The Tin Woodman was the first to address the meeting.

"To begin with," said he, "word came to our noble and illustriousRuler, Ozma of Oz, that the wife and ten children--five boys and fivegirls--of the former King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been enslaved bythe Nome King and are held prisoners in his underground palace. Alsothat there was no one in Ev powerful enough to release them.Naturally our Ozma wished to undertake the adventure of liberating thepoor prisoners; but for a long time she could find no way to cross thegreat desert between the two countries. Finally she went to afriendly sorceress of our land named Glinda the Good, who heard thestory and at once presented Ozma a magic carpet, which wouldcontinually unroll beneath our feet and so make a comfortable path forus to cross the desert. As soon as she had received the carpet ourgracious Ruler ordered me to assemble our army, which I did. Youbehold in these bold warriors the pick of all the finest soldiers ofOz; and, if we are obliged to fight the Nome King, every officer aswell as the private, will battle fiercely unto death."

Then Tiktok spoke.

"Why should you fight the Nome King?" he asked. "He has done no wrong."

"No wrong!" cried Dorothy. "Isn't it wrong to imprison a queen motherand her ten children?"

"They were sold to the Nome King by King Ev-ol-do," replied Tiktok."It was the King of Ev who did wrong, and when he re-al-ized what hehad done he jumped in-to the sea and drowned him-self."

"This is news to me," said Ozma, thoughtfully. "I had supposed theNome King was all to blame in the matter. But, in any case, he mustbe made to liberate the prisoners."

"My uncle Evoldo was a very wicked man," declared the PrincessLangwidere. "If he had drowned himself before he sold his family, noone would have cared. But he sold them to the powerful Nome King inexchange for a long life, and afterward destroyed the life by jumpinginto the sea."

"Then," said Ozma, "he did not get the long life, and the Nome Kingmust give up the prisoners. Where are they confined?"

"No one knows, exactly," replied the Princess. "For the king, whosename is Roquat of the Rocks, owns a splendid palace underneath thegreat mountain which is at the north end of this kingdom, and he hastransformed the queen and her children into ornaments and bric-a-bracwith which to decorate his rooms."

"I'd like to know," said Dorothy, "who this Nome King is?"

"I will tell you," replied Ozma. "He is said to be the Ruler of theUnderground World, and commands the rocks and all that the rockscontain. Under his rule are many thousands of the Nomes, who arequeerly shaped but powerful sprites that labor at the furnaces andforges of their king, making gold and silver and other metals whichthey conceal in the crevices of the rocks, so that those living uponthe earth's surface can only find them with great difficulty. Alsothey make diamonds and rubies and emeralds, which they hide in theground; so that the kingdom of the Nomes is wonderfully rich, and allwe have of precious stones and silver and gold is what we take fromthe earth and rocks where the Nome King has hidden them."

"I understand," said Dorothy, nodding her little head wisely.

"For the reason that we often steal his treasures," continued Ozma,"the Ruler of the Underground World is not fond of those who live uponthe earth's surface, and never appears among us. If we wish to seeKing Roquat of the Rocks, we must visit his own country, where he isall powerful, and therefore it will be a dangerous undertaking."

"But, for the sake of the poor prisoners," said Dorothy, "we ought todo it."

"We shall do it," replied the Scarecrow, "although it requires a lotof courage for me to go near to the furnaces of the Nome King. For Iam only stuffed with straw, and a single spark of fire might destroyme entirely."

"The furnaces may also melt my tin," said the Tin Woodman;"but I am going."

"I can't bear heat," remarked the Princess Langwidere, yawning lazily,"so I shall stay at home. But I wish you may have success in yourundertaking, for I am heartily tired of ruling this stupid kingdom,and I need more leisure in which to admire my beautiful heads."

"We do not need you," said Ozma. "For, if with the aid of my bravefollowers I cannot accomplish my purpose, then it would be useless foryou to undertake the journey."

"Quite true," sighed the Princess. "So, if you'll excuse me, I willnow retire to my cabinet. I've worn this head quite awhile, and Iwant to change it for another."

When she had left them (and you may be sure no one was sorry to seeher go) Ozma said to Tiktok:

"Will you join our party?"

"I am the slave of the girl Dor-oth-y, who rescued me from pris-on,"replied the machine. "Where she goes I will go."

"Oh, I am going with my friends, of course," said Dorothy, quickly."I wouldn't miss the fun for anything. Will you go, too, Billina?"

"To be sure," said Billina in a careless tone. She was smoothing downthe feathers of her back and not paying much attention.

"Heat is just in her line," remarked the Scarecrow. "If she is nicelyroasted, she will be better than ever."

"Then" said Ozma, "we will arrange to start for the Kingdom of theNomes at daybreak tomorrow. And, in the meantime, we will rest andprepare ourselves for the journey."

Although Princess Langwidere did not again appear to her guests, thepalace servants waited upon the strangers from Oz and did everythingin their power to make the party comfortable. There were many vacantrooms at their disposal, and the brave Army of twenty-seven was easilyprovided for and liberally feasted.

The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were unharnessed from thechariot and allowed to roam at will throughout the palace, where theynearly frightened the servants into fits, although they did no harm atall. At one time Dorothy found the little maid Nanda crouching interror in a corner, with the Hungry Tiger standing before her.

"You certainly look delicious," the beast was saying. "Will youkindly give me permission to eat you?"

"No, no, no!" cried the maid in reply.

"Then," said the Tiger, yawning frightfully, "please to get me aboutthirty pounds of tenderloin steak, cooked rare, with a peck of boiledpotatoes on the side, and five gallons of ice-cream for dessert."

"I--I'll do the best I can!" said Nanda, and she ran away as fast asshe could go.

"Are you so very hungry?" asked Dorothy, in wonder.

"You can hardly imagine the size of my appetite," replied the Tiger,sadly. "It seems to fill my whole body, from the end of my throat tothe tip of my tail. I am very sure the appetite doesn't fit me, andis too large for the size of my body. Some day, when I meet a dentistwith a pair of forceps, I'm going to have it pulled."

"What, your tooth?" asked Dorothy.

"No, my appetite," said the Hungry Tiger.

The little girl spent most of the afternoon talking with the Scarecrowand the Tin Woodman, who related to her all that had taken place inthe Land of Oz since Dorothy had left it. She was much interested inthe story of Ozma, who had been, when a baby, stolen by a wicked oldwitch and transformed into a boy. She did not know that she had everbeen a girl until she was restored to her natural form by a kindsorceress. Then it was found that she was the only child of theformer Ruler of Oz, and was entitled to rule in his place. Ozma hadmany adventures, however, before she regained her father's throne, andin these she was accompanied by a pumpkin-headed man, a highlymagnified and thoroughly educated Woggle-Bug, and a wonderful sawhorsethat had been brought to life by means of a magic powder. TheScarecrow and the Tin Woodman had also assisted her; but the CowardlyLion, who ruled the great forest as the King of Beasts, knew nothingof Ozma until after she became the reigning princess of Oz. Then hejourneyed to the Emerald City to see her, and on hearing she was aboutto visit the Land of Ev to set free the royal family of that country,the Cowardly Lion begged to go with her, and brought along his friend,the Hungry Tiger, as well.

Having heard this story, Dorothy related to them her own adventures,and then went out with her friends to find the Sawhorse, which Ozmahad caused to be shod with plates of gold, so that its legs would notwear out.

They came upon the Sawhorse standing motionless beside the gardengate, but when Dorothy was introduced to him he bowed politely andblinked his eyes, which were knots of wood, and wagged his tail, whichwas only the branch of a tree.

"What a remarkable thing, to be alive!" exclaimed Dorothy.

"I quiet agree with you," replied the Sawhorse, in a rough but notunpleasant voice. "A creature like me has no business to live, as weall know. But it was the magic powder that did it, so I cannot justlybe blamed."

"Of course not," said Dorothy. "And you seem to be of some use,'cause I noticed the Scarecrow riding upon your back."

"Oh, yes; I'm of use," returned the Sawhorse; "and I never tire, neverhave to be fed, or cared for in any way."

"Are you intel'gent?" asked the girl.

"Not very," said the creature. "It would be foolish to wasteintelligence on a common Sawhorse, when so many professors need it.But I know enough to obey my masters, and to gid-dup, or whoa, whenI'm told to. So I'm pretty well satisfied."

That night Dorothy slept in a pleasant little bed-chamber next to thatoccupied by Ozma of Oz, and Billina perched upon the foot of the bedand tucked her head under her wing and slept as soundly in thatposition as did Dorothy upon her soft cushions.

But before daybreak every one was awake and stirring, and soon theadventurers were eating a hasty breakfast in the great dining-room ofthe palace. Ozma sat at the head of a long table, on a raisedplatform, with Dorothy on her right hand and the Scarecrow on herleft. The Scarecrow did not eat, of course; but Ozma placed him nearher so that she might ask his advice about the journey while she ate.

Lower down the table were the twenty-seven warriors of Oz, and at theend of the room the Lion and the Tiger were eating out of a kettlethat had been placed upon the floor, while Billina fluttered around topick up any scraps that might be scattered.

It did not take long to finish the meal, and then the Lion and theTiger were harnessed to the chariot and the party was ready to startfor the Nome King's Palace.

First rode Ozma, with Dorothy beside her in the golden chariot andholding Billina fast in her arms. Then came the Scarecrow on theSawhorse, with the Tin Woodman and Tiktok marching side by side justbehind him. After these tramped the Army, looking brave and handsomein their splendid uniforms. The generals commanded the colonels andthe colonels commanded the majors and the majors commanded thecaptains and the captains commanded the private, who marched with anair of proud importance because it required so many officers to givehim his orders.

And so the magnificent procession left the palace and started alongthe road just as day was breaking, and by the time the sun came outthey had made good progress toward the valley that led to the NomeKing's domain.