hall on which they were standing suddenly began to
tip. Instead of being flat and level, it became a slant, and the slant
grew steeper and steeper until none of the party could manage to stand
upon it. Presently they all slid down to the wall, which was now under
them, and then it became evident that the whole vast room was slowly
turning upside down! Only Ugu the Shoemaker, kept in place by the bars
of his golden cage, remained in his former position, and the wicked
magician seemed to enjoy the surprise of his victims immensely.

First they all slid down to the wall back of them, but as the room
continued to turn over, they next slid down the wall and found
themselves at the bottom of the great dome, bumping against the big
chandelier which, like everything else, was now upside down. The
turning movement now stopped, and the room became stationary. Looking
far up, they saw Ugu suspended in his cage at the very top, which had
once been the floor.

"Ah," said he, grinning down at them, "the way to conquer is to act,
and he who acts promptly is sure to win. This makes a very good
prison, from which I am sure you cannot escape. Please amuse
yourselves in any way you like, but I must beg you to excuse me, as I
have business in another part of my castle."

Saying this, he opened a trap door in the floor of his cage (which was
now over his head) and climbed through it and disappeared from their
view. The diamond dishpan still remained in the cage, but the bars
kept it from falling down on their heads.

"Well, I declare," said the Patchwork Girl, seizing one of the bars of
the chandelier and swinging from it, "we must peg one for the
Shoemaker, for he has trapped us very cleverly."

"Get off my foot, please," said the Lion to the Sawhorse.

"And oblige me, Mr. Mule," remarked the Woozy, "by taking your tail
out of my left eye."

"It's rather crowded down here," explained Dorothy, "because the dome
is rounding and we have all slid into the middle of it. But let us
keep as quiet as possible until we can think what's best to be done."

"Dear, dear!" wailed Cayke, "I wish I had my darling dishpan," and she
held her arms longingly toward it.

"I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there," sighed the Wizard.

"Don't you s'pose we could get to it?" asked Trot anxiously.

"We'd have to fly," laughed the Patchwork Girl.

But the Wizard took the suggestion seriously, and so did the Frogman.
They talked it o