While the Frogman and his party were advancing from the west, Dorothyand her party were advancing from the east, and so it happened that onthe following night they all camped at a little hill that was only afew miles from the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker.But the two parties did not see one another that night, for one camped on one side of the hill while the other camped on the opposite side. But the next morning, the Frogman thought he would climb the hill and see what was on top of it, and at the same time Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, also decided to climb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visible from its top. So she stuck her head over an edge just as theFrogman's head appeared over another edge, and both, being surprised,kept still while they took a good look at one another.

Scraps recovered from her astonishment first, and bounding upward, sheturned a somersault and landed sitting down and facing the bigFrogman, who slowly advanced and sat opposite her. "Well met,Stranger!" cried the Patchwork Girl with a whoop of laughter. "Youare quite the funniest individual I have seen in all my travels."

"Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?" asked the Frogman,gazing at her in wonder.

"I'm not funny to myself, you know," returned Scraps. "I wish I were.And perhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that you do notlaugh whenever you see your reflection in a pool or in a mirror."

"No," said the Frogman gravely, "I do not. I used to be proud of mygreat size and vain of my culture and education, but since I bathed inthe Truth Pond, I sometimes think it is not right that I should bedifferent from all other frogs."

"Right or wrong," said the Patchwork Girl, "to be different is to bedistinguished. Now in my case, I'm just like all other PatchworkGirls because I'm the only one there is. But tell me, where did youcome from?"

"The Yip Country," said he.

"Is that in the Land of Oz?"

"Of course," replied the Frogman.

"And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?"

"I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn't know thatshe was stolen."

"Well, you have. All the people of Oz," explained Scraps, "are ruledby Ozma, whether they know it or not. And she has been stolen. Aren't you angry? Aren't you indignant? Your Ruler, whom you didn'tknow you had, has positively been stolen!"

"That is queer," remarked the Frogman thoughtfully."Stealing is a thing practically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken, and a friend of mine has also had her dishpan stolen. With her I have traveled all the way from the Yip Country in order to recover it."

"I don't see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and adishpan!" declared Scraps.

"They've both been stolen, haven't they?"

"True. But why can't your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?"asked Scraps.

"Why can't you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the onewho is lost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is made ofgold and studded with diamonds and has magic powers."

"Magic, eh?" exclaimed Scraps. "THERE is a link that connects the twosteals, anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the Land of Oz wasstolen at the same time, whether it was in the Emerald City of inGlinda's castle or in the Yip Country. Seems mighty strange andmysterious, doesn't it?"

"It used to seem that way to me," admitted the Frogman, "but we havenow discovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the Shoemaker."

"Ugu? Good gracious! That's the same magician we think has stolenOzma. We are now on our way to the castle of this Shoemaker."

"So are we," said the Frogman.

"Then follow me, quick! And let me introduce you to Dorothy and theother girls and to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of us."

She sprang up and seized his coatsleeve, dragging him off the hilltopand down the other side from that whence he had come. And at the footof the hill, the Frogman was astonished to find the three girls andthe Wizard and Button-Bright, who were surrounded by a woodenSawhorse, a lean Mule, a square Woozy, and a Cowardly Lion. A littleblack dog ran up and smelled at the Frogman, but couldn't growl athim.

"I've discovered another party that has been robbed," shouted Scrapsas she joined them. "This is their leader, and they're all going toUgu's castle to fight the wicked Shoemaker!"

They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest, andfinding all eyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his necktie andsmoothed his beautiful vest and swung his gold-headed cane like aregular dandy. The big spectacles over his eyes quite altered hisfroglike countenance and gave him a learned and impressive look. Usedas she was to seeing strange creatures in the Land of Oz, Dorothy wasamazed at discovering the Frogman. So were all her companions.Toto wanted to growl at him, but couldn't, and he didn't dare bark. TheSawhorse snorted rather contemptuously, but the Lion whispered to thewooden steed, "Bear with this strange creature, my friend, andremember he is no more extraordinary than you are.Indeed, it is more natural for a frog to be big than for a Sawhorse to be alive."

On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of the lossof Cayke's highly prized dishpan and their adventures in search of it.When he came to tell of the Lavender Bear King and of the Little PinkBear who could tell anything you wanted to know, his hearers becameeager to see such interesting animals. "It will be best," said theWizard, "to unite our two parties and share our fortunes together, forwe are all bound on the same errand, and as one band we may moreeasily defy this shoemaker magician than if separate.Let us be allies."

"I will ask my friends about that," replied the Frogman, and heclimbed over the hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The PatchworkGirl accompanied him, and when they came upon the Cookie Cook and theLavender Bear and the Pink Bear, it was hard to tell which of the lotwas the most surprised.

"Mercy me!" cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. "However didyou come alive?"

Scraps stared at the bears.

"Mercy me!" she echoed, "You are stuffed,as I am, with cotton, and you appear to be living. That makes me feelashamed, for I have prided myself on being the only livecotton-stuffed person in Oz."

"Perhaps you are," returned the Lavender Bear, "for I am stuffed withextra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear."

"You have relieved my mind of a great anxiety," declared the PatchworkGirl, now speaking more cheerfully. "The Scarecrow is stuffed withstraw and you with hair, so I am still the Original and OnlyCotton-Stuffed!"

"I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton as compared with curledhair," said the King, "especially as you seem satisfied with it."

Then the Frogman told of his interview with the party from the EmeraldCity and added that the Wizard of Oz had invited the bears and Caykeand himself to travel in company with them to the castle of Ugu theShoemaker. Cayke was much pleased, but the Bear King looked solemn.He set the Little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the crank in itsside and asked, "Is it safe for us to associate with those people fromthe Emerald City?"

And the Pink Bear at once replied, "Safe for you and safe for me;Perhaps no others safe will be."

"That 'perhaps' need not worry us," said the King, "so let us join theothers and offer them our protection."

Even the Lavender Bear was astonished, however, when on climbing overthe hill he found on the other side the group of queer animals and thepeople from the Emerald City. The bears and Cayke were received verycordially, although Button-Bright was cross when they wouldn't let himplay with the Little Pink Bear. The three girls greatly admired thetoy bears, and especially the pink one, which they longed to hold.

"You see," explained the Lavender King in denying them this privilege,"he's a very valuable bear, because his magic is a correct guide onall occasions, and especially if one is in difficulties. It was thePink Bear who told us that Ugu the Shoemaker had stolen the CookieCook's dishpan."

"And the King's magic is just as wonderful," added Cayke, "because itshowed us the Magician himself."

"What did he look like?" inquired Dorothy.

"He was dreadful!"

"He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which hadthree golden clasps," remarked the King.

"Why, that must have been Glinda's Great Book of Records!" exclaimedDorothy. "If it is, it proves that Ugu the Shoemaker stole Ozma, andwith her all the magic in the Emerald City."

"And my dishpan," said Cayke.

And the Wizard added, "It also proves that he is following ouradventures in the Book of Records, and therefore knows that we areseeking him and that we are determined to find him and reach Ozma atall hazards."

"If we can," added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at him.

The Wizard's statement was so true that the faces around him were veryserious until the Patchwork Girl broke into a peal of laughter."Wouldn't it be a rich joke if he made prisoners of us, too?" shesaid.

"No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider that a joke,"grumbled Button-Bright.

And then the Lavender Bear King asked, "Would you like to see thismagical shoemaker?"

"Wouldn't he know it?" Dorothy inquired.

"No, I think not."

Then the King waved his metal wand and before them appeared a room inthe wicker castle of Ugu. On the wall of the room hung Ozma's MagicPicture, and seated before it was the Magician. They could see thePicture as well as he could, because it faced them, and in the Picturewas the hillside where they were not sitting, all their forms beingreproduced in miniature. And curiously enough, within the scene ofthe Picture was the scene they were now beholding, so they knew thatthe Magician was at this moment watching them in the Picture, and alsothat he saw himself and the room he was in become visible to thepeople on the hillside. Therefore he knew very well that they werewatching him while he was watching them.

In proof of this, Ugu sprang from his seat and turned a scowling facein their direction; but now he could not see the travelers who wereseeking him, although they could still see him. His actions were sodistinct, indeed, that it seemed he was actually before them. "It isonly a ghost," said the Bear King. "It isn't real at all except thatit shows us Ugu just as he looks and tells us truly just what he isdoing."

"I don't see anything of my lost growl, though," said Toto as if tohimself.

Then the vision faded away, and they could see nothing but the grassand trees and bushes around them.