box
containing the two silver Wishing Pills, it was not to  be  found.  Filled
with anxiety, the voyagers hunted throughout every inch of the  Thing  for
the precious box; but it had disappeared entirely.
     And still the Gump flew onward, carrying them they knew not where.
     "I must have left the pepper-box in the  Jackdaws'  nest,"  said  the
Scarecrow, at length.
     "It is a great misfortune," the Tin Woodman declared. "But we are  no
worse off than before we discovered the Wishing Pills."
     "We are better off," replied Tip. "for  the  one  pill  we  used  has
enabled us to escape from that horrible nest."
     "Yet the loss of the other two is  serious,  and  I  deserve  a  good
scolding for my carelessness," the Scarecrow rejoined, penitently. "For in
such an unusual party as this accidents are liable to happen  any  moment,
and even now we may be approaching a new danger."
     No one dared contradict this, and a dismal silence ensued.
     The Gump flew steadily on.
     Suddenly Tip uttered  an  exclamation  of  surprise.  "We  must  have
reached the South Country," he cried, "for below us everything is red!"
     Immediately they all leaned over the backs of the sofas to look - all
except Jack, who was too careful of his pumpkin head to risk its  slipping
off his neck. Sure enough; the red houses and fences and  trees  indicated
they were within the domain of Glinda the Good;  and  presently,  as  they
glided rapidly on, the Tin Woodman recognized the roads and buildings they
passed, and altered slightly the flight of the Gump  so  that  they  might
reach the palace of the celebrated Sorceress.
     "Good!" cried the Scarecrow, delightedly. "We do not  need  the  lost
Wishing Pills now, for we have arrived at our destination."
     Gradually the Thing sank lower and nearer  to  the  ground  until  at
length it came to rest within the beautiful gardens  of  Glinda,  settling
upon a velvety green lawn  close  by  a  fountain  which  sent  sprays  of
flashing gems, instead of water, high into the air, whence they fell  with
a soft, tinkling sound into the carved  marble  basin  placed  to  receive
them.
     Everything was very gorgeous  in  Glinda's  gardens,  and  while  our
voyagers gazed about with admiring eyes a  company  of  soldiers  silently
appeared and surrounded them. But these soldiers of  the  great  Sorceress
were entirely different from those of Jinjur's Army  of  Revolt,  although
they were likewise girls. For Glinda's soldiers  wore  neat  uniforms  and
bore swords and spears; and they marched with a skill and  precision  that
proved them well trained in the arts of war.
     The Captain commanding this troop - which was Glinda's  private  Body
Guard - - recognized the Scarecrow  and  the  Tin  Woodman  at  once,  and
greeted them with respectful salutations.
     "Good day!" said the Scarecrow, gallantly removing his hat, while the
Woodman gave a soldierly salute; "we have come to request an audience with
your fair Ruler."
     "Glinda is  now  within  her  palace,  awaiting  you,"  returned  the
Captain; "for she saw you coming long before you arrived."
     "That is strange!" said Tip, wondering.
     "Not at all," answered the Scarecrow,  "for  Glinda  the  Good  is  a
mighty Sorceress, and nothing that goes on in the Land of Oz  escapes  her
notice. I suppose she knows why we came as well as we do ourselves."
     "Then what was the use of our coming?" asked Jack, stupidly.
     "To prove you are a Pumpkinhead!" retorted the  Scarecrow.  "But,  if
the Sorceress expects us, we must not keep her waiting."
     So they all clambered out of  the  sofas  and  followed  the  Captain
toward the palace - even the Saw-Horse  taking  his  place  in  the  queer
procession.
     Upon her throne of finely wrought gold  sat  Glinda,  and  she  could
scarcely repress a smile as her peculiar visitors entered and bowed before
her. Both the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman she knew and  liked;  but  the
awkward Pumpkinhead and Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug were creatures she had
never seen before, and they seemed even more curious than the  others.  As
for the Saw-Horse, he looked to be nothing more than an animated chunk  of
wood; and he bowed so stiffly that his  head  bumped  against  the  floor,
causing a ripple of laughter among the soldiers, in which  Glinda  frankly
joined.
     "I beg to announce to your glorious highness," began  the  Scarecrow,
in a solemn voice, "that my Emerald City has been overrun by  a  crowd  of
impudent girls with knitting-needles,  who  have  enslaved  all  the  men,
robbed the streets and public buildings of all their emerald  jewels,  and
usurped my throne."
     "I know it," said Glinda.
     "They also threatened to destroy me, as well as all the good  friends
and allies you see before you," continued the Scarecrow. "and had  we  not
managed to escape their clutches our days would long since have ended."
     "I know it," repeated Glinda.
     "Therefore  I  have  come  to  beg  your  assistance,"  resumed   the
Scarecrow, "for I believe you are always glad to  succor  the  unfortunate
and oppressed."
     "That is true," replied the Sorceress, slowly. "But the Emerald  City
is now ruled by General Jinjur, who has caused herself  to  be  proclaimed
Queen. What right have I to oppose her?"
     "Why, she stole the throne from me," said the Scarecrow.
     "And how came you to possess the throne?" asked Glinda.
     "I got it from the Wizard of Oz, and by the choice  of  the  people,"
returned the Scarecrow, uneasy at such questioning.
     "And where did the Wizard get it?" she continued gravely.
     "I am told he took it from  Pastoria,  the  former  King,"  said  the
Scarecrow, becoming confused under the intent look of the Sorceress.
     "Then,