d at her
in pleased admiration of her beauty--for he had forgotten where he was
and why he had come there.

But now the Grand Gallipoot arrived, rushing from the tunnel with a
hoarse cry of mingled rage and thirst. He too saw the fountain and
hastened to drink of its forbidden waters. The other Growleywogs were
not slow to follow suit, and even before they had finished drinking the
Chief of the Whimsies and his people came to push them away, while they
one and all cast off their false heads that they might slake their
thirst at the fountain.

When the Nome King and General Guph arrived they both made a dash to
drink, but the General was so mad with thirst that he knocked his King
over, and while Roquat lay sprawling upon the ground the General drank
heartily of the Water of Oblivion.

This rude act of his General made the Nome King so angry that for a
moment he forgot he was thirsty and rose to his feet to glare upon the
group of terrible warriors he had brought here to assist him. He saw
Ozma and her people, too, and yelled out:

"Why don't you capture them? Why don't you conquer Oz, you idiots?
Why do you stand there like a lot of dummies?"

But the great warriors had become like little children. They had
forgotten all their enmity against Ozma and against Oz. They had even
forgotten who they themselves were, or why they were in this strange
and beautiful country. As for the Nome King, they did not recognize
him, and wondered who he was.

The sun came up and sent its flood of silver rays to light the faces of
the invaders. The frowns and scowls and evil looks were all gone.
Even the most monstrous of the creatures there assembled smiled
innocently and seemed light-hearted and content merely to be alive.

Not so with Roquat, the Nome King. He had not drunk from the Forbidden
Fountain and all his former rage against Ozma and Dorothy now inflamed
him as fiercely as ever. The sight of General Guph babbling like a
happy child and playing with his hands in the cool waters of the
fountain astonished and maddened Red Roquat. Seeing that his terrible
allies and his own General refused to act, the Nome King turned to
order his great army of Nomes to advance from the tunnel and seize the
helpless Oz people.

But the Scarecrow suspected what was in the King's mind and spoke a
word to the Tin Woodman. Together they ran at Roquat and grabbing him
up tossed him into the great basin of the fountain.

The Nome