country, which
no one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, your
Majesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left, for
you rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands of Nomes
obey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of melted silver, to
quiet your nerves, and then go to bed."

The King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko's head. The Steward
ducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against the door just
over his left ear.

"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,"
screamed the Nome King.

Kaliko hastily withdrew, and the Nome King stamped up and down until
the General of his armies appeared.

This Nome was known far and wide as a terrible fighter and a cruel,
desperate commander. He had fifty thousand Nome soldiers, all well
drilled, who feared nothing but their stern master. Yet General Blug
was a trifle uneasy when he arrived and saw how angry the Nome King was.

"Ha! So you're here!" cried the King.

"So I am," said the General.

"March your army at once to the Land of Oz, capture and destroy the
Emerald City, and bring back to me my Magic Belt!" roared the King.

"You're crazy," calmly remarked the General.

"What's that? What's that? What's that?" And the Nome King danced
around on his pointed toes, he was so enraged.

"You don't know what you're talking about," continued the General,
seating himself upon a large cut diamond. "I advise you to stand in a
corner and count sixty before you speak again. By that time you may be
more sensible."

The King looked around for something to throw at General Blug, but as
nothing was handy he began to consider that perhaps the man was right
and he had been talking foolishly. So he merely threw himself into his
glittering throne and tipped his crown over his ear and curled his feet
up under him and glared wickedly at Blug.

"In the first place," said the General, "we cannot march across the
deadly desert to the Land of Oz. And if we could, the Ruler of that
country, Princess Ozma, has certain fairy powers that would render my
army helpless. Had you not lost your Magic Belt we might have some
chance of defeating Ozma; but the Belt is gone."

"I want it!" screamed the King. "I must have it."

"Well, then, let us try in a sensible way to get it," replied the
General. "The Belt was captured by a little girl named Dorothy, who
lives in Kansas, in the Uni