Highness would like some oats," declared the horse.

"Oats? We have no whole oats," the Steward replied, with much
deference. "But there is any quantity of oatmeal, which we often cook
for breakfast. Oatmeal is a breakfast dish," added the Steward, humbly.

"I'll make it a dinner dish," said Jim. "Fetch it on, but don't cook
it, as you value your life."

You see, the respect shown the worn-out old cab-horse made him a little
arrogant, and he forgot he was a guest, never having been treated
otherwise than as a servant since the day he was born, until his
arrival in the Land of Oz. But the royal attendants did not heed the
animal's ill temper. They soon mixed a tub of oatmeal with a little
water, and Jim ate it with much relish.

Then the servants heaped a lot of rugs upon the floor and the old horse
slept on the softest bed he had ever known in his life.

In the morning, as soon as it was daylight, he resolved to take a walk
and try to find some grass for breakfast; so he ambled calmly through
the handsome arch of the doorway, turned the corner of the palace,
wherein all seemed asleep, and came face to face with the Sawhorse.

Jim stopped abruptly, being startled and amazed. The Sawhorse stopped
at the same time and stared at the other with its queer protruding
eyes, which were mere knots in the log that formed its body. The legs
of the Sawhorse were four sticks driving into holes bored in the log;
its tail was a small branch that had been left by accident and its
mouth a place chopped in one end of the body which projected a little
and served as a head. The ends of the wooden legs were shod with
plates of solid gold, and the saddle of the Princess Ozma, which was of
red leather set with sparkling diamonds, was strapped to the clumsy
body.

Jim's eyes stuck out as much as those of the Sawhorse, and he stared at
the creature with his ears erect and his long head drawn back until it
rested against his arched neck.

In this comical position the two horses circled slowly around each
other for a while, each being unable to realize what the singular thing
might be which it now beheld for the first time. Then Jim exclaimed:

"For goodness sake, what sort of a being are you?"

"I'm a Sawhorse," replied the other.

"Oh; I believe I've heard of you," said the cab-horse; "but you are
unlike anything that I expected to see."

"I do not doubt it," the Sawhorse observed, with a tone of pride. "I
am considered