unbiased and correct, and the little folks find this
new story "real Ozzy," I shall be very glad indeed that I wrote it. But
perhaps I shall get some more of those very welcome letters from my
readers, telling me just how they like "Ozma of Oz." I hope so, anyway.

L. FRANK BAUM.

MACATAWA, 1907.

[Illustration]

The Girl in the Chicken Coop

[Illustration]

The wind blew hard and joggled the water of the ocean, sending ripples
across its surface. Then the wind pushed the edges of the ripples until
they became waves, and shoved the waves around until they became
billows. The billows rolled dreadfully high: higher even than the tops
of houses. Some of them, indeed, rolled as high as the tops of tall
trees, and seemed like mountains, and the gulfs between the great
billows were like deep valleys.

All this mad dashing and splashing of the waters of the big ocean, which
the mischievous wind caused without any good reason whatever, resulted
in a terrible storm, and a storm on the ocean is liable to cut many
queer pranks and do a lot of damage.

At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was sailing far out upon the
waters. When the waves began to tumble and toss and to grow bigger and
bigger the ship rolled up and down, and tipped sidewise--first one way
and then the other--and was jostled around so roughly that even the
sailor-men had to hold fast to the ropes and railings to keep themselves
from being swept away by the wind or pitched headlong into the sea.

And the clouds were so thick in the sky that the sunlight couldn't get
through them; so that the day grew dark as night, which added to the
terrors of the storm.

The Captain of the ship was not afraid, because he had seen storms
before, and had sailed his ship through them in safety; but he knew that
his passengers would be in danger if they tried to stay on deck, so he
put them all into the cabin and told them to stay there until after the
storm was over, and to keep brave hearts and not be scared, and all
would be well with them.

Now, among these passengers was a little Kansas girl named Dorothy
Gale, who was going with her Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some
relatives they had never before seen. Uncle Henry, you must know, was
not very well, because he had been working so hard on his Kansas farm
that his health had given way and left him weak and nervous. So he left
Aunt Em at home to watch after the hired men and to take care o