as passing by the
field, was hailed by the live Scarecrow and lifted him off his pole. He
then went with her to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz gave him
some excellent brains, and the Scarecrow soon became an important
personage.

Ozma considered the Scarecrow one of her best friends and most loyal
subjects, so the morning after her visit to Glinda she asked him to
take her place as Ruler of the Land of Oz while she was absent on a
journey, and the Scarecrow at once consented without asking any
questions.

Ozma had warned Dorothy to keep their journey a secret and say nothing
to anyone about the Skeezers and Flatheads until their return, and
Dorothy promised to obey. She longed to tell her girl friends, tiny
Trot and Betsy Bobbin, of the adventure they were undertaking, but
refrained from saying a word on the subject although both these girls
lived with her in Ozma's palace.

Indeed, only Glinda the Sorceress knew they were going, until after
they had gone, and even the Sorceress didn't know what their errand
might be.

Princess Ozma took the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, although she was not
sure there was a wagon road all the way to the Lake of the Skeezers.
The Land of Oz is a pretty big place, surrounded on all sides by a
Deadly Desert which it is impossible to cross, and the Skeezer Country,
according to the map, was in the farthest northwestern part of Oz,
bordering on the north desert. As the Emerald City was exactly in the
center of Oz, it was no small journey from there to the Skeezers.

Around the Emerald City the country is thickly settled in every
direction, but the farther away you get from the city the fewer people
there are, until those parts that border on the desert have small
populations. Also those faraway sections are little known to the Oz
people, except in the south, where Glinda lives and where Dorothy has
often wandered on trips of exploration.

The least known of all is the Gillikin Country, which harbors many
strange bands of people among its mountains and valleys and forests and
streams, and Ozma was now bound for the most distant part of the
Gillikin Country.

"I am really sorry," said Ozma to Dorothy, as they rode away in the Red
Wagon, "not to know more about the wonderful Land I rule. It is my duty
to be acquainted with every tribe of people and every strange and
hidden country in all Oz, but I am kept so busy at my palace making
laws and planning for the comforts of those