h she was elaborately dressed as if she were going to a ball she
was too thin and plain of feature to be pretty. But evidently Queen
Coo-ee-oh did not realize this fact, for her air and manner betrayed
her as proud and haughty and with a high regard for her own importance.
Dorothy at once decided she was "snippy" and that she would not like
Queen Coo-ee-oh as a companion.

The Queen's hair was as black as her skin was white and her eyes were
black, too. The eyes, as she calmly examined Ozma and Dorothy, had a
suspicious and unfriendly look in them, but she said quietly:

"I know who you are, for I have consulted my Magic Oracle, which told
me that one calls herself Princess Ozma, the Ruler of all the Land of
Oz, and the other is Princess Dorothy of Oz, who came from a country
called Kansas. I know nothing of the Land of Oz, and I know nothing of
Kansas."

"Why, this is the Land of Oz!" cried Dorothy. "It's a part of the Land
of Oz, anyhow, whether you know it or not."

"Oh, in-deed!" answered Queen Coo-ee-oh, scornfully. "I suppose you
will claim next that this Princess Ozma, ruling the Land of Oz, rules
me!"

"Of course," returned Dorothy. "There's no doubt of it."

The Queen turned to Ozma.

"Do you dare make such a claim?" she asked.

By this time Ozma had made up her mind as to the character of this
haughty and disdainful creature, whose self-pride evidently led her to
believe herself superior to all others.

"I did not come here to quarrel with your Majesty," said the girl Ruler
of Oz, quietly. "What and who I am is well established, and my
authority comes from the Fairy Queen Lurline, of whose band I was a
member when Lurline made all Oz a Fairyland. There are several
countries and several different peoples in this broad land, each of
which has its separate rulers, Kings, Emperors and Queens. But all
these render obedience to my laws and acknowledge me as the supreme
Ruler."

"If other Kings and Queens are fools that does not interest me in the
least," replied Coo-ee-oh, disdainfully. "In the Land of the Skeezers I
alone am supreme. You are impudent to think I would defer to you--or to
anyone else."

"Let us not speak of this now, please," answered Ozma. "Your island is
in danger, for a powerful foe is preparing to destroy it."

"Pah! The Flatheads. I do not fear them."

"Their Supreme Dictator is a Sorcerer."

"My magic is greater than his. Let the Flatheads come! They will never
return to thei