Next morning the Scarecrow called upon all thecourtiers and the people to assemble in the throne roomof the castle, where there was room enough for all thatwere able to attend. They found the straw man seated uponthe velvet cushions of the throne, with the King'sglittering crown still upon his stuffed head. On one sideof the throne, in a lower chair, sat Gloria, lookingradiantly beautiful and fresh as a new-blown rose. On theother side sat Pon, the gardener's boy, still dressed inhis old smock frock and looking sad and solemn; for Poncould not make himself believe that so splendid aPrincess would condescend to love him when she had cometo her own and was seated upon a throne. Trot and Cap'nBill sat at the feet of the Scarecrow and were muchinterested in the proceedings. Button-Bright had losthimself before breakfast, but came into the throne roombefore the ceremonies were over. Back of the throne stooda row of the great Orks, with their leader in the center,and the entrance to the palace was guarded by more Orks,who were regarded with wonder and awe.

When all were assembled, the Scarecrow stood up andmade a speech. He told how Gloria's father, the good KingKynd, who had once ruled them and been loved by everyone,had been destroyed by King Phearce, the father of Pon,and how King Phearce had been destroyed by King Krewl.This last King had been a bad ruler, as they knew verywell, and the Scarecrow declared that the only one in allJinxland who had the right to sit upon the throne wasPrincess Gloria, the daughter of King Kynd.

"But," he added, "it is not for me, a stranger, to saywho shall rule you. You must decide for yourselves, oryou will not be content. So choose now who shall be yourfuture ruler."

And they all shouted: "The Scarecrow! The Scarecrowshall rule us!"

Which proved that the stuffed man had made himself verypopular by his conquest of King Krewl, and the peoplethought they would like him for their King. But theScarecrow shook his head so vigorously that it becameloose, and Trot had to pin it firmly to his body again.

"No," said he, "I belong in the Land of Oz, where I amthe humble servant of the lovely girl who rules us all --the royal Ozma. You must choose one of your owninhabitants to rule over Jinxland. Who shall it be?"

They hesitated for a moment, and some few cried: "Pon!"but many more shouted: "Gloria!"

So the Scarecrow took Gloria's hand and led her to thethrone, where he first seated her and then took theglittering crown off his own head and placed it upon thatof the young lady, where it nestled prettily amongst hersoft curls. The people cheered and shouted then, kneelingbefore their new Queen; but Gloria leaned down and tookPon's hand in both her own and raised him to the seatbeside her.

"You shall have both a King and a Queen to care for youand to protect you, my dear subjects," she said in asweet voice, while her face glowed with happiness; "forPon was a King's son before he became a gardener's boy,and because I love him he is to be my Royal Consort."

That pleased them all, especially Pon, who realizedthat this was the most important moment of his life. Trotand Button-Bright and Cap'n Will all congratulated him onwinning the beautiful Gloria; but the Ork sneezed twiceand said that in his opinion the young lady might havedone better.

Then the Scarecrow ordered the guards to bring in thewicked Krewl, King no longer, and when he appeared,loaded with chains and dressed in fustian, the peoplehissed him and drew back as he passed so their garmentswould not touch him.

Krewl was not haughty or overbearing any more; on thecontrary he seemed very meek and in great fear of thefate his conquerors had in store for him. But Gloria andPon were too happy to be revengeful and so they offeredto appoint Krewl to the position of gardener's boy at thecastle, Pon having resigned to become King. But they saidhe must promise to reform his wicked ways and to do hisduty faithfully, and he must change his name from Krewlto Grewl. All this the man eagerly promised to do, and sowhen Pon retired to a room in the castle to put onprincely raiment, the old brown smock he had formerlyworn was given to Grewl, who then went out into thegarden to water the roses.

The remainder of that famous day, which was longremembered in Jinxland, was given over to feasting andmerrymaking. In the evening there was a grand dance inthe courtyard, where the brass band played a new piece ofmusic called the "Ork Trot" which was dedicated to "OurGlorious Gloria, the Queen."

While the Queen and Pon were leading this dance, andall the Jinxland people were having a good time, thestrangers were gathered in a group in the park outsidethe castle. Cap'n Bill, Trot, Button-Bright and theScarecrow were there, and so was their old friend theOrk; but of all the great flock of Orks which hadassisted in the conquest but three remained in Jinxland,besides their leader, the others having returned to theirown country as soon as Gloria was crowned Queen. To theyoung Ork who had accompanied them in their adventuresCap'n Bill said:

"You've surely been a friend in need, and we're mightygrateful to you for helping us. I might have been agrasshopper yet if it hadn't been for you, an' I mightremark that bein' a grasshopper isn't much fun."

"If it hadn't been for you, friend Ork," said theScarecrow, "I fear I could not have conquered KingKrewl."

"No," agreed Trot, "you'd have been just a heap ofashes by this time."

And I might have been lost yet," added Button-Bright."Much obliged, Mr. Ork."

"Oh, that's all right," replied the Ork. "Friends muststand together, you know, or they wouldn't be friends.But now I must leave you and be off to my own country,where there's going to be a surprise party on my uncle,and I've promised to attend it."

"Dear me," said the Scarecrow, regretfully. "That isvery unfortunate."

"Why so?" asked the Ork.

"I hoped you would consent to carry us over thosemountains, into the Land of Oz. My mission here is nowfinished and I want to get back to the Emerald City."

"How did you cross the mountains before?" inquired theOrk.

"I scaled the cliffs by means of a rope, and crossedthe Great Gulf on a strand of spider web. Of course I canreturn in the same manner, but it would be a hard journey-- and perhaps an impossible one -- for Trot and Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill. So I thought that if you had thetime you and your people would carry us over themountains and land us all safely on the other side, inthe Land of Oz."

The Ork thoughtfully considered the matter for a while.Then he said:

"I mustn't break my promise to be present at thesurprise party; but, tell me, could you go to Oz to-night?"

"What, now?" exclaimed Trot.

"It is a fine moonlight night," said the Ork, "and I'vefound in my experience that there's no time so good asright away. The fact is," he explained, "it's a longjourney to Orkland and I and my cousins here are allrather tired by our day's work. But if you will startnow, and be content to allow us to carry you over themountains and dump you on the other side, just say theword and -- off we go!"

Cap'n Bill and Trot looked at one anotherquestioningly. The little girl was eager to visit thefamous fairyland of Oz and the old sailor had enduredsuch hardships in Jinxland that he would be glad to beout of it.

"It's rather impolite of us not to say good-bye to thenew King and Queen," remarked the Scarecrow, "but I'msure they're too happy to miss us, and I assure you itwill be much easier to fly on the backs of the Orks overthose steep mountains than to climb them as I did."

"All right; let's go!" Trot decided. "But where'sButton-Bright?"

Just at this important moment Button-Bright was lostagain, and they all scattered in search of him. He hadbeen standing beside them just a few minutes before, buthis friends had an exciting hunt for him before theyfinally discovered the boy seated among the members ofthe band, beating the end of the bass drum with the boneof a turkey-leg that he had taken from the table in thebanquet room.

"Hello, Trot," he said, looking up at the little girlwhen she found him. "This is the first chance I ever hadto pound a drum with a reg'lar drum stick. And I ate allthe meat off the bone myself."

"Come quick. We're going to the Land of Oz."

"Oh, what's the hurry?" said Button-Bright; but sheseized his arm and dragged him away to the park, wherethe others were waiting.

Trot climbed upon the back of her old friend, the Orkleader, and the others took their seats on the backs ofhis three cousins. As soon as all were placed andclinging to the skinny necks of the creatures, therevolving tails began to whirl and up rose the fourmonster Orks and sailed away toward the mountains. Theywere so high in the air that when they passed the crestof the highest peak it seemed far below them. No soonerwere they well across the barrier than the Orks swoopeddownward and landed their passengers upon the ground.

"Here we are, safe in the Land of Oz!" cried theScarecrow joyfully.

"Oh, are we?" asked Trot, looking around her curiously.

She could see the shadows of stately trees and theoutlines of rolling hills; beneath her feet was softturf, but otherwise the subdued light of the moondisclosed nothing clearly.

"Seems jus' like any other country," was Cap'n Bill'scomment.

"But it isn't," the Scarecrow assured him. "You are nowwithin the borders of the most glorious fairyland in allthe world. This part of it is just a corner of theQuadling Country, and the least interesting portion ofit. It's not very thickly settled, around here, I'lladmit, but --"

He was interrupted by a sudden whir and a rush of airas the four Orks mounted into the sky.

"Good night!" called the shrill voices of the strangecreatures, and although Trot shouted "Good night!" asloudly as she could, the little girl was almost ready tocry because the Orks had not waited to be properlythanked for all their kindness to her and to Cap'n Bill.

But the Orks were gone, and thanks for good deeds donot amount to much except to prove one's politeness.

"Well, friends," said the Scarecrow, "we mustn't stayhere in the meadows all night, so let us find a pleasantplace to sleep. Not that it matters to me, in the least,for I never sleep; but I know that meat people like toshut their eyes and lie still during the dark hours."

"I'm pretty tired," admitted Trot, yawning as shefollowed the straw man along a tiny path, "so, if youdon't find a house handy, Cap'n Bill and I will sleepunder the trees, or even on this soft grass."

But a house was not very far off, although when theScarecrow stumbled upon it there was no light in itwhatever. Cap'n Bill knocked on the door several times,and there being no response the Scarecrow boldly liftedthe latch and walked in, followed by the others. And nosooner had they entered than a soft light filled theroom. Trot couldn't tell where it came from, for no lampof any sort was visible, but she did not waste much timeon this problem, because directly in the center of theroom stood a table set for three, with lots of good foodon it and several of the dishes smoking hot.

The little girl and Button-Bright both utteredexclamations of pleasure, but they looked in vain for anycook stove or fireplace, or for any person who might haveprepared for them this delicious feast.

"It's fairyland," muttered the boy, tossing his cap ina corner and seating himself at the table. "This suppersmells 'most as good as that turkey-leg I had inJinxland. Please pass the muffins, Cap'n Bill."

Trot thought it was strange that no people butthemselves were in the house, but on the wall oppositethe door was a gold frame bearing in big letters theword:

"WELCOME."

So she had no further hesitation in eating of the foodso mysteriously prepared for them.

"But there are only places for three!" she exclaimed.

"Three are quite enough," said the Scarecrow. "I nevereat, because I am stuffed full already, and I like mynice clean straw better than I do food."

Trot and the sailor-man were hungry and made a heartymeal, for not since they had left home had they tastedsuch good food. It was surprising that Button-Brightcould eat so soon after his feast in Jinxland, but theboy always ate whenever there was an opportunity. "If Idon't eat now," he said, "the next time I'm hungry I'llwish I had."

"Really, Cap'n," remarked Trot, when she found a dishof ice-cream appear beside her plate, "I b'lieve this isfairyland, sure enough."

"There's no doubt of it, Trot," he answered gravely

"I've been here before," said Button-Bright, "so Iknow."

After supper they discovered three tiny bedroomsadjoining the big living room of the house, and in eachroom was a comfortable white bed with downy pillows. Youmay be sure that the tired mortals were not long inbidding the Scarecrow good night and creeping into theirbeds, where they slept soundly until morning.

For the first time since they set eyes on the terriblewhirlpool, Trot and Cap'n Bill were free from anxiety andcare. Button-Bright never worried about anything. TheScarecrow, not being able to sleep, looked out of thewindow and tried to count the stars.