Now it so happened that Trot, from the window of herroom, had witnessed the meeting of the lovers in thegarden and had seen the King come and drag Gloria away.The little girl's heart went out in sympathy for the poorPrincess, who seemed to her to be one of the sweetest andloveliest young ladies she had ever seen, so she creptalong the passages and from a hidden niche saw Glorialocked in her room.

The key was still in the lock, so when the King hadgone away, followed by Googly-Goo, Trot stole up to thedoor, turned the key and entered. The Princess lay proneupon a couch, sobbing bitterly. Trot went up to her andsmoothed her hair and tried to comfort her.

"Don't cry," she said. "I've unlocked the door, so youcan go away any time you want to."

"It isn't that," sobbed the Princess. "I am unhappybecause they will not let me love Pon, the gardener'sboy!"

"Well, never mind; Pon isn't any great shakes, anyhow,seems to me," said Trot soothingly. "There are lots ofother people you can love."

Gloria rolled over on the couch and looked at thelittle girl reproachfully.

"Pon has won my heart, and I can't help loving him,"she explained. Then with sudden indignation she added:"But I'll never love Googly-Goo -- never, as long as Ilive!"

"I should say not!" replied Trot. "Pon may not be muchgood, but old Googly is very, very bad. Hunt around, andI'm sure you'll find someone worth your love. You're verypretty, you know, and almost anyone ought to love you."

"You don't understand, my dear," said Gloria, as shewiped the tears from her eyes with a dainty lacehandkerchief bordered with pearls. "When you are olderyou will realize that a young lady cannot decide whom shewill love, or choose the most worthy. Her heart alonedecides for her, and whomsoever her heart selects, shemust love, whether he amounts to much or not."

Trot was a little puzzled by this speech, which seemedto her unreasonable; but she made no reply and presentlyGloria's grief softened and she began to question thelittle girl about herself and her adventures. Trot toldher how they had happened to come to Jinxland, and allabout Cap'n Bill and the Ork and Pessim and the BumpyMan.

While they were thus conversing together, getting moreand more friendly as they became better acquainted, inthe Council Chamber the King and Googly-Goo were talkingwith the Wicked Witch.

This evil creature was old and ugly. She had lost oneeye and wore a black patch over it, so the people ofJinxland had named her "Blinkie." Of course witches areforbidden to exist in the Land of Oz, but Jinxland was sofar removed from the center of Ozma's dominions, and soabsolutely cut off from it by the steep mountains and thebottomless gulf, that the laws of Oz were not obeyed verywell in that country. So there were several witches inJinxland who were the terror of the people, but KingKrewl favored them and permitted them to exercise theirevil sorcery.

Blinkie was the leader of all the other witches andtherefore the most hated and feared. The King used herwitchcraft at times to assist him in carrying out hiscruelties and revenge, but he was always obliged to payBlinkie large sums of money or heaps of precious jewelsbefore she would undertake an enchantment. This made himhate the old woman almost as much as his subjects did,but to-day Lord Googly-Goo had agreed to pay the witch'sprice, so the King greeted her with gracious favor.

"Can you destroy the love of Princess Gloria for thegardener's boy?" inquired his Majesty.

The Wicked Witch thought about it before she replied:

"That's a hard question to answer. I can do lots ofclever magic, but love is a stubborn thing to conquer.When you think you've killed it, it's liable to bob upagain as strong as ever. I believe love and cats havenine lives. In other words, killing love is a hard job,even for a skillful witch, but I believe I can dosomething that will answer your purpose just as well."

"What is that?" asked the King.

"I can freeze the girl's heart. I've got a specialincantation for that, and when Gloria's heart isthoroughly frozen she can no longer love Pon."

"Just the thing!" exclaimed Googly-Goo, and the Kingwas likewise much pleased.

They bargained a long time as to the price, but finallythe old courtier agreed to pay the Wicked Witch'sdemands. It was arranged that they should take Gloria toBlinkie's house the next day, to have her heart frozen.

Then King Krewl mentioned to the old hag the strangerswho had that day arrived in Jinxland, and said to her:

"I think the two children -- the boy and the girl --are unable to harm me, but I have a suspicion that thewooden-legged man is a powerful wizard."

The witch's face wore a troubled look when she heardthis.

"If you are right," she said, "this wizard might spoilmy incantation and interfere with me in other ways. So itwill be best for me to meet this stranger at once andmatch my magic against his, to decide which is thestronger."

"All right," said the King. "Come with me and I willlead you to the man's room."

Googly-Goo did not accompany them, as he was obliged togo home to get the money and jewels he had promised topay old Blinkie, so the other two climbed several flightsof stairs and went through many passages until they cameto the room occupied by Cap'n Bill.

The sailor-man, finding his bed soft and inviting, andbeing tired with the adventures he had experienced, haddecided to take a nap. When the Wicked Witch and the Kingsoftly opened his door and entered, Cap'n Bill wassnoring with such vigor that he did not hear them at all.

Blinkie approached the bed and with her one eyeanxiously stared at the sleeping stranger.

"Ah," she said in a soft whisper, "I believe you areright, King Krewl. The man looks to me like a verypowerful wizard. But by good luck I have caught himasleep, so I shall transform him before he wakes up,giving him such a form that he will be unable to opposeme."

"Careful!" cautioned the King, also speaking low. "Ifhe discovers what you are doing he may destroy you, andthat would annoy me because I need you to attend toGloria."

But the Wicked Witch realized as well as he did thatshe must be careful. She carried over her arm a blackbag, from which she now drew several packets carefullywrapped in paper. Three of these she selected, replacingthe others in the bag. Two of the packets she mixedtogether. and then she cautiously opened the third.

"Better stand back, your Majesty," she advised, "for ifthis powder falls on you you might be transformedyourself."

The King hastily retreated to the end of the room. AsBlinkie mixed the third powder with the others she wavedher hands over it, mumbled a few words, and then backedaway as quickly as she could.

Cap'n Bill was slumbering peacefully, all unconsciousof what was going on. Puff! A great cloud of smoke rolledover the bed and completely hid him from view. When thesmoke rolled away, both Blinkie and the King saw that thebody of the stranger had quite disappeared, while in hisplace, crouching in the middle of the bed, was a littlegray grasshopper.

One curious thing about this grasshopper was that thelast joint of its left leg was made of wood. Anothercurious thing -- considering it was a grasshopper -- wasthat it began talking, crying out in a tiny but sharpvoice:

"Here -- you people! What do you mean by treating meso? Put me back where I belong, at once, or you'll besorry!"

The cruel King turned pale at hearing the grasshopper'sthreats, but the Wicked Witch merely laughed in derision.Then she raised her stick and aimed a vicious blow at thegrasshopper, but before the stick struck the bed the tinyhopper made a marvelous jump -- marvelous, indeed, whenwe consider that it had a wooden leg. It rose in the airand sailed across the room and passed right through theopen window, where it disappeared from their view.

"Good!" shouted the King. "We are well rid of thisdesperate wizard." And then they both laughed heartily atthe success of the incantation, and went away to completetheir horrid plans.

After Trot had visited a time with Princess Gloria, thelittle girl went to Button-Bright's room but did not findhim there. Then she went to Cap'n Bill's room, but he wasnot there because the witch and the King had been therebefore her. So she made her way downstairs and questionedthe servants. They said they had seen the little boy goout into the garden, some time ago, but the old man withthe wooden leg they had not seen at all.

Therefore Trot, not knowing what else to do, rambledthrough the great gardens, seeking for Button-Bright orCap'n Bill and not finding either of them. This part ofthe garden, which lay before the castle, was not walledin, but extended to the roadway, and the paths were opento the edge of the forest; so, after two hours of vainsearch for her friends, the little girl returned to thecastle.

But at the doorway a soldier stopped her.

"I live here," said Trot, "so it's all right to letme in. The King has given me a room."

"Well, he has taken it back again," was the soldier'sreply. "His Majesty's orders are to turn you away if youattempt to enter. I am also ordered to forbid the boy,your companion, to again enter the King's castle."

"How 'bout Cap'n Bill?" she inquired.

"Why, it seems he has mysteriously disappeared,"replied the soldier, shaking his head ominously. "Wherehe has gone to, I can't make out, but I can assure you heis no longer in this castle. I'm sorry, little girl, todisappoint you. Don't blame me; I must obey my master'sorders."

Now, all her life Trot had been accustomed to depend onCap'n Bill, so when this good friend was suddenly takenfrom her she felt very miserable and forlorn indeed. Shewas brave enough not to cry before the soldier, or evento let him see her grief and anxiety, but after she wasturned away from the castle she sought a quiet bench inthe garden and for a time sobbed as if her heart wouldbreak.

It was Button-Bright who found her, at last, just asthe sun had set and the shades of evening were falling.He also had been turned away from the King's castle, whenhe tried to enter it, and in the park he came acrossTrot.

"Never mind," said the boy. "We can find a place tosleep."

"I want Cap'n Bill," wailed the girl.

"Well, so do I," was the reply. "But we haven't gothim. Where do you s'pose he is, Trot?

"I don't s'pose anything. He's gone, an' that's all Iknow 'bout it."

Button-Bright sat on the bench beside her and thrusthis hands in the pockets of his knickerbockers. Then hereflected somewhat gravely for him.

"Cap'n Bill isn't around here," he said, letting hiseyes wander over the dim garden, "so we must go somewhereelse if we want to find him. Besides, it's fast gettingdark, and if we want to find a place to sleep we must getbusy while we can see where to go."

He rose from the bench as he said this and Trot alsojumped up, drying her eyes on her apron. Then she walkedbeside him out of the grounds of the King's castle. Theydid not go by the main path, but passed through anopening in a hedge and found themselves in a small butwell-worn roadway. Following this for some distance,along a winding way, they came upon no house or buildingthat would afford them refuge for the night. It became sodark that they could scarcely see their way, and finallyTrot stopped and suggested that they camp under a tree.

"All right," said Button-Bright, "I've often found thatleaves make a good warm blanket. But -- look there, Trot!-- isn't that a light flashing over yonder?"

"It certainly is, Button-Bright. Let's go over and seeif it's a house. Whoever lives there couldn't treat usworse than the King did."

To reach the light they had to leave the road, so theystumbled over hillocks and brushwood, hand in hand,keeping the tiny speck of light always in sight.

They were rather forlorn little waifs, outcasts in astrange country and forsaken by their only friend andguardian, Cap'n Bill. So they were very glad when finallythey reached a small cottage and, looking in through itsone window, saw Pon, the gardener's boy, sitting by afire of twigs.

As Trot opened the door and walked boldly in, Ponsprang up to greet them. They told him of Cap'n Bill'sdisappearance and how they had been turned out of theKing's castle. As they finished the story Pon shook hishead sadly.

"King Krewl is plotting mischief, I fear," said he,"for to-day he sent for old Blinkie, the Wicked Witch,and with my own eyes I saw her come from the castle andhobble away toward her hut. She had been with the Kingand Googly-Goo, and I was afraid they were going to worksome enchantment on Gloria so she would no longer loveme. But perhaps the witch was only called to the castleto enchant your friend, Cap'n Bill."

"Could she do that?" asked Trot, horrified by thesuggestion.

"I suppose so, for old Blinkie can do a lot of wickedmagical things."

"What sort of an enchantment could she put on Cap'nBill?"

"I don't know. But he has disappeared, so I'm prettycertain she has done something dreadful to him. But don'tworry. If it has happened, it can't be helped, and if ithasn't happened we may be able to find him in themorning."

With this Pon went to the cupboard and brought food forthem. Trot was far too worried to eat, but Button-Brightmade a good supper from the simple food and then lay downbefore the fire and went to sleep. The little girl andthe gardener's boy, however, sat for a long time staringinto the fire, busy with their thoughts. But at lastTrot, too, became sleepy and Pon gently covered her withthe one blanket he possessed. Then he threw more wood onthe fire and laid himself down before it, next to Button-Bright. Soon all three were fast asleep. They were in agood deal of trouble; but they were young, and sleep wasgood to them because for a time it made them forget.