summoned his warriors.

At once the army filed out of the gold and silver doors in great
numbers, and marched up a winding stairs and into the throne room, led
by a stern featured Nome who was their captain. When they had nearly
filled the throne room they formed ranks in the big underground cavern
below, and then stood still until they were told what to do next.

Dorothy had pressed back to one side of the cavern when the warriors
entered, and now she stood holding little Prince Evring's hand while the
great Lion crouched upon one side and the enormous Tiger crouched an the
other side.

"Seize that girl!" shouted the King to his captain, and a group of
warriors sprang forward to obey. But both the Lion and Tiger snarled so
fiercely and bared their strong, sharp teeth so threateningly, that the
men drew back in alarm.

"Don't mind them!" cried the Nome King; "they cannot leap beyond the
places where they now stand."

"But they can bite those who attempt to touch the girl," said the
captain.

"I'll fix that," answered the King. "I'll enchant them again, so that
they can't open their jaws."

He stepped out of the throne to do this, but just then the Sawhorse ran
up behind him and gave the fat monarch a powerful kick with both his
wooden hind legs.

"Ow! Murder! Treason!" yelled the King, who had been hurled against
several of his warriors and was considerably bruised. "Who did that?"

"I did," growled the Sawhorse, viciously. "You let Dorothy alone, or
I'll kick you again."

"We'll see about that," replied the King, and at once he waved his hand
toward the Sawhorse and muttered a magical word. "Aha!" he continued;
"_now_ let us see you move, you wooden mule!"

But in spite of the magic the Sawhorse moved; and he moved so quickly
toward the King, that the fat little man could not get out of his way.
Thump--_bang!_ came the wooden heels, right against his round body, and
the King flew into the air and fell upon the head of his captain, who
let him drop flat upon the ground.

"Well, well!" said the King, sitting up and looking surprised. "Why
didn't my magic belt work, I wonder?"

"The creature is made of wood," replied the captain. "Your magic will
not work on wood, you know."

"Ah, I'd forgotten that," said the King, getting up and limping to his
throne. "Very well, let the girl alone. She can't escape us, anyway."

The warriors, who had been rather confused by these incidents, now
formed their ranks a