me, and
there you'll be--safe in the royal palace!"

"Good!" cried Zeb.

"I built that palace, and the Emerald City, too," remarked the Wizard,
in a thoughtful tone, "and I'd like to see them again, for I was very
happy among the Munchkins and Winkies and Quadlings and Gillikins."

"Who are they?" asked the boy.

"The four nations that inhabit the Land of Oz," was the reply. "I
wonder if they would treat me nicely if I went there again."

"Of course they would!" declared Dorothy. "They are still proud of
their former Wizard, and often speak of you kindly."

"Do you happen to know whatever became of the Tin Woodman and the
Scarecrow?" he enquired.

"They live in Oz yet," said the girl, "and are very important people."

"And the Cowardly Lion?"

"Oh, he lives there too, with his friend the Hungry Tiger; and Billina
is there, because she liked the place better than Kansas, and wouldn't
go with me to Australia."

"I'm afraid I don't know the Hungry Tiger and Billina," said the
Wizard, shaking his head. "Is Billina a girl?"

"No; she's a yellow hen, and a great friend of mine. You're sure to
like Billina, when you know her," asserted Dorothy.

"Your friends sound like a menagerie," remarked Zeb, uneasily.
"Couldn't you wish me in some safer place than Oz."

"Don't worry," replied the girl. "You'll just love the folks in Oz,
when you get acquainted. What time is it, Mr. Wizard?"

The little man looked at his watch--a big silver one that he carried in
his vest pocket.

"Half-past three," he said.

"Then we must wait for half an hour," she continued; "but it won't take
long, after that, to carry us all to the Emerald City."

They sat silently thinking for a time. Then Jim suddenly asked:

"Are there any horses in Oz?"

"Only one," replied Dorothy, "and he's a sawhorse."

"A what?"

"A sawhorse. Princess Ozma once brought him to life with a
witch-powder, when she was a boy."

"Was Ozma once a boy?" asked Zeb, wonderingly.

"Yes; a wicked witch enchanted her, so she could not rule her kingdom.
But she's a girl now, and the sweetest, loveliest girl in all the
world."

"A sawhorse is a thing they saw boards on," remarked Jim, with a sniff.

"It is when it's not alive," acknowledged the girl. "But this sawhorse
can trot as fast as you can, Jim; and he's very wise, too."

"Pah! I'll race the miserable wooden donkey any day in the week!"
cried the cab-horse.

Dorothy did not reply to that.