th the throne, so that
soon she had fallen fast asleep.

"Next!" called the King, and the private, whose turn it was to enter the
fatal palace, shook hands with Dorothy and the Scarecrow and bade them a
sorrowful good-bye, and passed through the rocky portal.

They waited a long time, for the private was in no hurry to become an
ornament and made his guesses very slowly. The Nome King, who seemed to
know, by some magical power, all that took place in his beautiful rooms
of his palace, grew impatient finally and declared he would sit up no
longer.

"I love ornaments," said he, "but I can wait until tomorrow to get more
of them; so, as soon as that stupid private is transformed, we will all
go to bed and leave the job to be finished in the morning."

"Is it so very late?" asked Dorothy.

"Why, it is after midnight," said the King, "and that strikes me as
being late enough. There is neither night nor day in my kingdom, because
it is under the earth's surface, where the sun does not shine. But we
have to sleep, just the same as the up-stairs people do, and for my part
I'm going to bed in a few minutes."

Indeed, it was not long after this that the private made his last guess.
Of course he guessed wrongly, and of course he at once became an
ornament. So the King was greatly pleased, and clapped his hands to
summon his Chief Steward.

"Show these guests to some of the sleeping apartments," he commanded,
"and be quick about it, too, for I'm dreadfully sleepy myself."

"You've no business to sit up so late," replied the Steward, gruffly.
"You'll be as cross as a griffin tomorrow morning."

[Illustration: SOON SHE HAD FALLEN FAST ASLEEP]

His Majesty made no answer to this remark, and the Chief Steward led
Dorothy through another doorway into a long hall, from which several
plain but comfortable sleeping rooms opened. The little girl was given
the first room, and the Scarecrow and Tiktok the next--although they
never slept--and the Lion and the Tiger the third. The Sawhorse hobbled
after the Steward into a fourth room, to stand stiffly in the center of
it until morning. Each night was rather a bore to the Scarecrow, Tiktok
and the Sawhorse; but they had learned from experience to pass the time
patiently and quietly, since all their friends who were made of flesh
had to sleep and did not like to be disturbed.

When the Chief Steward had left them alone the Scarecrow remarked,
sadly:

"I am in great sorrow over the