ing you know the talk
will all come back to you." Sir Hokus' honest face shone with
pleasure.

"Odds bludgeons and truncheons! The little maid is right!" he
exclaimed, striking an attitude. "And once it does, the rest will be
easy."

"Don't say rest to me," begged the Cowardly Lion, getting slowly to
his feet. "Hah, hoh, hum! Just to think of it makes me yawn. Now
don't you think we had better start off?"

"If you're rested," began Dorothy. The Cowardly Lion put his paw over
his ear and looked so comical that both Dorothy and Sir Hokus laughed
heartily.

"If you're ready," amended Dorothy, and the three adventurers started
up the steep road. "The first thing to do," said the little girl, "is
to get back to the Emerald City as quickly as we can."

At this very minute Glinda, the Good Sorceress of Oz, in her palace
in the Quadling Country, was puzzling over an entry in the Magic
Record Book. This book tells everything that is happening in the
world and out, and while it does not give details, it is a very
useful possession.

"The Emperor of the Silver Islands," read Glinda, "has returned to
his people."

"Now who is the Emperor of the Silver Islands?" she asked herself.
She puzzled about it for a long while, and then, deciding that it had
nothing to do with the Fairy Kingdom of Oz, she closed the book and
went for a walk in the palace garden.

Dorothy and Sir Hokus and the Cowardly Lion had meanwhile reached the
first sign in the dim forest, the sign directing travelers to Pokes.
Two roads branched out through the forest, and after much debating
they took the wider.

"Do you 'spose this leads to the Emerald City?" asked Cowardly Lion
dubiously.

"Time will tell, time will tell," said Sir Hokus cheerfully.

"Yes," murmured the Cowardly Lion, "time will tell. But what?"

CHAPTER 7

THE SCARECROW IS HAILED AS EMPEROR!

Leaning forward on the great throne, the Scarecrow waited impatiently
for the ancient gentleman to speak. The gray-skinned courtiers were
eyeing him expectantly, and just as the suspense became almost
unendurable, the old man threw up his arms and cried sharply:

"The prophecy of the magic beanstalk has been fulfilled. In this
radiant and sublime Scarecrowcus, the spirit of Chang Wang Woe, the
mighty, has returned. And I, the Grand Chew Chew of the realm,
prostrate myself before this wonderful Scarecrowcus, Emperor of the
Silver Islands." So, likewise, did all the company present, and