came to the middle of the
first room the girl waved her hand, as she had seen the King do, and
commanded the Tin Woodman, whatever form he might then have, to resume
his proper shape. No result followed this attempt, so Dorothy went into
another room and repeated it, and so through all the rooms of the
palace. Yet the Tin Woodman did not appear to them, nor could they
imagine which among the thousands of ornaments was their transformed
friend.

Sadly they returned to the throne room, where the King, seeing that they
had met with failure, jeered at Dorothy, saying:

"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is of no use to you. Give it
back to me and I will let you go free--you and all the people who came
with you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are my slaves, and shall
remain here."

"I shall keep the belt," said Dorothy.

"But how can you escape, without my consent?" asked the King.

"Easily enough," answered the girl. "All we need to do is to walk out
the way that we came in."

[Illustration: DOROTHY AND BILLINA ARGUE WITH THE KING]

"Oh, that's all, is it?" sneered the King. "Well, where is the passage
through which you entered this room?"

They all looked around, but could not discover the place, for it had
long since been closed. Dorothy, however, would not be dismayed. She
waved her hand toward the seemingly solid wall of the cavern and said:

"I command the passage to open!"

Instantly the order was obeyed; the opening appeared and the passage lay
plainly before them.

The King was amazed, and all the others overjoyed.

"Why, then, if the belt obeys you, were we unable to discover the Tin
Woodman?" asked Ozma.

"I can't imagine," said Dorothy.

"See here, girl," proposed the King, eagerly; "give me the belt, and I
will tell you what shape the Tin Woodman was changed into, and then you
can easily find him."

Dorothy hesitated, but Billina cried out:

"Don't you do it! If the Nome King gets the belt again he will make
every one of us prisoners, for we will be in his power. Only by keeping
the belt, Dorothy, will you ever be able to leave this place in
safety."

"I think that is true," said the Scarecrow. "But I have another idea,
due to my excellent brains. Let Dorothy transform the King into a
goose-egg unless he agrees to go into the palace and bring out to us the
ornament which is our friend Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman."

"A goose-egg!" echoed the horrified King. "How dreadful!"