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"You can ask Dorothy," said the little man, in an injured tone. |
"It's true enough," returned the girl, earnestly. "Our friend Oz is |
merely a humbug wizard, for he once proved it to me. He can do several |
very wonderful things--if he knows how. But he can't wiz a single thing |
if he hasn't the tools and machinery to work with." |
"Thank you, my dear, for doing me justice," responded the Wizard, |
gratefully. "To be accused of being a real wizard, when I'm not, is a |
slander I will not tamely submit to. But I am one of the greatest humbug |
wizards that ever lived, and you will realize this when we have all |
starved together and our bones are scattered over the floor of this |
lonely cave." |
"I don't believe we'll realize anything, when it comes to that," |
remarked Dorothy, who had been deep in thought. "But I'm not going to |
scatter my bones just yet, because I need them, and you prob'ly need |
yours, too." |
"We are helpless to escape," sighed the Wizard. |
"_We_ may be helpless," answered Dorothy, smiling at him, "but there are |
others who can do more than we can. Cheer up, friends. I'm sure Ozma |
will help us." |
"Ozma!" exclaimed the Wizard. "Who is Ozma?" |
"The girl that rules the marvelous Land of Oz," was the reply. "She's a |
friend of mine, for I met her in the Land of Ev, not long ago, and went |
to Oz with her." |
"For the second time?" asked the Wizard, with great interest. |
"Yes. The first time I went to Oz I found you there, ruling the Emerald |
City. After you went up in a balloon, and escaped us, I got back to |
Kansas by means of a pair of magical silver shoes." |
"I remember those shoes," said the little man, nodding. "They once |
belonged to the Wicked Witch. Have you them here with you?" |
"No; I lost them somewhere in the air," explained the child. "But the |
second time I went to the Land of Oz I owned the Nome King's Magic Belt, |
which is much more powerful than were the Silver Shoes." |
"Where is that Magic Belt?" enquired the Wizard, who had listened with |
great interest. |
"Ozma has it; for its powers won't work in a common, ordinary country |
like the United States. Anyone in a fairy country like the Land of Oz |
can do anything with it; so I left it with my friend the Princess Ozma, |
who used it to wish me in Australia with Uncle Henry." |
"And were you?" asked Zeb, astonished at what he heard. |
"Of course; in just a jiffy. And Ozma has an enchanted picture hanging |
in her room that shows her the exact scene where any of her friends may |
be, at any time she chooses. All she has to do is to say: 'I wonder what |
So-and-so is doing,' and at once the picture shows where her friend is |
and what the friend is doing. That's _real_ magic, Mr. Wizard; isn't it? |
Well, every day at four o'clock Ozma has promised to look at me in that |
picture, and if I am in need of help I am to make her a certain sign and |
she will put on the Nome King's Magic Belt and wish me to be with her in |
Oz." |
"Do you mean that Princess Ozma will see this cave in her enchanted |
picture, and see all of us here, and what we are doing?" demanded Zeb. |
"Of course; when it is four o'clock," she replied, with a laugh at his |
startled expression. |
"And when you make a sign she will bring you to her in the Land of Oz?" |
continued the boy. |
"That's it, exactly; by means of the Magic Belt." |
"Then," said the Wizard, "you will be saved, little Dorothy; and I am |
very glad of it. The rest of us will die much more cheerfully when we |
know you have escaped our sad fate." |
"_I_ won't die cheerfully!" protested the kitten. "There's nothing |
cheerful about dying that I could ever see, although they say a cat has |
nine lives, and so must die nine times." |
"Have you ever died yet?" enquired the boy. |
"No, and I'm not anxious to begin," said Eureka. |
"Don't worry, dear," Dorothy exclaimed, "I'll hold you in my arms, and |
take you with me." |
"Take us, too!" cried the nine tiny piglets, all in one breath. |
"Perhaps I can," answered Dorothy. "I'll try." |
"Couldn't you manage to hold me in your arms?" asked the cab-horse. |
Dorothy laughed. |
"I'll do better than that," she promised, "for I can easily save you |
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