ecognized his friends he smiled sweetly, saying: "Found again!"

"Where is Ozma?" inquired Dorothy anxiously.

"I don't know," answered Button-Bright from the depths of the hole. "I
got lost, yesterday, as you may remember, and in the night, while I was
wandering around in the moonlight, trying to find my way back to you, I
suddenly fell into this hole."

"And wasn't Ozma in it then?"

"There was no one in it but me, and I was sorry it wasn't entirely
empty. The sides are so steep I can't climb out, so there was nothing to
be done but sleep until someone found me. Thank you for coming. If
you'll please let down a rope I'll empty this hole in a hurry."

"How strange!" said Dorothy, greatly disappointed. "It's evident the
Pink Bear didn't tell us the truth."

"He never makes a mistake," declared the Lavender Bear King, in a tone
that showed his feelings were hurt. And then he turned the crank of the
little Pink Bear again and asked: "Is this the hole that Ozma of Oz is
in?"

"Yes," answered the Pink Bear.

"That settles it," said the King, positively. "Your Ozma is in this hole
in the ground."

"Don't be silly," returned Dorothy impatiently. "Even your beady eyes
can see there is no one in the hole but Button-Bright."

"Perhaps Button-Bright is Ozma," suggested the King.

[Illustration]

"And perhaps he isn't! Ozma is a girl, and Button-Bright is a boy."

"Your Pink Bear must be out of order," said the Wizard; "for, this time
at least, his machinery has caused him to make an untrue statement."

The Bear King was so angry at this remark that he turned away, holding
the Pink Bear in his paws, and refused to discuss the matter in any
further way.

"At any rate," said the Frogman, "the Pink Bear has led us to your boy
friend and so enabled you to rescue him."

Scraps was leaning so far over the hole, trying to find Ozma in it, that
suddenly she lost her balance and pitched in headforemost. She fell upon
Button-Bright and tumbled him over, but he was not hurt by her soft
stuffed body and only laughed at the mishap. The Wizard buckled some
straps together and let one end of them down into the hole, and soon
both Scraps and the boy had climbed up and were standing safely beside
the others.

[Illustration]

They looked once more for Ozma, but the hole was now absolutely vacant.
It was a round hole, so from the top they could plainly see every part
of it. Before they left the place Dorothy went to the Bear K