By and by, when they drew near to the mountain that blocked their pathand which was the furthermost edge of the Kingdom of Ev, the way grewdark and gloomy for the reason that the high peaks on either side shutout the sunshine. And it was very silent, too, as there were no birdsto sing or squirrels to chatter, the trees being left far behind themand only the bare rocks remaining.

Ozma and Dorothy were a little awed by the silence, and all the otherswere quiet and grave except the Sawhorse, which, as it trotted alongwith the Scarecrow upon his back, hummed a queer song, of which thiswas the chorus:

"Would a wooden horse in a woodland go?Aye, aye! I sigh, he would, althoughHad he not had a wooden headHe'd mount the mountain top instead."

But no one paid any attention to this because they were now close tothe Nome King's dominions, and his splendid underground palace couldnot be very far away.

Suddenly they heard a shout of jeering laughter, and stopped short.They would have to stop in a minute, anyway, for the huge mountainbarred their further progress and the path ran close up to a wall ofrock and ended.

"Who was that laughing?" asked Ozma.

There was no reply, but in the gloom they could see strange forms flitacross the face of the rock. Whatever the creations might be theyseemed very like the rock itself, for they were the color of rocks andtheir shapes were as rough and rugged as if they had been broken awayfrom the side of the mountain. They kept close to the steep clifffacing our friends, and glided up and down, and this way and that,with a lack of regularity that was quite confusing. And they seemednot to need places to rest their feet, but clung to the surface of therock as a fly does to a window-pane, and were never still for a moment.

"Do not mind them," said Tiktok, as Dorothy shrank back. "They areon-ly the Nomes."

"And what are Nomes?" asked the girl, half frightened.

"They are rock fair-ies, and serve the Nome King," replied the machine."But they will do us no harm. You must call for the King, be-causewith-out him you can ne-ver find the en-trance to the pal-ace."

"YOU call," said Dorothy to Ozma.

Just then the Nomes laughed again, and the sound was so weird anddisheartening that the twenty-six officers commanded the private to"right-about-face!" and they all started to run as fast as they could.

The Tin Woodman at once pursued his army and cried "halt!" and whenthey had stopped their flight he asked: "Where are you going?"

"I--I find I've forgotten the brush for my whiskers," said a general,trembling with fear. "S-s-so we are g-going back after it!"

"That is impossible," replied the Tin Woodman. "For the giant withthe hammer would kill you all if you tried to pass him."

"Oh! I'd forgotten the giant," said the general, turning pale.

"You seem to forget a good many things," remarked the Tin Woodman."I hope you won't forget that you are brave men."

"Never!" cried the general, slapping his gold-embroidered chest.

"Never!" cried all the other officers, indignantly slapping their chests.

"For my part," said the private, meekly, "I must obey my officers; sowhen I am told to run, I run; and when I am told to fight, I fight."

"That is right," agreed the Tin Woodman. "And now you must all comeback to Ozma, and obey HER orders. And if you try to run away again Iwill have her reduce all the twenty-six officers to privates, and makethe private your general."

This terrible threat so frightened them that they at once returned towhere Ozma was standing beside the Cowardly Lion.

Then Ozma cried out in a loud voice:

"I demand that the Nome King appear to us!"

There was no reply, except that the shifting Nomes upon the mountainlaughed in derision.

"You must not command the Nome King," said Tiktok, "for you do notrule him, as you do your own peo-ple."

So Ozma called again, saying:

"I request the Nome King to appear to us."

Only the mocking laughter replied to her, and the shadowy Nomescontinued to flit here and there upon the rocky cliff.

"Try en-treat-y," said Tiktok to Ozma. "If he will not come at yourre-quest, then the Nome King may list-en to your plead-ing."

Ozma looked around her proudly.

"Do you wish your ruler to plead with this wicked Nome King?" sheasked. "Shall Ozma of Oz humble herself to a creature who lives in anunderground kingdom?"

"No!" they all shouted, with big voices; and the Scarecrow added:

"If he will not come, we will dig him out of his hole, like a fox, andconquer his stubbornness. But our sweet little ruler must alwaysmaintain her dignity, just as I maintain mine."

"I'm not afraid to plead with him," said Dorothy. "I'm only a littlegirl from Kansas, and we've got more dignity at home than we know whatto do with. I'LL call the Nome King."

"Do," said the Hungry Tiger; "and if he makes hash of you I'llwillingly eat you for breakfast tomorrow morning."

So Dorothy stepped forward and said:

"PLEASE Mr. Nome King, come here and see us."

The Nomes started to laugh again; but a low growl came from the mountain,and in a flash they had all vanished from sight and were silent.

Then a door in the rock opened, and a voice cried:

"Enter!"

"Isn't it a trick?" asked the Tin Woodman.

"Never mind," replied Ozma. "We came here to rescue the poor Queen ofEv and her ten children, and we must run some risks to do so."

"The Nome King is hon-est and good na-tured," said Tiktok. "You cantrust him to do what is right."

So Ozma led the way, hand in hand with Dorothy, and they passedthrough the arched doorway of rock and entered a long passage whichwas lighted by jewels set in the walls and having lamps behind them.There was no one to escort them, or to show them the way, but all theparty pressed through the passage until they came to a round, domedcavern that was grandly furnished.

In the center of this room was a throne carved out of a solid boulderof rock, rude and rugged in shape but glittering with great rubies anddiamonds and emeralds on every part of its surface. And upon thethrone sat the Nome King.

This important monarch of the Underground World was a little fat manclothed in gray-brown garments that were the exact color of the rockthrone in which he was seated. His bushy hair and flowing beard werealso colored like the rocks, and so was his face. He wore no crown ofany sort, and his only ornament was a broad, jewel-studded belt thatencircled his fat little body. As for his features, they seemedkindly and good humored, and his eyes were turned merrily upon hisvisitors as Ozma and Dorothy stood before him with their followersranged in close order behind them.

"Why, he looks just like Santa Claus--only he isn't the same color!"whispered Dorothy to her friend; but the Nome King heard the speech,and it made him laugh aloud.

"'He had a red face and a round little bellyThat shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly!'"

quoth the monarch, in a pleasant voice; and they could all see that hereally did shake like jelly when he laughed.

Both Ozma and Dorothy were much relieved to find the Nome King sojolly, and a minute later he waved his right hand and the girls eachfound a cushioned stool at her side.

"Sit down, my dears," said the King, "and tell me why you have comeall this way to see me, and what I can do to make you happy."

While they seated themselves the Nome King picked up a pipe, andtaking a glowing red coal out of his pocket he placed it in the bowlof the pipe and began puffing out clouds of smoke that curled in ringsabove his head. Dorothy thought this made the little monarch lookmore like Santa Claus than ever; but Ozma now began speaking, andevery one listened intently to her words.

"Your Majesty," said she, "I am the ruler of the Land of Oz, and Ihave come here to ask you to release the good Queen of Ev and her tenchildren, whom you have enchanted and hold as your prisoners."

"Oh, no; you are mistaken about that," replied the King. "They arenot my prisoners, but my slaves, whom I purchased from the King of Ev."

"But that was wrong," said Ozma.

"According to the laws of Ev, the king can do no wrong," answered themonarch, eying a ring of smoke he had just blown from his mouth; "sothat he had a perfect right to sell his family to me in exchange for along life."

"You cheated him, though," declared Dorothy; "for the King of Ev didnot have a long life. He jumped into the sea and was drowned."

"That was not my fault," said the Nome King, crossing his legs andsmiling contentedly. "I gave him the long life, all right; but hedestroyed it."

"Then how could it be a long life?" asked Dorothy.

"Easily enough," was the reply. "Now suppose, my dear, that I gaveyou a pretty doll in exchange for a lock of your hair, and that afteryou had received the doll you smashed it into pieces and destroyed it.Could you say that I had not given you a pretty doll?"

"No," answered Dorothy.

"And could you, in fairness, ask me to return to you the lock of hair,just because you had smashed the doll?"

"No," said Dorothy, again.

"Of course not," the Nome King returned. "Nor will I give up theQueen and her children because the King of Ev destroyed his long lifeby jumping into the sea. They belong to me and I shall keep them."

"But you are treating them cruelly," said Ozma, who was muchdistressed by the King's refusal.

"In what way?" he asked.

"By making them your slaves," said she.

"Cruelty," remarked the monarch, puffing out wreathes of smoke andwatching them float into the air, "is a thing I can't abide. So, asslaves must work hard, and the Queen of Ev and her children weredelicate and tender, I transformed them all into articles of ornamentand bric-a-brac and scattered them around the various rooms of mypalace. Instead of being obliged to labor, they merely decorate myapartments, and I really think I have treated them with great kindness."

"But what a dreadful fate is theirs!" exclaimed Ozma, earnestly. "Andthe Kingdom of Ev is in great need of its royal family to govern it.If you will liberate them, and restore them to their proper forms, Iwill give you ten ornaments to replace each one you lose."

The Nome King looked grave.

"Suppose I refuse?" he asked.

"Then," said Ozma, firmly, "I am here with my friends and my army toconquer your kingdom and oblige you to obey my wishes."

The Nome King laughed until he choked; and he choked until he coughed;and he coughed until his face turned from grayish-brown to bright red.And then he wiped his eyes with a rock-colored handkerchief and grewgrave again.

"You are as brave as you are pretty, my dear," he said to Ozma. "Butyou have little idea of the extent of the task you have undertaken.Come with me for a moment."

He arose and took Ozma's hand, leading her to a little door at oneside of the room. This he opened and they stepped out upon a balcony,from whence they obtained a wonderful view of the Underground World.

A vast cave extended for miles and miles under the mountain, and inevery direction were furnaces and forges glowing brightly and Nomeshammering upon precious metals or polishing gleaming jewels. Allaround the walls of the cave were thousands of doors of silver andgold, built into the solid rock, and these extended in rows far awayinto the distance, as far as Ozma's eyes could follow them.

While the little maid from Oz gazed wonderingly upon this scene theNome King uttered a shrill whistle, and at once all the silver andgold doors flew open and solid ranks of Nome soldiers marched out fromevery one. So great were their numbers that they quickly filled theimmense underground cavern and forced the busy workmen to abandontheir tasks.

Although this tremendous army consisted of rock-colored Nomes, allsquat and fat, they were clothed in glittering armor of polishedsteel, inlaid with beautiful gems. Upon his brow each wore abrilliant electric light, and they bore sharp spears and swords andbattle-axes of solid bronze. It was evident they were perfectlytrained, for they stood in straight rows, rank after rank, with theirweapons held erect and true, as if awaiting but the word of command tolevel them upon their foes.

"This," said the Nome King, "is but a small part of my army. No rulerupon Earth has ever dared to fight me, and no ruler ever will, for Iam too powerful to oppose."

He whistled again, and at once the martial array filed through thesilver and gold doorways and disappeared, after which the workmenagain resumed their labors at the furnaces.

Then, sad and discouraged, Ozma of Oz turned to her friends, and theNome King calmly reseated himself on his rock throne.

"It would be foolish for us to fight," the girl said to the TinWoodman. "For our brave Twenty-Seven would be quickly destroyed. I'msure I do not know how to act in this emergency.

"Ask the King where his kitchen is," suggested the Tiger. "I'm hungryas a bear."

"I might pounce upon the King and tear him in pieces," remarked theCowardly Lion.

"Try it," said the monarch, lighting his pipe with another hot coalwhich he took from his pocket.

The Lion crouched low and tried to spring upon the Nome King; but hehopped only a little way into the air and came down again in the sameplace, not being able to approach the throne by even an inch.

"It seems to me," said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully, "that our bestplan is to wheedle his Majesty into giving up his slaves, since he istoo great a magician to oppose."

"This is the most sensible thing any of you have suggested," declaredthe Nome King. "It is folly to threaten me, but I'm so kind-heartedthat I cannot stand coaxing or wheedling. If you really wish toaccomplish anything by your journey, my dear Ozma, you must coax me."

"Very well," said Ozma, more cheerfully. "Let us be friends, and talkthis over in a friendly manner."

"To be sure," agreed the King, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"I am very anxious," she continued, "to liberate the Queen of Ev andher children who are now ornaments and bric-a-brac in your Majesty'spalace, and to restore them to their people. Tell me, sir, how thismay be accomplished."

The king remained thoughtful for a moment, after which he asked:

"Are you willing to take a few chances and risks yourself, in order toset free the people of Ev?"

"Yes, indeed!" answered Ozma, eagerly.

"Then," said the Nome King, "I will make you this offer: You shall goalone and unattended into my palace and examine carefully all that therooms contain. Then you shall have permission to touch elevendifferent objects, pronouncing at the time the word 'Ev,' and if anyone of them, or more than one, proves to be the transformation of theQueen of Ev or any of her ten children, then they will instantly berestored to their true forms and may leave my palace and my kingdom inyour company, without any objection whatever. It is possible for you,in this way, to free the entire eleven; but if you do not guess allthe objects correctly, and some of the slaves remain transformed, theneach one of your friends and followers may, in turn, enter the palaceand have the same privileges I grant you."

"Oh, thank you! thank you for this kind offer!" said Ozma, eagerly.

"I make but one condition," added the Nome King, his eyes twinkling.

"What is it?" she enquired.

"If none of the eleven objects you touch proves to be thetransformation of any of the royal family of Ev, then, instead offreeing them, you will yourself become enchanted, and transformed intoan article of bric-a-brac or an ornament. This is only fair and just,and is the risk you declared you were willing to take."