ll my plans made, and a host of allies to assist my
Nomes."

"What do you mean by that?" asked the King.

"I'll explain, King Roquat. You're going to attack a fairy country,
and a mighty fairy country, too. They haven't much of an army in Oz,
but the Princess who ruled them has a fairy wand; and the little girl
Dorothy has your Magic Belt; and at the North of the Emerald City lives
a clever sorceress called Glinda the Good, who commands the spirits of
the air. Also I have heard that there is a wonderful Wizard in Ozma's
palace, who is so skillful that people used to pay him money in America
to see him perform. So you see it will be no easy thing to overcome
all this magic."

"We have fifty thousand soldiers!" cried the King proudly.

"Yes; but they are Nomes," remarked Guph, taking a silk handkerchief
from the King's pocket and wiping his own pointed shoes with it.
"Nomes are immortals, but they are not strong on magic. When you lost
your famous Belt the greater part of your own power was gone from you.
Against Ozma you and your Nomes would have no show at all."

Roquat's eyes flashed angrily.

"Then away you go to the slicing machine!" he cried.

"Not yet," said the General, filling his pipe from the King's private
tobacco pouch.

"What do you propose to do?" asked the monarch.

"I propose to obtain the power we need," answered Guph. "There are a
good many evil creatures who have magic powers sufficient to destroy
and conquer the Land of Oz. We will get them on our side, band them
all together, and then take Ozma and her people by surprise. It's all
very simple and easy when you know how. Alone, we should be helpless
to injure the Ruler of Oz, but with the aid of the evil powers we can
summon we shall easily succeed."

King Roquat was delighted with this idea, for he realized how clever it
was.

"Surely, Guph, you are the greatest General I have ever had!" he
exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with joy. "You must go at once and make
arrangements with the evil powers to assist us, and meantime I'll begin
to dig the tunnel."

"I thought you'd agree with me, Roquat," replied the new General.
"I'll start this very afternoon to visit the Chief of the Whimsies."

5. How Dorothy Became a Princess

When the people of the Emerald City heard that Dorothy had returned to
them every one was eager to see her, for the little girl was a general
favorite in the Land of Oz. From time to time some of the fol