e I'm sure," said Dorothy. "You're in the Fairyland of Oz, now;
an' what's more, you belong to it!"

6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies

The new General of the Nome King's army knew perfectly well that to
fail in his plans meant death for him. Yet he was not at all anxious
or worried. He hated every one who was good and longed to make all who
were happy unhappy. Therefore he had accepted this dangerous position
as General quite willingly, feeling sure in his evil mind that he would
be able to do a lot of mischief and finally conquer the Land of Oz.

Yet Guph determined to be careful, and to lay his plans well, so as not
to fail. He argued that only careless people fail in what they attempt
to do.

The mountains underneath which the Nome King's extensive caverns were
located lay grouped just north of the Land of Ev, which lay directly
across the deadly desert to the east of the Land of Oz. As the
mountains were also on the edge of the desert the Nome King found that
he had only to tunnel underneath the desert to reach Ozma's dominions.
He did not wish his armies to appear above ground in the Country of the
Winkies, which was the part of the Land of Oz nearest to King Roquat's
own country, as then the people would give the alarm and enable Ozma to
fortify the Emerald City and assemble an army. He wanted to take all
the Oz people by surprise; so he decided to run the tunnel clear
through to the Emerald City, where he and his hosts could break through
the ground without warning and conquer the people before they had time
to defend themselves.

Roquat the Red began work at once upon his tunnel, setting a thousand
miners at the task and building it high and broad enough for his armies
to march through it with ease. The Nomes were used to making tunnels,
as all the kingdom in which they lived was under ground; so they made
rapid progress.

While this work was going on General Guph started out alone to visit
the Chief of the Whimsies.

These Whimsies were curious people who lived in a retired country of
their own. They had large, strong bodies, but heads so small that they
were no bigger than door-knobs. Of course, such tiny heads could not
contain any great amount of brains, and the Whimsies were so ashamed of
their personal appearance and lack of commonsense that they wore big
heads made of pasteboard, which they fastened over their own little
heads. On these pasteboard heads they sewed sheep's wool for