became extremely nervous.

Was he really old? Did his head ache? When no one was looking, he
felt himself carefully all over. Then something of his old time Oz
spirit returned. Seizing the cushion that his eldest son was placing
at his back, he hurled it over his head. Leaping from his throne, he
began turning handsprings in a careless and sprightly manner.

"Don't you worry about your honorable old papa," chuckled the
Scarecrow, winking at Happy Toko. "He's good for a couple of
centuries!"

The three Princes stared sourly at this exhibition of youth.

"But your heart," objected the eldest Prince.

"Have none," laughed the Scarecrow. Snatching off the silver cord
from around his waist, he began skipping rope up and down the hall.
The Princes, tapping their foreheads significantly, retired, and the
Scarecrow, throwing his arm around Happy Toko, began whispering in
his ear. He had a plan himself. They would see!

* * * * *

Meanwhile, off in his dark cave in one of the silver mountains, the
Grand Gheewizard of the Silver Island was stirring a huge kettle of
magic. Every few moments he paused to read out of a great yellow book
that he had propped up on the mantle. The fire in the huge grate
leaped fiercely under the big, black pot, and the sputtering candles
on each side of the book sent creepy shadows into the dark cave. Dark
chests, books, bundles of herbs, and heaps of gold and silver were
everywhere. Whenever the Gheewizard turned his back, a rheumatic
silver-scaled old dragon would crawl toward the fire and swallow a
mouthful of coals, until the old Gheewizard caught him in the act and
chained him to a ring in the corner of the cave.

"Be patient, little joy of my heart! Our fortune is about to be
made," hissed the wizened little man, waving a long iron spoon at the
dragon. "You shall have a bucket of red-hot coals every hour and I a
silver cap with a tassel. Have not the Royal Princes promised it?"
The dragon shuffled about and finally went to sleep, smoking sulkily.

"Is it finished, son of a yellow dog?" Through the narrow opening of
the cave, the youngest Prince stuck his head.

"I am working as fast as I can, Honorable Prince, but the elixir must
boil yet one more night. Tomorrow, when the sun shines on the first
bar of your celestial window, come, and all will be ready."

"Are you sure you have found it?" asked the Prince, withdrawing his
head, for the smoking dragon and steam from the kettle made