on for the first time, fairly fell
upon his neck. Then he brushed his clumsy hand across his forehead.

"Wasn't I talking Ozish?" he asked in a puzzled voice.

"Oh, now you are!" exclaimed Dorothy. And sure enough, the Scarecrow
was talking plain Ozish again. (Which I don't mind telling you is
also plain English.)

The Knight had been watching this little reunion with hardly
repressed emotion. Advancing hastily, he dropped on one knee.

"My good sword and lance are ever at thy service, my Lord Scarecrow!"
he exclaimed feelingly.

"Who is this impulsive person?" gulped the Scarecrow, staring in
undisguised astonishment at the kneeling figure of the Sir Hokus of
Pokes.

"He's my Knight Errant, and he's taken such good care of me,"
explained Dorothy eagerly.

"Splendid fellow," hissed the Cowardly Lion in the Scarecrow's other
painted ear, "if he does talk odds and ends."

"Any friend of little Dorothy's is my friend," said the Scarecrow,
shaking hands with Sir Hokus warmly. "But what I want to know is how
you all got here."

"First tell us where we are," begged the little girl, for the
Scarecrow's silver hat and queue filled her with alarm.

"You are on the Silver Island," said the Scarecrow slowly. "And I am
the Emperor--or his good-for-nothing spirit--and tomorrow," the
Scarecrow glared around wildly, "tomorrow I'll be eighty-five going
on eighty-six." His voice broke and ended in a barely controlled sob.

"Doubt that," drawled the Doubtful Dromedary sleepily.

"Eighty-five years old!" gasped Dorothy. "Why, no one in Oz grows any
older!"

"We are no longer in Oz." The Scarecrow shook his head sadly. Then,
fixing the group with a puzzled stare, he exclaimed, "But how did you
get here?"

"On a _wish_," said the Knight in a hollow voice.

"Yes," said Dorothy, "we've been hunting you all over Oz, and at last
we came to Wish Way, and I said 'I wish we were all with the
Scarecrow,' just like that--and next minute--"

"We fell and fell--and fell--and fell," wheezed the Comfortable
Camel.

"And fell--and fell--and fell--and fell," droned the Dromedary,
"And--"

"Here you are," finished the Scarecrow hastily, for the Dromedary
showed signs of going on forever.

"Now tell us every single thing that has happened to you," demanded
Dorothy eagerly.

Happy Toko had recognized Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion from the
Scarecrow's description, and he now approached with an arm full of
cushions. These he set in