Nanda brought Dorothy bread and water for her supper, and she sleptupon a hard stone couch with a single pillow and a silken coverlet.

In the morning she leaned out of the window of her prison in the towerto see if there was any way to escape. The room was not so very highup, when compared with our modern buildings, but it was far enoughabove the trees and farm houses to give her a good view of thesurrounding country.

To the east she saw the forest, with the sands beyond it and the oceanbeyond that. There was even a dark speck upon the shore that shethought might be the chicken-coop in which she had arrived at thissingular country.

Then she looked to the north, and saw a deep but narrow valley lyingbetween two rocky mountains, and a third mountain that shut off thevalley at the further end.

Westward the fertile Land of Ev suddenly ended a little way from thepalace, and the girl could see miles and miles of sandy desert thatstretched further than her eyes could reach. It was this desert, shethought, with much interest, that alone separated her from thewonderful Land of Oz, and she remembered sorrowfully that she had beentold no one had ever been able to cross this dangerous waste butherself. Once a cyclone had carried her across it, and a magical pairof silver shoes had carried her back again. But now she had neither acyclone nor silver shoes to assist her, and her condition was sadindeed. For she had become the prisoner of a disagreeable princesswho insisted that she must exchange her head for another one that shewas not used to, and which might not fit her at all.

Really, there seemed no hope of help for her from her old friends inthe Land of Oz. Thoughtfully she gazed from her narrow window. Onall the desert not a living thing was stirring.

Wait, though! Something surely WAS stirring on the desert--somethingher eyes had not observed at first. Now it seemed like a cloud; nowit seemed like a spot of silver; now it seemed to be a mass of rainbowcolors that moved swiftly toward her.

What COULD it be, she wondered?

Then, gradually, but in a brief space of time nevertheless, the visiondrew near enough to Dorothy to make out what it was.

A broad green carpet was unrolling itself upon the desert, whileadvancing across the carpet was a wonderful procession that made thegirl open her eyes in amazement as she gazed.

First came a magnificent golden chariot, drawn by a great Lion and animmense Tiger, who stood shoulder to shoulder and trotted along asgracefully as a well-matched team of thoroughbred horses. Andstanding upright within the chariot was a beautiful girl clothed inflowing robes of silver gauze and wearing a jeweled diadem upon herdainty head. She held in one hand the satin ribbons that guided herastonishing team, and in the other an ivory wand that separated at thetop into two prongs, the prongs being tipped by the letters "O" and"Z", made of glistening diamonds set closely together.

The girl seemed neither older nor larger than Dorothy herself, and at oncethe prisoner in the tower guessed that the lovely driver of the chariotmust be that Ozma of Oz of whom she had so lately heard from Tiktok.

Following close behind the chariot Dorothy saw her old friend theScarecrow, riding calmly astride a wooden Saw-Horse, which pranced andtrotted as naturally as any meat horse could have done.

And then came Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, with his funnel-shapedcap tipped carelessly over his left ear, his gleaming axe over hisright shoulder, and his whole body sparkling as brightly as it hadever done in the old days when first she knew him.

The Tin Woodman was on foot, marching at the head of a company oftwenty-seven soldiers, of whom some were lean and some fat, some shortand some tall; but all the twenty-seven were dressed in handsomeuniforms of various designs and colors, no two being alikein any respect.

Behind the soldiers the green carpet rolled itself up again, so thatthere was always just enough of it for the procession to walk upon, inorder that their feet might not come in contact with the deadly,life-destroying sands of the desert.

Dorothy knew at once it was a magic carpet she beheld, and her heartbeat high with hope and joy as she realized she was soon to be rescuedand allowed to greet her dearly beloved friends of Oz--the Scarecrow,the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion.

Indeed, the girl felt herself as good as rescued as soon as sherecognized those in the procession, for she well knew the courage andloyalty of her old comrades, and also believed that any others whocame from their marvelous country would prove to be pleasant andreliable acquaintances.

As soon as the last bit of desert was passed and all the procession,from the beautiful and dainty Ozma to the last soldier, had reachedthe grassy meadows of the Land of Ev, the magic carpet rolled itselftogether and entirely disappeared.

Then the chariot driver turned her Lion and Tiger into a broad roadwayleading up to the palace, and the others followed, while Dorothy stillgazed from her tower window in eager excitement.

They came quite close to the front door of the palace and then halted,the Scarecrow dismounting from his Saw-Horse to approach the signfastened to the door, that he might read what it said.

Dorothy, just above him, could keep silent no longer.

"Here I am!" she shouted, as loudly as she could. "Here's Dorothy!"

"Dorothy who?" asked the Scarecrow, tipping his head to look upwarduntil he nearly lost his balance and tumbled over backward.

"Dorothy Gale, of course. Your friend from Kansas," she answered.

"Why, hello, Dorothy!" said the Scarecrow. "What in the world are youdoing up there?"

"Nothing," she called down, "because there's nothing to do. Save me,my friend--save me!"

"You seem to be quite safe now," replied the Scarecrow.

"But I'm a prisoner. I'm locked in, so that I can't get out,"she pleaded.

"That's all right," said the Scarecrow. "You might be worse off,little Dorothy. Just consider the matter. You can't get drowned, orbe run over by a Wheeler, or fall out of an apple-tree. Some folkswould think they were lucky to be up there."

"Well, I don't," declared the girl, "and I want to get downimmed'i'tly and see you and the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion."

"Very well," said the Scarecrow, nodding. "It shall be just as yousay, little friend. Who locked you up?"

"The princess Langwidere, who is a horrid creature," she answered.

At this Ozma, who had been listening carefully to the conversation,called to Dorothy from her chariot, asking:

"Why did the Princess lock you up, my dear?"

"Because," exclaimed Dorothy, "I wouldn't let her have my head for hercollection, and take an old, cast-off head in exchange for it."

"I do not blame you," exclaimed Ozma, promptly. "I will see thePrincess at once, and oblige her to liberate you."

"Oh, thank you very, very much!" cried Dorothy, who as soon as sheheard the sweet voice of the girlish Ruler of Oz knew that she wouldsoon learn to love her dearly.

Ozma now drove her chariot around to the third door of the wing, uponwhich the Tin Woodman boldly proceeded to knock.

As soon as the maid opened the door Ozma, bearing in her hand herivory wand, stepped into the hall and made her way at once to thedrawing-room, followed by all her company, except the Lion and theTiger. And the twenty-seven soldiers made such a noise and a clatterthat the little maid Nanda ran away screaming to her mistress,whereupon the Princess Langwidere, roused to great anger by this rudeinvasion of her palace, came running into the drawing-room without anyassistance whatever.

There she stood before the slight and delicate form of the little girlfrom Oz and cried out;--

"How dare you enter my palace unbidden? Leave this room at once, or Iwill bind you and all your people in chains, and throw you into mydarkest dungeons!"

"What a dangerous lady!" murmured the Scarecrow, in a soft voice.

"She seems a little nervous," replied the Tin Woodman.

But Ozma only smiled at the angry Princess.

"Sit down, please," she said, quietly. "I have traveled a long way tosee you, and you must listen to what I have to say."

"Must!" screamed the Princess, her black eyes flashing with fury--forshe still wore her No. 17 head. "Must, to ME!"

"To be sure," said Ozma. "I am Ruler of the Land of Oz, and I ampowerful enough to destroy all your kingdom, if I so wish. Yet I didnot come here to do harm, but rather to free the royal family of Evfrom the thrall of the Nome King, the news having reached me that heis holding the Queen and her children prisoners."

Hearing these words, Langwidere suddenly became quiet.

"I wish you could, indeed, free my aunt and her ten royal children,"said she, eagerly. "For if they were restored to their proper formsand station they could rule the Kingdom of Ev themselves, and thatwould save me a lot of worry and trouble. At present there are atleast ten minutes every day that I must devote to affairs of state,and I would like to be able to spend my whole time in admiring mybeautiful heads."

"Then we will presently discuss this matter," said Ozma, "and try to finda way to liberate your aunt and cousins. But first you must liberateanother prisoner--the little girl you have locked up in your tower."

"Of course," said Langwidere, readily. "I had forgotten all abouther. That was yesterday, you know, and a Princess cannot be expectedto remember today what she did yesterday. Come with me, and I willrelease the prisoner at once."

So Ozma followed her, and they passed up the stairs that led to theroom in the tower.

While they were gone Ozma's followers remained in the drawing-room,and the Scarecrow was leaning against a form that he had mistaken fora copper statue when a harsh, metallic voice said suddenly in his ear:

"Get off my foot, please. You are scratch-ing my pol-ish."

"Oh, excuse me!" he replied, hastily drawing back. "Are you alive?"

"No," said Tiktok, "I am on-ly a ma-chine. But I can think and speakand act, when I am pro-per-ly wound up. Just now my ac-tion is rundown, and Dor-o-thy has the key to it."

"That's all right," replied the Scarecrow. Dorothy will soon be free,and then she'll attend to your works. But it must be a greatmisfortune not to be alive. I'm sorry for you."

"Why?" asked Tiktok.

"Because you have no brains, as I have," said the Scarecrow.

"Oh, yes, I have," returned Tiktok. "I am fit-ted with Smith &Tin-ker's Im-proved Com-bi-na-tion Steel Brains. They are what makeme think. What sort of brains are you fit-ted with?"

"I don't know," admitted the Scarecrow. "They were given to me by thegreat Wizard of Oz, and I didn't get a chance to examine them beforehe put them in. But they work splendidly and my conscience is veryactive. Have you a conscience?"

"No," said Tiktok.

"And no heart, I suppose?" added the Tin Woodman, who had beenlistening with interest to this conversation.

"No," said Tiktok.

"Then," continued the Tin Woodman, "I regret to say that you aregreatly inferior to my friend the Scarecrow, and to myself. For weare both alive, and he has brains which do not need to be wound up,while I have an excellent heart that is continually beating in my bosom."

"I con-grat-u-late you," replied Tiktok. "I can-not help be-ing yourin-fer-i-or for I am a mere ma-chine. When I am wound up I do mydu-ty by go-ing just as my ma-chin-er-y is made to go. You have noi-de-a how full of ma-chin-er-y I am."

"I can guess," said the Scarecrow, looking at the machine mancuriously. "Some day I'd like to take you apart and see just how youare made."

"Do not do that, I beg of you," said Tiktok; "for you could not put meto-geth-er a-gain, and my use-ful-ness would be de-stroyed."

"Oh! are you useful?" asked the Scarecrow, surprised.

"Ve-ry," said Tiktok.

"In that case," the Scarecrow kindly promised, "I won't fool with yourinterior at all. For I am a poor mechanic, and might mix you up."

"Thank you," said Tiktok.

Just then Ozma re-entered the room, leading Dorothy by the hand andfollowed closely by the Princess Langwidere.