temper. They soon mixed a tub of oatmeal with a little water, and
Jim ate it with much relish.

Then the servants heaped a lot of rugs upon the floor and the old horse
slept on the softest bed he had ever known in his life.

In the morning, as soon as it was daylight, he resolved to take a walk
and try to find some grass for breakfast; so he ambled calmly through
the handsome arch of the doorway, turned the corner of the palace,
wherein all seemed asleep, and came face to face with the Sawhorse.

Jim stopped abruptly, being startled and amazed. The Sawhorse stopped at
the same time and stared at the other with its queer protruding eyes,
which were mere knots in the log that formed its body. The legs of the
Sawhorse were four sticks driven into holes bored in the log; its tail
was a small branch that had been left by accident and its mouth a place
chopped in one end of the body which projected a little and served as
a head. The ends of the wooden legs were shod with plates of solid gold,
and the saddle of the Princess Ozma, which was of red leather set with
sparkling diamonds, was strapped to the clumsy body.

[Illustration: "FOR GOODNESS SAKE, WHAT SORT OF A BEING ARE YOU?"]

Jim's eyes stuck out as much as those of the Sawhorse, and he stared at
the creature with his ears erect and his long head drawn back until it
rested against his arched neck.

In this comical position the two horses circled slowly around each other
for a while, each being unable to realize what the singular thing might
be which it now beheld for the first time. Then Jim exclaimed:

"For goodness sake, what sort of a being are you?"

"I'm a Sawhorse," replied the other.

"Oh; I believe I've heard of you," said the cab-horse; "but you are
unlike anything that I expected to see."

"I do not doubt it," the Sawhorse observed, with a tone of pride. "I am
considered quite unusual."

"You are, indeed. But a rickety wooden thing like you has no right to be
alive."

"I couldn't help it," returned the other, rather crestfallen. "Ozma
sprinkled me with a magic powder, and I just had to live. I know I'm not
much account; but I'm the only horse in all the Land of Oz, so they
treat me with great respect."

"You, a horse!"

"Oh, not a real one, of course. There are no real horses here at all.
But I'm a splendid imitation of one."

Jim gave an indignant neigh.

"Look at me!" he cried. "Behold a real horse!"

The wooden animal gave a start, and