of books that were written in blood,
but in a language which the Ruler of Oz did not know.

"I do not see," said Ozma to Dorothy, who accompanied her in her
search, "how Coo-ee-oh knew the use of the magic tools she stole from
the three Adept Witches. Moreover, from all reports these Adepts
practiced only good witchcraft, such as would be helpful to their
people, while Coo-ee-oh performed only evil."

"Perhaps she turned the good things to evil uses?" suggested Dorothy.

"Yes, and with the knowledge she gained Coo-ee-oh doubtless invented
many evil things quite unknown to the good Adepts, who are now fishes,"
added Ozma. "It is unfortunate for us that the Queen kept her secrets
so closely guarded, for no one but herself could use any of these
strange things gathered in this room."

"Couldn't we capture the Diamond Swan and make her tell the secrets?"
asked Dorothy.

"No; even were we able to capture her, Coo-ee-oh now has forgotten all
the magic she ever knew. But until we ourselves escape from this dome
we could not capture the Swan, and were we to escape we would have no
use for Coo-ee-oh's magic."

"That's a fact," admitted Dorothy. "But--say, Ozma, here's a good idea!
Couldn't we capture the three fishes--the gold and silver and bronze
ones, and couldn't you transform 'em back to their own shapes, and then
couldn't the three Adepts get us out of here?"

"You are not very practical, Dorothy dear. It would be as hard for us
to capture the three fishes, from among all the other fishes in the
lake, as to capture the Swan."

"But if we could, it would be more help to us," persisted the little
girl.

"That is true," answered Ozma, smiling at her friend's eagerness. "You
find a way to catch the fish, and I'll promise when they are caught to
restore them to their proper forms."

"I know you think I can't do it," replied Dorothy, "but I'm going to
try."

She left the palace and went to a place where she could look through a
clear pane of the glass dome into the surrounding water. Immediately
she became interested in the queer sights that met her view.

The Lake of the Skeezers was inhabited by fishes of many kinds and many
sizes. The water was so transparent that the girl could see for a long
distance and the fishes came so close to the glass of the dome that
sometimes they actually touched it. On the white sands at the bottom of
the lake were star-fish, lobsters, crabs and many shell fish of strange
shapes a