Gloria had drawn near to the group to listen to theirtalk, and it seemed to interest her in spite of herfrigid manner. They knew, of course, that the poorPrincess could not help being cold and reserved, so theytried not to blame her.

"I ought to have come here a little sooner," said theScarecrow, regretfully; "but Glinda sent me as soon asshe discovered you were here and were likely to get intotrouble. And now that we are all together -- exceptButton-Bright, over whom it is useless to worry -- Ipropose we hold a council of war, to decide what is bestto be done."

That seemed a wise thing to do, so they all sat downupon the grass, including Gloria, and the grasshopperperched upon Trot's shoulder and allowed her to strokehim gently with her hand.

"In the first place," began the Scarecrow, "this KingKrewl is a usurper and has no right to rule this Kingdomof Jinxland."

"That is true," said Pon, eagerly. "My father was Kingbefore him, and I --"

"You are a gardener's boy," interrupted the Scarecrow."Your father had no right to rule, either, for therightful King of this land was the father of PrincessGloria, and only she is entitled to sit upon the throneof Jinxland."

"Good!" exclaimed Trot. "But what'll we do with KingKrewl? I s'pose he won't give up the throne unless he hasto."

"No, of course not," said the Scarecrow. "Therefore itwill be our duty to make him give up the throne."

"How?" asked Trot.

"Give me time to think," was the reply. "That's what mybrains are for. I don't know whether you people everthink, or not, but my brains are the best that the Wizardof Oz ever turned out, and if I give them plenty of timeto work, the result usually surprises me."

"Take your time, then," suggested Trot. "There's nohurry."

"Thank you," said the straw man, and sat perfectlystill for half an hour. During this interval thegrasshopper whispered in Trot's ear, to which he was veryclose, and Trot whispered back to the grasshopper sittingupon her shoulder. Pon cast loving glances at Gloria, whopaid not the slightest heed to them.

Finally the Scarecrow laughed aloud.

"Brains working?" inquired Trot.

"Yes. They seem in fine order to-day. We will conquerKing Krewl and put Gloria upon his throne as Queen ofJinxland."

"Fine!" cried the little girl, clapping her handstogether gleefully. "But how?"

"Leave the how to me," said the Scarecrow proudly.

As a conqueror I'm a wonder. We will, first of all,write a message to send to King Krewl, asking him tosurrender. If he refuses, then we will make himsurrender."

"Why ask him. when we know he'll refuse?" inquired Pon.

"Why, we must be polite, whatever we do," explained theScarecrow. "It would be very rude to conquer a Kingwithout proper notice."

They found it difficult to write a message withoutpaper, pen and ink, none of which was at hand; so it wasdecided to send Pon as a messenger, with instructions toask the King, politely but firmly, to surrender.

Pon was not anxious to be the messenger. Indeed, hehinted that it might prove a dangerous mission. But theScarecrow was now the acknowledged head of the Army ofConquest, and he would listen to no refusal. So off Ponstarted for the King's castle, and the others accompaniedhim as far as his hut, where they had decided to awaitthe gardener's boy's return.

I think it was because Pon had known the Scarecrow sucha short time that he lacked confidence in the straw man'swisdom. It was easy to say: "We will conquer King Krewl,"but when Pon drew near to the great castle he began todoubt the ability of a straw-stuffed man, a girl, agrasshopper and a frozen-hearted Princess to do it. Asfor himself, he had never thought of defying the Kingbefore.

That was why the gardener's boy was not very bold whenhe entered the castle and passed through to the enclosedcourt where the King was just then seated, with hisfavorite courtiers around him. None prevented Pon'sentrance, because he was known to be the gardener's boy,but when the King saw him he began to frown fiercely. Heconsidered Pon to be to blame for all his trouble withPrincess Gloria, who since her heart had been frozen hadescaped to some unknown place, instead of returning tothe castle to wed Goqgly-Goo, as she had been expected todo. So the King bared his teeth angrily as he demanded:

"What have you done with Princess Gloria?"

"Nothing, your Majesty! I have done nothing at all,"answered Pon in a faltering voice. "She does not love meany more and even refuses to speak to me."

"Then why are you here, you rascal?" roared the King.

Pon looked first one way and then another, but saw nomeans of escape; so he plucked up courage.

"I am here to summon your Majesty to surrender."

"What!" shouted the King. "Surrender? Surrender towhom?"

Pon's heart sank to his boots.

"To the Scarecrow," he replied.

Some of the courtiers began to titter, but King Krewlwas greatly annoyed. He sprang up and began to beat poorPon with the golden staff he carried. Pon howled lustilyand would have run away had not two of the soldiers heldhim until his Majesty was exhausted with punishing theboy. Then they let him go and he left the castle andreturned along the road, sobbing at every step becausehis body was so sore and aching.

"Well," said the Scarecrow, "did the King surrender?"

"No; but he gave me a good drubbing!" sobbed poor Pon.

Trot was very sorry for Pon, but Gloria did not seemaffected in any way by her lover's anguish. Thegrasshopper leaped to the Scarecrow's shoulder and askedhim what he was going to do next.

"Conquer," was the reply. "But I will go alone, thistime, for beatings cannot hurt me at all; nor can lancethrusts -- or sword cuts -- or arrow pricks."

"Why is that?" inquired Trot.

"Because I have no nerves, such as you meat peoplepossess. Even grasshoppers have nerves, but strawdoesn't; so whatever they do -- except just one thing --they cannot injure me. Therefore I expect to conquer KingKrewl with ease."

"What is that one thing you excepted?" asked Trot.

"They will never think of it, so never mind. And now,if you will kindly excuse me for a time, I'll go over tothe castle and do my conquering."

"You have no weapons," Pon reminded him.

"True," said the Scarecrow. "But if I carried weapons Imight injure someone -- perhaps seriously -- and thatwould make me unhappy. I will just borrow that riding-whip, which I see in the corner of your hut, if you don'tmind. It isn't exactly proper to walk with a riding-whip,but I trust you will excuse the inconsistency."

Pon handed him the whip and the Scarecrow bowed to allthe party and left the hut, proceeding leisurely alongthe way to the King's castle.