e officers are more
important looking, and lend dignity to our army."

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

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

9. The Royal Family of Ev

The Tin Woodman was the first to address the meeting.

"To begin with," said he, "word came to our noble and illustrious
Ruler, Ozma of Oz, that the wife and ten children--five boys and five
girls--of the former King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been enslaved by
the Nome King and are held prisoners in his underground palace. Also
that there was no one in Ev powerful enough to release them. Naturally
our Ozma wished to undertake the adventure of liberating the poor
prisoners; but for a long time she could find no way to cross the great
desert between the two countries. Finally she went to a friendly
sorceress of our land named Glinda the Good, who heard the story and at
once presented Ozma a magic carpet, which would continually unroll
beneath our feet and so make a comfortable path for us to cross the
desert. As soon as she had received the carpet our gracious Ruler
ordered me to assemble our army, which I did. You behold in these bold
warriors the pick of all the finest soldiers of Oz; and, if we are
obliged to fight the Nome King, every officer as well as the private,
will battle fiercely unto death."

Then Tiktok spoke.

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

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

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

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

"My uncle Evoldo was a very wicked man," declared the Princess
Langwidere. "If he had drowned himself before he sold his family, no
one would have cared. But he sold them to the powerful Nome King in
exchange for a long life, and afterward destroyed the life by jumping
into the sea."

"Then," said Ozma, "he did not get the long life, and the Nome King
must give up the prisoners. Where are