from the air to prove you were wrong."

"One person cannot be called 'people,'" said the Sorcerer. "If two
should come out of the sky you might with justice say I was wrong; but
unless more than this one appears I will hold that I was right."

"Very clever," said the Wizard, nodding his head as if pleased. "I am
delighted to find humbugs inside the earth, just the same as on top of
it. Were you ever with a circus, brother?"

"No," said the Sorcerer.

"You ought to join one," declared the little man seriously. "I belong to
Bailum & Barney's Great Consolidated Shows--three rings in one tent and
a menagerie on the side. It's a fine aggregation, I assure you."

"What do you do?" asked the Sorcerer.

"I go up in a balloon, usually, to draw the crowds to the circus. But
I've just had the bad luck to come out of the sky, skip the solid earth,
and land lower down than I intended. But never mind. It isn't everybody
who gets a chance to see your Land of the Gabazoos."

"Mangaboos," said the Sorcerer, correcting him. "If you are a Wizard you
ought to be able to call people by their right names."

"Oh, I'm a Wizard; you may be sure of that. Just as good a Wizard as you
are a Sorcerer."

"That remains to be seen," said the other.

"If you are able to prove that you are better," said the Prince to the
little man, "I will make you the Chief Wizard of this domain.
Otherwise--"

"What will happen otherwise?" asked the Wizard.

"I will stop you from living, and forbid you to be planted," returned
the Prince.

"That does not sound especially pleasant," said the little man, looking
at the one with the star uneasily. "But never mind. I'll beat Old
Prickly, all right."

"My name is Gwig," said the Sorcerer, turning his heartless, cruel eyes
upon his rival. "Let me see you equal the sorcery I am about to
perform."

He waved a thorny hand and at once the tinkling of bells was heard,
playing sweet music. Yet, look where she would, Dorothy could discover
no bells at all in the great glass hall.

The Mangaboo people listened, but showed no great interest. It was one
of the things Gwig usually did to prove he was a sorcerer.

Now was the Wizard's turn, so he smiled upon the assemblage and asked:

"Will somebody kindly loan me a hat?"

No one did, because the Mangaboos did not wear hats, and Zeb had lost
his, somehow, in his flight through the air.

"Ahem!" said the Wizard, "will somebody please loan me a handkerchief?"