he Skeezers and the Flatheads."

"I wish you would," answered Ozma seriously. "You see, Glinda, if these
are Oz people they are my subjects and I cannot allow any wars or
troubles in the Land I rule, if I can possibly help it."

"Very well, your Majesty," said the Sorceress, "I will try to get some
information to guide you. Please excuse me for a time, while I retire
to my Room of Magic and Sorcery."

"May I go with you?" asked Dorothy, eagerly.

"No, Princess," was the reply. "It would spoil the charm to have anyone
present."

So Glinda locked herself in her own Room of Magic and Dorothy and Ozma
waited patiently for her to come out again.

In about an hour Glinda appeared, looking grave and thoughtful.

"Your Majesty," she said to Ozma, "the Skeezers live on a Magic Isle in
a great lake. For that reason--because the Skeezers deal in magic--I
can learn little about them."

"Why, I didn't know there was a lake in that part of Oz," exclaimed
Ozma. "The map shows a river running through the Skeezer Country, but
no lake."

"That is because the person who made the map never had visited that
part of the country," explained the Sorceress. "The lake surely is
there, and in the lake is an island--a Magic Isle--and on that island
live the people called the Skeezers."

"What are they like?" inquired the Ruler of Oz.

"My magic cannot tell me that," confessed Glinda, "for the magic of the
Skeezers prevents anyone outside of their domain knowing anything about
them."

"The Flatheads must know, if they're going to fight the Skeezers,"
suggested Dorothy.

"Perhaps so," Glinda replied, "but I can get little information
concerning the Flatheads, either. They are people who inhabit a
mountain just south of the Lake of the Skeezers. The mountain has steep
sides and a broad, hollow top, like a basin, and in this basin the
Flatheads have their dwellings. They also are magic-workers and usually
keep to themselves and allow no one from outside to visit them. I have
learned that the Flatheads number about one hundred people--men, women
and children--while the Skeezers number just one hundred and one."

"What did they quarrel about, and why do they wish to fight one
another?" was Ozma's next question.

"I cannot tell your Majesty that," said Glinda.

"But see here!" cried Dorothy, "it's against the law for anyone but
Glinda and the Wizard to work magic in the Land of Oz, so if these two
strange people are magic-makers they