Author: Rachel R. Cosgrove
Date: 2011-03-13 00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Young Adult; Oz; Fiction
Description: Jonathan Andrew Manley, nicknamed Jam, is a boy from Ohio, the son of a biologist. At the start of the story, he is building a "collapsible kite" from plans he found in a popular magazine. Rather than cutting the pieces of his wooden frame to match the plans, however, he scales up the kite to match the size of his wood, yielding an extra-large result. The size of the thing inspires him to try to fly on it; he attaches a shipping crate, and gathers up three of his father's experimental animals (two guinea pigs and a white lab rat). A strong gust of wind lifts kite, crate, and passengers into th

The Hidden Valley of Oz

by Rachel R. Cosgrove

Chapter 1

Jam Builds a Collapsible Kite

THE Collapsible Kite was almost completed. The
little boy laboriously spelled out the final direc-
tions from the magazine that lay propped open, a
small stone on either side to keep the breeze from
disturbing the pages.

"Make a tail," he read, "ty-ing to-geth-er pieces of
cloth."

Leaving the kite on the ground, he raced down the
slope, slid under the fence, and hurried to the house.

"Mother, mother," he called in his shrill little voice.

"Mother, may I have some pieces of cloth?"

His mother appeared at the kitchen door. She had
been cleaning the house, and her hair was tied up in
a scarf. She held a mop in her hand.

"What kind of cloth, Jam?" she asked her son. Jam
was really only his nickname. His full name was

Jonathan Andrew Manley, so his initials spelled

"The directions said to use pieces of cloth to make
a tail," he explained.

His mother looked puzzled. "A tail for what?" she
inquired.

"For my Collapsible Kite," he told her. "I found the
directions in my How to Build It Magazine. It's a
special kind of kite that folds up into a little bundle,
so you can carry it easily."

Mrs. Manley knew that Jam had been building
something on the hill back of the house, but she had
been busy and hadn't paid much attention to her son.

Now she went to her sewing room and found an old
sheet that had worn thin in the middle.

"Do you think you can tear this up into strips for
a tail?" she asked as she showed him the sheet.

"Oh, yes, thank you, mother," he said, taking the
sheet and racing back toward the hill. He slid under
the fence once more, with never a thought about get-
ting his blue jeans and cowboy shirt dirty. In his
hurry he knocked off the cowboy hat that he had
bought for fifty cents and three cereal box tops. He
had to stop, pick it up, and settle it securely on his
head. He wanted a pair of cowboy boots, too, but his
father had said, "No."

Poring over the directions for the kite once more,

Jam found exactly how to attach the tail. Spread out
on the ground, the kite looked very large. It was, in
fact, much larger than the directions called for. Jam
had decided it was easier to build the kite frame larger
to fit the pieces of wood he had been able to find, than
to try to cut the wood without a saw. The frame was
hinged so that the whole kite would fold into a small,
compact bundle. This especially appealed to the little
boy, for he hoped to take the kite with him the next
time his father took his family with him, as he occa-
sionally did, on a field trip to collect specimens. Jam's
father was the famous Professor Manley, a biologist
who spent much of his time traveling to far away
places in search of rare plants and animals.

"This kite looks big," he said to himself. "I'll bet
it's big enough to fly away up into the sky and carry
me with it. I wonder if it could. Maybe if I could hang
a big box, or something like that, from the frame, I
could sit in it and fly away up high like an airplane."

Then he remembered the crate. It was a large
wooden crate that had contained a piece of delicate
apparatus that his father had ordered for the labora-
tory. After the instrument had been unpacked, the
crate was put out behind the garage, to be disposed
of later. It would be just the thing! Jam hurried
back down the hill, under the fence, and back of the
garage. The crate was still there. Although it was
big, it was not very heavy. Jam carried it back to the
fence. It wouldn't go under the wire, but he finally
managed to turn it on end and dump it over the fence.

Then he crawled under the wire and lugged the crate
up the slope to the place where the kite lay. He found
some rope which he used to tie the crate to the kite.

The crate would swing below the huge paper covered
wooden frame when the kite was in the air.

"Now," he said, "I'm ready for my expedition."

But if this were to be a scientific expedition, he'd
need some equipment. Hurrying back to the house,
he rummaged through his closet and found his camp-
ing knapsack. On his way out through the kitchen,
he took some cookies from the jar on the shelf and
some apples from the basket that stood in the corner.

Then he hurried over to the long, low building that
housed his father's private laboratory.

"Father, I'm going on a scientific expedition," he
announced.

Professor Manley was very busy, so he just said,

"Fine, fine," without looking up from his microscope.

"May I take some of the animals with me to see
what effect a different climate has on them?" Jam
asked eagerly, looking at the cages of white rats
and guinea pigs that lined one side of the long room.

"You take them with you," he continued, "and I want
my expedition to be just like yours are."

"Ummm," his father muttered. Jam took this to
mean yes, so he picked up a cage that held one white
rat and another in which two little guinea pigs lay
sleeping. He was glad he could take them with him.

Fully equipped, he raced back to his kite on the side
of the hill. He loaded the knapsack and the animals
into the crate and crawled in after them. For a mo-
ment Jam just sat there thinking about how wonder-
ful it would be if his kite actually would take him fly-
ing high up in the clouds over lakes and forests and
mountains. "Why," he said aloud, "a fine kite like
this might even take me to some strange land." He
looked over the edge of the crate and tried to imagine
what it would be like if the ground were a mile below
him. It was fun to imagine such things, but of course
he never really believed a home-made kite could lift
a boy off the ground.

Suddenly a freakish gust of wind swept the hillside.

The kite, with Jam still in its crate, was caught up
and lifted a few inches into the air. In a moment it
settled down on the grass again, but Jam was as
excited as if it had carried him miles. "Why," he
said, jumping out of the crate, "I'll bet if I took my
kite up to the top of the hill where the wind is strong
it would fly like an airplane!" And so up the hill he
went, dragging the crate and carrying the kite in
his hand. As he climbed higher the hill became more
steep, but he trudged along happily. Just as he
reached the top the wind howled fiercely and the kite
was wrenched from his grasp. Quickly Jam caught
hold of the crate with both hands. It was already ris-
ing, but he clung to it firmly as it soared up, up, up
into the sky. It took all the strength he had, but at
last he was able to get one leg over the side and climb
in. "Whew," he said, "this kite flies even better than

I imagined it would!"

He looked down. The ground didn't look the way
he had thought it would. It seemed very far away.

As the wind increased and the kite rose higher, he
began to be a little frightened because the hills and
valleys were gradually fading from view. There was
nothing Jam could do about it He didn't know how
to make his kite take him down to earth again. He
hadn't even thought about that when he was build-
ing it, but then he never really thought it would fly.

"Golly, if only this wind would die down," he thought.

But the wind blew harder and harder, and he wished
he were safely at home instead of flying high above
the clouds in his strange kite. He even wished he had
never built it. "What good is a kite if I can't make it
go where I want it to go?" he said sadly. The hours
passed slowly and at last it was dusk, but the kite flew
on and on. When night came and there was nothing
but darkness all around him, Jam curled up in the bot-
tom of the crate and closed his eyes. The wind sang
and the crate rocked him gently. After a little while
he fell asleep.

CHAPTER 2

The Talking Trio

JAM was rudely awakened by a hard jolt that threw
him out onto the ground. For a few moments he
thought that he was at home and had fallen out of
his bed. Then he remembered. The kite no longer
seemed in motion. Opening his eyes, he was blinded
for a moment by the sunlight. Then, when his eyes
were accustomed to the brightness, he sat up and
looked around. The kite had come to earth and the
crate had been broken to pieces when it struck the
ground. Luckily the ground was very grassy, and

Jam had not been hurt when he was dumped out of
the crate.

He looked around to see if he could get any clue
to where he was. A hill sloped down into a beautiful
valley, where a river wound leisurely among trees and
flowers. The plain, stretching away to a distant haze
of mountains, was covered with a luxuriant growth of
purple sage. Nearer at hand the ground was carpeted
with large violets and pansies that looked as if they
were made of royal purple velvet. Purple grackles
walked over the ground, searching for food.

"I must be in the country," said Jam aloud. "I don't
see any houses at all. Where in the world am I, any-
way?"

Before trying to find out where he was Jam looked
at the guinea pigs and the rat to be sure they were
not hurt. He peered into one cage and saw two fat
little faces looking out at him. The guinea pigs were
short and chubby and had brown and white spots on
thefr backs. Their eyes were black and snappy, and
their whiskers wiggled gaily at him. They certainly

Were not hurt. And the white rat seemed to be in
equally good health.

Jam pulled his knapsack and some food from the
wreckage of the crate, strapped the knapsack on his
back, and started to look for a house where he might
be able to let his parents know that he was safe. He
seemed to be miles from civilization, but he hoped he
could send some sort of message. As he turned he
heard a whistle behind him and a piping little cry.

"Hey, wait-"

"-for us!"

He jumped six inches into the afr and peered around,
looking to see who had called to him. No one was
there.

"I guess I just thought I heard someone call me,"

he said aloud. He was a little startled by the sound
of his own voice.

"No, sir, kiddo, you really heard something,"

squeaked a third little voice.

Jam whirled around in terror and cried, "Who is
it? Where are you hiding?"

"Right here in-"

"-the cage," came the two little voices again, one
starting the sentence while the other chimed in to
finish it. It was the guinea pigs!

"Did you say something to me?" he asked in amaze-
ment.

"Certainly-"

"-we did," said the two creatures, smiling at him.

"But guinea pigs can't talk," he cried, close to tears.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong, kiddo," squeaked the third voice
he had heard, and the white rat sat up and stuck the
tip of his nose out through the wire mesh of his cage.

"You can talk, so why shouldn't we? After all, I'm
the flashiest little white rat around," and he blew on
his claws and polished them on his fur. "I'm Percy,
the personality kid, y' know."

"Oh,   you're-"

"-stuck up," squealed the guinea pigs.

"And you're not-"

"-so important, either."

Jam's eyes had been getting bigger and bigger dur-
ing this conversation. Animals couldn't talk, he knew;
however, here they were, talking away as if it were
the most natural thing in the world. What ever could
have happened to them, to make them behave in this
strange fashion?

While Jam stood wondering, Percy, the rat, said,

"Well, kiddo, why stand there like a bump on a log?

Open the cages and let us out. We get tired of being
cooped up all day."

"Yes, please-"

"-let us out," echoed the funny little pigs, racing
round and round the cage in excitement.

So, opening the cages, Jam took out the little crea-
tures, putting one guinea pig in his pocket on the
right side, one in the pocket on his left side, and set-
ting Percy on his shoulder.

"Can you stay there without falling off?" asked the
little boy of the white rat.

"Sure thing, kiddo," said the white rat, sniffing the
air in all directions and looking around him with his
beady red eyes. "This is quite the life. By the way,
kiddo," he whispered into Jam's ear, "those two guys
are mighty stupid. Why not ditch them and stick with
me? We'll go places together, kiddo."

"We heard-"

"-that remark," cried the little guinea pigs.

"You're not-"

"-so smart, you know!"

"You're just-"

"-a rat!" and they pulled their faces back into

Jam's pockets to keep from associating with their flip-
pant companion.

"Huh," said Percy to Jam. "They're just jealous,
that's what they are. They don't even have classy
names like mine. High tone, that's what mine is.

Percy, the personality kid," and he slapped Jam on
the shoulder with his tiny white paw.

"Do they have names, too?" asked Jam.

"Certainly we-"

"-have names," came the muffled answers from
the pigs.

"I'm Pinny and-"

"-I'm Gig," they squeaked.

CHAPTER 3

Jam Meets the Gillikens

JAM decided that he might as well fold up the Col-
lapsible Kite and take it along, even though, with-
out the crate, it would be impossible to use it as a
vehicle to carry him through the air. Even if he could
fly it, he wouldn't know how to guide it back to his
home. So he bent the frame at the hinged joints, and
soon nothing was left of the kite but a bundle of paper
and wood strips which he bound to the outside of the
knapsack with the ropes that had held the crate.

Fastening the knapsack and kite on his back and
tying his cowboy hat securely under his chin, Jam
prepared to explore this strange country in which he
now found himself. He looked around, wondering
which way to go.

"There's a path winding round the hill," squeaked

Percy.

"We'll walk that way then," replied Jam, "for if
there is a path, someone must have walked here. And
right now I want to see someone."

As if in answer to his wish, a strange group came
into sight from behind the hill. They were little men,
no taller than Jam, and the dozen or more of them
advanced slowly and cautiously, huddling together as
if for protection.

"Hello," he called, running to meet them. Percy
hung on with all four feet to keep from being bounced
to the ground.

The men seemed frightened by Jam's sudden rush
toward them. They turned and began to flee in con-
fusion.

"Wait for me," cried Jam. "Wait for me. Please
don't run away."

The men, hearing his childish voice, slowed down
and finally stopped at a safe distance from Jam and
his animal friends.

"Why are-"

"-they afraid?" asked Pinny and Gig.

"We won't-"

"-hurt them."

One of the men, bolder than his companions, ad-
vanced a few paces toward the boy. The man was
dressed all in purple, with a tall pointed purple hat
that had a wide round brim edged with purple bells
which tinkled as he walked, a purple coat with a lav-
ender waistcoat under it, purple velvet knee pants,
and high purple leather boots with long pointed toes
that curled up. Coming closer to Jam, the man swept
off his purple hat, making the little bells on the brim
tinkle merrily, and bowed low to the little boy.

"Oh, noble wizard, or sorcerer," he began in hum-
ble tones, "have you come to destroy us, or have you
come to deliver us from Terp, the Terrible?"

Jam looked at him in amazement. At a nudge from

Percy, he spoke.

"I'm not a wizard or anything except a boy." Then,
remembering his mother's admonition about what to
do if he ever was lost, he added, "My name is Jona-
than Andrew Manley. I live at

403 Terrace Place

,

Evansville, Ohio. I am lost and I want to go home.

Will you please tell me where I am and how to get
home afain?"

The odd little man in the purple suit bowed low a
second time and replied, "Oh, noble person from the
sky, I have never heard of this land of Ohio. Is it
in the Land of Oz?"

"No," answered Jam, "it's in the United States of

America. Is this the Land of Oz?"

"Yes, noble sir. You are in the country of the Gil-
likens, the northern province of the Land of Oz."

"But what part of the world is this?" cried Jam.

"I've never heard of a place where animals can talk."

"All animals talk here," said the Gilliken man, "for
this is a fairyland, you know."

"Fairyland!" exclaimed Jam. "But fairies are just
make-believe. They aren't real people."

"You must be mistaken, noble sir," and again he
bowed low before Jam, "for we are all alive; and this
is a fairyland."

"He must be right, kiddo," whispered Percy. "Pin-
fly, Gig, and I could never talk before we hit this
place."

"And now-"

"-listen to us," chimed in the guinea pigs, sticking
their heads out of Jam's pockets and wiggling their
whiskers furiously.

"How do I get home from here?" wailed Jam.

"I do not know," said the little man. "We hoped
that you were a powerful wizard, come from the sky
in your strange craft, to save us from Terp, the Ter-
rible. We thought that your magic might destroy his
power and free the people of Hidden Valley from
slavery."

"Are you slaves?" asked Jam, looking at the little
men dressed in purple costumes similar to their lead-
er's.

"Yes," sighed one of them. "We are slaves of Terp,
the Terrible, and must work for him in his vineyards
and jam factory."

"Jam factory!" exclaimed the little boy. "That's
funny. My nickname is Jam."

The little Gillikens looked at each other and nodded
wisely. "A good omen," murmured one. "He is called

Jam. Surely he will save us from Terp."

"But who is Terp, the Terrible?" asked Jam.

"A wicked giant, noble Jam, ten times as large as
any of us. He lives on muffins and grape jam; so we
are kept busy growing grapes and making jam for
him to eat on his magic muffins."

"Magic-"

"-muffins!" squealed Pinny and Gig.

"What are-"

"-they?"

Looking with curiosity at the funny little animals
sticking their heads out of Jam's pockets, the man
replied, "In Terp's courtyard is a muffin tree."

"Muffin tree," interrupted Jam. "Muffins don't
grow on trees. You bake them, or buy them already
made at the bakery."

"In Hidden Valley, oh noble sir, muffins grow on
trees. In the castle courtyard is this muffin tree,
guarded by a fierce, two-headed beast that allows no
one near the tree except Terp himself. These muffins
must be magic, for Terp keeps the tree guarded so
well."

"We think," added another man, "that his power
is derived from the muffins. If we could destroy the
tree, we could escape Terp's power. But the fierce
two-headed beast guards the tree constantly. One
head is always awake and watching, so none of us can
get close enough to the tree to chop it down."

"Why don't you escape over the plains I see in the
distance?" asked Jam.

"Those are guarded by the fierce Equinots," replied
one of the men, "so we dare not venture upon the
plains."

"Then how am I going to leave this place and find
my way home?" asked Jam sadly.

"We do not know, but perhaps your magic will find
a way."

The group murmured to each other for a few mo-
ments. Then their spokesman again approached.

"If you intend to leave this valley, perhaps you can
help us; for we have heard from the birds that fly
over our land of a great hero, in the land of the

Winkies, which lies to the west. He is a great wood-
man, and knows many powerful people in the land.

If you could get to him, he might come and chop down
the magic tree of Terp, the Terrible, and save us."

"Perhaps," added another, "he would know where
your country lies and could help you find your way
to your home."

"Do you think he could?" asked Jam eagerly.

"He might."

"But how am I to reach this country of the Wink-
ies?" inquired the boy.

"Alas, we do not know," replied the Gillikens. "You
must remain out of the clutches of Terp, and then find
a way to cross the plains of the Equinots. It is a long
hard journey from here, but it is your only hope of
ever returning to your home."

"Then I shall make the journey," decided Jam.

CHAPTER 4

In the Clutches of Terp, the Terrible

A GREAT roar sounded from the other side of the
hill, shaking the very ground with its rumble.

The Gillikens turned white with fear and raced for
shelter, crying,

"Hide yourself! Hide yourself! Terp, the Terrible,
is coming!"

In a moment all of the purple clad people had dis-
appeared from sight, leaving Jam and his compan-
ions standing alone in the path.

"Better make for cover, kiddo," squeaked Percy.

"That roar sounded like Terp means business."

Jam looked about him for some place to hide and,
spying a clump of lilac bushes, he ran quickly toward
them. Before he had reached the shelter of the thick-
et, the giant was upon them. With a cry of rage, he
reached down and grabbed Jam in one huge hand,
lifting him high above the ground. Terp, the Terrible,
was indeed a terrible sight to behold. He was more
than fifty feet tall, his face was ugly and covered with
a shaggy black beard, although no shaggier and
blacker than his thatch of hair. His body was huge
and powerful, his legs and arms as large as tree
trunks, and his feet and hands enormous. He was
clothed in purple, much like his Gilliken slaves, except
that the buttons of his coat were huge amethysts set
in gold, his belt buckle was gold, studded with gems,
and the buckles on his shoes, which were as big as
row boats, were also of gold and amethyst.

Glaring at Jam, he roared, "Why are you not slav-
ing in the vineyards, miserable midget? How dare
you defy Terp, the Terrible? You shall be punished
for this, you disobedient slave. I shall fling you into
my darkest dungeon!" And he shook him as a terrier
would shake a kitten.

"Put me down! Put me down!" shrieked Jam in
terror, while Percy dove into the knapsack to keep
from being hurled to the ground by the violence of
the shaking. Jam kicked wildly, trying to escape.

"Put me down! I'm not one of your slaves, I'm not,

I'm not!"

Upon hearing this, the giant stopped shaking the
child and held him up before his eyes to look at him
more carefully. Noting the blue trousers, cowboy hat
and shirt, and knapsack, he realized that the boy was
not a Gilliken slave. But what was to prevent Terp,
the Terrible, from adding a new slave to his collection?

"Who are you, stranger?" he growled.

Trying to keep his teeth from chattering in fear,

Jam answered, "I'm Jam, from Ohio, and I want to
go home."

At his words, a puzzled look came over Terp's ugly
countenance.

"Jam!" he roared. "I've never seen any jam like
this before. What flavor are you?"

"Flavor?" cried Jam. "I'm no flavor at all."

"We'll see about that," rumbled Terp. "I'll take
you home and eat you on my muffins. Then I'll know
what flavor you are. Maybe I'll like you even better
than grape jam."

With these words, the purple giant strode along
the path, holding tight to Jam who was struggling
harder than ever to escape. Jam was too frightened
to notice the beautiful countryside through which
they were walking. As the giant circled the hill, a
valley lay before their eyes. On the slopes of the hills
grew vast vineyards, the vines heavy with purple
grapes. Little dome-shaped houses nestled in groups
in the vineyards and through the valley. The houses
were painted purple and had purple flowers blooming
in their gardens. Purple picket fences enclosed yards
with lavender crocuses peeping through the grass,
while tall rows of purple hollyhocks guarded the door-
ways. Trellises covered with purple clematis arched
the gateways of some of the homes. If the people had
not had to slave for Terp, they would have enjoyed
life in this beautiful place.

Down in the valley was a larger domed building
with a tall smokestack towering above it. This was
the jam factory, where the luscious grapes from the
hillside vineyards were carted in purple wagons, to
be made into grape jam. There was much activity in
the valley, as the Gillikens worked feverishly at their
jam making, fearful of incurring the wrath of their
harsh overseer.

On one hillside, stood the palace of Terp, the Ter-
rible. It was a huge building of purple-tinted marble
built around three sides of an open court. The gardens
surrounding the castle were a riot of exotic plants.

The odor from their violet and lavender and purple
hued blossoms perfumed the air and attracted swarms
of bees and beautiful butterflies.

As Terp strode into the courtyard, Jam, who had
ceased struggling by now, got a glimpse of the famous
muffin tree. It was a large tree in the center of the
yard and on it grew the muffins that the giant ate.

Chained to the trunk of the tree was a huge monster
with a body shaped like an elephant, a tail like an alli-
gator, and two large, ferocious heads, one an owl, and
the other a wolf. The owl head was asleep, for it kept
watch at night; but the wolf head was wide awake,
and the beast kept looking in all directions, watching
for anyone who might try to destroy the tree.

Terp flung Jam and his friends into a room in one
of the castle towers, promising to return for Jam at
breakfast time the next day. Then he slammed the
heavy door and bolted it on the outside, so Jam could
not escape from the room.

"What'll we-"

"-do now?" cried the guinea pigs as Jam sadly took
them from his pockets and set them down on the floor.

Percy nimbly scampered down without assistance.

"I don't know what to do," sighed Jam, close to
tears. "I certainly don't want to be Terp's breakfast
tomorrow morning."

"Speaking of breakfast," squeaked Percy, "reminds
me of food, and food reminds me that I'm hungry.

Got anything good in that knapsack, kiddo?"

Jam opened the pack and brought out some food
which he shared with Pinny, Gig, and Percy. Even
though their plight was as hopeless as ever, they felt
better after they had eaten. Percy began making his
inquisitive way around the room, sniffing and peering
at everything.

"Maybe we'll find a way to get out of here," he said,
examining every nook and cranny.

Jam helped in the exploration, while Pinny and Gig
scampered about, peeking into dark corners with their
beady little eyes. The light from the one casement
window was beginning to fade, as night approached,
and the prisoners still had found no way of escape.

Jam climbed up and looked out of the window, but they
were too far from the ground to jump out, and there
seemed to be no way to climb down the castle walls.

Percy, however, was not so sure that the descent was
impossible.

"Let me see if I can get to the ground," he said.

"Then maybe I can find some way to get all of us out
of this ogre's clutches." Then, with a parting squeak
of, "Keep a stiff upper lip, kiddo," he climbed over the
window sill and disappeared from sight.

CHAPTER 5

Escape from the Tower

EXHAUSTED from his experiences, Jam lay down
on the floor with his knapsack for a pillow and
fell fast asleep. When he woke, it was night and the
room was only dimly lighted by moonbeams that
found their way through the casement windows. He
sat up and stretched before he discovered that Pinny
and Gig were watching the casement window intently.

"We heard-"

"-something outside," they told him.

"It sounded like-"

"-scratching on the wall."

Jam hurried to the window and tried to see what
had disturbed Pinny and Gig. In the dim light he
could see something moving up the wall, something
small and white.

"It's Percy," he said to the little animals. "He's
coming back. Hi, Percy," he called.

"Shh. Someone-"

"-will hear you," cautioned the pigs.

Jam whispered, "Where have you been, Percy?"

But the rat made no answer. He only climbed slowly
higher and nearer to the prisoners.

"He has something in his mouth," exclaimed Jam,
as the rat became more distinct in the moonlight. "It
looks like a rope or vine. Yes, it is a vine. I can see
the leaves on it. But why is he bringing it up here?"

Soon Percy was close enough to the window so that

Jam could reach down and take hold of the vine.

"Be careful or-"

-you'll fall!" squeaked Pinny and Gig.

As Jam took the vine, the white rat said, "Thanks,
kiddo," in a breathless voice, and with one quick jump
he was in the window.

"What's the-"

"-vine for?" asked the spotted pigs.

"Let me catch my breath, kiddos, and I'll tell you
my idea." After a moment Percy continued, "I think

I've found a way for us to get away from here."

"How? Oh-"

"-tell us!" cried Pinny and Gig.

"Yes," said Jam. "I don't want to be eaten on muf-
fins by Terp, the Terrible, and we haven't much time
to think of an escape."

"Well," said Percy, "you see, I climbed down into
the garden to look around. There I found that a tall
tree, as tall as the castle, is growing near this win-
dow. Grape vines had climbed up into the branches
and twined around in the tree. Some of the ends of
the vine hung down to the ground and seemed to be
quite strong. I thought, smart boy that I am, that
this was the answer to our dilemma. Just tie this vine
around your waist, kiddo, and jump out of the window.

You'll swing down to the ground that way."

"Just like the-"

"-monkeys in the jungle!"

"Is it strong enough?" asked Jam, pulling hard on
the vine to test its strength. "Maybe it will break."

"Well, kiddo, it's up to you," squeaked the rat, sit-
ting up on his hind legs. "But if you don't try the
vine, you'll make a vine breakfast for Terp," and he
laughed at his joke.

"That's not-"

"-so funny," cried Pinny and Gig.

"No, it isn't funny, at that," muttered Percy. "Let's
get out of here !"

"I guess there's nothing to do but try the vine,"

said Jam. "It's our only chance to get away tonight"

"And tomorrow's--

"-too late!"

So Jam put on the knapsack, tucked Pinny and

Gig in his pockets, and tied the vine tightly around
his body under his arms.

"I don't think I'll take the ride down," squeaked
the rat. "After all, I can climb down all by myself."

Jam climbed up on the window sill and sat there
with his feet hanging outside the room.

"It looks a long way down to the ground," he re-
marked nervously. "Do you think that--?"

"Go on," interrupted Percy. "Jump! The longer
you think about it, the harder it will be to make the
plunge."

"All right," said Jam, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Here goes," and he jumped out from the window
ledge.

"Happy landing, kiddos," cried Percy, and then he
began to scramble down the side of the building.

Jam sailed down through the air, the swiftness of
the fall taking his breath away. As he neared the
ground, he began to swing back and forth, held safely
by the grapevine. Slower and slower, in shorter and
shorter arcs, he swung back and forth like the pen-
dulum of a grandfather clock. Finally the swinging
ceased altogether, and he hung suspended in air.

Opening his eyes, he saw that he was hanging only a
few inches from the ground; so, pulling his jackknife
from his pocket, he cut the vine that held him and
fell safely to earth.

Percy, who had arrived at the ground level while

Jam was still swinging from the tree, hurried over to
where they were. "I think we can get away now," he
whispered. "There aren't any guards around except
the two-headed monster who watches the magic muf-
fin tree."

Quietly they stole around the castle, keeping in the
shadow of the walls as much as possible. As they
came to the front of the palace, they saw, dimly, the
form of the two-headed monster guarding the magic
muffin tree. His wolf head was asleep now, but the
fierce owl head turned to and fro, blinking its huge
rqund eyes and watching every movement that was
made.

"Say, I wonder what those muffins taste like?"

whispered Percy. "They must be something special
to have a constant guard over them. I'd like to try
one," and he licked his lips in anticipation.

"You'd better-"

"-forget them," cautioned Pinny and Gig.

"We don't want you eaten by the monster," said

Jam in a low tone. "Come on, let's get away from
here as fast as possible. I wonder which way we
should go?"

"If you're going to find that famous woodman that
the Gilliken slaves talked about, you'll have to head
west," said Percy.

"Yes, but I'm not sure of the direction," replied

Jam in worried tones.

"The important thing now is to get away from the
castle and find some place to hide until morning,"

said Percy. "Then we can tell which direction is west
by watching the sun."

"That's right," said Jam. "The sun comes up in the
east. We can go away from it, and we'll be heading
west"

CHAPTER 6

Percy and the Muffin Tree

SO the little party made their way quickly down the

road away from the castle. But Percy was not
satisfied. He kept thinking about the magic muffins
and wishing that he could have one. The longer he
thought about the tree, the more sure he was that he
could elude the monster and steal one of the muffins.

He knew, however, that Jam would not approve of
this at all; so he decided to slip away from Jam and
the guinea pigs and hurry back to the famous magic
muffin tree.

Jam was so intent on putting as much distance as
possible between himself and the castle that he failed
to notice that Percy was not scampering along be-
hind him. On he hurried through the pale moonlit
night, while Percy raced in the opposite direction,
back toward the castle from which they had just es-
caped. Although he knew that the owl head could see
well at night and that owls like to eat rats, he hoped
that the monster would not notice so small a creature
as he was. When he came again to the courtyard, he
moved very slowly and cautiously, creeping in the
shadows and circling 'round the tree so that he was
behind the huge beast that stood there. The only
sound that broke the stillness was the faint clink of
metal links as the chain that held the monster moved
with the owl head.

Inching forward, Percy reached the trunk of the
magic tree without being discovered by the great owl
head. Quietly, quietly, he crept up the tree, carefully
testing each foothold, so that he would make no noise
and call the monster's attention to him. At last he
reached the first branch and could see ahead of him
one of the muffins growing out on a stem from the
larger limb. As yet the huge beast beneath him had
no idea that he was trying to steal some of the pre-
cious muffins. Percy crept closer and closer, and at
last he was within reach of the first magic muffin on
the tree. With a quick snatch, he seized it in his
mouth, broke it from the twig on which it grew, and
dashed down the tree.

The snap of the twig had roused the huge owl head,
so that the beast whirled toward the tree and made a
lunge at the flying white figure. Percy knew that the
time for caution had passed, so he raced down the
tree, leaped across the monster's tail, and streaked
away through the night. With a scream of anger, the
guard of the magic muffin tree jumped at the rat, but
the chain that bound the brute to the trunk was too
short to allow him to go more than a few feet from
under the branches. So he stood straining at the
chain, hooting in frustrated fury.

The uproar waked Terp, the Terrible, who jumped
out of bed, dashed to a window, flung it open, and
leaned out over the courtyard, trying to see what was
happening. In the dim and fitful moonlight he could
see the beast and the muffin tree; but he was unable
to see Percy, who by this time had sped away after
his companions and was out of sight. Seeing no one,
the giant decided that some stray night bird had dis-
turbed the two-headed monster, so he closed the win-
dow and climbed back into bed, little knowing that
one of his precious muffins was being carried farther
and farther away from the castle. He fell asleep and
dreamed that he was eating Jam and muffins for
breakfast, unaware that both muffin and Jam were
now out of his clutches.

CHAPTER 7

Jam Meets the Equinots

THE first faint hint of dawn was touching the east-
ern sky as Jam reached the edge of the great plain
he had seen the day before. Pausing to rest, he real-
ized for the first time that Percy was not with him.

"Percy. Percy," he called. "Where are you?" but
no one answered him.

"What's happened-"

"-to Percy?" asked his other little friends.

"I don't know," he said. "I thought he was right
behind me, but he doesn't seem to be here at all. I
wonder if he got lost or if something has happened
to him? Do you think that we should go back for
him?"

"If we do-"

"-Terp will get us," exclaimed Pinny and Gig.

"You don't-"

"-want that to happen."

"No, because I don't want to be a giant's break-
fast," he said. "It seems too bad to leave Percy be-
hind, but we'll all be killed if we go back for him
now."

"Percy can-"

"-take care of himself," added the other two.

"Well, he does seem to be clever, because he helped
us to escape. It's ungrateful of us to leave him now,

I suppose; and yet that's all that we can do. I don't
want to stop here, for Terp might catch up with us,
even now, when he discovers that we have slipped
away. When we get across the plain, I can stop and
sleep for a while."

So Jam trudged out across the plain, a lonely fig-
ure on the vast expanse in that dim morning light.

He headed away from the rosy glow in the sky that
was the forerunner of the sunrise, for he hoped to find
help in the land of the Winkies, which lay to the west.

He had not gone far on the plain when he heard
shouts and hoofbeats in the distance. Looking around
him, he saw a faint cloud of dust toward the south.

The cloud grew larger as the sounds of hoofs drew
nearer to him, and finally he was able to distinguish
the forms of men on horseback, or so it seemed from
where he stood.

"Maybe these people will help me," he said to his
friends.

"And maybe-"

"-they won't!" exclaimed Pinny and Gig.

"Remember what-"

"-the Gillikens said," they continued.

Then Jam did remember that the slaves of Terp,
the Terrible, had said that they could not escape across
the plains because of the dreaded Equinots who lived
there. Perhaps the horsemen who were rapidly ap-
proaching were none other than those fierce creatures
of whom the Gillikens had spoken.

"What shall we do?" he cried. "How can we escape
them?" and he turned first in one direction and then
the other. If he went back toward the hidden valley,
belonging to the giant, he was lost; and if he crossed
the plain, the Equinots would get him. He had, how-
ever, seen Terp, the Terrible, and knew that he was
an enemy to be feared, while all he knew of the

Equinots was the tale he had heard from the fright-
ened farmers who toiled in the vineyards for Terp.

He decided that he would rather risk crossing the
plain and meeting the Equinots, than to return to the
castle of Terp, the Terrible, and be devoured.

"We'll run and see if we can escape them," he said
to the little guinea pigs, who were cowering in his
pockets in terror. So he began racing across the plain,
as fast as his little legs would carry him, hoping that
he might somehow escape the rapidly approaching
riders. Soon the thunder of hoofs was behind him
and he could hear shouts of, "Stop, stop!" but he
dashed on. Suddenly he was jerked from his feet, and
thrown to the ground with his arms pinned to his sides
by a lasso that had been flung over his heaid. The

Equinots swept up and surrounded the boy.

Jam struggled to a sitting position and looked at
his captors. They were indeed the strangest sight he
had ever seen, for they seemed to be part horse and
part man, instead of men on horseback as he had
thought when he had seen them from a distance. The
bodies were horse bodies, but where the neck of the
horse should have been, grew a man's body from the
waist up. Their arms were powerful and sinewy, and
their faces were fierce and cunning. Their hair
streamed out behind them like a long mane. Each
body was clad in a tight fitting lavender satin jacket,
with wide lapels of purple velvet and gold buttons
down the front. The Equinots wore purple leather
gauntlets, and their long hair was bound back with
purple cords to keep it out of their eyes. Each horse-
man carried a coiled lariat like the one binding Jam.

The creature who had captured Jam seemed to be
the leader of the band, for his horse body was larger
than the others and was a shiny purple-black. His
hair was the same glossy texture as his tail.

"Ah ha!" he cried. "So you thought that you could
trespass upon our domain, oh foolish person," and his
followers all gave a loud horselaugh and reared up
on their hind legs, prancing close to Jam who feared
that they might trample him with their hoofs. "How
dare you try to cross our plain?" continued the leader.

"We allow no one to walk here except ourselves; and
any who dare to defy us are severely punished."

A shout went up from the band of Equinots. "Pun-
ish him! Punish him! Punish the intruder! Make
him a slave to wait upon us."

"An excellent idea," said their leader. "We need
some one to keep our bodies glossy and smooth, to
make our beds of straw, to comb our hair, and to
carry our food to us."

"But I don't want to be a slave," protested Jam. "I
just want to go back to Ohio and never, never leave
again."

"You shall go no place at all except to our stable
homes, there to wait upon us as a slave should do,"

replied the leader. "All prisoners that we capture on
the plains become our property, to do with as we
wish."

There was a finality in his tone that frightened

Jam. He realized that he had escaped from Terp, the

Terrible, only to fall into the clutches of these crea-
tures.

"What will-"

"-happen to us?" moaned Pinny and Gig.

"Why did you-"

"-bring us along?", conveniently forgetting that
they had begged to accompany Jam on his journey of
exploration. Jam was so distressed, however, that he
paid no attention to the pigs but thought and thought,
trying to figure out some way to escape from the Equi-
nots. He was still bound by the lasso, and the leader
of the troop jerked him roughly to his feet by hauling
the rope in.

"Come, slave, we have tarried long enough," said
the leader. "Away to our stables!" and he prepared
to gallop away in the direction from which he had
come.

"Wait, wait!" cried Jam. "I can't run as fast as
you do. You have four long, sturdy legs, but I have
only two short ones."

"Never fear. I shall carry you," snorted the leader.

"It is a small price to pay for so fine a prize as you
are."

The leader trotted closer to Jam in order to be able
to pick him up, throw him over his back, and gallop
away with him. At this moment, however, there was
a commotion in the outer ranks of the Equinots, which
spread in toward Jam and the leader, who stopped to
see what was happening. Suddenly Jam noticed some-
thing small and white, darting in and out between the
legs of the Equinots, causing them to jump first one
way and then the other.

"It's Percy!" he cried in excitement. "Percy has
found us again.

"We thought we'd lost-"

-him for good," sighed Pinny and Gig, who re-
sented the fact that Percy had called them stupid.

But Jam was glad to see his old friend again.

"What happened to you?" he asked. "Where have
you been?"

Percy stopped before Jam, laid the muffin on the
ground, and gasped for breath, for he had been run-
ning for a long time in order to catch up with his
friends whom he had deserted when he went back to

Terp's castle for one of the magic muffins.

"I went back for one of the muffins," he said, still
breathing with difficulty, his sides moving in and out
rapidly with each breath he took.

"You shouldn't have done that," scolded Jam.

"Terp might have caught you or the two-headed mon-
ster might have eaten you."

"Might have, but didn't, kiddo," replied Percy.

Then, noticing for the first time that Jam was bound
with the rope, he said, "Hey, what's going on here?

Who tied you up, kiddo?"

"I did," said the huge black Equinot. "He is my
prisoner and must become my slave and comb my
mane and smooth my back with a curry comb, and
bring my meals to me."

"You can't do this to Jam," said Percy hotly.

"Oh, yes, we can," echoed the Equinots, and Percy,
realizing that they were surrounded by the queer
creatures, saw that Jam would have no choice in the
matter.

"Can't you think of some way to escape?" pleaded

Jam, well remembering that the quick-witted rat had
saved them from one dangerous situation. But Percy
could think of nothing. With their enemy closely sur-
rounding them, what chance had they to escape by
day?

Just then, Pinny and Gig poked their little heads
out of Jam's pockets and said, "Why not eat-"

"-the magic muffin?" and jerked back into their
dark pockets as if afraid that the Equinots might de-
stroy them at once.

"Good idea," cried Jam. "I wonder what it will
do?"

"There's only one way to find out, kiddo," replied

Percy, and he nibbled off a bit of the muffin, sat up,
and holding it in his paws, rapidly ate it before the

Equinots could stop him.

CHAPTER 8

The Magic Muffin

N0 sooner had Percy swallowed a bite of the
magic muffin than a most amazing thing hap-
pened. He began to grow. He grew bigger and big-
ger and bigger, while Jam watched in amazement,
and the Equinots looked more and more startled. A
little white rat is not a very ferocious animal in ap-
pearance, with his cute little red eyes, and his wig-
gling whiskers, his funny front teeth that he uses for
gnawing, and his sharp little claws. But let him grow
suddenly to ten times his original size, and he seems
very different indeed. And that is exactly what was
happening to Percy. The bite of magic muffin that
he had devoured had made him grow so rapidly that
he shot up in height until he was fully as tall as Jam,
himself.

The Equinots were a wild and savage nation, but
this sudden display of magic dismayed even their
leader. To see a tiny white rat suddenly become a
huge, white beast, with long sharp teeth, and long
gleaming claws is a fearsome sight indeed, and it
frightened the Equinots so that they wheeled sharply
and galloped across the plain in confusion. Only the
leader held his ground; but when Percy pulled back
his lips and showed his long fangs, the leader paled,
dropped the rope with which he held Jam a prisoner,
and raced away across the plains in rapid pursuit of
his followers. In a few moments, all that remained
of the Equinots was a cloud of dust in the distance.

Jam sighed with great relief and said, "Oh, thank
you, Percy, and you too, Pinny and Gig, for rescuing
me from those awful Equinots," and he quickly freed
himself from the noose which was around his arms.

"Let us hurry across the plain before those creatures
decide to come back and recapture us."

Percy was walking around, still dazed by this rapid
growth.

"I've never seen

"-anyone leave so fast," giggled the guinea pigs.

"As the Equinots-"

"-when Percy started growing."

Percy stooped and picked up the remainder of the
magic muffin which had had such startling results
after he ate it.

"No wonder old Terp guards his tree," he chuckled.

"This must be what made him a giant."

"And he wants to be the only giant there, so that
he can rule the hidden valley and make slaves of the
poor Gilliken people," continued Jam. "I hope we can
find the famous woodman of whom they spoke and
ask him to chop down the magic muffin tree and save
the people from Terp, the Terrible."

"Let's take along the rest of the muffin, kiddo,"

said Percy, and he tucked it into the knapsack, a feat
he performed easily as he was now as tall as Jam
himself. "We may need it again, before we get to the
land of the Winkies."

The travelers now set out across the plain which

Was covered with purple sage. They were so anxious
to put Terp, the Terrible, and the Equinots behind
them, that before many hours had passed they had
reached the low rolling hills on the other side of the
flat land.

Jam was by this time very weary, for he had been
up nearly all night and part of the day without any
sleep, so, finding a mossy bank under a towering oak
tree, he lay down to sleep, putting Pinny and Gig on
the ground to run about and find food for themselves.

Percy decided that he, too, needed some rest after
the adventures of the past hours, so he stretched out
beside Jam and was soon fast asleep. When Pinny
and Gig had satisfied their hunger by nibbling at the
tender young blades of grass, they curled up by their
friends and took a little nap also.

The shadows were lengthening when Jam woke
from his sleep, feeling rested and refreshed. He
tickled the end of Percy's nose to wake him up, and
as Percy yawned and stretched, the guinea pigs
roused.

"I wish that we could find some place to spend the
night," remarked Jam, for he noticed that the sun
was sinking in the west, and he longed for a good
supper and a more comfortable bed than the mossy
ground. "Let us walk on for a while and see if we
can find a house in which we can spend the night."

"Good idea, kiddo," said Percy. "I'm beginning to
get a little hungry myself."

"We ate-"

"-some grass," piped Pinny and Gig.

"Well, I don't think I'd like grass for my supper,"

replied Jam. "I'd like a good hot meal like my mother
always has."

They trudged along through the trees and soon
came to a wide, well-worn path, which ran in the di-
rection they were traveling. Deciding that it would
probably lead them to civilization, they hurried along
it, for night was rapidly approaching. Soon they came
to a clearing and saw a little, purple, dome-shaped
house that stood in the midst of a well-cared-for veg-
etable garden. Smoke rose from the chimney, and as
they approached the door, a light appeared in the
window.

Jam walked up to the door and knocked timidly.

In response to his tapping a kind-faced woman opened
the door and asked what he wanted.

"My friends and I are looking for a place to spend
the night," said Jam. "We have traveled a long way
and are very tired."

The woman invited them in after Jam had assured
her that Percy was not a dangerous beast. The wom-
an's husband questioned the travelers about their ad-
ventures while his good wife prepared a steaming,
delicious supper for the guests.

During the meal, Jam told his story to the couple.

They marveled at the tale of Jam's accidental flight
in his kite, the subsequent capture and escape from

Terp, the Terrible, and the adventure with the Equi-
nots.

"The Gilliken slaves told me I might get help, both
for them and for myself, in the Land of the Winkies,"

said Jam. "They said that birds who flew over Hidden

Valley had told them tales of a famous woodman,
who might come and chop down the magic muffin tree
and free them from the wicked giant."

"They must have been referring to the Tin Wood-
man," said their gracious host.

"Of course," his wife exclaimed. "He is the most
famous woodman in all the Land of Oz, for even in
this isolated place we have heard of his marvelous
exploits."

"Who is this Tin Woodman?" asked Jam, as he
took a bite of delicious plum pie. "Do you think that
he will help us?"

"The Tin Woodman," answered the farmer, "is the

Emperor of the Winkies, who live in the country ad-
joining ours. He once was a real man-a wood chop-
per by trade. But every time he hurt himself chop-
ping wood he was patched up with tin. Finally his
whole body was made of this metal."

"But is he alive?" asked Percy in amazement.

"Certainly," replied the good wife to the oversized
rodent

"That's impossible," declared Jam, "for he would
have died when he chopped his bodY up with his axe."

"Oh, no," she laughed, "for no one dies in the Land
of Oz."

"No one dies?" exclaimed the boy. "I never heard
of any place like that."

"This is a fairyland, kiddo," said Percy. "You
should know it by now. Where else would I eat a tree-
grown muffin that would make me as big as you?"

"Or where else-"

"-could we talk?" shrilled Pinny and Gig from
the floor, where the farmer's children were playing
gaily with them.

"I guess that's so," said Jam.

"You should be able to reach the land of the Winkies
by tomorrow evening if you have good luck," said the
farmer, "for the border between the land of the Gilli-
kens here in the north and the land of the Winkies
to the west is not many hours' journey from here."

"How will I know when I have reached it?" in-
quired Jam.

"That's easy," replied the friendly woman. "You'll
know by the color."

"The color?"

"Certainly. Here in the Gilliken country, purple is
the favorite color, as you have no doubt noticed. We
wear purple clothing, paint our houses and barns and
fences purple, and grow lovely purple flowers in our
gardens. But the people of the Winkie country like
yellow; so when you begin to see yellow flowers and
yellow farm houses, you will know that you are near-
ing your destination."

Jam was surprised at this color scheme. However,
when the man explained to him that the Land of Oz
was made up of four kingdoms, the Gillikens in the
north, the Winkies to the west, the land of the

Munchkins to the east, the Quadlings in the southern
part, and that each country had its own color, he be-
gan to understand how the system worked.

"The Quadlings are the red country, while the

Munchkins, in the east, prefer blue," said the wife,

"and in the very center of all the Land of Oz is the

Emerald City, where our fair and lovely ruler, Ozma,
dwells. If the Tin Woodman cannot help you, per-
haps he will take you to Ozma, in the glittering capi-
tol of our land, and beg her to do something for you;
for he is a great favorite with our girl ruler, and she
would help you for his sake."

Jam was greatly encouraged by this information
and felt that most of his troubles were over.

After supper, the farmer's wife showed Jam to
pleasant little bedroom where he was to spend
night. Percy lay down on the round, braided rag rug
by the bed, while Jam slipped between the lavender
sheets and was soon fast asleep. The farmer's chil-
dren made a soft bed for Pinny and Gig by placing
an old pillow in a box, and soon the weary travelers
were sleeping peacefully. Jam dreamed that he had
reached the castle of the Tin Woodman, and found
him to be made of tin cans; while Percy dreamed of
huge rats, ten times his own great size.

CHAPTER 9

Kite Island

JAM was awakened next morning shortly after
daybreak by the smell of bacon frying. He could
hear the farmer's wife in the kitchen, preparing
breakfast, so he hopped out of bed, washed his face
in the clear cool water from the pitcher by his bed,
dressed quickly, and then woke Percy. After the
huge rat had stretched and yawned widely, he said,

"Well, kiddo, today's the day. We're on the last lap
of our journey."

"Yes," replied Jam. "I do hope that everything
turns out as we want it to. What shall I do if this Tin

Woodman cannot find a way to send me back to my
home?"

"Don't worry about it is my advice to you," said

Percy cheerfully. "This country isn't so bad; so if
you can't get home, we'll just live on here. I think
that I will, no matter what you do."

"But my mother and father must be worried about
me," wailed Jam. "They'll think that something ter-
rible has happened to me."

"Now, now, Jam, forget it," said the rat sympa-
thetically. "Come on, let's go down to breakfast

You'll feel much better after you've eaten some of
that good food that I smell cooking."

Percy was right, for after an excellent breakfast

Jam felt much happier. As he strapped on his knap-
sack in preparation for the journey, he thanked the

Gilliken farmer and his wife for their kind hospital-
ity. The woman, knowing the appetite of small boys,
had packed a lunch for Jam and gave him cookies
and apples, also, to go in his pack.

When they were ready to leave, Jam called Pinny
and Gig. The guinea pigs, however, surprised him by
saying,

"We have decided-"

"-to stay here."

The farmer's children had been so good to them
and had begged so hard for them to stay with them
as their pets, that the two little creatures had been
won over completely.

"We hope you-"

"-get home safely," they told Jam, as they said
goodbye to him and Percy.

"Don't cause the good man and his wife any trou-
ble," cautioned Jam. "Goodbye, and thank you for
everything," he said to the two Ozites who had be-
friended him.

"If you ever pass this way again, you must stop
and see us," said the woman who had grown to like

Jam in the few hours he had been her guest. "We
hope that you are successful in your adventure."

So Percy and Jam started again upon their jour-
ney to the land of the Winkies, where they were to
see the curious tin ruler.

After a short walk along the path, they left the
clearing and were again in the woods. The trees were
not close together, however, and sunlight streamed
down through the branches. It was a beautiful morn-
mg, and Jam and Percy walked along singing and
whistling, glad to be alive.

After walking for several hours, the two compan-
ions heard a murmuring sound that grew louder as
they advanced into the west. Coming round a bend
in the path, they saw before them a wide river which
they must cross, for it lay dfrectly in their way. On
the opposite bank, Jam could see sun flowers swaying
in the breeze, turning their large yellow faces in his
direction, toward the sun which was behind him in
the east at this hour.

"Say, kiddo, those flowers over there are yellow,"

observed Percy. "That must be the beginning of the

Winkie country. The farmer told us that everything
there was yellow, instead of purple as it is on this
side of the river.

"Then we must find some way to cross the river,"

said Jam, "because we will have to get into the Tin

Woodman's country if we are to find him."

They walked along the bank for some distance,
looking for a bridge; but even upon retracing their
steps and going along the river in the other direc-
tion, they found no way to cross to the other side.

"What are we going to do, Percy?"

"I don't know," replied the big white rat, gazing
intently at the water. "Can you swim?"

"A little; but not well enough to get across this
wide river," replied Jam. "That's a long way to swim,
and I'm afraid that I would drown if I tried to do it."

After a moment's silence Percy said, "I think I
could make it, kiddo, even though no rat likes to get
wet. I'll tell you what you can do-you can hold on
to my tail, and I'll tow you across the river."

Jam was a little dubious, for he didn't know how
good a swimmer Percy really was. But after due con-
sideration, he decided that it was the only way that
they could hope to cross the river.

They slid down the bank until they were at the
edge of the water. Then, stepping gingerly and with
an expression of distaste on his face, Percy waded
into the shallow water, with Jam close behind. When
the river was waist deep, Percy began swimming.

Jam grasped the end of his tail firmly and kicked his
own feet to help keep himself afloat. Jam soon dis-
covered that Percy was a fair swimmer, and they left
the bank to the east far behind them. When they
reached the middle of the river, however, the current
grew very strong; and Percy could make no more
headway toward the opposite bank.

"We're being swept down the river," cried Jam in
frightened tones, for he feared that they might
drown.

"I know," gasped Percy, "but the current is too
swift for me."

The two swimmers tried to conserve their strength
in hope that they might be able to reach one shore or
the other, but they were rapidly becoming exhausted.

Just as Jam decided that he could hold on to Percy's
tail no longer, the rat said,

"We're coming to an island in the river, Jam.

Hang on a little longer, and we'll get out of the
water."

Jam looked in the direction in which they were be-
ing carried, and sure enough, a little wooded island
was directly in their path. With this to encourage
them, the two made a final effort to swim and man-
aged to drag themselves upon the shore of the isle
before the current could sweep them on down the
river.

They lay panting upon the shore for some time.

Jam had lost his cowboy hat in the river, and it
bobbed up and down upon the waves as it floated out
of sight. The hot sun soon dried his clothes. Percy,
after giving himself a violent shake which sent a
shower of water in all directions, allowed the sun's
rays to dry his coat, also. Jam took out the contents
of the knapsack to see if they were soaked, but the
water had not penetrated to the articles in the bag.

The Collapsible Kite, however, was thoroughly soaked.

"Maybe if you spread it out in the sun, kiddo, it
will dry out and be as good as new," Percy suggested.

This seemed a good idea. So the boy carefully un-
rolled the kite and opened it up to its full size on the
flat ground.

He was very hungry after the exertion in the
water, so he ate the lunch that the good farmer's wife
had given him, sharing it with Percy, who nibbled at
it with relish.

After their lunch, Jam pulled on his shoes and
socks which he had taken off and laid on a stone to
dry. Although he had recovered from the swim, he
was perplexed. How were he and Percy to escape
from this island on which they had landed? Percy
was thinking of the same thing, for he broke the si-
lence by saying,

"Well, kiddo, where do we go from here?"

"I don't know," replied the little boy. "We know
now that we can't get across the river by swimming."

"No more water for me," said Percy decisively. "I
felt just like a wet rat when I finally managed to
drag myself ashore."

Jam laughed at his friend, for how else could a
wet rat feel than like a wet rat? Percy's huge body
had only made his appearance more comical when he
had crawled out upon the island, dripping water at
every step.

When the two were thoroughly dried and rested,
they decided to explore the islani

Perhaps we'll find a boat here or a raft," suggested

Jain. "Then we could get across the rest of the river
to the land of the Winkies."

"We'll make it somehow, kiddo," said Percy opti-
mistically, for with his feet once more upon dry land,
he felt much better.

"I think that I'll carry the kite with me," Jam said,
picking up the great frame. "It really isn't very
heavy, and I don't want to fold it up until I'm sure
that it is thoroughly dry."

The shore sloped up to the wooded portion of the
island, so Jam and Percy walked toward the trees.

As they neared the forest, something swooped down
toward them from above, and a queer, flat voice
cried,

"Who goes there?"

They were so startled by this sudden appearance
that they hastily retreated to the shore again. Then,
advancing cautiously, they strained their eyes up-
ward to see what had surprised them.

"Look!" cried Jam. "Kites!"

Turning in the direction in which Jam was point-
ing, Percy saw, sailing above them in the treetops,
hundreds of paper kites with long streaming tails of
cloth. Each kite had a face painted on it As the rat
and the boy walked nearer to the trees once more,
the kites swooped down toward them, screaming and
crying in loud voices.

"Why, I believe they're alive!" said Jam in a won-
dering tone of voice. "They're talking to us."

"So they are, kiddo, so they are," replied the rat,
sitting up on his haunches and peering at the odd
shaped paper creatures.

A large, red kite sailed down close to their heads,
and then, hovering above them, it inquired sternly,

"Are you friend or foe?"

"We're friends, of course," said Jam pleasantly.

"I've always liked kites, as you can see. They're fun
to fly."

The kite sailed back up to his comrades and called,

"They say they are our friends, and they have a

Strange Kite with them."

"What does the Strange Kite say?" called the
others.

The red kite swooped down toward them again and
asked, "What does your kite have to say to us?"

"Nothing, I guess. It can't talk," Jam explained.

"Why not?" inquired Red Kite.

"Because kites don't talk," the child said before
he thought.

"We do," the Red Kite reminded him.

"That's right, kiddo," Percy agreed.

"I know," the Red Kite said after examining Jam's

Collapsible Kite. "It has no mouth. No wonder it
can't talk."

"Do you have a pencil with you, kiddo?" Percy
asked Jam. "You could draw a face on your kite and
see if these others are right."

Jam went through the pockets of his jeans and
came up with a short stub of a pencil. Laying the kite
down on a level piece of ground, he drew two eyes,
a nose, and a generous mouth on the paper that cov-
ered the wooden frame. No sooner had he drawn an
eye than it winked at him. No sooner had he drawn
the mouth than the kite spoke.

"Greetings, brother kites," came the flat voice.

"Greetings to you," screamed the other kites. "Now
perhaps you can rescue us."

"Rescue you? But what is wrong with you?" in-
quired the boy, the kite, and Percy in unison.

"We are prisoners on this lonely isle," they sobbed
in unison. ';'We have been here for many long years."

The Red Kite sailed closer again to explain. "It's
a long sad story," he began.

"Then let us sit down and be comfortable," sug-
gested Jam, and he found a fallen tree on which to
perch, while Percy sat on the ground beside him, and
the Collapsible Kite floated in the air a few feet over
their heads.

"Tell on, friend kite," said Percy.

"We were once free kites, the toys of the little boys
who live in the land of the Winkies, over yonder,"

said the kite, looking toward the west shore of the
murmuring river. "We were very happy there, for
the children would take us out into the fields and let
us fly up in the breezes that blew across the land.

Each of us had a home and a beloved young master.

But this was many years ago when the land of the

Winkies was ruled by a Wicked Witch. She was a bad
and disagreeable old hag, and hated to see anyone
happy. One lovely day the children were all out in
the fields flying their kites when the Wicked Witch
of the West flew by on her magic broomstick. Infuri-
ated at seeing the happy children, she snatched all of
us away from our owners and flew to this island with
us. Here she tied us fast to the branches of the trees
and flew away, laughing gleefully at her wicked
deed."

"Why didn't you untie yourselves and fly home
again?" asked the rat.

"We have no hands, only faces and tails," replied
the kite. "So once our strings were tied securely to
the trees, we were unable to free ourselves and were
forced to fly over this island always. We heard from
the breezes that blow us that the Wicked Witch was
destroyed by a little girl who melted her with a bucket
of water, but since no one knew that she had im-
prisoned us here, no one came to rescue us."

"How very, very sad," cried the Collapsible Kite
in sympathy.

"I think that perhaps we can help you," said kind-
hearted Jam. "I can climb trees. I'll be glad to untie
any strings that I can get to."

"Before I grew so large," said Percy, "I was quite
a climber, so I should be able to help with the job."

It took some time for Jam and the rat to find in
which trees the different kites were tied and more
time to climb the trees and loose them from their
moorings. Percy found that he could climb as well
as ever, even though he was now ten times his former
size. After several hours, all of the kites were free,
and they flew high in the heavens, darting up and
down in joy at their liberty.

The leader said to Jam, "What can we do to thank
you for your help, little boy?"

"We were trying to find some means of escape from
this island when we happened upon you," Jam re-
plied. "We want to get to the Land of the Winkies
which is now ruled by a Tin Woodman who may help
me to get back to my home again."

"We tried to swim the river; but the current was

too strong for us and swept us down the river to
your island," said Percy. "Now we're stranded here
in the middle of the stream."

"Why couldn't I carry you across the river?" asked
the Collapsible Kite.

"There's no way to hang on to you, now that the
crate is broken," Jam explained. And he told the kites
of Kite Island how he and Percy had come to Oz,
carried by the Collapsible Kite.

"Let me have a conference with my fellow kites,"

said the big red one. "We may be able to show our
gratitude to you by helping you to get to the Land
of the Winkies. We, too, shall be returning there to
find our little masters again."

"But they'll have grown up by now," objected Jam,

"and won't want to play with kites."

"Oh, no," replied the kite, "They will still be chil-
dren, for no one grows old in the Land of Oz. People
stay whatever age they wish to remain."

"I've never heard of any place like that," said Jam,

"but then, I've never heard of lots of the queer things
that have happened to me since I landed here such
a short time ago."

The Red Kite flew off to join his fellow flyers, and
after some minutes of talk he returned.

"I think we may be able to suggest a way to get
you across the river," the Red Kite said, "if you can
find two small boards along the river bank."

Jam and Percy went down to the river and looked
along the water's edge. After a short time Percy
came upon some pieces of wood that had floated down
the river and had been washed up on the bank by the
water. Picking up two of them, he called to Jam to
return with him, and they carried the boards back to
the edge of the woods where they had left the kites.

"Good," exclaimed the Red Kite when he saw that

Percy had found the driftwood. "This is our plan.

You must make swings of the boards and the ropes
that seem to be hanging from the Collapsible Kite.

Then fasten the swings to the kite so that you will be
hanging from them in much the same way that the
crate was suspended. Then we will guide you to the

Land of the Winkies."

Percy looked skeptical. "Do you think that we can
hang on to swings, kiddo, way up there in the air,
without falling?"

"Certainly," the Red Kite replied. "You are clever
enough to hold on tightly to the ropes."

"I'll take a chance on flying," declared Jam, "I
don't want to stay on this island for the rest of my
life." And saying this, he began to tie the two boards
on to the Collapsible Kite with the ropes.

Suddenly he stopped. "But there's no wind to help
us now," he said.

"It doesn't matter," soothed the Collapsible Kite.

"Since I've landed in Oz I have discovered that I can
fly all by myself, wind or no wind."

"Good, then we have nothing to worry about."

Percy was not so sure of this. "Be sure that the
knots are good and tight, kiddo," he cautioned Jam.

"They are square knots," Jam declared proudly,

"so you can rest assured that they will not slip."

Percy took heart at this remark and decided that
he, too, was willing to take the kite ride across the
rushing river.

In a few minutes the seats were ready for the two
passengers. Jam sat in one, while Percy sat in the
other, clinging tightly to the two ropes with his front

Paws. He still was not too happy about the idea of
flying through the air in so precarious a manner, but
if Jam was willing to risk the trip Percy felt that he
could not show his fear.

"Hold tight," cried the kites.

"Don't fly too fast or too high at first, kiddo," Percy
begged the Collapsible Kite. "High places make me
dizzy."

"At least you can't turn white with fear," giggled

Jam, "for you're white already." Percy ignored this
remark, which he didn't think was very funny, but
all of the kites chuckled to themselves.

"Ready?" asked the Collapsible Kite.

"Ready," said Jam and Percy in unison.

With this the Collapsible Kite soared up into the
air, over the tree tops, with the other kites as an es-
cort. They were off on their journey. After the first
few minutes Jam discovered that sitting in the seat
under the kite was much like being in a swing. He
enjoyed his trip immensely and watched the scenery
as it raced past below him. The kites flew faster and
faster, and soon they were traveling at high speed,
leaving the island and the river far behind them.

Percy, however, was so scared that he kept his eyes
shut tightly and clung to the ropes for dear life.

CHAPTER 10

Jam Meets the Tin Woodman

THE sun was beginning to sink in the west, when

Jam saw a bright light ahead.

"I wonder what that glow is," he called to the kites
who were leading him. "It looks as if something is
on fire."

As they drew rapidly nearer to the light the Red

Kite said, "It looks like a building with the sun re-
flected from it."

And that was what it was. The rays of the sun, as
it sank in the west, were reflected from the walls and
towers of a marvelous castle, all made of tin. As they
drew closer to the structure the Red Kite said,

"If you wish, you can fly to earth here. I am sure
that you will find someone who will direct you to the

Tin Woodman. He probably lives in this tin castle
that we see before us."

With these words the Collapsible Kite swooped
earthward and hovered a few feet above the ground,
allowing Jam to step easily from the seat to the grass.

Percy still clung to the ropes, eyes tightly closed, not
realizing that he had come to the end of his journey.

"Percy," said Jam, "Percy, we're here!"

At these words the white rat opened his eyes, and
seeing that his feet were almost touching the lawn
over which the kites hung, he nimbly hopped from
the board and heaved a sigh of relief.

"I hope I never have to travel like that again," he
stated positively. "Not that we don't appreciate the
lift, kiddo," he hastened to add, fearing he had hurt
the Collapsible Kite's feelings, "but flying just doesn't
seem to agree with me too well."

"Thank you for showing us how to get here," said

Jam gratefully to the kites, "for it would have taken
us several days to have walked this distance, even if
we had managed to find some way to cross the rest
of the river."

After bidding Jam and Percy goodbye, the kites
soared into the air and flew away. The boy and the
rat waved until the kites were out of sight. Then,
with the Collapsible Kite hovering near them, they
headed for the castle.

"Come, Percy," said Jam, "it will soon be dark, and
we should walk over to the tin castle and see if we
can find the Emperor of the Winkies."

As they approached the tin walls they began to
meet Winkies who greeted them cordially. They were
similar in appearance to the Gillikens whom they had
already met, but the Winkies were dressed in yellow
costumes instead of purple. The flowers were yellow,
with sunflowers and dandelions brightening the coun-
tryside. Even the grass had a yellow-green hue.

They walked along a road which led directly to the
gate of the castle. On either side stood tin statues.

Even though he did not recognize them, Jam thought
they must be of famous people of the Land of Oz.

Arriving at the castle gate, Jam decided that he
had better tie the Collapsible Kite to a small tree that
grew nearby, so it would not drift away while he was
in the castle.

"I'll be all right here," the Collapsible Kite assured
him. "Take all the time you want."

At the castle gate, Jam and Percy were stopped by
a guard who wore tin armor and carried a tin spear.

"Halt and state your business," commanded the
guard in a firm voice.

"Is this the castle of the Tin Woodman?" timidly
inquired Jam, awed by all the splendor around him.

"It is," replied the guard. "The Tin Woodman is
our Emperor."

"Then, if you please, I'd very much like to see him,"

said Jam. "I have been told that he might help me
out of my difficulties."

"Our ruler is just and wise, and in addition, he pos-
sesses the kindest heart in all the Land of Oz," loy-
ally declared the guard. "His heart was given to him
by the famous Wizard of Oz, you know," he added
as an afterthought.

"We didn't know," said Percy, "but it's nice to know
that he has a heart."

"Then will he see us?" asked Jam eagerly.

"I shall announce you," said the soldier. "What
are your names and where are you from?"

"I am Jonathan Andrew Manley from Ohio in the

United States of America," said Jam. "And this huge
rat is my friend, Percy."

"Percy, the personality kid," said the white crea-
ture. "The largest white rat in existence."

"Please come into the reception room and wait
while I tell our illustrious ruler that you desire to
see him."

The guard led them into a tin room in the tin castle
and gave them tin chairs to sit on. Then he left, clos-
ing the tin door behind him. Jam and Percy looked
around the tin room, noticing the tin furniture and
tin ornaments upon the tin whatnots in the corners.

It certainly was the strangest house they had ever
seen. In the corner there was even a tin piano which
played tinny tunes.

In a few minutes the guard had returned and ush-
ered Jam and Percy into the presence of the Tin Wood-
man. Jam stopped in amazement when he saw this
strange man, for his body, and arms, and legs, and
even his head were made of tin. He was jointed so
that he moved with ease, and when he spoke, he
sounded just like a human being.

"Come in, come in," he cried to them. "I am very
happy to have visitors at this hour," and he beckoned
them into his private apartment, which was all tin
like the reception room had been. "So you are from

Ohio," he continued. "Is that near Kansas?"

"Kansas?" asked Jam, surprised.

"Yes, I know a nice little girl who used to live in

Kansas."

"Well," said Jam, "they're both in the United

States."

"Good, good, it makes me doubly glad to welcome
you. Any fellow countryman of my friend, Dorothy,
is a friend of mine," and he shook Jam's hand enthu-
siastically. "But where," he added, looking in amaze-
ment at Percy, "Did you ever meet such a huge rat?"

"That's a long story," said Percy.

"And a very strange one, no doubt," said the Tin

Man, who had had many marvelous adventures him-
self. "But, before you tell your tale, perhaps you
would like to have some food. I, myself, am never
hungry, and do not need to eat, being made of tin,
but my flesh and blood friends always enjoy a good
meal."

"We are hungry," admitted the little boy; so the

Tin Woodman called for a servant and ordered a
feast to be prepared for the two travelers. Soon the
butler carried in a fine dinner on a tin tray and set
up a small tin table from which Jam and Percy ate
their meal, which was served on tin plates. After
eating the last bite of pie with a tin fork, Jam pushed
his tin chair back from the tin table and prepared to
tell his strange story to the Tin Woodman.

He related all the amazing things that had hap-
pened to him, beginning at home in Ohio with his kite
and telling all about Terp, the Terrible. When he
spoke of the giant, the Tin Woodman nodded know-
ingly.

"I once had trouble with another giant who lived
in the Gilliken country," he stated. "Or rather, I
should say, a giantess, Mrs. Yoop, who very wickedly
transformed me into a tin owl for a time. The North

Country seems to be the place where most of the
giants of Oz live."

Then Jam told the ruler of the Winkies about the
famous magic muffin tree that was guarded by the
two-headed monster and how Percy had grown large
when he had eaten a bite of the magic muffin.

"See," said Percy proudly, standing up beside Jam,

"I'm as tall as he is, kiddo."

"Well, almost," admitted the Tin Woodman. "You
come up to his shoulder."

"Shoulder!" shrieked Percy. "I'm taller than that."

"I am sorry to say otherwise," insisted the Tin

Man, "you are not only shorter than Jam, but you
seem to be shrinking by the minute."

And sure enough, Percy was becoming smaller and
smaller at a great rate of speed. He was now only
waist high, so he cried,

"Help! Do something! I like being big. Give me
some more of the magic muffin, kiddo, before I dwin-
dle away to nothing."

Jam hastily snatched up his knapsack which he
had put in the corner before dinner and began rum-
maging in it for the piece of magic muffin that Percy
had not eaten. After a few minutes he found it and
pulled it out of the bottom of the sack. By this time,

Percy was only as high as Jam's knees. Jam quickly
handed him the piece of magic muffin which Percy
seized eagerly and began nibbling. Instantly he be-
gan to grow again, and within a few minutes' time
he was again ten times his original size.

"Ah," he said in a relieved tone, "that's better."

"Most amazing," murmured the Tin Woodman.

"Very interesting indeed. I think I see why Terp,
the Terrible, guards his magic muffin tree so jealous
ly. It is, no doubt, the secret of growth that has
made a giant out of what once was an ordinary man,
no bigger than anyone else."

"The Gilliken farmers were right when they said
that if someone would cut down the magic muffin
tree, Terp would lose his power. They want you to
come and rescue them by chopping down the tree,"

he added to the Tin Woodman. "They said that the
birds who flew over their hidden valley had told
them of a famous woodman in the land of the Wink-
ies who could help them; and that famous woodman
must be none other than you."

"I should be glad to help them if I can do it. With
some thought on the matter, I may be able to figure
out some way to chop down the tree and take all of

Terp's wicked power from him."

"The Gillikens also said that you might be able to
help me to get back to my home," said Jam hope-
fully. "I would be very happy if you could, because

I miss my mother and father."

"There isn't much I can do for you," said the Tin

Woodman, "but perhaps our ruler, Ozma, can help
you-she, and the Wizard of Oz, and Glinda, the
good sorceress of the Quadling country have helped

Dorothy to return to the outside world on various
occasions. Of course, Dorothy now lives here all of
the time, because she prefers to be a citizen of Oz."

"Doesn't she love her family and want to be with
them?" asked Jam.

"Oh, yes, she has brought her Uncle Henry and

Aunt Em, with whom she lived, to Oz, and they are
very happy here."

"Well, I don't think my parents would want to be
here," said the little boy positively, "for my father
is a college professor."

"He might like to meet Professor H. M. Woggle-
bug, T.E., head of the Royal College of Athletic Sci-
ences, near the Emerald City," said the Tin Wood-
man. "The professor is a very interesting character
who has invented many marvelous pills, such as the
square meal tablet, which gives you the equivalent
of a full meal in one small pill."

"Wonder how it tastes?" murmured Percy to him-
self.

"Do you think that I might see Ozma and ask her
to send me home?" inquired the boy anxiously.

"Tomorrow we can travel to the Emerald City, and

I shall present you to her royal highness," kindly re-
plied the Tin Woodman. "I feel sorry for you, for I
possess a kind and sympathetic heart which was giv-
en to me by the Wonderful Wizard many years ago."

This statement cheered up the small boy, who
hoped to see an end to his odd adventures soon.

By this time, it was growing late; so the Tin Wood-
man, who saw that his small visitor was very weary,
suggested that Jam wait until morning to finish tell-
ing the story of his adventures. A servant showed
the boy and the rat to a fine tin bedroom, where Jam
soon fell asleep in a tin bed, with Percy fast asleep
on a rug on the tin floor beneath a window which
overlooked the beautiful gardens of the tin castle.

CHAPTER 11

Dorothy and the Scarecrow

Join the Party

JAM slept late the next morning. He was very
weary from his journey. When he awoke the sun
was shining brightly, and he could hear birds sing-
ing in the trees outside his window. Percy was sit-
ting up, yawning and stretching, and when he saw
that Jam was awake he said,

"Good morning, kiddo. We're off to the Emerald

City today, aren't we? I wonder if I could prevail
upon this Ozma person to enchant me in some way
so that I'd stay big without having to keep up a diet
of magic muffin? If the Tin Woodman hacks down
that tree, my goose is cooked. I'm getting used to
being a curiosity, and I don't want to be just an ordi-
nary white rat again."

"Maybe she will," said Jam. "I'm beginning to
think that almost anything is possible in the Land
of Oz."

The little boy was hungry, so he set out in search
of his host, the Tin Woodman, whom he found wait-
ing in the room he had been in the night before. The

Emperor immediately ordered a fine breakfast for
his guests and chatted with them while they ate.

After the meal he asked Jam to relate the rest of his
adventures, but before the boy could begin, they
were interrupted by a servant who announced:

"Her Royal Highness, the Princess Dorothy of Oz
and the wise and illustrious Scarecrow to see the

Emperor of the Winkies."

"Show them in!" cried the delighted Nick Chopper.

"Show them in!"

In a moment a lovely little girl with golden hair
entered the room, followed by the oddest character
yet seen by Jam or Percy. It was a real, live Scare-
crow, stuffed with straw, wisps of which were stick-
ing out of his body. He was dressed in a faded blue
costume, similar to the standard garb of the inhabi-
tants of Oz, complete with blue boots that turned up
at the toes and an old blue hat with round brim and
pointed crown.

The Tin Woodman shook hands with Dorothy and
embraced the Scarecrow. It seemed to Jam they
must all be old friends.

"I am so happy to see you," smiled the Tin Man.

"We decided to pay you a little visit," said Dor-
othy, "because Ozma has gone to the Quadling coun-
try for a few days to visit Glinda."

"Excellent," cried the Tin Woodman. "But please
forgive my rudeness. I have not introduced my
guests. May I present Jam from Ohio in the United

States and his friend, Percy, the giant white rat.

These are Dorothy Gale from Kansas, now a Princess
of Oz, and my old and dear friend, the Scarecrow."

Dorothy gazed with wonder at Percy, while Jam
stared at the Scarecrow. After a moment Dorothy
said, "How did you get to Oz from Ohio?"

"And where did such a large rat come from?"

added the Scarecrow.

"I came by Collapsible Kite, quite by accident," said

Jam, "and I am very anxious to get home again. I
had hoped that Ozma would know some way to get
me there."

"We had planned to go to the Emerald City today,"

explained the Tin Woodman; "but if Ozma is visiting

Glinda, the Good, we shall have to wait until she has
returned to see her."

Jam was very much disappointed when he heard
this, for even a few days' delay in returning home
was discouraging.

"Jam was just getting ready to finish the strange
story of his adventures," said Nick Chopper, the Tin

Woodman, "when you arrived. I'm sure that you will
want to hear the story, too."

He briefly told as much of Jam's story as he knew,
including the part about Terp, the Terrible, and how

Percy had grown larger by eating a bit of the magic
muffin. The Scarecrow and Dorothy were fascinated
by this tale and begged Jam to continue, so he told of
their escape from the Equinots and their adventure on

Kite Island.

"Now I want to go home," he finished, "but if Ozma
is not at home, I guess I'll just have to wait."

"Why do you have to see Ozma about getting
home?" the little girl asked. "Why not have your
kite fly you back, now that it has been repaired?"

"I don't know the way home," Jam explained. "The
wind blew me here, but it might not blow me home
again."

"Anyway, I wanted to ask her to make me perma-
nently big," said Percy, "For a white rat of my size
is much more of a curiosity than one of the regular
size."

"All very true," said the Scarecrow, "and probably
within the power of Ozma and her consultant, the

Wizard of Oz."

"I can sympathize with you," Dorothy said to Jam,

"for I remember how anxious I was to return home
when I first came to Oz and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry
were still in Kansas. I am sure that Ozma will help
you when she returns from the south."

"In the meantime," said the Tin Woodman, "we
could all go to the Gilliken Country and see if we could
destroy the magic muffin tree and rid the Hidden

Valley of Terp, the Terrible, who has made their lives
so miserable."

"A splendid idea," said the Scarecrow, "and I for
one am in favor of it. All in favor say, 'Aye.'"

"I think it would be lots of fun," exclaimed Dor-
othy. "We always have such good times together
when we travel over the countryside."

"I might as well go along, too," said Jam, "I can't
get home until I've seen Ozma, and I'd like to help
you because you've all been so kind to me."

"Count me in, too, kiddos," said Percy. "I'll be
glad to help get rid of Terp. Maybe I can get a sup-
ply of the magic muffins while we're there and keep
my new size for a while, anyway."

So the five of them decided to journey to the Hid-
den Valley in the Country of the Gillikens. The Tin

Woodman ordered food prepared to take on the trip,
for although he and his friend, the Scarecrow, did not
eat, he knew that Percy, Dorothy, and Jam were not
constructed as he and the Straw Man were.

"The Scarecrow and I brought along the Cowardly

Lion and the Hungry Tiger," said Dorothy. "Ozma
took the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, so we rode in
style on our feline friends."

"They'll be good company on this journey," added
the Scarecrow. "The country of the Gillikens is wild
and we may encounter dangers along the way. The

Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger are always good
protection."

"Do you mean that you rode on a real lion and a
real tiger?" gasped Jam. "Weren't you afraid that
they would eat you up?"

"Gracious, no," laughed Dorothy. "They are as
tame as anything and are our friends. But other peo-
ple and beasts are afraid of them, so they are good
protection for us."

"In fact," added the Scarecrow, "the Cowardly Lion
is afraid of everything. But he is brave and hides his
fear by his acts of valor, so that only his friends know
how cowardly he really is."

"I don't know how I'll get along with two wild
beasts," said Percy. "Maybe they won't like me and
will devour me in one gulp."

"Never fear," said Dorothy. "They never harm any
of our friends. They are really quite pleasant and
friendly, and I'm sure you will grow to be fast
friends."

"Well, maybe," said Percy, "But I'll be careful at
first, kiddo."

"We had better start," said the Tin Woodman, "for
it will take us longer to reach Terp's castle than it
did for Jam and Percy to get here. They came by
kite, but Jam's kite can't possibly carry all of us back
to the Hidden Valley."

"I guess I'd better leave the kite here," Jam de-
cided. Going to the tree that served as an anchor for
the kite, he said, "We're all going back to the Gilliken
country. Do you think that you could be happy here
with the other kites?"

"Oh, yes," replied the Collapsible Kite. So Jam re-
moved the swinging seats from the kite, untied it from
the tree, and watched it fly away to find its new
friends.

Then the little band prepared to leave, bound for
the country of the Gillikens and the castle of Terp,
the Terrible, and his magic tree.

Jam was a little frightened when he first met the

Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; for these huge
beasts were fierce looking indeed. They proved to be
very gentle, however, and Jam soon learned to like
them. He had heard why the Cowardly Lion was so
named, but he was puzzled about the Hungry Tiger.

"Are you really so very hungry?" he asked, and
the Tiger replied,

"Yes. I crave nice fat babies." At this remark,

Jam and Percy shuddered with horror. "Don't be
mistaken," the Tiger hastened to add. "I never eat
them, for my conscience will not allow it. But I'm
hungry for them, just the same."

"Never fear," laughed Dorothy. "The Hungry

Tiger wouldn't hurt a fly."

It was decided that Jam and Dorothy should ride
on the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion. The

Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman did not need to ride,
for they could walk indefinitely without getting tired.

Percy ran along by them, although he kept his dis-
tance from the two huge beasts, still fearing them,
even though Jam seemed to enjoy their company.

CHAPTER 12

The Leopard with the

Changing Spots

As they traveled along the road, they were greeted
on all sides by the happy Winkie people; for it
was little Dorothy who had saved them from the

Wicked Witch of the West by melting her with a
pail of water, and the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Wood-
man, and the Scarecrow had been with her on this
adventure. Before long they had passed from the
tilled fields of the farmers with their rows of yellow
corn, and pumpkin vines, to the wilder sections of
the land of the west. They passed through fields of
yellow poppies, until they saw looming before them
a large forest Because they had the two large cats
with them and because, in addition, the Tin Wood-
man was armed with his gleaming axe, they did not
fear any beasts that might be encountered in the
woods.

Soon they were winding their way amid the high
trees, whose leafy branches shut out most of the sun-
light from above. Jam began to wonder if there were
any savage animals living in this jungle, when sud-
denly the group heard a terrible commotion ahead of
them. There were fierce growls and roars, which
sounded as if a whole zoo had escaped and was en-
gaged in a pitched battle. They had come to the edge
of a clearing and as they paused, hesitating to go in
the direction from which the noise was coming, they
heard a loud crashing in the underbrush as if some
huge creature were rushing toward them.

"Quick," said the Tin Woodman to Jam and Dor-
othy, "hop off the backs of the Cowardly Lion and
the Hungry Tiger. If this is some vicious beast, they
may have to fight to protect us. I, myself, will stand
ready with my stalwart axe."

"Stand behind me," said the Scarecrow, "for I can-
not be harmed; while you flesh and blood people must
fear wild beasts."

Percy, too, was on the alert, for he was not as big
and strong as these animals of the jungle. Suddenly
a huge beast bounded into the clearing and stopped
short when he saw the lion and the tiger crouched
ready to pounce and the Tin Woodman with his
shiny axe. The animal was a large leopard, but a
more curious leopard has never been seen; for while
the party watched to see if he planned to attack
them, his black spots on the tawny background
changed to green stars, and again in a minute to red
circles, and again to orange bars. The people were
nearly blinded by this peculiar changing of spots.

"Who are you?" growled the Cowardly Lion, "and
what do you want? Are you a friend or foe?"

"Speak up," snarled the Hungry Tiger, "before we
leap upon you and tear you to bits."

"Please do not attack me," cried the Leopard with
the Changing Spots, "for I have just escaped another
group of fierce animals who were ready to destroy
me, and I am too tired to run from you, too."

The beast did not sound unfriendly, so the Tin

Woodman said, "Why were the other animals mak-
ing war upon you? What had you done to them to
incur their wrath?"

"Nothing, Tin Man," asserted the Leopard. "The
other animals hated and distrusted me because I
could change my spots, which no other leopard can
do. So, because I was different, they have driven me
from my home and threatened to tear me to bits if I
ever return."

All the while he spoke, the Leopard's spots were
changing, from pink diamonds, to violet hearts, to
spinning pinwheels; and so on and on.

"I have always heard that a Leopard can't change
his spots," spoke up the Scarecrow, "But I see before
me evidence which proves the statement to be false.

You certainly are different."

"Yes," moaned the Leopard with the Changing

Spots, "that is the main trouble. The animals dislike
me, only because I am different from them." And
he sat down and sighed a long, sad sigh.

"That is often the case," philosophized the Scare-
crow. "I have seen it happen again and again.

People seem to think that if you are not like them,
there must be something wrong with you."

"So now I am an outcast," the Leopard continued,

"I have no friends and everyone hates me." As he
said this, all his spots became blue teardrops.

"We don't hate you," Dorothy said stoutly. "I
think you're nice.

"You do!" cried the Leopard with the Changing

Spots. "You aren't just saying that because you feel
sorry for me?" he added suspiciously.

"'Course not. You're the most spectacular Leop-
ard I've ever seen, and I think it's fun that you're
different."

"You should be in a zoo," said Jam. "Everyone
would come from miles around to see you. I'm sure
that you are the only leopard in the whole wide world
that can change his spots."

At this the Leopard with the Changing Spots be-
gan to cheer up, and his spots once more were bright
and sparkling as they changed from one colored de-
sign to another.

"How do you like me?" he timidly asked of the

Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion and Percy.

"I don't mind what your spots are like," said the

Cowardly Lion. "I, too, am different from other lions

-instead of being brave as lions should be, I am
very cowardly."

"And I don't mind," said the Hungry Tiger, "be-
cause I crave fat little babies to eat, but I have a
conscience, which other tigers do not possess, so I
can't bring myself to touch such tempting morsels."

"Don't worry about me, kiddo," added Percy. "I
like being different, and so should you. Did you ever
see a rat my size?"

"No, you are rather larger than usual," said the

Leopard, as the yellow spots on his back faded into
violet and then became deep purple.

"And we don't mind being different," said the

Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. "In fact, we much
prefer our bodies to the usual variety."

"You'll never know how happy you've made me,"

said the Leopard. "I had begun to feel that I didn't
have a friend in the world until I met you. But
where can such an oddly assorted company be go-
ing?"

"We are headed for the Land of the Gillikens,"

said the Scarecrow.

"To chop down a magic muffin tree," continued the

Tin Woodman, whirling his gleaming axe through
the air.

"If you eat the muffins, you grow ten times as big
as you were, kiddo," added Percy. "That's what hap-
pened to me, you know."

"My, my, imagine that," murmured the Leopard
with the Changing Spots.

"There's a wicked giant there called Terp, the Ter-
rible," said Jam, "and he wanted to eat me on his
muffins instead of grape jam."

"How did you escape such a horrible fate?" asked
the Leopard.

"I dragged a vine up to his window, and he swung
down to earth, just like the monkeys in the jungle,"

laughed Percy.

"Now we're going back to destroy Terp and free
the Gillikens whom he has enslaved."

"This sounds like a fine adventure," wistfully said
the Leopard with the Changing Spots. "I have never
had any adventures, for I have spent my life trying
to find some living thing that didn't hate me because

I could change my markings."

"Would you like to come with us?" asked the Tin

Woodman, who had a very kind heart. "We would
be glad to have your company."

"You would?" cried the Leopard joyfully. "Honest
and truly?"

"Sure thing, kiddo," said Percy. "The more the
merrier."

"Why not," asked the Cowardly Lion and the

Hungry Tiger.

"One more great beast will mean added protec-
tion," said the Scarecrow.

"We'd be glad to have you," said Dorothy, who
liked to watch his spots change from golden snow
flakes to silver crosses.

"Then we are agreed," said the Tin Woodman
cheerfully.

"And may we call you 'Spots'?" asked Jam. "It's
so short and simple and easy to remember."

"Call me anything you like," said the Leopard,

"for you are the first friends that I have ever had;
and I'll be pleased with any name you wish to give
me."

"O.K., Spots," said Percy. "You're one of the
gang, now."

With these words, Dorothy and Jam remounted
the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, who fol-
lowed the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman through
the forest, while Percy and Spots brought up the
rear. Spots was so happy that he frisked along like
a kitten, his spots fairly dancing from one brilliant
shape to another.

The little group journeyed on through the forest
until noon, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman en-
tertaining them with tales of the adventures they had
had on previous journeys through the Land of Oz.

Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry

Tiger had been with them on some of the trips, but
the stories were new to Jam, Percy, and Spots, who
enjoyed them very much. At lunch time, the way-
farers stopped beside a clear, rippling brook and ate
their meal, drinking with it the cool water from the
stream. Then they continued northeast, hoping to
get out of the forest before nightfall.

The sun was sinking low in the west, however, and
they were still walking along the wooded paths; so
they decided to make camp for the night. The Tin

Woodman chopped some boughs for beds for Jam
and Dorothy, who, after they had eaten their suppers,
fell fast asleep. Soon the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry

Tiger, Spots, and Percy were slumbering, too; and
the stillness of the night was broken only by the low
whispers of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman who
never slept, but sat up and chatted quietly through
the dark hours of the night until dawn broke in the
east.

CHAPTER 13

Life in Bookville

I N the morning after breakfast the travelers con-
tinued their journey, hoping to reach the Gilliken
border that day. After traveling for an hour, they
came to a place where the path branched. Noticing
a sign post, the Scarecrow stepped up to it and read:

"One mile to Bookville; or one mile to Icetown."

The sign to Bookville pointed to the right; the one
that pointed the other way indicated that the left-
hand path led to Icetown.

"Which way do we go from here?" asked the Tin

Woodman.

"I've never heard of either of these places," said

Spots, his spots changing rapidly to blue Question
marks.

"There are lots of places in the Winkie forests that
have not been fully explored," said Nick Chopper,

"5o I myself am unfamiliar with these two towns."

"Icetown sounds like it might be cold," said Dor-
othy thoughtfully, "so let's try the road to Bookville."

"Maybe we'll find some good adventure stories
there," added Jam.

"Then, if we're all agreed, on to Bookville," cried
the Scarecrow, turning onto the right-hand branch of
the path and leading the group forward.

After proceeding along the path for some distance,
the Scarecrow, who was in the lead, came to a bend
in the path. When he had gone around it, his friends
heard him exclaim:

"Well, for goodness sakes! Isn't that amazing!"

The Tin Woodman, who was next in line, looked
over his old friend's shoulder and said, "Imagine
that!"

The Cowardly Lion, with Dorothy on his back,
crowded past the two of them and uttered a low
growl of astonishment, while the little girl was so
surprised that she let go of the lion's mane and al-
most tumbled from his back to the ground.

Jam, anxious to see what they all were looking at,
urged the Hungry Tiger forward, and when they
could see around the others, they cried,

"What an odd looking place!"

Percy and Spots, not be left in the dark, climbed
into the branches of a small tree near the path, and
looking over the heads of the others, saw a most
astounding sight. In front of them was a high wall,
made entirely of book shelves filled with books. As
the people advanced slowly, they heard a chorus of
voices crying:

"Stop, stop, come not here! Go back, go back, go
back!"

"Who said that?" asked Dorothy, for she could see
no one in front of them.

"The path seems to go right through that wall,"

said the Scarecrow, "so if we are to proceed in this
direction, we'll have to go through the wall, around
it, over it, or under it. Take your choice."

"It looks pretty solid," said Jam, "so how could we
possibly go through it?"

"Maybe there's a door in it," suggested the Tin

Woodman. "Surely the path wouldn't lead us to a
blank wall."

"The forest is too dense to allow us to go around
the wall," said the Leopard, his spots crowding close
together on his back.

"Tell you what, kiddos," piped up Percy. "I'm
pretty good at climbing, so I'll climb up that book-
case and will see what's on the other side."

"That's right," agreed Jam. "Percy certainly can
climb up those shelves if he could climb up a bare
wall as he did when he rescued me from Terp, the

Terrible."

"Very well, then," said the Tin Man, "you scale the
wall and take a peek over the top. Then, after your
report, we'll be better able to decide whether to go
in this direction or to go back and try our luck with

Icetown."

Percy hurried down out of the branches of the tree
which he had climbed in order to see over the others
and walked closer to the wall. He was within a few
yards of the bottom shelf when the chorus of voices
began again.

"Stop, stop, come not here! Go back, go back, go
back!"

Percy hesitated, but seeing no signs of life, he de
cided to start his climb. Advancing to the wall, he
hopped up on the first shelf, and was reaching up-
ward to get a hand hold on another shelf, when sud-
denly something flung him off the shelf to the
ground.

"Say, wait a minute," he cried angrily. "Who
pushed me?"

He was answered by a chorus of mocking laughter.

He picked himself up from the ground where he had
fallen and again moved to the wall, determined now
to climb to the top, just to prove that he could. But
again he was tossed from the wall; and again he had
failed to see his assailant.

"What's wrong, Percy?" asked Jam anxiously.

"You keep falling. Is the wall slippery?"

"Somebody pushed me," said the disgruntled rat.

"Somebody pushed you?" asked Dorothy in sur-
prise. "Who? I didn't see anybody at all."

"Neither did we," chimed in the others. "Are you
sure that you just didn't fall?"

Percy was getting angrier by the minute. "Of
course I'm sure," he said "I guess I should know if
somebody pushes me, shouldn't I?"

"Well," said Dorothy doubtfully, "I guess maybe
you should."

"Why don't you try again," suggested the Scare-
crow after rubbing his forehead for a minute, "and
we'll all watch very closely. If someone pushes you,
we'll be able to see them."

Percy was a little tired of being tossed from the
wall to the ground, which was hard and rocky and
bruised him when he hit it; but he was also deter-
mined to convince his friends that he really was be-
mg pushed from the wall and not just losing his foot-
ing.

So once more he stalked up to the wall, while Jam,

Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the
three big cats followed closely behind him and
formed a semicircle around the spot where he planned
to climb the wall again. Gritting his teeth, Percy
made a quick leap up to a higher shelf and hung
there for a moment, planning to pull himself up to
the shelf. But the poor rat was doomed to defeat.

He felt something shoving his fingers, and he had to
let go and drop to the ground.

"I didn't see anything," said Dorothy, and Jam
agreed with her. The Tin Woodman, however, was
not so sure that Percy had fallen through any fault
of his own.

"It seemed to me," he said thoughtfully, "that one
of the books moved to the front of the shelf and
pushed Percy's paws until he was forced to let go
and drop back to the ground."

"Something pushed me, kiddo," said the rat rue-
fully, "and since there's nothing on the shelves but
books, maybe you're right."

"How could a book move all by itself?" asked Jam.

"My books never moved out of the shelves unless I
moved them."

"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz, though,"

said the little girl from Kansas, "so maybe these
books can move all by themselves."

"You are so right, you are so right," came the
chorus that they had heard before, and the books all
began shifting around on the shelves.

"They're alive," exclaimed the Scarecrow. "Imag-
ine that!"

"So they are," replied his tin friend.

"Of course we are, of course we are," went on the
chorus. "Didn't you know that books live on and on
and on and on?"

"Since you are alive," said the Tin Woodman, "can
you tell us how to get over your bookcase wall? We
wish to journey along this path, and the road seems
to lead through here."

A storm of laughter greeted his speech. "Who are
you, who are you, who are you that you want
through?" cried the chorus.

"I am Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, Emperor
of the Winkies."

"And that makes him your ruler, too," the Scare-
crow reminded them, "for you are living in a part of
the Winkie land."

"You must be wrong, you must be wrong," chanted

The books in one voice. "We have a King, we have a

King."

"Then I demand to see him," ordered the Tin

Woodman, "for if there is another king in my land,

I wish to know all about him."

"He wants to see our King," they cried, "he wants
to see our King."

As they finished speaking, a strange thing hap-
pened. A section of the bookcase wall swung open,
and the group moved forward, through the portal,
into Bookville. No sooner had they all passed through
the door, than it slammed shut behind them with a
loud noise, and the little party realized that they
were trapped within the bookshelf walls.

The Scarecrow rushed back and tried to find the
door through which they had come, but the wall was
as solid as if it had been made of stone. As he
searched for some sort of opening in the wall, he
heard again the mocking laughter that had taunted
them before.

"Looks like we're trapped, kiddos," said Percy,
watching the Scarecrow's frantic efforts to find the
swinging panel in the bookshelves.

"We were going in this direction anyway," said

IDorothy, "so it doesn't really matter if the door be-
hind is locked, does it?"

"Well," said the Tin Woodman slowly, "I guess it
doesn't. But I'd feel happier if it hadn't happened,
somehow."

"Me, too," said the Hungry Tiger, looking around
him with distaste.

Once inside the wall, the little party found a most
curious village, with streets running between rows
of bookcases. While they stood there, debating
whether they should go on or try to go back, a
strange creature approached them. It was a book,
with a thin body and arms and legs, so that it looked
like a stick man with a book for a head.

"Where do you wish to go?" inquired the book.

"We want to see the King," said the Tin Wood-
man in a voice of authority.

"Follow me. I am the Guide Book," stated this
strange apparition; and turning, he headed for the
middle of the village with our friends close at his
heels. As they walked along the street, they could
see other books walking about, talking with each
other, and staring at the stranger in their midst.

There were all sizes and shapes and colors of books.

Their guide had a fancy colored binding with a map
printed upon it There seemed to be all sorts of
books, some with pictures on the covers, some plain,
some with gold letters, and some with raised titles.

"This is the only village of its kind in the world,"

began the Guide Book. "It is inhabited entirely by
books of all varieties."

"So we see," murmured the Scarecrow.

"Very curious, indeed," commented the Tin Wood-
man, while Dorothy and Jam gazed about them in
wonder, and Percy, Spots, and the children's mounts
peered suspiciously at the dwellers of Bookville.

"On your left," continued the Guide Book, "you
will see the dwellings of our famous Detective Books
who solve any crimes committed in our fair city. We
shall not pass through the Murder Book section, for
you would be taking your lives in your hands to ven-
ture there."

"Then let's keep as far away from there as pos-
sible," said Dorothy with a shudder, "for I don't
really want to be murdered."

"We had a lurid case last week," said their Guide

Book, "when someone murdered the English Lan-
guage, one of our more scholarly text books."

"Very punny," said Percy to no one in particular.

"Lots of people do that every day," said the Scare-
crow.

"If that's what happens in the outside world," said
their guide, "I'm glad that I live in Bookville. Imag-
in--murders every day!"

The group passed a playground, where a lot of
little books were playing, chasing each other gaily,
swinging on the swings, and sliding down the slid-
ing boards.

"Those must be the Children's Books," said Dor-
othy.

"Exactly, exactly," replied the Guide Book. "We
provide fine, safe places for our children to play."

The bookcases along the street were becoming
larger and more ornate and were set in large yards
with flowers and shrubs growing profusely in formal
gardens.

Dorothy commented on one particularly beautiful
garden where an abundance of colorful flowers were
blooming, and the Guide Book informed her that it
was the home of the Flower Books.

"We have quite a rivalry between the various
members of the Horticultural Book family," he
added, "for each tries to outdo the rest with the
splendor of the flowers in his garden. Of course, the

Orchid Book is the aristocrat of the family, while the

Wild Flower Guide is a shy, retiring little thing who
seldom appears in public."

"Very interesting, indeed," said the Tin Wood-
man, who loved flowers. "I had no idea that such a
place existed in my kingdom."

At these words, the Guide Book drew himself up
to his full height and stated positively, "You, sir, are
only a visitor in our city. Please refrain from slight-
ing the Book of Royalty with such remarks."

And with this, he turned and hurried on, letting
the group follow him in silence for a time.

Before long they came to a very large, beautifully
decorated bookcase, with a crest upon it.

"This is the royal palace, home of the Book of Roy-
alty," said their guide, his voice low and filled with
respect. "You will soon be in the presence of our
high and exalted ruler," and he bowed low in the
direction of the regal abode.

"Humph!" growled the Cowardly Lion, "who ever
heard of being ruled by a book?"

"I've heard of raising babies by a book," said

Dorothy.

"That's different," said the Hungry Tiger, "and
please don't talk about babies. It makes me hungry."

Just then some curious little beings hurried to
meet them. They were similar to the books, but in-
stead of having books for heads, they had only sin-
gle printed pages.

"We are the Palace Pages," they said, bowing low.

"Please come forward and be presented to the most
high Book of Royalty, ruler of our fair city of Book-
ville."

Then six little Pages lifted long golden trumpets
to their lips and blew a fanfare, which announced
the appearance of the Book of Royalty.

The king of Bookville stepped from his bookshelf
palace and advanced to his throne which was on a
raised dais in the courtyard. He was a handsome,
richly bound volume, of royal purple color, with let-
ters of pure gold gleaming upon his cover. He was
followed by a retinue of beautiful editions, bound in
the most expensive manner.

"His royal highness, the Book of Royalty, and his
court," murmured the Guide Book, as he prostrated
himself before the throne. The Tin Woodman and
his friends stood there, frankly staring at the King
of the city of books, but ignoring the fact that he
was the ruler. After all, why should the Emperor of
the Winkies bow before one of the minor rulers in
his own country?

"Oh, your gracious royal highness, wise and aug-
ust leader of your people, here before you are the in-
significant travelers who demanded entrance through
our portals," intoned the Guide Book.

"Insignificant!" gasped Dorothy. "How can you
say that about your Emperor and his -

"Emperor!" said the Book of Royalty in a severe
voice. "I am the sole ruler here. All others are
wicked imposters."

Upon hearing this, the members of his royal court
chanted, "Imposters! Imposters! There is no other
ruler but our Book of Royalty," and they all bowed
low before the throne.

"See, miserable misshapen creatures," bellowed the
monarch, opening and shutting his cover in his rage,

"I, and only I, am King; and you all shall be my
slaves."

"You can't do this to us," exclaimed the Tin Wood-
man.

"I'm tired of having people make a slave of me,"

said Jam resentfully.

"Shall we tear them to bits?" growled the Coward-
ly Lion, while the Hungry Tiger lashed his tail to
and fro, and Spots had brightly colored swords and
muskets spinning madly on his back.

"Wait," cried the Scarecrow to his friends, "let us
have no violence, if we can avoid it. I am sure the

Book of Royalty is just and fair," he continued in a
conciliatory and flattering tone, "and would not
harm us if we prove that we are a peaceful group of
travelers who intend to do him and his subjects no
harm."

This statement made the King of the Books very
thoughtful. Finally he said in a crafty voice, "I am
indeed just, and I shall see that you have a fair trial
and a chance to prove your innocent intentions."

"Our ruler is just, and wise, and good," chanted
his followers.

"I don't trust him," whispered Dorothy to Jam.

"Neither do I," he replied. "I think this is some
kind of trick."

"Silence," roared the Book of Royalty in a mighty
voice, looking in their direction. Jam and Dorothy
stopped whispering at once, and made themselves as
small as possible, creeping behind the Cowardly Lion
and the Hungry Tiger for protection.

"What do you propose to do with us?" inquired
the Scarecrow politely, although he too was suspi-
cious of the book, not liking his manner.

"You shall have a trial," said the Book of Royalty
with a sneer. "A trial by jury," and he turned to the

Pages. "Bring on the Judge and Jury," he cried.

The Pages bowed low and scampered away on
their errand. Soon they returned, followed by a
group of black-robed, white-wigged volumes who
walked pompously up to the dais and bowed to the
king.

"Who are they?" asked Percy.

"These," said the Book of Royalty, "are the Law

Books, who will try your case."

"Who will be our lawyer?" asked the Tin Woodman.

The king laughed long and loud. "Lawyer? For
you? Why should you have a lawyer? You are only
the defendants. No one has a lawyer in this trial ex-
cept the prosecution, and that's us."

"But we insist on a jury," said the Scarecrow em-
phatically. "You promised that, you know."

"Ah, yes, a jury you shall have. Unfortunately, it
will not be a jury of your peers, for we have no citi-
zens of such a low rank as you. All of our books
have titles."

"Title or no, I'd rather be a Leopard with spots
that change," said the big cat, his crescent spots
changing to green apples and then to pink elephants,

"than to be one of these stupid books, with no origi-
nal thoughts in their silly printed heads."

"You think we aren't original?" said the incensed
ruler. "Just wait, my changeable friend, and you
shall sing a different song," and he scowled fiercely
at Spots, who snarled and growled in return.

Percy drew Spots to one side and said to him,

"Take it easy, kiddo, or you may not live to tell
about this adventure. I think they mean business,
and they outnumber us one hundred to one."

Spots reluctantly agreed that he would be quiet for
his own sake, and for the safety of his comrades.

The king was ready to announce the beginning of
the trial, when there was an interruption. A figure
whirled up the street to the palace and began laugh-
ing wildly. It was a book with a motley cover, and
a fool's cap was at an angle on his head. He had
bells on his toes, and as he danced around the
throne, he cried,

"Fiddle de dee, fiddle de die,

Never was fruitcake as nutty as I!

To stay out of school I made it a rule,

So I turned out to be, as you'll notice, a Fool,!"

The Book of Royalty scowled at the newcomer
and said, "I thought I told you to stay in your own
shelf when I had important business to attend to.

Be gone!"

The colorful book ignored the command of the
ruler and continued dancing around the courtyard.

"Who's that?" asked Dorothy in astonishment.

"That," said the Guide Book hastily, glancing at
the Book of Royalty to see if he would be punished
for volunteering the information, "Is the Court Jest-
er, the Rhyming Dictionary, who is, as you can plain-
ly see, quite mad."

The Jester had by this time noticed Jam, Dorothy,
and their friends; so he bowed before them and said:

"It's plain as day they came to pay

Our bookish burg a visit;

But if they're smart, they'll soon depar~

And that's no fooling, is it?"

"I wonder why he said that?" asked the Tin Wood-
man.

"I don't know," replied the straw man, "But he
may not be such a fool after all."

"There may be a lot of truth in his queer poetry,"

said Nick Chopper. "I, for one, wish we'd never
come here at all."

"A Man of Tin who's tall and thin-

A Scarecrow bright and brainy-

A lass, a lad and let me add

Some other miscellany;

Three kinds of cat-a king-size rat-

So long a list may weary us.

Thus, let me say, be on your way

Before our fun turns serious!"

"Silence!" screamed the monarch. "Fool or no fool,

I'll have your addled head chopped off and put on
the shelf forever."

The Rhyming Dictionary sensed that he had gone
too far, so he quickly withdrew himself from the
scene to escape punishment.

"I'm afraid we're in for it, kiddos," whispered

Percy.

"I don't like. the look of things at all," said Jam.

"Do you think that we can get away from here?"

"We'll think of some way to escape," said Dorothy
optimistically. "I've been in peculiar situations in Oz
before, and I've always managed to escape some-
how."

The Law Books had now arranged themselves be-
fore the throne, and one small black tome pounded
with a gavel and cried,

"Oyez, oyez, oyez, the trial is about to begin.

Please rise when the judge enters." He pounded on
a table with the gavel, and all the books rose as a
large, solemn looking black volume slowly walked in-
to the room and climbed upon a high seat near the

King.

The volume adjusted his spectacles, cleared his
throat, and said in a deep voice, "The trial of the

State vs. the Intruders will now begin."

CHAPTER 14

Trial by Jury

YOUR honor," said the Scarecrow to the judge,

"may I plead the case for myself and for my
friends?"

"I object," shrilled one of the Law Books, jumping
to his feet.

"Objection sustained," intoned the judge, com-
pletely ignoring the Scarecrow. "Proceed with the
prosecution."

"But, your honor, the king promised us a trial by
jury," cried Dorothy. "Where's the jury?"

"Call the jury," said the judge, "and do not inter-
rupt again, little girl, or you shall regret it," he ad-
monished Dorothy.

Twelve volumes were quickly called forward.

"Have you any opinion already formed concerning
the innocence or guilt of the accused?" the judge
asked them.

"We think they are guilty, guilty, guilty," chanted
the prospective jurors.

"Excellent," said the judge. "The jury has now
been selected. Proceed with the prosecution at once."

"That's not fair," cried Jam angrily. "Why bother
with a trial if the jurors think we're guilty before
they hear from us?"

"Silence, foolish boy!" shouted the judge, pound-
ing loudly with his gavel. "The jurors must think
you are guilty, for you will have no opportunity to
speak for yourselves. It's against the law!"

"I fear we are lost," said the Tin Woodman sadly.

"Quiet," cried the bailiff. "Silence in the court."

"Prosecutor, proceed," commanded the judge.

"Your honor, wise Book of Judgment," said the
prosecutor, "these creatures have forced their way
into our fair vlllage, insisting that the crude tin be-
ing is the ruler of us all, when we know full well that
the Book of Royalty," and he bowed low in the direc-
tion of the throne, "is our rightful monarch."

"Horrors," cried the judge at these words.

"Treason, treason, treason," shrieked the jurors.

"Destroy the intruders," howled the onlookers.

"Order in the court," roared the bailiff, pounding
the table with his gavel until the uproar had quieted.

"The jury has now heard the case for the prosecu-
tion," said the judge, peering over the top of his
glasses. "What is your verdict?"

"We find the prisoners guilty, guilty, guilty," cried
the members of the jury in one voice. "They must
be punished, punished, punished."

"I object," spoke up the Tin Woodman angrily.

"You have no right to try me or my friends on any
grounds. I shall protest to Ozma, and you shall all
be severely reprimanded."

"Who is Ozma?" asked the judge.

"She is the ruler of the Land of Oz," declared the

Scarecrow, "and all of us must obey her, including
you."

"Treason, treason, treason," chanted the jurors.

"We have no ruler but the Book of Royalty."

"Ozma," sneered the King. "I am monarch here,
and no one else shall be obeyed. Proceed with the
trial," he commanded the judge.

"You have been found guilty by the jury, and so
must be punished," said the judge in a stern voice.

"I hereby decree that you shall be pressed and bound
into books."

"What!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"Books!" cried Jam. "What do you mean?"

At this moment the court jester appeared upon the
scene again, and laughing wildly, he danced and
pranced and sang,

"Those who intrude get treatment rude,

As you will soon be finding;

in covers pressed, they're stiffly dressed

In hard, unbending binding."

The Cowardly Lion gave a mighty roar and tried
to spring forward, but he was quickly restrained by
a whole set of books that leaped upon him and bound
him with ropes. Another set captured the Hungry

Tiger, even though he put up a terrific battle, and

Spots and Percy were overpowered by still more vol-
umes. A set in lovely matched scarlet bindings sur-
rounded Jam, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin

Woodman, snatching the latter's axe from his hands
and rendering him helpless.

"Sentence the prisoners," ordered the king to the
judge.

"Scarecrow, step forward and face the judge,"

ordered the bailiff.

The straw man was thrust before the judge by the
guards who had captured him.

"You would not make an interesting book," began
the judge, "so you shall be unstuffed, your stuffing
destroyed, and your clothing used to increase the
rag content of the paper from which new books are
made."

"Tin Woodman, step forward and face the judge,"

came the order again.

"Because you have tried to claim that you are our
ruler, your body shall be melted down and used to
make machinery for our printing presses," the judge
decreed.

Jam and Dorothy were condemned to transforma-
tion into Children's Books, while the four animals
were told that they would all be placed in the Ani-
mal Book.

"Off to prison with them," cried the Book of Roy-
alty when sentence had been passed.

"You'd best take care-

You'd best beware-

This Ozma may exist,

And she may bring

Her army, King:

Take my advice-desist!"

This was too much for the Book of Royalty, who
was getting tired of having such sentiments ex-
pressed by the Rhyming Dictionary, so he ordered
the guards to arrest the Court Jester and take him
to prison, also. The fool, however, was too quick for
them and escaped by fleeing headlong down the road,
with the guards hot on his trail.

When this commotion had ceased, the prisoners
were marched away, surrounded by guards, to await
execution of the sentences passed upon them. They
were downhearted, for none of them could think of
any way to escape the books.

"Rag content, indeed," muttered the Scarecrow to
himself. "A personal friend of Ozma, and I'm to be
used to make paper. What an end, after all the
things I have been through."

"And my beautiful tin body is to be made into
printing presses," sighed the Tin Woodman, a tear
escaping from his eye and rolling down his tin cheek.

Dorothy, when she saw the tear drop, seized the oil
can the tin man always carried with him and oiled
his face so that his weeping would not rust his jaws.

"Why bother?" he said to her. "It doesn't matter
now whether I rust or not."

"Don't be so downhearted," said Dorothy sympa-
thetically. "We've been in dangerous situations be-
fore, and something always happens to save the
day."

"I don't care about saving the day," said Percy.

"I just want to save myself."

"Animal Book indeed," snorted Spots, his pattern
changing from red dots to big, black exclamation
marks.

"Well, we aren't books yet, so maybe we'll be able
to escape before the calamity occurs," said Jam hope-
fully.

While they talked, they were being escorted down
one of the streets by the set of books who were
guarding them. Presently they came to a huge grey
bookcase that obviously was the prison.

"Halt!" cried the captain of the guards, flashing
a sword through the air. "You will be confined in
this prison until the time for your execution tomor-
row."

The bookcase had a door on the front, which was
fastened by a curious lock. The captain produced a
big, brass key, unlocked the huge door, and swung
it open with difficulty.

"How will we stay in a bookshelf?" asked Dorothy.

"We aren't books, you know," the Scarecrow said
to the captain of the guards.

"Not yet," the captain said, "But since most of you
are to become books, you'd better get used to living
in shelves."

"I guess we'll just have to lie all huddled up on a
shelf apiece," said Jam thoughtfully. "I hope we fit."

"It won't be comfortable," said Dorothy, "but
since we have no choice, we'll have to make the best
of it and try to get as comfortable as possible."

So it was decided that Dorothy was to have the
bottom shelf, Jam the next, with the Scarecrow and
the Tin Woodman in the next two above them. The
four animals scrambled up to the top four shelves,
where they crouched a little more comfortably than
their friends. When the guards saw that they were
all arranged, they swung shut the great bookcase
door, and our friends heard the rasp of the key as
they were locked securely into their curious prison.

As there was no glass in the door, they were in total
darkness when the portal swung shut and they had
difficulty in judging the passage of time. They soon
discovered that they could hear each other talking,
so they lay on their dark shelves, talking to one an-
other and trying to figure out some way to escape
from their predicament.

CHAPTER 15

Percy Gnaws a Hole

PRESENTLY Dorothy said, "It must be supper-
time. I'm getting awfully hungry."

Jam, in the shelf above her, managed, after much
maneuvering, to get at some of the food in his knap-
sack.

"I think I can slide a sandwich down to you be-
tween the edge of my shelf and the door," he said to

Dorothy and proceeded to do just that, so the two
children were able to eat a little. He could not, how-
ever, manage to send any food up to the Cowardly

Lion, the Hungry Tiger, Spots, and Percy. The

Hungry Tiger said he didn't really mind, because one
little sandwich could do no more than whet his appe-
tite.

Percy, meanwhile, had had an idea.

"Hey, kiddos," he said, "I wonder how much luck

I'd have at gnawing my way out of here. I am a
rodent, you know, and gnawing is right up my alley."

"A brilliant suggestion," said the Scarecrow from
his shelf. "If you could manage to get out of here,
maybe you could get the key away from our jailor,
and free us all."

"If only they hadn't taken my axe away from me,"

mourned Nick Chopper, "I could have hacked a way
out of this prison in no time at all."

"No use crying over spilled milk," said Jam phil-
osophically.

"In fact, you'd better not cry at all," said Dorothy
to her tin friend, "or you'll rust."

So Percy began gnawing as hard and as fast as
he could.

"What a racket," exclaimed Spots from his shelf.

"If Percy keeps that up, the guard will hear us and
come to investigate."

"That wouldn't be so good, would it?" said Jam
from where he lay.

"But if Percy doesn't gnaw, we won't have any
chance at all of escaping," said the Tin Woodman.

"What do you think we should do, Scarecrow?" he
asked, for the Scarecrow had been noted for his bril-
liance ever since the famous Wizard of Oz had given
him brains made of bran, pins, and needles.

"Maybe if we all sang we would make so much
noise that Percy's chewing wouldn't be heard," sug-
gested their learned friend after due consideration.

"Is there any song that we all know?" asked Jam.

"How about, 'The Land of Oz Forever'?" sug-
gested the Tin Woodman.

"I don't know that one," objected Jam.

"We might sing 'Way Down Upon the Swanee

River'," said Dorothy; but the Cowardly Lion and
the Hungry Tiger said that they didn't know the
words.

"It may not sound very pleasant," said the Scare-
crow, "But how about each person singing whatever
song he likes. After all, what we want to do is make
nloise."

So it was agreed that they all would sing different
songs if they wished.

"All together, now," cried Dorothy from the bot-
tom shelf. "One, two, three, sing!"

Immediately a terrific din began, as the Scarecrow
and the Tin Woodman sang 'The Land of Oz For-
ever,' Jam and Dorothy sang 'Way Down Upon the

Swanee River,' and Spots, the Hungry Tiger, and the

Cowardly Lion sang 'I Went to the Animal Fair.' It
nearly deafened all of them, but they kept on sing-
ing as loudly as they could, for they wanted Percy
to gnaw a hole through the back of the bookcase
prison without any interruption.

Percy gnawed and gnawed and gnawed amid the
noise, and before too long, he had made a little hole
through the board that enclosed them. So he gnawed
and gnawed and gnawed some more and made the
hole big enough to stick his head through. He cau-
tiously poked his head out of the opening and looked
around to see if anyone suspected what he was up to.

As this was the back of the jail, with no doors or
windows in it, the guards did not even patrol it, for
they had no idea that anyone could get out of the
prison anywhere except through the door. -  - -
saw that there was no one in sight, so he pulled his
head back in through the hole and started gnawing
again. He was so anxious to get himself and
friends out of the prison that he chewed faster than
usual. It was now dark outside, so he felt safe in
making the hole large enough to get his body
through. He knew that it now would be difficult for
anyone on the outside to see his work. In a few min-

utes the hole was large enough to squeeze through,
so he called to his friends to stop singing. But they
were making so much noise that they could not hear
him and kept right on making their discordant melo-
dies.

The white rat realized that none of the others
could get out of the hole that he had made, for there
was no way of their getting from one shelf to an-
other; so either he would have to gnaw a hole for
each of them to get through or he would have to find
some way to get the door of the prison open from
the outside. He feared that if he had to gnaw seven
more holes in the back wall of the prison, he would
not be finished by morning, and the escape would be
foiled; therefore he must find some other way to get
them out of the bookcase. Percy crept quietly around
the corner of the grey prison, inching his way along
so that he would make no sound to attract the atten-
tion of the guard. He was just ready to peek around
the corner at the front of the building when he heard

a sound that made his hair stand on end.

"Pssst!" came from behind him.

Percy whirled around, his teeth bared, ready to at-

tack whoever had discovered him. In the darkness

he could see a darker form which looked like one of

the book people. Just as he prepared to spring upon

the dusky figure, it spoke to him in a whisper.

"Tee hee! Tee hee! A form I see

That has escaped from jail.

He'd best watch out, or I've no doubt

They'll catch him by the tail!"

"The Rhyming Dictionary!" gasped Percy. "What

are you doing here?"

"Be quiet, chum, or you'll be glum-

The guard will surely hear you;

Just take it slow - whisper low,

For I am standing near you."

When he realized that the Court Jester did not in-

tend to call the guard, Percy said,

"Why are you out at this time of night? Does the

king know where you are, kiddo?"

"I've slipped away, for, sooth to say,

The King does now detest me;

My warning rimes he thinks are crimes,

For which he would arrest me."

Percy was quick-witted enough to realize that if

he could keep the Court Jester on his side, the im-

prisoned party might have a valuable ally, so he said,

"Gee, I can't understand why the king is so mean to

you. After all, kiddo, you are a smart operator, and

the king should know that he can't do without you.

Who cheers him up when he is low with witty say-

ings? Who sings clever songs to him to kill time

when he's bored? Who is really the slickest operator

in his court? You, my friend, you!"

The Rhyming Dictionary thought about this for a

few minutes.

"There's truth indeed in what you say:

The King, who once admired me,

Keeps picking on me every day-

In fact, he's even fired me!"

"I think that he abuses you, kiddo," said Percy,

realizing that he was fast winning the Jester over to

his side. "Why don't you run out on him, and then

he'll find out how important you were and be sorry

that he was so mean to you."

"The idea's good---

And if I could,

To leave I'd not be slow to.

But should I roam

Away from home,

I know nowhere to go to."

"You could join us, kiddo. We're making our get-

away just as fast as we can, and we don't intend to

come back."

"I will! Iwill!

But what about

Your friends? They still

Are in, not out."

"I'm working on that little deal right now," said

Percy. "If we could get the key from the captain of

the guard, it would be a cinch."

"The King told the Captain

He wanted me clapped in

The dungeon, as Top Public Enemy;

So I'm sure he'll give chase

At his headlongest pace

Just as soon as he catches some ken o' me.

I can jump out quite near him

And jinglingly jeer him

And then, when he starts to pursue me,

I think you will find

I can lead him behind

That gray bookshelf, before be gets to me."

Percy immediately saw what the Rhyming Dic-

tionary meant to do. He would entice the guard back

of the prison, where Percy could pounce upon him

and get the key to the prison.

"That's the old fight, kiddo," said the rat enthusi-
astically. "I think that there is only one of the books
on guard. And once you lure him back here, his
goose is cooked."

With this, the book pranced gaily around the cor-
ner of the bookcase, and into the line of vision of the
guard. As soon as the Court Jester came in sight,
the officer cried, "Stop! You are under arrest. I or-
der you to give yourself up in the name of the Book
of Royalty."

"Whoppity why, whop pity whee,

I'll never surrender-you'll have to catch me!"

chanted the fool, dancing out of the clutches of the
guard who made a quick lunge at him. He edged
toward the back of the prison and slipped out of
sight around the corner of the jail with the guard
pursuing him. Imagine the guard's surprise when

Percy pounced upon him, pinning him to the ground
and muttering fiercely in his ear,

"Quiet, or it's all up with you, kiddo."

The captain of the guards was so stunned that he
lay there in silence, afraid that the rat would chew
him to pieces.

"Reach in his pocket and pull out the keys,

And we'll open the prison as quick as a sneeze!"

Percy had meanwhile searched the captain of the
guards and had found the huge key that opened the
door of the bookshelves.

"Sit on him and don't let him get away," Percy in-
structed the Court Jester. "I'll open the door and let
out my friends."

"Now, don't forget me when you leave,

For I have helped you, I believe."

"Never fear, kiddo, we'll take you with us"' said

Percy. And with these words he ran around to the
front of the bookcase and unlocked the door. After
a lot of pulling and tugging he managed to get the
door open.

By this time the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger,

Spots, Jam, Dorothy, the Tin Woodman, and the

Scarecrow had sung themselves hoarse; but they
were still croaking away, for they did not know that

Percy had freed himself from his shelf. Imagine
their surprise, then, when the door of the jail began
to swing open. Immediately the songs ceased, and
all was as quiet as could be.

"It's all right, kiddos," came a welcome whisper
from the rat. "It's me, Percy."

"How did you manage to get the door open?"

asked Dorothy.

"It's a long story, kiddo, and I think it should wait
until we're safe. Hop out now and let's make our
getaway before we are discovered."

"An excellent suggestion," said the Tin Woodman,
as Jam and Dorothy slid out of their shelves.

"Oh, I've been doubled up on that shelf so long
that I feel like an accordian," Jam exclaimed as he
stretched, trying to get the kinks out of his arms and
legs and back.

"My left leg's asleep," said Dorothy.

"Walk around on it, my dear," instructed the

Scarecrow, "and it will soon feel all right," and he
climbed down from his place in the bookcase, while
the Tin Wpodman followed him. The three big cats
leaped down to the ground with ease, and the group
crowded around Percy, asking how he had got the
key that unlocked the huge door.

"The Court Jester and I captured the guard and
took the key away from him," Percy told them. "The

Jester's keeping his eye on the guard. One peep out
of him, and it's curtains for a certain volume I could
mention!"

"What shall be do with him?" asked Dorothy.

"If we let him go, he'll spread the alarm, and we
may be recaptured," Jam said.

"Why don't we lock him up in the prison?" sug-
gested the Scarecrow. "We'll put him on one of the
lower shelves, so he can't get out through the hole
that Percy gnawed in the back wall. Then our escape
won't be noticed until the guard changes."

"That's a good idea, my friend," the Tin Man said,
and all the rest of the party agreed with him. So the

Emperor of the Winkies accompanied Percy to the
back of the bookcase, where the guard was still ly-
ing on the ground with the Rhyming Dictionary sit-
ting on his chest, murmuring silly little jingles to
himself. When he saw Percy and Nick Chopper, he
jumped up from his seat on the soldier and turned
the prisoner over to them, glad to be relieved of any
responsibility.

In short order they marched the guard around the
building and shoved him in on the bottom shelf of
the prison. Then the Tin Woodman and the Scare-
crow closed the heavy door, and locked it, leaving
the key in the lock.

"There's no point in taking the key with us," ex-
plained the Scarecrow, "and we don't want the guard
to have to stay in his own jail indefinitely. All we
want is a chance to escape."

The Tin Woodman, meanwhile, had found his
trusty axe propped against a tree near the place
where the guard had stood watch; so, armed once
more with the gleaming blade, he was ready to lead
the escape.

Jam and Dorothy decided to ride on the backs of
the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion, for they
could travel more quickly that way. After a brief
council of war, the party moved down the broad ave-
nue in the direction of the gate.

Suddenly Dorothy asked, "How will we get through
the wall?"

The Rhyming Dictionary capered close to her and
whispered,

"There is a way-a secret door

Where seldom eye detects it;

But I've had chances to explore,

And know just where to exit."

"Good," said Jam. "Then we won't have to worry
about getting out of this dreadful place."

"Lead on, then," said the Tin Woodman, "for we
don't want to stay here too long, or we might be dis-
covered."

The Court Jester took the lead, followed by the

Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Jam on the Hungry

Tiger, Dorothy riding on the Cowardly Lion, and

Spots and Percy bringing up the rear. Soon they
turned off the main avenue along which they were
traveling, and began to wind their way through nar-
row streets and alleys, past dark bookcases looming
like tall buildings along the streets, until they came
to the wall that surrounded the town.

The Rhyming Dictionary stopped the party in the
shadow of a building and whispered,

"Stand silently here

Till the coast is quite clear-

Then I'll open the gate and say

And be sure when I call

To slip out through the wall

Without fuss or confusion or flurry!"

'Hurry!'

Then he slipped away from them and approached
the wall. After a moment, they heard a faint creak-
ing of rusty hinges, and a small section of the wall
swung outward, leaving a small door through which
they all hurried while the Jester held the door ajar.

In a moment, they were all outside the city wall, and
the Rhyming Dictionary allowed the door to swing
shut behind him and hurried on with the group. He
said,

"We're out of danger now;

They never leave the city.

They miss the lovely outside world-

Now isn't that a pity?"

Now that they felt that they were safe, the group
decided to make camp for the rest of the night; so
finding mossy beds under the great trees in the for-
est, Dorothy and Jam fell fast asleep. The animals
soon followed suit, while the Scarecrow, the Tin

Woodman, and the Court Jester walked a little
farther along the path and conversed together until
dawn.

When the children awoke, they found that the Tin

Woodman had found a patch of wild strawberries
which he had picked for their breakfast. The Hungry

Tiger, the Cowardly Lion, Spots, and Percy had found
their own food in the forest, although Percy asked
for another small bite of the magic muffin to keep
himself from growing small again.

"There isn't a. great deal left," cautioned Jam, "so
don't eat too much or you won't have enough to last
you until we get to the tree again."

"Maybe then I can get a few extra ones," said

Percy, "so that I'll have some to keep me large un-
till get to the Emerald City and ask the Wizard to
enchant me so that I can't ever grow small again."

"What if he won't do it for you?" inquired Spots,
big dark patches of doubt showing on his back.

"We'll tell Ozma how he saved our lives," said the

Scarecrow, "and I think that she'll be glad to have
the Wizard grant his request."

"I hope so, kiddo," said Percy gratefully, for he
liked being large and hated to think of having to be
just an ordinary white rat again after all of his ad-
ventures in his large state.

"Well, we must be on our way," said the Straw

Man when he saw that the members of the party
who needed to eat had finished their breakfast. "We
still have a long way to go to reach the castle of

Terp, the Terrible."

"We aren't even out of the land of the Winkies
yet," Dorothy added, "and we have to get to the land
of the Gillikens in order to conquer the giant."

"How are we going to defeat him after we get to
his castle?" asked Jam, for he remembered that Terp
was indeed terrible and knew that it would not be
an easy task to subdue him.

"First we must destroy his magic muffin tree," as-
serted the Tin Man, "for without it, he will cease to
be a giant after a short while. Then, when he is the
size of an ordinary man once again, defeating him
should be no trouble at all."

"I hope it works out that way, kiddo," said Percy
rather skeptically.

"Just talking about it isn't going to get us any
place," Dorothy reminded them. "So let's get started
on our journey."

The poor Rhyming Dictionary was confused,. for
he didn't know what any of them were talking about.

So Jam told him the story of his queer journey to

Oz and the adventures he had had with the giant,
the Equinots, and the Kites of Kite Island. The

Court Jester didn't seem too happy when the boy had
finished the tale, so Dorothy asked what was trou-
bling him. The Rhyming Dictionary explained that
he was not so very venturesome, really, and that he
didn't think that he was going to enjoy the trip to
the Gilliken country. Neither did he wish to go back
to Bookville., for he knew that he would be punished
severely if he returned.

After much deliberation, Dorothy said, "You would
fit in beautifully at the Royal Palace for there is a

Patchwork Girl there who is always making up
poems, and I know that she'd love to have you for
a companion. If you could find your way to the Emer-
ald City alone, I know that she would make you wel-
come."

"I have an idea," said Spots, his markings chang-
ing from blue moons to electric lights. "Since you
are really very well protected by the Hungry Tiger
and the Cowardly Lion, and since I have an excellent
sense of direction, why don't I take the Court Jester
to the Emerald City, and we can await your arrival
there."

Dorothy agreed that this was an excellent sugges-

tion, and the Rhyming Dictionary acquiesed whole-

heartedly. So the little girl wrote a note to the Patch-

work Girl, telling her that the Jester and Spots were

old friends, and that she should make them welcome

at the palace. She folded the note, gave it to the

little book-man, and he and Spots were ready to go

on their way.

"Take good care of yourselves," cautioned Spots,

"We'll wait for you at the palace."

"To all of you, I bid adieu,

But hope I'll soon be meeting you.

Of Terp take care-I could not bear

To think that he was eating you!"

said the Rhyming Dictionary gaily. Then he hopped

up on Spots' back, and the great leopard raced away

to the south.

CHAPTER 16

The Snowmen of Icetown

THE friends waved goodby to their two compan-
ions and then proceeded along the path that had
taken them to Bookville. Soon they were at the sign-
post again, and began walking toward Icetown.

"I don't know what it'll be like there," said Dor-
othy, "but I'll bet they don't try to make books of us."

"Animal Book indeed," muttered the Hungry Tiger,
still angry at the insults they had received from the
books.

"And I'm the King of the Forest," declared the

Cowardly Lion. "I certainly don't belong in any
book."

"Our fate was to be bad, too," said Nick Chopper.

"The Scarecrow and I were to have the least digni-
fied fate of all. At least the rest of you were to be
in books, while we were to be placed in a very menial
position."

"Let us hope that we receive better treatment in

Icetown," fervently said the Scarecrow.

"Maybe they'll have ice cream cones," Jam said
hungrily.

"Maybe we can just breeze through the place and
keep on going, kiddos," said Percy, and the rest
agreed that was really the best idea of all.

They had walked for perhaps a mile when Dorothy
began to shiver, and Jam felt a cold wind blowing
in his face. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow
didn't feel the change in temperature, but Percy re-
marked that it seemed a lot colder than it had been,
and the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion said
that they preferred warmer climates than this. In
the midst of their comments, they came to a hollow
in the land, and there, below them, lay a most curious
village. The ground was covered with snow and ice,
and the houses were built of blocks of snow and
shaped like Eskimo igloos. Since the path led straight
down the hill into the town, the group began the
descent, getting colder with each step they took
toward the snow houses.

Suddenly a figure appeared in the path ahead of
them and said,

"Who goes there?"

It was the queerest man Dorothy and Jam had ever
seen, for he was a live snowman, complete with car-
rot nose, eyes made from chunks of coal, and on his
head was an old, battered stovepipe hat. Around his
neck was knotted a red, knitted muffler, and there
were coal buttons down the front of his coat.

"Look," cried Jam, "A snowman. A live snowman!"

"Hello, there," Dorothy said to him. "My, this cer-
tainly is a curious place. I didn't know that any such
place existed in all the Land of Oz."

"This," said the Snowman in icy tones, "is Ice-
town. No visitors are allowed."

"That's what is known as giving us the cold shoul-
der, I'd say," murmured Percy.

"We are sorry to intrude," said the Scarecrow in
diplomatic tones, "but your village lies in our path,
and we shall have to pass through it in order to con-
tinue upon our mission. I am sure that you will un-
derstand and will not refuse our humble request."

"Travel at your own risk," said the Snowman to
them. "Visitors are discouraged."

With these words, he turned his back on the group
and hurried off down the path in front of them. The
travelers paused, shivering, to discuss what they
should do.

"We'll have to go on," said Dorothy to her com-
panions, "for the only other path is the one through

Bookville."

"And we certainly don't want to go back there,"

added Jam.

"I don't see what harm there'd be in walking
through this cold burg, kiddos," said Percy. "What
objections can 'frozen face' have to that?"

"Then on we go," said the Tin Woodman. "It
shouldn't take us too long to get to the other side
of the town. It doesn't look too large."

The group moved forward, walking carefully be-
cause the path was slippery with ice. Suddenly the

Scarecrow, who was in front, slipped and fell, sliding
down the path and skidding around a corner out of
sight.

"Hey, wait for us!" cried Percy.

"I hope he doesn't bump into anything," said the

Tin Woodman anxiously.

"It won't hurt him if he does," Dorothy remarked,

"for after all he's stuffed with straw. Falling down
doesn't bother him a bit. I hope," she added, "that

I don't fall down myself, because I'm made of flesh
and bones, and bones break."

Picking their way carefully, they all reached the
bend in the path around which the Scarecrow had slid.

But when they rounded the corner, there was no one
in sigh-no snowmen; no Scarecrow; no nobody at
all.

"Where did he go?" asked Dorothy, looking around
her in all directions. But look as she might, no Scare-
crow appeared upon the scene.

"What's happened to him?" wondered Jam, a little
note of anxiety creeping into his voice. "He was here
just a minute ago."

"Scarecrow, Scarecrow, where are you?" called the

Tin Woodman in a loud voice.

"Scarecrow, Scarecrow," echoed back to them. No
other sound broke the icy stillness of the air. The

Tin Woodman looked at Dorothy, a worried expres-
sion on his face. It wasn't like the Scarecrow to dis-
appear like this.

"Something must have happened to him," said the
little girl in dismay.

"But what?" asked the Cowardly Lion, looking
around him unhappily. This sort of thing was not to
his liking. He preferred open combat in the jungle
instead of these mysterious happenings in Icetown.

"Could he have fallen into a hole in the ice?" asked

Jam, searching the ground for some crevice into
which the Scarecrow might have disappeared.

"The ground is as smooth as glass here and frozen
solid," Dorothy said doubtfully. "I don't see how he
could have fallen any place around here. And if he
were within hearing distance, he would answer when
he was called."

Percy said, "Brrr. It's so cold that it's freezing my
whiskers. Let's move on or do something, kiddos, be-
fore we all turn into icicles."

At his words, a low wail began, and it became
louder and louder until it sounded like the wild shriek-
ing of the North Wind.

"What's that?" cried Dorothy, who was by this
time becoming rather frightened. "Is it the wind or
is it someone that we hear crying?"

Again the wind whistled around them, and this
time it seemed to them that they could distinguish
words in the wailing sound.

"I am the North Wind," came faintly to their ears.

"I am slave to the Snowmen. Beware, oh travelers,
beware, beware," and the sound increased in volume
until it sounded like the wintry blast through tall
pine trees.

"Where is our friend, the Scarecrow?" Dorothy
called to the North Wind.

"Gone," he shrieked. "Gone! Gone!"

"We must find him," said the Tin Woodman. "I
for one will not be frightened by the wind."

"But where can we look?" asked Jam. "He has
disappeared completely. The North Wind must have
blown him away."

"He's so light that it could have happened," agreed

Dorothy. "What chance does a Straw Man have
against the force of a strong wind?"

"But if he's been blown away, he must have been
blown some place," remarked Nick Chopper logically.

"And I mean to find him, no matter where he may be."

At this, the North Wind laughed loudly and blew
his cold blasts on the little group, showering icy crys-
tals down on them.

"Let's get away from here," exclaimed the Hungry

Tiger who didn't like cold at all.

"I'd like to," answered the Cowardly Lion, "but the

Scarecrow and I are old friends and have had many
adventures together, so I can't desert him now. I'm
for looking for him."

"Nobody's going any place without him," said

Percy, who had grown to like the Scarecrow. "We
need his brains in this outfit."

"Then let's quit talking about it and do something,"

said Jam. He was so cold that he wished he hadn't
lost his cowboy hat in the river.

"Where shall we look first?" inquired Dorothy.

"We must go down into the village and find some
of the Snowmen," decided the Tin Woodman. "If the

North Wind is their slave and if he has blown the

Scarecrow away, then they must know where he is
now. We'll demand that they tell us what they have
done with our friend."

"Good," said Percy, who was dancing around on
his toes, trying to keep warm.

Slipping and sliding, the little band hurried on down
the icy path into the village. There they picked out
the largest igloo and headed for it, for the Tin Wood-
man said that it probably was the home of the chief
snowman, who would surely know where their friend
was hidden. When they reached the entrance, they
discovered that it was a low, narrow tunnel through
which they would all have to crawl in order to get
indoors.

"Let me go first," said the Cowardly Lion, who was
really quite brave. And he crouched down and crawled
into the igloo entrance.

He was followed by the Tin Woodman who was
beginning to be covered with frost, Jam, Dorothy,

Percy, and finally the Hungry Tiger. The tunnel was
dark and long, and the walls and floor and ceiling
were a sheet of glittering ice, so it was difficult for
them to crawl through to the building. Once inside
the igloo, they saw that they were in a huge, dome-
shaped room that was lighted by a mysterious flicker-
ing colored light that seemed to come from the walls
themselves and cast curious shadows about the room.

Directly in front of them was a large chair made of
ice, and in it sat a huge Snowman with a crown upon
his head instead of the battered hat that they had seen
on the first Snowman. To one side of the throne was
the Scarecrow, bound securely to a huge icicle that
hung from the ceiling. When the Cowardly Lion saw
his old friend in such a predicament, he lunged for-
ward with a roar, only to be stopped short by a wall
of ice which appeared around the Scarecrow when the

King of the Snowmen waved a snowy hand in that
direction.

"Hello, my friends," the Scarecrow said sadly, his
voice muffled by the sheet of ice that surrounded him.

"I hoped that you would escape, but I see that you
have been captured, too."

"We aren't prisoners," his tin friend said. "We
have come here to rescue you."

At these words the travelers heard a chorus of
laughter behind them and spinning quickly around
in their tracks, they saw that the doorway was now
guarded by a large number of the cold people that
inhabited this strange city.

"You cannot escape," declared the Chief Snowman
in a cold voice. "You have fallen into the trap which
we so cleverly set for you, and there is no hope for
you now."

Dorothy shuddered at his chilling prediction, and
all the rest of the group huddled together for warmth
and protection.

"What do you intend to do to us?" asked the Tin

Woodman. "Why molest us at all? We have done
you no harm and intended none. All we wished to
do was to walk through your city so that we could
continue upon our journey which lay in this direction."

"Visitors are not allowed," stated the king posi-
tively. "All trespassers are punished. That is the
law, and the law must be obeyed or I will be replaced
by another ruler."

"Punish the trespassers!" shouted the Snowmen
loudly. "Freeze them out!"

"Please don't talk about freezing," begged Dor-
othy. "I'm so cold now that I don't think I'll ever be
warm again.

At this remark the Snowmen went into gales of
laughter, rocking back and forth merrily.

"She doesn't think she'll ever be warm again," they
gasped, when they were able to talk. "How true, how
true."

"What do they mean?" asked Jam. He was very
frightened by now, and he wished sincerely that he
had never been carried away in his kite. It looked
now as if he would never see his home again.

"It is the law that you shall be frozen into Snow-
men," announced the Chief when the hall was again
quiet. "Although I fear that you won't make very
handsome additions to our population," he added,
eyeing them distastefully.

"But I don't want to be a snowman," cried Dor-
othy. "I think that would be dreadful."

"What you think matters little to us," said the Chief
in his icy voice. "Summon the Lord High Freezer!"

"Summon the Lord High Freezer!" said one of the

Snowmen to another.

"Summon the Lord High Freezer!" this one said to
his companions.

"Summon the Lord High Freezer!" the cry sound-
ed through the large hall, echoing back from the dome
above them.

Soon the crowd behind them parted to allow a fat
little roly-poly Snowman to enter. He looked even
colder than the rest, for he had a beard of long, droop-
ing icicles hanging down over his coat front, and the
very air around him grew even colder than it had
been.

"Make way for the Lord High Freezer," cried the

Snowmen, bowing to him as he puffed along toward
the throne.

He bowed to the Chief Snowman and said, "Did
you call for me, your highness?"

"Yes, Lord High Freezer, I have work for you. We
have trespassers in our midst," and he pointed to

Jam and his friends.

"Ah, ha," said the Lord High Freezer.

"Ah, ha," echoed the Snowmen who were crowded
into the hall.

"It is my wish and command that these miserable
intruders be frozen into Snowmen," continued the

Chief.

"Ah, yes, indeed," commented the Lord High

Freezer, nodding his head and looking closely at the
little band with his black coal eyes.

"Ah, yes, indeed," cried the gathering of Snow-
men.

"I protest," said the Tin Woodman angrily. "We
have done no harm to you, and furthermore we are
loyal friends of Ozma, the ruler of all Oz. I demand,
in her name, that we be released immediately, and be
allowed to continue our journey unmolested."

"Quiet," said the Chief, eyeing him coldly.

"Quiet," said the Lord High Freezer.

"Quiet," cried the assembly.

"I fear we are lost," came the Scarecrow's voice

from behind the wall of ice. "What a queer snowman

I'll make."

"None of you will make ideal Snowmen," declared
the Chief, looking them over carefully, "but the Lord

High Freezer will do his best."

"At least I'll be the right color, kiddos," said Percy
sadly. "One frozen rat coming up!"

"Take them away," the Chief Snowman commanded
as he rose, adjourning the assembly. "After they are
well frozen, I will inspect them."

CHAPTER 17

The Scarecrow to the Rescue

A GROUP of Snowmen advanced and surrounded
the Tin Woodman and his companions and
brought the Scarecrow along with his friends. Then
they were taken to the tunnel and made to leave the
assembly hall. Once outside, they were conducted to
a smaller igloo which had a large sign over the en-
trance: DEEP FREEZER.

"This," said the Scarecrow, "seems to be it."

"It was nice to have known all of you," said the

Tin Woodman sadly, and he shook hands with the

Scarecrow, Dorothy, Jam and even shook the paws
of the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, and Percy.

"Come, come," ordered the Lord High Freezer, "no
need to tarry. Into the Deep Freezer with you."

One by one the little band crawled into the igloo,
and when all were inside the Snowmen rolled a huge
snowball in front of the door. It was cold in the small
room-very cold and getting colder by the minute.

"I don't want to be a snowman," sobbed Dorothy.

"I want to go home," cried Jam.

"Brrr," said Percy, the Cowardly Lion, and the

Hungry Tiger.

The Tin Woodman was so cold that his joints were
creaking. Only the Scarecrow was able to resist the
extreme cold. He sat on a block of ice and rubbed his
forehead with his padded glove fingers.

"We must find some way to escape," he thought
aloud.

"How?" asked Dorothy, her teeth chattering like
castinets.

"There's only one way to warm us up," continued
the Scarecrow. "We must build a fire. That would
melt this igloo, and we could get away."

"A fire!" exclaimed Nick Chopper. "That's an ex-
cellent idea."

"I'd like a fire," shivered Jam.

"But what'll we use to make a fire, kiddos?" asked

Percy.

They looked all around the small room, but they
could find nothing but ice.

"There isn't any fuel here at all," said the Hungry

Tiger who was so cold by this time that he had for-
gotten to be hungry.

"The fire was a good idea, but there isn't anything
here that will burn, I fear," said Nick Chopper with
difficulty, for his jaw joints were frozen nearly solid
by this time.

"I guess we're really in for it this time," said Dor-
othy, "Although we've been through many strange
adventures and have escaped, this one seems to be
more than we can manage."

"I have a feeling that we are overlooking some-
thing," said the Scarecrow thoughtfully. "There must
be something here that will burn."

And suddenly there came over his face a look of
discovery.

"What is it?" asked Dorothy hopefully.

"Have you thought of a means of escape, my old
friend?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Yes," said the Scarecrow. "I have overlooked the
most obvious source of fuel here."

"What could it be?" asked Jam.

"My stuffing," said the Scarecrow.

"Your stuffing!" they all exclaimed. "But we can't
burn your stuffing!"

"Why not?" he asked. "You must take out my straw
and build a bonfire with it. Roll my head and cloth-
ing in a bundle and carry them with you when you
escape, and then you can restuff me when you find
a strawstack. I'll be as good as new."

"My dear old friend," exclaimed Nick Chopper
with emotion in his voice. "You are always so thought-
ful of others. Once before," he told them, "the Scare-
crow sacrificed his straw to an enormous Hippo-gy-raf
to save us. Sometimes I think that even with the kind
heart that I was given by the Wizard of Oz, I cannot
begin to equal the kindness of my friend, the Scare-
crow."

"Let's cut the speeches and build the fire, kiddos,"

suggested Percy, "or we'll all be frozen stiff and it
will be too late."

So Dorothy took the Scarecrow's stuffing out as fast
as she could, with her trembling fingers which were
blue with cold, and made a neat pile near the en-
trance of the Deep Freezer igloo. Then she carefully
made a bundle of his head and clothes and handed
them to Jam to carry.

"Now for a match," she said, shivering so that she
could hardly utter those few words.

"I think that I have some in my knapsack," said

Jam, "if you can find them."

So Dorothy rummaged through the knapsack until
she found a box of safety matches and drew one out
of the box. She was shaking so by this time that she
could not strike it, so the Tin Woodman took it from
her chilled fingers and, after some effort, managed
to strike it. The match flared up bright and hot in the
cold room. Just then, however, a gust of wind swirled
through the room, blowing out the flame, and they
could hear the laugh of the North Wind.

"Try again," cried Dorothy. "Come, we'll all stand
around the pile of straw and shelter it from the
breeze."

So the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, Jam, Dor-
othy, and Percy crowded close around the Tin Wood-
man and the straw which was part of their friend,
the Scarecrow, and again the Emperor of the Winkies
struck a match and dropped it upon the pile of straw.

A tiny flame appeared and began licking at the straw
heap. With an angry wail, the North Wind swished
into the group and blew at the fire, but he only made
it burn more brightly.

A faint cheer went up from the party as they saw
the bonfire gaining headway, and soon the warmth
from it melted the snow blocks that made the igloo
entrance way. With a furious dripping and running
of water, a hole appeared in the side of the igloo.

"Quick, through the wall and away," cried the Tin

Woodman, hurrying Dorothy and Jam through the
opening and following with their animal friends close
behind. Before the inhabitants of Icetown knew what
had occurred, the party had raced through the town,
sliding along the ice, and had escaped up the hill into
the great outside world once more.

"Whew!" sighed the Tin Woodman with relief
when they were out of sight of Icetown.

"What a relief," breathed Dorothy gladly. "I'm not
really warmed up yet, but I know that I'm not going
to be frozen into a Snowman, at any rate."

"You certainly have unfriendly people living here,"

commented Jam.

"Oh, Oz isn't all like this," said Dorothy to the little
boy. "I love living here, even though I have met some
queer people on my journeys through the country.

Some of these remote places don't even know that
they are a part of the Land of Oz and are ruled by

Ozma."

"We'd better look for a straw stack," the Cowardly

Lion reminded them, "and restuff the Scarecrow."

"Indeed we must," Dorothy agreed. "What would
we ever do without him?"

At this time, they were still journeying through the
forest, but they hoped to find in some clearing a farm-
house stood where they might obtain some stuffing
for their padded friend. After walking along the
wooded path for about an hour they saw that the
trees were thinning out and that the bright sunlight
from overhead was streaming down through the
spaces between the trees, casting a golden glow over
the entire landscape. The flowers that peeped through
the grass were a delicate yellow hue, so they knew that
they were still in the land of the Winkies; but from
the distance they had traveled, they knew that soon
they must come to the Gilliken boundary.

Before long they heard the murmuring of a river
in the distance.

"I wonder if that's the river we tried to swim across,
kiddo?" Percy asked Jam.

"It may be," the boy replied. "It's hard to tell how
far we've come, for the Kites carried us very swiftly
on our journey to the castle of the Tin Woodman."

"Probably it is the boundary between this country
and our purple neighbors to the north," the Tin Wood-
man said, "and I hope that when we reach the banks
of the river we can find some farmer who will give
us straw with which to stuff the Scarecrow."

The forest became more and more open, and soon
the trees gave way to fertile fields that lay along the
river bank. After a short walk, the group came to a

neat little yellow farmhouse where the Tin Woodman
asked for straw. When the farmer and his wife
realized that the strange tin creature at their door
was their own beloved emperor, they insisted that the
entire party enter their humble abode and have lunch,
which they all ate with relish. Since the Emperor re-
quired no food, he carried the head and clothing of
the Scarecrow to the straw stack behind the domed
house and restuffed his friend while the rest of the
party ate their hearty meal. Soon the Scarecrow was
as good as new.

"I feel better than I have for weeks," he declared.

"I've been needing new straw for some time now. It
makes me feel like a new man."

Dorothy, Jam, and the rest were delighted to see
their friend in his old shape again, and the Winkie
farmer and his wife were fascinated by the story of
how the noble creature had saved his friends' lives by
sacrificing his straw to make the bonfire that freed
them from the cruel snowmen.

"To think that such a place exists near our home!"

exclaimed the farmer.

"We never enter the forest," his wife continued,

"for fear of wild beasts. Now I am sure that we will
stay well away from it."

CHAPTER 18

A Raft of Trouble

AFTER a brief rest in the comfortable house of the

Winkies, the Tin Woodman reminded his com-
panions that they must be on their journey, for they
had some distance to go before they could reach the
castle of Terp, the Terrible, and free his slaves from
bondage. So they all bade farewell to the kind little
man and his wife and set out once again toward the
river. It was a lovely day, with the soft breezes gently
swaying the sunflowers and other yellow blossoms to
and fro. Wild canaries flitted about on their tiny
wings, filling the air with their happy songs.

"It's very pleasant here," said Jam. "Who would
think that such dreadful people as the Books of Book-
ville and the chilly Snowmen could live in such a
lovely land?"

"There are indeed strange inhabitants of this coun-
try," agreed the tin man, "but the good are in much
greater numbers than the bad."

"Once there were wicked witches living here,"

Dorothy told the little boy, "but they have all been
destroyed."

"Dorothy herself rid the Land of Oz of the two
wickedest ones," the Scarecrow told Jam. "One of
them was killed when her house fell on the witch."

"Her house!" exclaimed Jam.

"Oh, didn't you know about that?" asked Dorothy.

"The first time I came to the land of Oz, my house was
blown here by a cyclone."

"Then," continued the Tin Woodman, "she de-
stroyed the Wicked Witch of the West by melting her
with a bucket of water."

"The Winkies then asked the Tin Woodman to be
their Emperor," said the straw man.

"And don't forget that you, yourself, were the ruler
of the Land of Oz for a while," the Cowardly Lion re-
minded him.

"Oh, yes," said the Scarecrow, "I served a short term
between the reigns of the Wizard of Oz and our pres-
ent ruler, Ozma. But I didn't really like being king,
because the crown was so heavy that it gave me a
headache."

Jam marveled at the account of all these strange
adventures, which could happen only in a fairyland
such as this. By the time they had finished their brief
history, the party had come to the banks of the wide
river which was the boundary between the Gilliken
and the Winkie sections.

"Here we are again, kiddo," said the white rat, his
whiskers twitching. "How do we get across this time?"

"This shouldn't be too hard," answered the Tin

Woodman. "With my trusty axe I can make us a raft
that will float us across the river quite easily. I have
done it many times before."

With these words, he turned to a small wooded area
nearby to chop down some trees for the raft. As he
hacked away at the trunks, he thought he heard low,
moaning noises, but as he could see no one in the
forest he thought that his imagination was playing
him tricks or that the sound he heard was the wind
sighing through the branches. Although Nick Chop-
per was a champion wood cutter, it was some time be-
fore the logs were ready to be fastened into a raft,
for the thing had to be large enough to accommodate
the two large beasts as well as the rest of them. The

Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger did not like to
get wet any more than most lions and tigers do. They
helped the Tin Woodman roll the logs to the river's
edge where he fastened them together with wooden
pegs which he fashioned from small pieces of wood.

Every time he drove a peg into a log, he thought that
he heard a moan, and finally even Dorothy noticed
the sound.

"I thought that I heard a groan," she commented.

"I've been hearing that sound for some time now,"

the Tin Woodman told her, "But I thought that per-
haps my imagination was playing tricks. If you hear
it too, however, there must be something or someone
who is groaning."

"But who could it be?" asked Jam looking all
around for some stranger in their midst and finding
no one.

The mystery remained unsolved, and as the raft
was now ready for travel, they all slid it into the water
and climbed aboard. The Tin Woodman had cut two
long poles which he and the Scarecrow used to guide
the craft, and they soon had propelled it out into the
current of the river. Suddenly, without a warning, the
pole that the Scarecrow held flipped high into the air
and sailed toward the bank from which they had come.

Our stuffed friend was almost flung into the swirling
water with the force of the leap the pole made, but
he had enough presence of mind to let go of the pole
when he felt it begin its wild leap and managed to
keep his balance with some difficulty.

"Why did you throw the pole away, kiddo?" asked

Percy.

"I didn't throw it," protested the Scarecrow. "It
jumped right out of my hands."

"Jumped," exclaimed Dorothy. "How could a pole
do that?"

"I don't know how," replied the straw man. "All I
know is that it did. It acted like it was alive."

Just at this moment, the other pole, held by the Tin

Woodman, followed its companion, sailing through the
air with ease. Being prepared by what had happened
to his friend, the tin man was in no danger of being
flung into the water, which would indeed have been
disastrous to him, for it would have rusted him all
over.

"Mine jumped out of my hands, too," he cried. "It
felt just like it was alive."

"What are we going to do now?" asked Jam. "With-
out poles we won't be able to steer the raft at all, and
we will drift downstream in the wrong direction."

"Perhaps we'll drift near the shore and be able to
get to the bank," said Dorothy.

"And perhaps we won't, too," Percy added pessi-
mistically.

"We aren't drifting any place right now," the

Scarecrow suddenly observed. "The river is flowing
past us, but we are standing still."

"So we are," the Tin Woodman agreed. "What is
keeping us here?"

At these words, the raft began spinning around
like a top, so violently that Dorothy sat down with a
jolt, and Jam just caught himself before he was
thrown off the raft into the river. Then the raft be-
gan rocking to and fro quite violently. The entire
crew were in danger of being tossed into the water.

They all lay down on the raft and clung to it as best
they could, for none of them wished to be plunged
into the cold stream.

"What got into this raft?" gasped Dorothy, cling-
ing to the logs for dear life.

"I wish I knew," answered the Tin Woodman. "The
thing seems alive."

"Maybe that's the answer," said the Scarecrow.

"You and Dorothy both mentioned hearing moaning
sounds when you were building the thing. It may have
been the logs you heard."

"I've never heard of magic wood before," the Tin

Woodman asserted, "but that doesn't mean that there
couldn't be such stuff."

"If this raft is alive, what will it do to us?" asked

Dorothy.

"It seems to be trying to toss us into the river right
now," Jam said, trying to get a better grip on the
raft.

"Don't you have any brilliant ideas for saving us?"

Percy asked the Scarecrow. "If you don't think of
something, we'll all be drowned."

"If we would only drift a little closer to the shore."

the Scarecrow began. But no sooner had he uttered
the words than the raft swung itself out into the mid-
dle of the river once more.

"It seems to be able to hear what we are saying,"

commented Dorothy, who was wishing that they had
never come to the river.

This gave the Scarecrow an idea. He cleared his
throat and said in a loud voice, "This is a most delight-
ful trip. I hope I never reach the shore."

"What!" exploded the Hungry Tiger, who was
watching the water that swished past him with fear-
ful eyes.

"Are you crazy?" ejaculated Percy, scowling at the

Scarecrow.

Even the Tin Woodman feared that some water had
splashed on his friend's head and given him water on
the brain. The Scarecrow, however, motioned to them
to be silent and then continued:

"I could lie on this raft forever. I hope it doesn't
get near the shore, for then this delightful cruise
might end."

At these words, the raft gave a sudden lurch that
almost dislodged its passengers and started toward
the opposite shore. Then Dorothy realized what the

Scarecrow was doing. Obviously the raft would take
them in the direction in which it thought they did not
wish to go, so she added her voice to that of the

Scarecrow.

"Oh," she cried, "how terrible! I think we are drift-
ing toward the Gilliken shore."

At this, the rest of the group saw that the way to
progress in the direction they wished to go was to com-
plain bitterly that they were going that way.

"Why can't we go back to the Winkie side of the
river?" cried the Hungry Tiger.

"I wish this raft would not ever get across the
stream," echoed Jam.

"Gee, kiddos," said Percy in mock regret, "we are
getting nearer and nearer to those purple flowers on
the bank. Too bad!"

"I had hoped that we would never cross this river,"

growled the Hungry Tiger.

"And I don't want to leave my own land, where I
love to rule," said Nick Chopper.

By the time they had finished these words, the raft
was nearly to the Gilliken side of the river, and with
one final lurch up on its side, it tossed the group from
its surface to the grassy banks among the lavender
flowers that waved in the breeze.

"Well," gasped Dorothy, "what a ride that was!"

"I hope I never see a raft again," growled the Cow-
ardly Lion.

"Did I get any water on me?" asked the Tin Wood-
man anxiously, pulling out his oil can and carefully
oiling all his joints.

"I seem in good shape," the Scarecrow decided.

"Rolling on the grass just rolled out my lumps."

"At least none of us was hurt," Jam decided, "and
we did get across the river, finally."

"Those must have been live trees that you used in
the raft," said the Hungry Tiger. "I guess they re-
sented being chopped down."

"Wonder what's happened to our live raft?" Percy
inquired.

All eyes turned toward the river, and in the distance
they could see the raft skipping merrily down the
river, glad to be rid of its unwelcome passengers. Soon
it was lost to sight, and that was the last our friends
saw of the raft that refused to carry a crew.

"And good riddance," exclaimed Percy.

"I think we should go on," said the Tin Woodman,

"for we lost some time making the raft and persuad-
ing it to bring us over the river. Can we make the
castle of Terp, the Terrible, by evening?" he asked

Jam.

"I doubt it," said the boy, "for we still have to pass
through this forest and cross the plain of the Equi-
nots."

"Whadda y' say we stop and visit with Pinny and

Gig," suggested Percy.

"Who are they?" asked Dorothy.

"They are two little guinea pigs who made the kite
trip with Percy and me," Jam told her, explaining
that the two little creatures had decided to remain
with the Gilliken family rather than continue the jour-
ney with the rat and the boy.

"The farmer has some children that wanted Pinny
and Gig for pets," Jam continued, "so I left them be-
hind. We probably could spend the night with the
farmer, again. He and his wife were very kind to us
and invited us to visit them if we passed this way
again."

So it was decided to travel on to the home of the

Gilliken farmer; and then in the morning, to make
the last lap of their journey to the Hidden Valley and
the jam factory of Terp, the Terrible.

The forest path began to look familiar to Jam and

Percy who had traveled along it only a few days be-
fore on their trip to see the Emperor of the Winkies
who now accompanied them.

"We ought to see the cottage before long now, kid-
dos," Percy told them.

"Yes," Jam said, "it isn't too far from here. I'll be
glad to see the Gilliken and his wife."

"She's some cook, kiddo."

Jam agreed and decided that he was getting hun-
gry for another good home-cooked meal. The flowers
along the path were all purple and lavender now, and
the purple finches in the trees sang their lilting mel-
odies to cheer the travelers on their way.

Percy was the first to spy the clearing where the

Gillikens lived in their neat little dome-shaped home
and he called gaily,

"Hi there, kiddos, we're back again."

On hearing this sound, the farmer, who was work-
mg in his field, looked up; when he saw Jam and

Percy and their friends, he hurried to greet them. A
closer look showed him the Hungry Tiger and the

Cowardly Lion who frightened him, but Jam hastened
to him and assured him that the great beasts were
friendly and would do him no harm. Jam then pre-
sented his friends, and the farmer was overwhelmed
by such famous personages as Princess Dorothy, the

Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman.

"I have persuaded the Tin Woodman to return with
me and free the Gilliken slaves from Terp, the Ter-
rible," Jam explained. And to the Tin Woodman he
said, "This Gilliken farmer and his good wife were
the couple who told me that you were the Tin Wood-
man, Emperor of the Winkies."

"But let us go to the house," said the farmer. "My
wife will be most happy to meet all of you, and Pinny
and Gig will be happy, too," he added.

"How are they doin'?" inquired Percy.

"Fine, fine," the farmer answered. "They play all
day long with my children and seem to like living
with us."

The farmer's wife was indeed glad to welcome Jam
and his friends to her humble abode, and she imme-
diately began fixing a good meal for the weary trav-
elers and insisted that they must spend the night at
the farmhouse. She was greatly impressed by the Tin

Woodman and the Scarecrow, for their fame had trav-
eled the length and breadth of the whole Land of Oz.

Princess Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and the Hungry

Tiger were also famous figures, so she felt highly hon-
ored to invite them to the feast that she prepared.

Since there were so many of them, the farmer set
up tables out under the purple plum trees in the yard,
and everybody gathered around on benches and
chairs. Although the Scarecrow and the Tin Wood-
man never ate, they sat at the table and entertained
the group with stories and songs throughout the
meal.

"You certainly have picked-"

"-up strange companions," commented Pinny and

Gig when they saw the assemblage. They were inter-
ested in the story of Jam's and Percy's adventures,
but they had no desire to leave their comfortable home
to accompany them on their mission to the castle of

Terp, the Terrible.

"We like-"

"-it here," was their only comment, and obviously
they meant it. The farmer's little children were very
kind to them and gave them a good home.

When darkness fell, the farmer and his wife con-
ducted Dorothy and Jam to pleasant bedrooms, while
the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, and Percy
found soft beds in the hay in the barn that stood be-
hind the house. The Tin Woodman and the Scare-
crow sat outside under the stars, for they said they
liked the night air, and could talk there without dis-
turbing any of the rest.

Soon after sunup the next day, the travelers started
again on their journey, for they wished to reach the

Hidden Valley before nightfall. Jam was a little wor-
ried about the reception they might receive from the

Equinots, but the Tin Woodman assured him that the
queer horse-men would probably be terrified of the

Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion, since they had
fled from Percy when he had grown large.

Percy was particularly interested in reaching the
courtyard of Terp, the Terrible, for the piece of muf-
fin that he had eaten for breakfast had been the last
bit of the magic bread that he possessed, and he knew
that in a day or two he would begin to shrink as he
had done once before, and he would no longer be the
novel creature that he was when he was ten times
the size of an ordinary rat. So he frisked along in
front of the rest of the party, watching the path with
his bright, red eyes and waving his long white whisk-
ers in the breeze.

Before too long a time had passed, the trees be-
came farther and farther apart, and presently the
travelers saw that they were approaching the high
plain that separated the Hidden Valley from the rest
of the country.

"There are the mountains surrounding Hidden Val-
ley," said Jam, pointing to some hills across the plain.

"With no further mishaps, we should be there in
a few hours," said the Tin Woodman as he gazed
across the purple sage to the mountains in the dis-
tance.

"The Equinots may give us some trouble, kiddos,"

said Percy.

"We're ready for them," growled the Cowardly

Lion and the Hungry Tiger. Dorothy had beeen rid-
ing on the lion's back. At these words she jumped
to the ground, so the huge beast would be unemcum-
bered if he found it necessary to fight for the safety
of the party. Each one of them kept a sharp look-
out for any danger. And thus prepared, they set out
across the level ground that marked the last lap of
their journey.

The journey across the first half of the plain was
uneventful. Before long, however, a faint cloud of
dust was seen in the south. Percy and Jam had been
watching the south rather carefully, for they remem-
bered that the Equinots had come from that direc-
tion when they had encountered them the first time,
so they shouted a warning at the first sign of mo-
tion on the plain.

"I think the Equinots are coming," cried Jam, and

Percy aflirmed the suspicion.

"Let us stop and be prepared for them," suggested
the Tin Woodman.

"I'll stand out in front, kiddos," said Percy, "I
scared the wits out of them the other time. They'll
probably run like scared rabbits if they see me
again."

"An excellent suggestion," the Scarecrow said.

"The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger should
stand on either side of us to protect Jam and Dor-
othy."

"And I'll get behind you with my trusty axe," said

Nick Chopper. "That should frighten even the stout-
est heart."

All this time the cloud of dust was getting larger,
and soon they could hear the pounding of hoofs. In
a short time the first of the riders could be seen.

With loud yells the Equinots swept up to the party.

At a signal from the Tin Woodman the Cowardly

Lion lowered his shaggy head and let out an ear-
splitting roar that was echoed by a roar from his
companion, the Hungry Tiger. The band of horse-
men stopped short, and after one terrified look at
the fierce group, headed by Percy, they wheeled and
galloped off at top speed toward their homes. That
was the last our friends ever saw of the Equinots,
who were so scared by the animals they supposed
had come to roam their plains, that they never again
ventured far away from their stables to molest trav-
elers who went there.

"They aren't so fierce," laughed the Hungry Tiger.

"I should say not," said the Cowardly Lion. "Look
at them run."

By this time the Equinots were so far away that
only a faint cloud of dust that hung over the purple
sage showed that they had been there at all.

"Now, on to Terp, the Terrible!" said Dorothy. "I
hope he is as easy to conquer as were the Equinots."

"I'm afraid it won't be so easy," sighed Jam.

"He's awfully big, and quite bad."

"I was sharp enough to outwit the two-headed
monster before; but I don't know that I could do it
again, kiddos," Percy added. "I was just lucky that
time. If that owl head had seen me a second sooner,

I'd have been a goner."

"I think we'll find some way to overcome them,"

the Tin Woodman asserted. "There are more of us
this time, and we can probably enlist the aid of the

Gillikens who are Terp's slaves. When they realize
that we have come to deliver them, they will take
heart and rebel against their oppressor."

"It would be nice to have the Wizard with us,
though," said Dorothy. "He might be able to use his
magic against Terp and conquer him more easily
than we could."

"We'll manage, my dear," said the Scarecrow.

"We always have, you know."

"That's true," Dorothy agreed, taking heart, for
she knew that the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow
were very valuable allies against any foe.

"What plan shall we use against the giant?" in-
quired Jam.

"I think it is wiser to wait until we get there be-
fore we make too many plans," Nick Chopper an-
swered. "When I see for myself how the land lies, I
may have better ideas than I would have right now."

"The Tin Woodman is right," agreed the Scare-
crow. "When we get there will be time enough for
making plans."

CHAPTER 19

The Scarecrow's Brilliant Idea

THE remainder of their hike across the open plain
was uneventful. They chatted merrily as they
walked, recalling adventures they had had on other
trips. After several hours of walking, they came to
the foothills that marked the boundaries of Terp's
domain, and here they paused for a council of war.

"It is too risky to attempt anything until night-
fall, I believe," said the Tin Woodman, who was their
acknowleged leader in this adventure.

"If we could scout out the place before it is dark,"

the Scarecrow said, "it would be advantageous."

"True," agreed his tin friend, "but we might be
discovered, and then all would be lost."

"Why don't we try to find some of the Gilliken
slaves and see if they have any ideas?" Jam sug-
gested, knowing that the little men would do any-
thing to escape the tyranny of Terp.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Dorothy
commented. "They might be able to hide us until
evening. If we stay out in the open, Terp, the Ter-
rible, might see us."

"We could head for the valley where the jam fac-
tory is," Percy suggested, "avoiding the main stem.

Then we might be able to talk to some of the slaves."

"That is probably our best plan of action," the Tin

Woodman agreed. "You and Jam must lead the way,
because we have never been here before, while the
place is familiar to you."

Percy agreed to act as guide and led them in a
wide semicircle, off the path into the woods that cov-
ered the hills surrounding Hidden Valley. They all
slipped stealthily along after the white rat, for they
did not want to be seen by the giant. Soon they had
topped the ridge that hid the valley from the rest of
the world, and Jam's friends saw, for the first time,
the beautiful vineyards on the slopes of the hills and
the factory down in the valley. Off to one side they
could see Terp's castle, standing gloomy and aloof
from the rest of the valley, with its purple walls
throwing shadows around it even in the bright sun-
light.

"There's the castle, kiddos," pointed Percy, "and
the magic muffin tree grows in the courtyard. If we
can give Terp the slip, we'll still have to take care
of the two-headed monster that's chained to the tree
and guards it from trespassers."

"If only we could lure Terp from the castle to-
night, we might be able to overcome the owl- and
wolf-headed monster and cut down the tree while he
is gone,  mused the Scarecrow. "My brains are
working hard on an idea. Let me go off to myself
for a few minutes of uninterrupted thought, and I
may be able to think of a solution to our problem."

The Scarecrow walked away a few steps and sat
down on the stump of a tree, rubbing his forehead
with his fingers and concentrating hard on the prob-
lem. His friends kept very quiet, for they did not
wish to disturb him while he was in such deep
thought. He concentrated so hard that the pins and
needles that were mixed in with his brains stuck out
all over his head and made it look like a huge pin-
cushion. After several minutes, he sprang to his feet
with a big smile on his painted face and said,

"I think I have the answer. But we will have to
enlist the aid of the Gilliken farmers in order to exe-
cute my plan."

"What do you propose to do?" begged Dorothy
eagerly, for she knew that most of the Scarecrow's
plans were good ones, carefully thought out by the
brains given to him by the Wizard of Oz.

The group crowded close around their padded com-
panion in order to hear the scheme he had evolved
for defeating the giant and his monster who guarded
the magic muffin tree.

"Terp, the Terrible, had planned to eat Jam for
breakfast, hadn't he?"

"Yes," said Jam shuddering as he recalled how
close a shave that had been. "I couldn't convince
him that I wasn't the kind of jam that you eat on
bread."

"And he was probably quite angry when he dis-
covered that you had escaped from the room in the
castle tower."

"I'm sure he was," Jam said. "I think he is used
to having his own way about everything around
here, so I know he was furious when he found that
his breakfast was gone."

"Good," said the Scarecrow. "Then, if you had
eluded him once, he probably would want to recap-
ture you if he could and have you for breakfast to-
morrow morning."

"That he would, kiddo," Percy agreed.

"But I don't want him to recapture me," protested

Jam. "Escaping from him might not be so easy this
time."

"No, he'd be very careful of you if he laid hands
on you again," Dorothy agreed.

"I don't intend to let Terp get you in his clutches
again," the Scarecrow hastened to reassure the la~

"But if he thought that he knew where you were,
don't you think he would go there to try to catch
you?"

"Well, I suppose he would," Jam said.

"Certainly," spoke up the Tin Woodman.

"Then all we have to do is to make him think that
you are some place in this vicinity, but at some dis-
tance from the castle," said the Scarecrow. "When
he goes to look for you, we will have a chance to dis-
pose of the two-headed monster that guards the
magic muffin tree; and with the monster out of the
way, cutting down the tree will be an easy task for
our friend, Nick Chopper.

"Oh, yes," exclaimed Dorothy, clapping her hands
in delight. "Scarecrow, that is a perfectly wonderful
idea."

"You can really thank the Wizard," he replied
modestly, "for he is the one who made my brains,
and they are so good that I can't help thinking up
such clever schemes."

"But how do we get Terp to go looking for Jam?"

asked the Cowardly Lion, a puzzled look on his big
face. "None of us dares go to his castle."

"That's where we must have the aid of some of
the people here," answered the Scarecrow. "One of
them must go to Terp and tell him that Jam has
been seen in the hills on the far side of the valley.

It will take the giant some time to reach there, and
when he gets there he will waste more time looking
for Jam."

"I think dusk would be the ideal time for him to
get the message," decided the Tin Woodman, "for
darkness will slow down the search, and we will have
more time to do our job here."

"But what will happen when Terp returns and
finds that the tree has been destroyed?" asked the

Hungry Tiger. "He will be exceedingly angry and
may do harm to us before he grows smaller."

"That is a grave problem that we have not con-
sidered," agreed the Tin Woodman. "It takes Percy
several days to lose the effect of the magic muffins,
and it may take the giant as long."

"Terp will be in a rage when he discovers that the
source of his power is gone," Dorothy declared "He
may do something dreadful before he ceases to be a
giant."

"If there were just some way we could trap him
and keep him a prisoner until he is our own size, we
would have no trouble with him."

"Maybe some of the Gillikens would have an idea
that would help us',' Jam suggested. "They know
this territory so much better than we do."

With this decision, the group moved on carefully,
keeping under cover as much as was possible. They
decided that if they could get near some of the vine-
yards, they would be able to get the attention of
some of the workers and have a council with them.

"Some of the men know me," said Jam, "for they
came to meet me when I first landed in Oz. Perhaps
it would be better if I called to them, so they won't
be frightened."

"If they see us first, they may all run away," said
the Cowardly Lion, who knew that until people got
acquainted with him they usually were afraid, for
seldom does anyone see a tame lion wandering about
the countryside.

"And they've never seen me this size, so I'd give
them quite a jolt, too," added Percy.

"They have heard rumors of the Tin Woodman,"

continued Jam, "but since they have never seen him
and do not know that he is a man made of tin, the
sight of him might frighten them, too."

So Jam was elected as the member of the party

to talk to the Gillikens. Dorothy offered to go with
him, for she knew that no one would be afraid of a
little boy and a little girl. It took the group some
time to circle the ridge and reach the vineyards
where the grapes for the jam were grown, for Hid-
den Valley was quite large. Dorothy thought it was
a lovely spot, and she knew that if the giant were
destroyed, the people who lived there would be happy
and contented. Finally they arrived at the first of
the grape-laden slopes, and they looked cautiously
through the trees at the edge of the wood to see if
they could safely call some of the workers to them
without endangering their position. After several
minutes of careful scrutiny the Tin Woodman said
that he thought it would be safe for Dorothy and

Jam to make themselves known to the workers, for
there was no sign of Terp, the Terrible, in that part
of the valley.

Slowly and quietly Jam and Dorothy stole out of
the forest and advanced to the place where the Gil-
likens were busily gathering the fragrant, purple
grapes and putting them into large baskets which in
turn were loaded into little carts and taken to the
jam factory in the valley.

"Pssst!" hissed Jam.

"Hello!" called Dorothy softly.

At this sound, the grape-gatherer nearest them
turned to see who had called. When he saw the boy
and girl standing there, he looked over his shoulder
to see if anyone was watching him and hurried over
to them. Jam recognized him as one of the group of

Gillikens who had come to meet him upon his arrival,
and this pleased him greatly, for at least the man
would know who he was.

"Oh, noble sir," he said, bowing to Jam, "have you
returned to save us?"

"Yes," said Jam, "I have brought with me the fa-
mous Tin Woodman, who is Emperor of the Winkies.

And this is Dorothy, who is a Princess of Oz."

The little man bowed low before Dorothy, sweep-
ing off his hat with such a courtly gesture that the
little bells around the brim tinkled merrily.

"We have a plan for defeating Terp, the Terrible,"

Jam hastened to say, "but we need the aid of some
of you Gillikens. Can you come with us?"

"Terp does not inspect this part of the vineyard
for some time yet," the farmer stated, "so it will be
safe for me to leave for a little while. Where is the
famous woodman?"

"He is hiding back here in the woods," Dorothy
told the little man, "so if you'll kindly come with us,
we will take you to our companions.

The man gladly followed the boy and girl to the
place where the rest of the party was hiding, while

Jam explained to him that the Cowardly Lion and
the Hungry Tiger were friendly and that Percy was
only the little white rat he had seen before. Then
the farmer was presented to the Tin Woodman, the

Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger,
and Percy. The man thought he had never before
seen such curious beings as those in the queerly as-
sorted little band.

Without further delay the Tin Woodman explained
the plan that they had decided upon and asked the

Gilliken if he thought it would work.

"Oh, yes, most noble Emperor," he said in a voice
filled with respect. "When Terp, the Terrible, discov-
ered that this little lad had escaped, he was in a tow-
ering rage and ordered all of us to search all of

Hidden Valley for some trace of him. We did not
run the jam factory that day, for he wanted every
available person to look for his escaped prisoner.

And when he was not able to find Jam, he was
dreadfully angry. He still stalks about the valley,
looking behind trees and bushes and in every con-
ceivable place, hoping that Jam may still be here. If
he thought that he could catch him, I know that he
would drop everything and go at once to the place
where the boy was supposed to have been seen."

"We hoped he would feel that way," said the

Scarecrow. "You see, we must get him away from
his castle long enough for the Tin Woodman to chop
down the magic muffin tree."

"For many years we have known that the tree
was the source of his power, but we do not know just
what that power is."

"Look at me, kiddo, and you'll soon understand
everything," Percy said. "If you remember, I was
just an ordinary sized little white rat, that is, until

I ate one of the magic muffins."

"Do you mean that it made you grow that large?"

asked the purple-clad man in astonishment.

"Right you are, kiddo," answered the rat.

"Then is Terp just an ordinary-sized man who has
eaten magic muffins?"

"We think that is the case," said Dorothy.

"That must be the reason that he guards the tree
so carefully."

"Yes. You see, the effect of the muffin is not per-
manent," Jam explained. "Percy has to keep eating
some of the muffin in order to stay this large."

"And we believe that this is also true with Terp,
for you know that he eats the muffins every morn-
ing for his breakfast."

"Then, if you, noble Tin Man," and here the little
man bowed low before Nick Chopper, "can destroy
the tree, you will destroy the giant."

"Exactly," said the Tin Woodman. "We have one
other grave problem, however. We do not know just
how long it takes for the effect of the muffins to
wear off. Percy can go more than a day without eat-
ing the magic food to retain his size, and it may take
several days for Terp to become our height again.

We feel that it will not be too difficult to chop down
the tree if Terp is enticed away from his home, but
what is going to happen when he returns and finds
that his magic tree is gone?"

"Ah, that is indeed a problem," mused the slave,

"for Terp will be so angry that he may destroy all
of us before he ceases to be a giant."

"We thought that maybe you would know of some
way that we might capture Terp and keep him con-
fined until he loses the effect of the muffin," Dorothy
said, smiling prettily at the little man.

"Is there any place where he might be kept a pris-
oner until it is safe to let him out?"

The little man stood silent for some time, deep
in thought. Then suddenly his face lighted up and
he smiled.

"I think I know the place," he said.

"Where is it?" asked the Tin Woodman and the

Scarecrow together.

"The smokestack of the jam factory down in the
valley," said the Gilliken. "It is very large at the
bottom and there is a large opening through which

Terp could squeeze. There is room for him to stand
up in it, but he cannot climb out of the top, because
the stack tapers, and the opening at the top is too
small for him to crawl through."

"But how are you going to get Terp to go into the
smokestack?" Dorothy inquired.

"Yes," said the Scarecrow. "Won't he suspect
something is wrong if you try to force him into such
a peculiar place?"

Again a silence fell, and all concentrated on think-
ing up some way to get Terp into the smokestack.

"Won't the smokestack be filled with smoke?"

asked the Cowardly Lion.

"I wouldn't want to go in a place like that," the

Hungry Tiger stated positively.

"The fires are put out at night, so there is no dan-
ger of getting smoked or burned, if we wait until
dark to do this."

"Where is this opening into the smokestack?"

asked the Scarecrow, for he was beginning to have
some ideas.

"It's really the door to the furnace," the Gilliken
replied.

"Do you have a door on the furnace that can be
closed?" continued the straw man.

"Oh, yes, it is a heavy iron door that several of
us have to move because it is so large."

"Then why can't you close the door after Terp has
crawled into the smokestack?" asked the Scarecrow.

"In that way, you will have him trapped there until
you wish to let him out."

"I believe we can do it," the little man said eager-
ly. "But," he added, "how can we get him into the
smokestack in the first place?"

"You can tell him that I have climbed up into it
and that no one else can reach me, because you are
not tall enough," suggested Jam.

"Excellent, excellent," exclaimed Nick Chopper.

"First you must get Terp away from the castle and
allow us enough time to dispose of the monster and
chop down the magic muffin tree, and then you must
lead him back to the factory and persuade him to
crawl into the smokestack. Once he is inside, you
and your friends must slam the door shut and bar it
from the outside. Then he can be kept captive there
until he has lost his great size."

"Tonight we shall do this, oh famous woodchop-
per," said the Gilliken. "But now I must return to
the vineyard, for Terp will be coming this way soon,
and if I am not working, I shall be punished severely.

As soon as night falls, I will come to the palace and
tell Terp that the boy, Jam, has been seen in the
hills at the far side of the valley, and then you can
destroy the tree."

He then took his leave of the group, and hastened
back to his companions. Jam and his friends con-
cealed themselves in the forest and waited for the
giant to make his rounds. Before long, they heard
the sound of his great boots tramping along the
path, and he came into sight when he stopped for his
inspection of the vineyard. He was indeed a terrible
sight, for he towered above the vines and the work-
ers and was as tall as some of the trees in the forest.

Jam trembled with fear lest they be discovered. But

Terp had apparently decided that the little boy had
escaped him, for he had ceased looking for him.

Dorothy thought the great man with his shaggy
black hair and beard was very wicked looking. She
hoped their plans would go according to schedule,
for if they were discovered, all would be lost. She
felt sure that Terp would destroy them immediately,
rather than risk losing any more of his captives.

"He's worse looking than the Yoop," she said in a
soft voice, and the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow
agreed with her.

"He doesn't seem to have any magic powers, ex-
cept the secret of growth," commented the Scare-
crow, "so perhaps we will have very little trouble
with him, once he is shut up in the smokestack."

And down in the valley the smokestack was send-
ing forth great black clouds, unaware that it was to
play such an important part in this strange adven-
ture.

CHAPTER 20

The End of the Magic Muffin Tree

AFTER Terp had finished his inspection of his vine-
yard, he strode off toward his castle, reaching
down and picking choice bunches of the luscious, ripe
fruit as he walked. Terp was so large that he ate the
grapes a bunch at a time, just as an ordinary person
would eat a single grape. The Gillikens all bowed
low to him as he traveled through the valley, for
none of them wished to bring the giant's wrath
down upon himself.

When he was out of sight, the little Gilliken has-
tened back to the hiding place in the wood and said,

"You are probably hungry. I will have my wife
pack a basket of food for you, and I will bring it
here to you at my first opportunity. I think you
should remain hidden here until dusk, when it will
be safe for you to venture nearer the castle."

"It would be very nice of you to bring us food,"

Dorothy told him, "for we are hungry, and we have
no way of getting any food for ourselves."

"If we go out looking for grub, Terp might get us,
kiddo."

"I think you are right," the Scarecrow said to the
farmer. "We will all be careful to stay out of sight,
for if Terp should see us, our plan would be ruined."

The Gilliken then took leave of them, and hurried
away to his home. After a time he returned, carry-
ing a large lunch basket with him. Looking around
to make sure no one was watching him, he brought
the lunch to Jam and Dorothy. His wife had made
them delicious sandwiches of home-made bread and
butter and grape jam. There were several kinds of
fruits, two kinds of cookies, and a chocolate pie.

Jam, Dorothy, and Percy ate and ate until all the
lunch was gone. The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry

Tiger disappeared. Apparently they were lucky and
found food in the forest, for when they returned they
were licking their chops, and the Hungry Tiger sat
up on his haunches and washed his face with his
paws.

Their friend and ally had returned to his work in
the vineyard, telling them that he would go to the
giant's castle as soon as it was dark and inform him
that Jam had been seen on the other side of the
valley.

Then the party sat down in the woods to wait for
nightfall, carefully hiding in a secluded dell beside
a rippling stream. Jam and Dorothy, lulled by the
murmur of the water, stretched out on the mossy
bank and fell fast asleep. And so the afternoon
passed, and the yellow sun sank low in the west, cast-
ing long shadows across the faces of the weary
travelers.

Twilight found our little band wending their way
toward the purple marble castle that loomed like a
big blot on the landscape. The Cowardly Lion went
in front to lead the way, followed by the Tin Wood-
nian, his axe poised ready for action, the Scarecrow,

Jam, Dorothy, and Percy, with the Hungry Tiger
guarding the rear. By the time darkness had fallen,
they were hiding in the woods within sight of the
purple building, watching it carefully for any signs
of activity. Suddenly they heard shouting, and Terp
rushed out into the courtyard, followed by a group
of his slaves who were carrying flaming torches that
cast an eerie light over the gardens.

"Ah ha," he roared, "so the little boy thought to
elude me, Terp, the Terrible."

The reply could not be heard, but soon a proces-
sion was formed with Terp at the head, and it wound
off down the hillside into the valley in the direction
of the place where Jam was supposed to have been
seen.

"Our friend must have stuck to his bargain," Jam
said excitedly. "See, they are leaving the palace."

"Good," said the Tin Woodman. "As soon as they
have gone a little farther we will see if we cannot
do something about the monster and chop down the
tree."

A clear, silvery light began to illumine the dark-
ness as the moon rose over the edge of the horizon,
and soon there was enough light for all of them to
see quite well.

"We might have been better off in the dark," said

Percy, for his white fur showed very clearly in the
moonlight, and the rays were reflected from the
shining surface of the Tin Woodman's body.

"Perhaps we can use the light to our advantage,"

suggested the wise Scarecrow, whose brains had
been hard at work. "What happens when you twirl
your axe around swiftly, my friend?" he asked Nick

Chopper.

The Tin Woodman began twirling his gleaming
blade rapidly, and as the moonlight struck it, it
made a pinwheel of brilliance.

"It is possible that you will be able to hypnotize
the monster with that whirling blade," the Scare-
crow suggested. "That is a device often used by sor-
cerers and magicians. If so, you will be able to move
in closely and chop down the tree very easily."

"Certainly it is worth a try," said the tin man,

"and since the monster can do less damage to me
than to most of you, let me go into the courtyard by
myself and see if I can succeed alone."

"I think that I should go with you," objected the

Scarecrow, "for someone will have to work hard at
the hypnotizing business. I believe that we can con-
vince the monster that he is harmless as a kitten,
and then he will give us no trouble."

"That's an excellent idea," cried Dorothy.

"Do you think it will work?" asked Jam.

"I don't know," said the Tin Woodman, "but it's
worth trying."

"But it's no good just hypnotizing the owl head,"

the Cowardly Lion reminded them. "When the wolf
head awakes, the monster will be as fierce as ever."

"That's right, kiddo," agreed Percy.

"The hypnotizing isn't going to work, after all,"

sighed Jam.

But the Scarecrow was thinking hard, and the Tin

Woodman and Dorothy waited confidently for their
old friend to come up with a solution to the problem.

"Have you ever heard of mass hypnotism?" asked
the Scarecrow suddenly.

"No," said Jam and Dorothy together. "What's
that?"

"It's hypnotizing a whole group of people at the
same time," explained the straw man.

"I get it, kiddo," interrupted Percy. "You're go-
ing to hypnotize both heads at once!"

"That's right," the Scarecrow told them, a smile
on his painted face. "It should be as easy to do two
heads as one."

"Two heads are better than one, they always say,
kiddo," laughed Percy, twitching his whiskers in glee.

"You'll have to wake up the wolf head," Jam said.

"Otherwise this double hypnotizing won't work."

"That should be easy," Dorothy said. "All we have
to do is shout loudly, and the wolf head will come to
in a hurry."

The time had come for action, so the Tin Wood-
man and the Scarecrow started toward Terp's. They
all followed them close to the castle, staying in the
shadow of the walls and slipping along as quietly as
little mice. When they could see the monster chained
to the tree in the center of the courtyard they all
stopped, letting the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow
go on alone. As Nick Chopper stepped out of the
shadow, he began twirling his axe with all his might,
spinning the bright steel blade around and around.

The moonlight that fell on it was reflected as a daz-
zling light that caught the eye of the owl head that
guarded the tree at night, and the monster watched
the light intently, not realizing that someone was be-
hind the glittering spectacle, for the gleaming axe
had almost blinded him. At a motion from the Scare-
crow, all of them shouted loudly, waking the vicious
wolf head. But it, too, fell under the spell of the Tin

Woodman 's axe. He moved slowly from side to side,
and the monster's heads, with unblinking eyes,
moved slowly too, following the light.

When he saw this, the stuffed Scarecrow knew that
the great monster was hypnotized. He stepped quiet-
ly forward and began talking in a low, monotonous
voice.

"You are harmless, you are harmless, you are
harmless," he intoned, extending both his hands to-
ward the monster.

"Call you hear me?" he asked in firm tones.

"Yes, we hear you," murmured the owl- and wolf-
heads in unison.

"You will henceforth be as harmless as a little kit-
ten," continued the Scarecrow.

"We'll be as harmless as a kitten," repeated the
monster's heads.

"Never again will you be a fierce, ferocious mon-
ster," the Scarecrow went on.

"Never again will we be a fierce, ferocious mon-
ster," droned the heads.

The Tin Woodman now stopped twirling his axe,
and slowly the great monster's heads stopped star-
ing. They blinked their eyes and shook their heads.

"Who are these nice people?" asked the owl head.

"I don't know, but I'm happy to meet them," the
wolf head replied.

When Jam and the rest heard this, they let out a
cheer and ran over to where the Tin Woodman and
the Scarecrow stood under the tree, chatting with
the tamed beast.

"And now," said the Tin Woodman, "to the impor-
tant task of chopping down this tree that has caused
so much misery in this beautiful valley."

"Hey, wait a minute, kiddo," cried Percy, "let me
pick a couple of the magic muffins first. They might
lose their strength after the tree is cut down, and

I'm due to start shrinking any minute now."

As if by magic, no sooner had he uttered these
words than he began to grow visibly smaller.

"See," he cried, "I figured this was coming."

"Climb up and get another muffin for yourself,

Percy," said Jam, "and then let our friend, Nick

Chopper, get to work on the tree."

Percy quickly climbed up into the branches and
picked two of the muffins which he held tightly in
his sharp front teeth as he climbed down out of the
tree. When he reached the ground, he had shrunk to
half his former size, to the amazement of all except

Jam and the Tin Woodman who had seen him small
before. Sitting on the ground, he nibbled a bit of
one of the muffins, and as soon as he had swallowed
it, he shot up to his large size again.

"Amazing!" gasped Dorothy.

"My goodness, gracious," cried the Scarecrow.

"Think how big we'd be if we ate some of the muf-
fins," laughed the Cowardly Lion to the Hungry

Tiger.

The big striped beast replied, "I don't want to be
any bigger than I am. My appetite is insatiable now.

Think what it would be if I were ten times as large
as I now am," and he shuddered to himself.

The Scarecrow then unfastened the chain that
bound the monster to the tree. Once freed, the great
beast bade them goodbye and lumbered off toward
the forest, waving to them with his alligator tail.

And that was the last they ever saw of him.

"Stand back now," ordered the Tin Woodman,

"and let me get at this chopping job," and he began
wielding his axe with vigor, making the chips fly in
all directions. Even though the trunk of the tree was
thick and tough, Nick Chopper was such a good wood
chopper that he was making his last strokes in less
time than it takes to tell.

"Stand clear!" he cried as the tree swayed and fell
to the ground with a loud crash.

The muffins on it immediately withered up until
they were tiny bits of bread, and a sudden gust of
wind that came swooping into the courtyard picked
them up and blew them all away.

"It's a good thing I got the muffins before the tree
was cut down," said Percy. "With two of them, I
have enough of the magic bread to keep my large
size until I can get to the Emerald City and see this
famous Wizard of Oz."

CHAPTER 21

Tetp Is Trapped

MEANWHILE Terp, the Terrible, was searching

diligently through the forest on the slopes at
the other end of the valley, hoping to find Jam be-
hind each tree and bush and rock.

As he looked, he kept muttering, "Where is he?

Where is he? Where is my Jam for breakfast?" But
of course he could not find Jam, who was at Terp's
castle at that very moment After searching over the
slopes for some time without finding Jam, Terp be-
gan to fume with rage at the Gillikens, crying out
that he didn't believe that anyone had seen Jam at
all.

"Where is the stupid serf who told me that the boy
had been seen here?" he roared. "Bring him before
me so that I may punish him!"

The Gillikens, however, protected their friend and
told Terp that they did not know who had called him
forth from his castle on this useless search. Just
then, on the edge of the crowd of slaves, one of the
little Gilliken's friends, who had been let in on the
secret, cried,

"Someone has seen Jam running through the val-
ley toward the factory. Hurry, hurry, we may catch
him," and he turned from them and began racing
down the slopes into the valley in the direction of
the jam factory and the tall smokestack.

Terp, hearing the shout, turned and saw the
purple-clad Gilliken running along the road toward
the factory. So he motioned to his slaves to follow,
and he rushed down the hill with long strides that
covered a block at a time. When he reached the door
of the factory, he found that it had been flung open
and the Gilliken was pointing toward the huge fur-
nace in which the fire no longer burned.

"He went into the furnace," he said to Terp, bow-
ing low.

"Follow him," roared Terp, so the Gilliken crawled
into the furnace. But in a moment he crawled back
out and said:

"Oh, noble Terp, the boy, Jam, has climbed up in-
to the smokestack, and I cannot reach him, for I am
not tall. You, however, oh high and noble ruler, are
tall enough to reach up and take the very stars from
the heavens. So if you could crawl into the furnace
and reach up into the smokestack, you would be able
to reach the boy easily."

"Very well," roared the giant. "I shall get him
myself, since all of you seem so unresourceful." He
went over to the furnace and crowded into it. At
first he seemed to stick in the opening, and the
watching Gillikens held their breath for fear he could
not get into the smokestack. However, he struggled
and struggled, rattling the furnace on its founda-
tions, and finally he managed to get in. There he
stood erect and looked up through the smokestack.

"Where is he?" came a muffled roar from the in-
side of the furnace. "I can see nothing but stars in
the sky above here."

At these words there came a mighty clang, and

Terp found that the door to the furnace had been
closed tight. He tried to open it, but it had been
barred from the outside by the Gillikens.

"Let me out, let me out!" roared the giant in a
terrible voice. "How dare you lock me in this fur-
nace! I'll destroy all of you when you let me out."

"But we won't let you out," came a chorus from
outside the smokestack. "You will never again en-
slave us, oh Terp."

"You'll regret this," he howled, shaking the fur-
nace door until the building shook. "You will all
have to work twice as hard as you have been work-
ing."

"Ha, ha, ha. You can't scare us," came the voices
from the factory. "We know what will happen to
you when you are here for a few days."

"A few days!" cried the giant in terror. "You
can't keep me here that long."

"Oh, yes we can," the Gillikens said in determined
tones. "We have been your slaves for many years,
but the tables have turned, and you are now in our
power. In a few days, you will be utterly harmless,
and then we will let you out of the furnace. But un-
til that time, in you stay."

"But I shall starve," Terp exclaimed. "You can't
be so cruel as to let me languish from lack of food."

"We shall feed you," one Gilliken said. "We are
not so cruel and heartless as you have been."

Terp thought to himself that when the little men
opened the furnace to give him food, he could force
his way out of the building. They seemed to read his
thoughts, for they said:

"We can lower your food to you from the top of
the smokestack. We can find a tall ladder and a
long rope, and you will not have to starve."

Terp called out craftily, "Of course you will bring
me some of the muffins from the tree in my court-
yard."

"How can we do that?" they asked. "The ferocious
two-headed monster guards the tree very carefully,
and no one dares to venture near it."

"You could get a long pole with a little basket on
the end and reach the muffins without having to get
near the beast," he suggested desperately, rueing
the day he had chained the monster to the tree.

"Ah, but it really doesn't matter," declared one of
the Gillikens. "By this time the monster has been
rendered harmless, and the tree has been destroyed
by the famous Tin Woodman and his companions."

"What?" screamed the giant. "What did you say?"

"Destroyed," they all cried together. "The mon-
ster is gone and the tree has been chopped to the
ground."

"Oh, no, that cannot be," sobbed Terp, the Terri-
ble, not so terrible now that his source of power was
gone. "You could not do such a thing to me."

"We could and we would and we have," they stated
flatly. "We know now that the magic muffins were
all that kept you a giant, and we have had them de-
stroyed. In a few days, you will be our own size, and
then we will let you out of the smokestack, but not
one instant sooner."

The miserable giant wept bitterly, and he cried so
long, and his teardrops were so large, that a little
stream of salt water was soon running out of the
cracks of the furnace. The men were not sorry for
him, though, for he had been such a cruel oppressor
that they were glad to get rid of him.

Leaving a few of their number to guard the fur-
nace, the rest of the natives now hurried toward the
castle to see if the Tin Woodman had accomplished
his mission. When they arrived at the courtyard,
they could see that the monster was gone, and the
magic tree cut down and its power destroyed. All of
them bowed low before the Tin Woodman and his
friends and cheered loudly and long. Then they be
gan dancing around the courtyard filling the night
with the sounds of their merry-making. Several of
the men seized the Tin Woodman and lifted him to
their shoulders, while others caught up the Scarecrow,

Percy, Jam, and Dorothy and started a parade into
the village. The Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly

Lion were too large for them to carry, but they
picked flowers from the gardens by the light of the
moon and hung them in lovely garlands around the
huge beasts' necks.

When they reached the valley, all of the villagers
ran out to meet them, and the women prepared re-
freshments for the whole party. Then the boy and
girl and their friends were taken into the little dome-
shaped houses and given comfortable rooms for the
night.

Next morning after breakfast, all of them went
down to the jam factory to see Terp, the Terrible, in
captivity. A tall ladder was found, and one brave
man placed it against the tall smokestack and
climbed up to the very top, where he leaned over the
opening and looked down at the giant. He could see
that already Terp was beginning to shrink so he
called the joyful news down to the gathered popu-
lace. Then he lowered a basket of food to the giant,
so he would not starve in captivity.

All of the citizens of Hidden Valley begged the

Tin Woodman and all the rest to remain there with
them, but Jam said,

"You have been very nice to us, and we are all
glad that you are now free from the power of Terp,
but I want to hurry to the Emerald City to meet the

Princess Ozma of Oz."

"And I want to be made big permanently," said

Percy. "So, so long, kiddos, maybe we'll see you
again sometime."

Amid cheers of the people, our friends started on
their journey to the Emerald City. They each car-
ried a basket filled with food for the trip; and the

Gillikens said that they planned to erect statues of
all of them in the courtyard of the palace that Terp
had owned. So, leaving Terp to the Gillikens who
said they would teach him to live as they did if he
stopped causing trouble when he became their size,
our friends turned their faces toward the south and
began the last lap of their adventuresome journey.

They started straight south toward the Emerald City,
for they wanted to avoid Bookville and Icetown and
the river that had delayed them on their journey
from the Tin Woodman's castle to Hidden Valley.

CHAPTER 22

The Emerald City of Oz

FOR the first part of their journey, Jam and Dor-
othy decided to walk instead of riding on the

Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, for it was a
beautiful day, balmy and mild, and strolling along
the countryside was a pleasure. The grateful Gilli-
kens accompanied them to the edge of the great
plain. When they reached it the Tin Woodman told
them that he thought they need have no further fear
of the dreaded Equinots, who had been so thoroughly
frightened by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry

Tiger that they would never prey upon the unwary
traveler again.

The Gillikens again thanked the little group for
their deliverance from bondage and stood watching
until our friends had passed out of sight upon the
flat land covered with purple sage. The Scarecrow
thought they would probably be able to reach the
capitol city of Oz in two days' time if they traveled
steadily, and the prospect of once more returning
home kept them walking at a good rate of speed
across the even ground. After several hours they
had crossed the plain and had come to a shady wood
with pleasant paths. They were still in the Gilliken
country, for the flowers that nodded by the lilting
streams were a delicate lavender hue, and there were
purple grapes growing on the vines that twined
through the branches of the trees.

"I shall never see grapes again without thinking
of Terp, and how he wanted to eat me on muffins for
breakfast," said Jam, sighing deeply.

"Right, kiddo," said Percy, frolicking along beside
him. "I'll bet the people in Hidden Valley never eat
any more grape jam as long as they live."

"Which is always," said Dorothy, "for no one dies
in the Land of Oz. They may be totally destroyed by
some accident, or some sort of witchcraft, but they
live on forever at any age they like."

"I never heard of a place like this before," said

Jam. "Things like that don't happen in the outside
world."

"Things like that could happen only in a fairy-
land," smiled Dorothy. "That's why I like to live
here."

"If my mother and father were here, I'd like it,
too," said the little boy. "But I'm getting awfully
lonesome for them, and I know that they miss me,
too."

"It won't be long now until you can go home," the

Scarecrow told Jam, "for as soon as we reach the

Emerald City I shall request an audience with Ozma
and ask her to transport you to your home immedi-
ately."

"We would like to have you visit with us longer,"

said the Tin Woodman, "but we understand that you
would rather be at home than any place else in the
world. So just be patient for a little while longer,
and your wish will be granted."

"How will Ozma send me home?" asked Jam. "I
came by kite, but I can't return that way."

"We'll just have to wait and see," said the Scare-
crow.

Jam did not notice, but the Scarecrow had a know-
ing little smile on his face. Dorothy saw it and knew
that her stuffed friend had some idea, but she did
not ask him what he was thinking of, for she felt
that it might be some sort of nice surprise for the
little boy. So the time passed swiftly as they walked
along, and when evening came, they slept beneath
the bright stars that twinkled in the heavens above
them, lulled by the song of the evening birds.

Jam and Dorothy woke at dawn, and after wash-
ing their faces in the clear water of a brook that
flowed through the forest, they ate some of the food
that was left in the baskets the Gillikens had given
them. Then all of them started on the last part of
their journey, for they expected to see the walls of
the Emerald City before night fell again.

The little boy from Ohio whistled as he hurried
along. His happy little tunes kept all of them in
good humor. The forest through which they had
been traveling had become less dense, and soon they
left its purple shadows behind them. The country
lost its wild look, and they passed many well kept
farmhouses surrounded by velvety lawns and pros-
perous looking gardens.

"The country begins to look more civilized," said
the Scarecrow. "That means that we are getting
nearer and nearer to the capitol city."

"It is a magnificent sight," the Cowardly Lion told

Percy. "The walls are of the finest green marble that
can be found, and the walls and streets and buildings
are studded with great, gleaming emeralds, some of
them as big as building blocks."

"Who ever heard of emeralds that big, kiddo?"

scoffed Percy.

The Tin Woodman came to the aid of his friend,
the lion, and said, "The Cowardly Lion is not exag-
gerating in the least."

And Dorothy said, "You'll see when you get there
that the city is even more wonderful than any de-
scription could ever be."

"Do you live in the city?" asked Jam.

"Yes, I have my own suite in the royal palace,"

the girl told him, "for Ozma and I are the best of
friends, and she likes to have me near her."

"It all sounds very nice," he said.

At noon the travelers were invited to stop for

lunch at one of the farmhouses that were scattered
over the countryside, for the farmer and his wife
recognized the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and
the Princess Dorothy and were greatly honored to
have such distinguished company in their home.

Dorothy and Jam were glad to eat a hot meal and
thanked the couple for their kind hospitality. The
farmer's children were a little shy. At first they were
afraid of the queer looking Scarecrow and his com-
panion, the Tin Woodman, but these two soon won
them over by telling them stories, and when the
party took leave of the farmer and his wife, the chil-
dren wanted to go with them.

"Some day you must come to the Emerald City to
see us," suggested Dorothy, and the children were
satisfied with this suggestion and let their new
friends go on without them.

"The country looks very familiar, now," said Dor-
othy. "We will be in the Emerald City in time for
dinner this evening."

"And how soon will Ozma send me home?" asked

Jam.

"Probably tomorrow morning," the little girl told
him.

"How will I get there?"

"You'll be whisked through the air so fast that you
won't even know you've started-and there you'll be,
at home."

"Will it hurt any?" he asked in worried tones.

"Not a bit," Dorothy reassured him. "I've done it
several times, and it doesn't hurt at all."

"Well, I just wish that it were tomorrow," he said
wistfully.

"Never mind, kiddo," Percy comforted him, "it
won't be long now."

More and more people were now traveling along
the road, and one after another they greeted Dor-
othy and her friends.

"They aren't dressed in purple costumes," Jam
observed. "All of them seem to be wearing green."

"Yes," Dorothy told him, "we have passed the
boundary of the Gilliken country and are now in the
section surrounding the Emerald City. The favorite
color here is green, in honor of the capitol, so all the
citizens wear different shades of green clothing in-
stead of the purple worn in the North Country."

"What's that shack over there?" asked the white
rat, pointing to a fine edifice with banners flying
from its rooftop. Young men and women were going
in and out, and it seemed a busy place.

"That is the Royal College of Athletic Sciences,"

the Scarecrow informed him. "It is supervised by

Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T. E., our highly mag-
nified colleague. He would interest you very much,"

the straw man continued to the rat, "for he is much
larger than the normal woggle bug."

"He used to live under a hearthstone in a school-
room," Dorothy took up the story, "and so he became

Thoroughly Educated. That's what the T. E. after
his name means. One day the schoolmaster discov-
ered him and threw a magnified image of him on a
screen so all the students could see what he looked
like. While in this Highly Magnified state, he es-
caped, and so he exists today."

"Very interesting, kiddos," nodded Percy. "I'd
like to meet him sometime and have a little heart to
heart chat about our sizes."

"If you stay in the Emerald City, you no doubt will
see him often, for he is a frequent visitor at the pal-
ace. He and Ozma had many interesting adventures
with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman while Oz-
ma was a boy."

"A boy!" exclaimed Jam.

"Yes, she had been enchanted by a wicked witch
called Mombi and didn't even know that she was the
rightful ruler of Oz," Dorothy explained, "but Glin-
da, the Good Sorceress, rescued her, and now she is
the most loved person in all the Land of Oz."

"Maybe you're an enchanted princess, kiddo,"

Percy suggested to Jam; but the little boy assured
him he wasn't.

"I wouldn't want to be a girl, anyway," he said,
and Dorothy laughed merrily.

With such pleasant conversation, they passed the
time as they traveled along the yellow brick road
that led to the Emerald City. The houses and gar-
dens were becoming more and more sumptuous as
they neared the capitol. Suddenly a green glow ap-
peared in the sky to the south.

"What's that funny color in the sky?" asked Jam
with alarm in his voice.

"That is the reflection of the sun on the walls of
the Emerald City," he was told. "The emeralds that
stud the walls are so brilliant that the green glow
can be seen for miles around."

"It won't be long until our journey is over," Dor-
othy told him, "for when we reach the top of this
little hill, you will at last be able to see the city
walls."

When they reached the crest of the hill, Jam be-
held the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen.

There below him lay the Emerald City, which resem-
bled the lovely jewels for which it was named. It
glittered and shone in the sunlight, and gaily colored
banners floated from the spires and parapets of the
walls and from the tops of the buildings within. In
the center of the city, the towers of the royal palace
rose high above all the other buildings, and from the
top of the highest tower floated the royal banner of

Oz, a flag divided into red, yellow, blue, and purple
sections, to represent each of the countries of Oz,
with a green patch in the center in honor of the Em-
erald City.

"Oh," breathed the little boy in awe, "It's the most
beautiful place I've ever seen."

"And look," cried the Scarecrow, "I believe some-
one is coming to meet us."

Looking down the road, they could see someone
hurrying in their direction.

"It's Scraps, riding the Sawhorse," Dorothy ex-
claimed.

"And that looks like our friend, Spots, with them,"

said the Hungry Tiger.

"But how did they know we were coming now?"

asked the white rat in amazement.

"Probably Ozma has been watching us in her
magic picture," said Dorothy, "and saw that we were
near the city gates."

"What's a magic picture?" Jam wanted to know.

"It's a picture hanging in her private rooms in the
palace," the Tin Woodman explained. "In it appears
any scene that she wishes to see in all the world. If
she wants to see what I'm doing, she just orders the
picture to show her the Tin Woodman, and there I
am."

"That sounds like a marvelous invention," Jam
decided. "Can she see things outside the Land of

Oz?"

"Oh, yes," Dorothy assured him. "She used to
watch me when I was home in Kansas. She even res-
cued me from an underground cavern once, when I
was trapped there with the Wizard and Zeb, a boy
from California."

"Maybe she'd let me see my father and mother,"

he said wistfully.

"I'm sure she will," said the kindhearted Tin Wood-
man. "All you'll have to do is to ask her."

By this time, the Sawhorse had approached them,
and Percy and Jam saw a most peculiar couple. The

Sawhorse himself was a marvel to behold, for his
body was a log, with a gash cut out of one end of it
for a mouth, a twig on the other for a tail, knots of
wood for eyes, and legs and ears stuck into his body.

On his back sat a colorful individual, who looked as
if she had been made from a crazy quilt.

The Patchwork Girl laughed merrily and called,

"Hello, ~ howdy do to you and welcome to

the to town.

The magic picture showed that you were

Emerald City bound;

So to the Sawhorse I remarked, 'Wouldn't

it be a pity,

If you and I did not go out and lead them

to the city?'"

"I see that all of you have survived the journey,"

said Spots, his markings changing from pink bal-
loons to purple grapes.

"Ugh, grapes," said Percy. "They remind me of

Terp," and at these words, the Leopard changed his
spots to new moons.

"What happened to Terp?" he asked. "Did you
manage to get rid of him?"

"Yes," the Tin Woodman answered, "we cut down
his magic muffin tree and penned him up in the fac-
tory smokestack. When we left, he was already los-
ing the size that he had acquired by eating the magic
bread, and I'm sure that by this time he is no bigger
than I."

"Good," said Spots. "That's one less wicked giant
to contend with."

"What's that?" asked the Sawhorse in a gruff
voice, pointing one gold-shod hoof at Percy.

"I'm an overgrown rat, kiddo," said Percy. "Take
it from me, you animated fire log, you, I've seen bet-
ter looking nags in glue factories."

"Purely a matter of opinion," snorted the Saw-
horse, rolling his knot eyes wickedly.

"Now, now, let's not quarrel," said the Scarecrow
soothingly, averting an argument between the two.

Scraps said to Dorothy,

"I want to thank you for my friend, the

Rhyming Dictionary.

He's taught me lots of lovely verse to please

mortal or fairy.

We wrote a welcoming ode for you, but

alas! alack aday!

The Sawhorse ran so fast, the words have

all been blown away."

"That's all right," said Dorothy, laughing.

"Before the big banquet tonight, i'll see

If I can write a poem for our company."

"Is there to be a banquet?" asked the Scarecrow.

"Oh, yes," said Scraps. "Ozma has invited lots of
guests. It's to be in Jam's honor."

"But she doesn't even know me," protested Jam.

"How can she be having the banquet for me?"

"In her magic picture she has seen

What you've done, and where you've been."

"Banquets at the royal palace are lots of fun,"

Dorothy told him. "Let's hurry to the city, so we can
get ready for the festivities."

So Dorothy hopped up on the back of the Lion, Jam
on the Hungry Tiger, and the Tin Woodman on the

Leopard with the Changing Spots. The Scarecrow
and Scraps rode on the Sawhorse, and Percy scam-
pered along beside them. The animals were able to
speed along the road of yellow brick, and soon they
were before the magnificent gates of the Emerald

City. Jam was awed by the splendor he saw before
him, for words cannot describe the beauty of the
chief city of Oz. They were welcomed by a little man
in a green uniform who opened the gates and ad-
mitted them to the city. They passed along broad
avenues lined with exotic trees and shrubs, rivaling
the emeralds with their beauty, and soon they ar-
rived at the royal palace where a pretty maid in a
green satin dress and pale green organdy apron
curtsied to them and said:

"Ozma sends her greetings and says to tell you
that when you have rested from your journey, she
will receive you in her private apartment."

"Thank you, Jellia," said Dorothy. Then, turning
to Jam, she said, "Jellia Jamb will take you to your
room where you will find clothing to wear to the ban-
quet tonight."

"But will it fit me?" asked the little boy.

"Oh, yes," Dorothy told him. "Remember, this is
a fairyland."

Percy went with Jam, and Jellia Jamb, who re-
marked that it was quite a coincidence that Jam's
name should be like her own, led them through cor-
ridors of pale green marble, over floors carpeted with
luxurious rugs of dark emerald green. After going
up a winding staircase and down another long hall,

Jellia announced:

"This is your apartment. If you want anything,
just ring the bell. A servant will come presently and
conduct you to our ruler, Ozma."

Jam thanked her, and he and Percy went into the
suite of rooms. Once inside, the boy gasped in amaze-
ment at the splendor of his quarters. The furniture
was inlaid with gold and precious stones, and the
carpets and drapes were of the finest materials.

Percy whistled. "This is some place, kiddo!" he
said. And he sniffed about the room, examining
every corner of it.

Off the sitting room was a pretty bedroom, with
silken sheets and coverlet on the four-poster bed and
pictures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman on
the walls. A tile bath with a tub as big as a minia-
ture swimming pool next attracted the boy's atten-
tion, and he decided that for once in his life, taking
a bath would be fun. When he was ready to dress,

Percy opened one of the wardrobes and brought out
a green satin suit, trimmed with dark green velvet
and gold and emerald buttons. Each piece of the
costume fit Jam exactly, and although he said he felt
as if he were dressed up for a costume ball, he really
looked quite nice. Percy found a jeweled collar which
he put around his own neck, and Jam tied a big green
bow on the end of the rat's tail.

"If it's going to be a party, we want to be in style,
kiddo," commented Percy, admiring himself in the
full length mirror that was on one of the doors. "I
think we'll pass inspection."

"I wish my mother could see me now," laughed the
little boy. But thinking of his mother reminded him
that he was really quite homesick, so he said, "I hope
they come for us soon, for the sooner I meet Ozma,
the sooner I can ask her to please send me back to
my home."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than
there came a rap at the door, and when Jam opened
it, a servant said,

"If you will accompany me now, honored guest, I
shall conduct you to the presence of Ozma."

Percy and Jam followed the messenger through
more corridors, and they came at last to the private
rooms of the ruler of the Land of Oz. At the door
they were greeted by Dorothy who took Jam's hand
and led him to Ozma. Jam had not known what to
expect, for he had never before been in the presence
of royalty. But when a sweet and beautiful girl came
forward to greet him, he forgot any fear that he
might have had, for she was so gracious that she
made him feel at home immediately.

"I am very happy to welcome you to the Emerald

City," Ozma said. "I know that you are anxious to
know about your family, so if you will come with me,

I will let you gaze at my magic picture and see your
home."

"Oh, thank you, your majesty," Jam said, over-
whelmed at her kindness and by the fact that she
knew all about him. Then Ozma took him to a cur-
tained picture and, drawing back the drapery, she
said,

"We wish to see Jam's home."

Immediately, the scene changed to the interior of

Jam's house and showed his father and mother. She
seemed to be assuring his father that she knew some-
how that Jam would return to them soon.

"You see, Jam, they are not sad," said Dorothy.

"Ozma has made them know that you will be home
soon. She is going to send you home in the morning.

I have already told her that's what you want to do."

"I would like that," said Jam, and Ozma's nod con-
firmed Dorothy's statement.

"Now I will enjoy the banquet," Jam continued,

"knowing my father and mother are not unhappy and
that I will be home tomorrow."

Ozma smiled at him. "Now, let us sit down for a
while, and you can tell me all about the adventures
you have had here." So Jam told her about the flight
of the kite, and how he had been captured by the
giant, Terp, the Terrible, only to escape with Percy's
aid.

"Do you think that your Wizard would enchant

Percy so that he won't ever turn into an ordinary lit-
tle rat again?" asked Jam.

"I think that it can be arranged," smiled Ozma
and asked him to go on with his story.

He told of his flight to Winkie Land, carried by his
kite. Then he described the further adventures that
all of them had had in Bookville and Icetown. When
he told how they had finally captured Terp and
chopped down the magic muffin tree, Ozma thanked
them for freeing her subjects from him.

"And now we are here," finished the little boy.

"I am glad," said Ozma. "I wish you could stay
with us, Jam, but I know you are anxious to get home.

In the morning the Wizard will swallow one of his
famous wishing pills and wish you home in the twink-
ling of an eye. Now, let us go to the banquet that has
been prepared in your honor."

She led the way to the great banquet hall, with

Dorothy on one side of her and Jam on the other. At
the long table were many interesting characters, in-
cluding all of Jam's animal friends. The Tin Wood-
man, the Scarecrow, and Scraps had places at the
table, even though they did not eat.

Although Scraps had not had time to compose a
poem for the occasion, the Rhyming Dictionary was
prepared to recite a long ode that had been written
in honor of the guests. Being accustomed to royalty,
he was not embarrassed by the throng of celebrities
at the dinner. He doffed his fool's cap, cleared his
throat, and read from a parchment scroll:

ODE TO JAM

"Oh, gracious Ozma, and the rest

(Including each distinguished guest)

We gather here to honor one

Whose ventures literally stun

Our senses.

He's young and small-but what

For, with his great friend, Percy

He overcame and quite outwitted

An ogreish giant who'd committed

Offenses.

That through the skies his Kite Collapsible

Would fly to Oz was unperhapsible;

He was surprised, of course, because

He really didn't know that Oz

Existed.

But when the turf of Terp he hit

He cried no cry, nor flung no fit-

Instead, when Terp with grinning glee

For sandwich-spread had scragged him, he

Resisted;

And, aided by his brave pal, Percy,

(To make a long tale very terse) he

Discovered (while they made their getaway)

What kept the towering giant the taway

A muffin!

So then and there he made his mind up

That it was time Terp's reign to wind up,

And that, to serve this noble cause,

He and friend rat would never pause

For nuffinn'!

The fearsome Equinots he flustered;

He freed the kites all clutter-clustered;

And then, as he began to range some,

A Le-o-pard whose spots are changesome

He signed up.

With Percy, next he found a group

Of friends who gladly joined his troupe;

With modesty I'll overlook

How, without me, each as a book

Would wind up.

But each companion, in his way

Contributed to win the day;

The noble Scarecrow gave his straw

In Icetown, so that they could thaw

Their way out;

When slaves enticed Terp far afield,

The Tin Man then his axe did wield

To fell the magic Muffin Tree-

And thus Jam's giant-stalking spree

Did pay out.

For Terp is giant now no longer-

He's waxing weak instead of stronger;

While in a smokestack tall he fidgeted

He shrank till he became quite midgeted-

Let's hiss him!

And now our little hero, Jam,

Whose true admiring friend I am,

To his Ohio home will go,

And all of us want him to know

We'll miss him!"

Then the Rhyming Dictionary bowed and smiled
while all the guests clapped loudly.

Tiktok, the copper clockwork man, was also pres-
ent, and Dorothy wound up his mechanism so he could
make a short speech, welcoming Jam and Percy to
the Emerald City. Jam said he had never had such
a good time at a party in all his life.

The little Wizard of Oz was not at the banquet,
and Ozma explained that he had some important prep-
arations to make for the next day. She assured Jam,
however, that he would meet the little man who had
once come to Oz in a balloon and had built and ruled
the Emerald City before she had been disenchanted.

"He's from Omaha, Nebraska," little Dorothy ex-
plained, "so he understands all about getting back to
the United States."

There were stories and poems, and the royal band
played for the guests, and soon it was bedtime. Jam
was conducted back to his rooms, and he and Percy
were soon fast asleep.

CHAPTER 23

Home Again

TAM was up bright and early the next morning, for
he was anxious to return home. He dressed him-
self in his own clothes. The satin costume would never
be suitable to wear in Ohio! After ringing the bell,

Jam told the servant that answered that he would
like some breakfast, if it wouldn't be too much trou-
ble.

The servant soon returned, carrying a gold tray,
laden with steaming cereal and milk, fruit and toast.

Jam and Percy soon satisfied their hunger. The ser-
vant told them that if they were ready, he would
conduct them to the courtyard of the palace, where

Ozma awaited them.

"I'm ready now," the little boy said eagerly.

"Let's go, kiddo," said Perqy.

In the courtyard of the palace, beside a fountain
that sprayed precious jewels into the sunlight, stood

Ozma and all her friends. Beside her stood a little,
bald man dressed in a black suit She presented him
to Jam who learned that this was the famous Wizard
of Oz of whom he had heard so much.

"So you want to go back to Ohio," said the Wizard,
a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes, sir, if you can send me," replied Jam.

"And you want to be enchanted so that you'll al-
ways be the size you are now," he said to the white
rat.

"That's right, kiddo," the rodent replied.

"Well, first we'll fix you up," he said to the rat and
handed him a cup of black, steaming liquid. "Drink
all of this," he commanded, and although Percy made
a face, for the brew did not taste good, he drank it
to the last drop.

"I feel like the same large economy size as before,"

he commented, "so I guess everything is hunky dory."

"And now, for you, young man," said the Wizard.

"Your friend, the Scarecrow, has made a suggestion
about a gift for you to take home with you," and with
these words, he drew forth a magic wand and waved
it in the air three times, mumbling magic words as he
did so.

In the next instant, there appeared on the lawn
in front of them the Collapsible Kite that had brought

Jam to the Land of Oz. Once again, as on that first
journey, the crate, now as good as new, was sus-
pended from it like a tiny cabin.

"We thought that you might like to take your kite
back with you," Ozma explained. "And the Scare-
crow made a suggestion about it, too. Why don't you
tell him about it yourself?" she said, turning to the

Stuffed Man.

"We thought that some day you might want to
come back to Oz to visit us. Therefore, the Wizard
has enchanted your kite. If you ever wish to return
to the Land of Oz, just get into the crate, close your
eyes, and wish hard to fly to Oz."

"If you can do that, then I know you can send me
home," cried the little boy happily. So he said good-
bye to all of his friends, hugging Dorothy and shak-
ing hands with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.

He patted the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion
on their great heads and told them that he'd never
again be afraid of wild animals. Last of all, he shook

Percy's paw and told him to be a good rat in his new
home. Then Ozma kissed him on the forehead, and
the little boy climbed into the crate. He took one last
look at the garden, and all of the friends he had made
and called,

"I've enjoyed being here and meeting all of you.

Now I must go home. I wish I could take you all with
to my mother and father. But some day, perhaps,

I'll visit all of you again.

"Close your eyes tightly," commanded the Wizard.

Then, with a flourish, he drew from his pocket a lit-
tle vial fashioned from an emerald and unscrewed
the silver cap. He shook a large white pill from it
into the palm of his hand, replaced the cap on the vial,
and returned it to his pocket. Then he said in a loud
voice,

"I wish the Collapsible Kite and Jam back to his
home in Ohio." He then popped the wishing pill into
his mouth and swallowed it. Immediately the Collap-
sible Kite, with Jam in the crate beneath it, disap-
peared.

"Well," said Dorothy, "He's safely home by now."

So the crowd dispersed, and Percy followed the Cow-
ardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger to his new quarters
in the royal palace, for Ozma, as a reward for his help
in freeing her subjects from Terp, the Terrible, had
offered him a home with her.

Inside the crate, Jam felt a little lurch and then a
gentle thud. He opened his eyes. The kite had landed
on the hillside, just where it had been before his ad-
venture had begun. He crawled out of the crate, ran
to the fence, slid under it, and raced to the house. He
was met at the door by his mother and father who
had been sure for the past day that they would soon
see Jam again.

After hugging and kissing him, his mother said,

"Where in the world have you been?"

And Jam replied, "I've been to the Land of Oz, and

I've had a nice time. But I'd rather be here at home
with you than in any fairyland there ever was!"

The End

AFTERWORD

Over the forty years since I wrote The Hidden

Valley of OZ, one question I'm often asked is,

"How did you happen to write an Oz book?" In
fact, Frank J. O'Donnell, president of Reilly & Lee
who published the Oz series, asked me just that. I
told him I wrote it "for my own entertainment and
satisfaction" and as a "surprise for my mother."

I had entered the Land of Oz when I was a
child. My first dated gift of an Oz book was a copy
of The Wizard of Oz I received Christmas 1928. I
had turned six just two weeks earlier. It was not,
however, my introduction to the series; the first
one I read was The Land of Oz, which remains my
all-time favorite. My mother ordered books for us
from The American Book Company, but they had
only the Reilly & Lee list which started with Land,
not Wizard which was published by Bobbs-Merrill,
and numbered their series starting with Land as
number one (which made Hidden Valley
thirty-eight, although it is actually the thirty-ninth
in the Oz series). However, The Land of Oz
mentioned in the front that it was a sequel to The

Wizard of Oz, so somehow my mother acquired it
for us.

At some point in my adult life, I realized that
the books has several authors. So I wrote my own

Oz story and sent it off to Reilly & Lee on January

13, 1950. At that time it was called "Rocket Trip
to Oz," because that's how I transported Jam to
the magical land. Jam's father, a scientist, had an
experimental rocket ship ready for a scientific
flight, and Jam just happened to touch the starting
switch accidentally when he was alone in the ship.

I chose Percy as a main character, because I
worked with white rats in the laboratory. They are
fascinating, clever, and a very necessary part of
medical research. Without the help of such
laboratory animals, we'd never be able to develop
new cures for old and new human maladies. So I
added Percy, the Personality Kid, to the group of
animal characters so beloved by Oz fans. Another
one who has caught the fancy of many readers is

Spots, the Leopard with the Changing Spots.

Elizabeth Laing Stewart, an editor at Reilly &

Lee, replied on April 7, 1950, returning my
manuscript. She wrote a very encouraging letter,
telling me that she'd read my story to her
eight-year-old "critical" son who loved it and, a
week later, told Mama to ask me to write another
one. My first fan! What Mrs. Stewart liked best
herself were Percy's personality, the suspense and
good plotting, and the ingenious way I wove in the
other Oz books without interrupting my own story.

She suggested a few minor revisions and said that,
if I had not heard from them in a year, I should
contact them again to see if they were ready to
publish another Oz book.

So I revised my manuscript and retyped it,
having learned after submitting a single-spaced
typescript the first time that manuscripts should
always be double-spaced. The on January 11,

1951, I received a letter from Frank O'Donnell,
saying that Reilly & Lee might publish an Oz book
by a new author in the fall, and he asked me to
resubmit "Rocket Ship." I worked like mad to
finish the fair copy, and I mailed it on January 14.

On February 20, Mr. O'Donnell wrote to say
that the decision on my book would be made soon,
but they wanted to change the title. He also asked
for some biographical information which I sent on

February 24. At the time, I had a neighbor who
was an editor at one of the major publishing
houses, located in New Jersey, and he offered to
look over my contract or any offer I might receive
from Reilly & Lee. As I knew exactly "zilch, nada,
and less-than-nothing" about the business end of
writing, I welcomed the favor.

On April 3, Mr. O'Donnell offered to buy my
manuscript outright; but my friend advised me to
ask for a royalty contract, and I sent my counter
offer on April 5. On April 9, Mr. O'Donnell
explained the royalty situation with the Oz books:

the Baum estate was entitled to a share of all
monies earned by every Oz book, because they
retained all publication rights to the series started
by L. Frank Baum. I felt this was only fair. I was
promised ten cents per book, the same royalty paid
to Ruth Plumly Thompson and Jack Snow.

On April 16, I agreed to Reilly & Lee's terms.

Mr. O'Donnell wrote on April 18 that the book
would be published that fall. He asked for
additional title suggestions, and I sent some April

20 (although "The Hidden Valley of Oz" wasn't
one of them). On April 26, ny contract arrived.

They also wanted to change the way Jam got to Oz
as they had rejected another manuscript which
also used a rocket ship. They suggested a flying
saucer. I did a quick revision of the first part,
signed the contract, and sent it all back to Chicago
on April 29.

On May 9, Mr. O'Donnell wrote that he
needed copy for my dedication page as well as the
introduction. These I mailed on May 13. On May

18, Mr. O'Donnell said that they had decided that
the flying saucer was too similar to the rocket ship,
and they needed still another way to get Jam to Oz.

Mr. O'Donnell also suggested a new title, The

Hidden Valley of Oz, which was fine with me. (I
have never read books by title! I usually read by
author-or, in the case of the Oz books, by series.)

In his letter, he included Mrs. Stewart's
suggestion that I send Jam to Oz via kite, as I had a
kite chapter in my story. This made good sense, so

I reworked the beginning again while laid up with
a broken ankle. This revision and my acceptance
of the new (and final) title went out on May 20.

On June 5, Mr. O'Donnell asked for some
minor changes which I sent on June 9. On June 22,
he sent me a revised Chapter One. (I had never
heard a child say "golly," nor have I since then.

And Jam never said it again in the book! Oh golly
gee whiz!) On July 12, they wrote that they had
asked Robert Peck, the advertising executive who
handled the Oz account, to go over the poetry.

After forty years, I'd have to look at my original
manuscript to tell what I wrote and what he did.

Since Hidden Valley, I've written a lot of other
books (my forty-second is due out in August 1991),
and I can't possibly remember every detail of all of
them. In the letter of July 12, I also received a tear
sheet from the latest Reilly & Lee catalogue
advertising my book.

My copies of The Hidden Valley of Oz arrived
on Election Day, November 6, 1951. I wrote Mr.

O'Donnell on November 7, telling him how much I
liked the book, including the artwork by Dirk.

And now, forty years later, I'm amazed at the
speed with which all this happened. Today the
time from signing the contract until the book
appears on the stands can be two years or more.

Perhaps in some ways we lived slower lives
then-but publishing certainly was far speedier
than it is now!

Did I ever write another Oz book? Of course I
did, as soon as they accepted Hidden Valley. I hope
that someday my second book, The Wicked Witch
of Oz, will also be published. Then those who liked

Hidden Valley may read more adventures of
characters they met there as well as meet new
ones, including my own Wicked Witch! I created
her, because I've always liked the various witches
in Oz. Mombi, in particular, has always been one
of my favorite Oz characters. To have a real story,
you have to have a villain, and the wickeder that
villain, the better.

The Hidden Valley of Oz was my first
published book, so it is very special to me. It
disturbs me that over the years the Oz books have
been banned from some schools and libraries. I
believe that fairy stories stretch the imaginations
of children, which is very important. I worked for
many years as a scientist, and the truly important
new discoveries are often made by the people who
allow their minds to take giant leaps into the
unknown. This takes imagination. And
imagination, as with all other skills, needs to be
exercised to stay strong and healthy.

This is how I created a new tale of Oz and was
privileged to see it in print. Now, forty years later,
it gives me great pleasure to see my book, long out
of print, reissued. I hope it will give a whole new
generation of children many hours of reading
pleasure.

RACHEL COSGROVE PAYES

"Royal Historian of Oz"

Brick, New Jersey

October 1990