Tiger thanked them as well.

"I think we should be looking for the real Ozma," said Graham. "The
Witch will eventually be out hunting me down again."

"A good thought," agreed the Hungry Tiger. "We shall go and find her
straightaway."

The centaur looked solemn. "I would so love to meet our dear ruler," he
said. "But I fear I may be in for a rude visit from those wartfrogs, and
I think I should be there when it comes to pass. However, I will join
you in the Emerald City as soon as I have sent the wartfrogs away for
good. I will be sorry to be apart from this dear unicorn, however. We
have been talking, and we agree that we belong together. I will be
anxiously looking forward to seeing her again very soon."

"No," replied Jeanne-Marie. "I shall come back to the farm and help you
to rid yourself of those former employees of yours. Then we shall travel
together to the Emerald City."

This was a sad parting for all, after all of the adventures they had
shared together. But it was as it had to be. So they all said their
good-byes and parted, and the two equine-type creatures headed in one
direction and the four mismatched friends in the other.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

A STORY WITH A HAPPY ENDING

The four friends had reached a clearing behind which a clump of trees
partially camouflaged a quaint little cottage. By this time Graham was
feeling quite thirsty and thought it would be a good idea to knock on
the cottage door and see if he could obtain a nice drink of water. The
cottage was surrounded by a garden full of flowers and a white picket
fence, and it was all so pretty it could have come right out of a fairy
tale. Graham knew full well that no evil person could possibly reside in
such a picturesque place, so he boldly opened the gate and walked along
the little winding path to the front door, where he knocked loudly.

A minute went by with no response, whereupon Graham knocked again, but
this time quite a bit louder.

"Why don't you just knock my door down?" said a voice behind him. Graham
about jumped out of his skin as he spun around to see a very kindly lady
with a twinkle in her eyes approaching from the back of the house. "I
was pruning my roses in the back garden," she continued, "when I heard
what I thought must be a very rude person banging on my front door. I
gather you must be here on a very urgent matter."

"Well ... not exactly," Graham said rather sheepishly. "I was feeling
very thirsty and th