Residing in Ozma's palace at this time was a liveScarecrow, a most remarkable and intelligent creaturewho had once ruled the Land of Oz for a brief periodand was much loved and respected by all the people.Once a Munchkin farmer had stuffed an old suit ofclothes with straw and put stuffed boots on the feetand used a pair of stuffed cotton gloves for hands. Thehead of the Scarecrow was a stuffed sack fastened tothe body, with eyes, nose, mouth and ears painted onthe sack. When a hat had been put on the head, thething was a good imitation of a man. The farmer placedthe Scarecrow on a pole in his cornfield and it came tolife in a curious manner. Dorothy, who was passing bythe field, was hailed by the live Scarecrow and liftedhim off his pole. He then went with her to the EmeraldCity, where the Wizard of Oz gave him some excellentbrains, and the Scarecrow soon became an importantpersonage.

Ozma considered the Scarecrow one of her best friendsand most loyal subjects, so the morning after her visitto Glinda she asked him to take her place as Ruler ofthe Land of Oz while she was absent on a journey, andthe Scarecrow at once consented without asking anyquestions.

Ozma had warned Dorothy to keep their journey asecret and say nothing to anyone about the Skeezers andFlatheads until their return, and Dorothy promised toobey. She longed to tell her girl friends, tiny Trotand Betsy Bobbin, of the adventure they wereundertaking, but refrained from saying a word on thesubject although both these girls lived with her inOzma's palace.

Indeed, only Glinda the Sorceress knew they weregoing, until after they had gone, and even theSorceress didn't know what their errand might be.

Princess Ozma took the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon,although she was not sure there was a wagon road allthe way to the Lake of the Skeezers. The Land of Oz isa pretty big place, surrounded on all sides by a DeadlyDesert which it is impossible to cross, and the SkeezerCountry, according to the map, was in the farthestnorthwestern part of Oz, bordering on the north desert.As the Emerald City was exactly in the center of Oz, itwas no small journey from there to the Skeezers.

Around the Emerald City the country is thicklysettled in every direction, but the farther away youget from the city the fewer people there are, untilthose parts that border on the desert have smallpopulations. Also those faraway sections are littleknown to the Oz people, except in the south, whereGlinda lives and where Dorothy has often wandered ontrips of exploration.

The least known of all is the Gillikin Country, whichharbors many strange bands of people among itsmountains and valleys and forests and streams, and Ozmawas now bound for the most distant part of the GillikinCountry.

"I am really sorry," said Ozma to Dorothy, as theyrode away in the Red Wagon, "not to know more about thewonderful Land I rule. It is my duty to be acquaintedwith every tribe of people and every strange and hiddencountry in all Oz, but I am kept so busy at my palacemaking laws and planning for the comforts of those wholive near the Emerald City, that I do not often findtime to make long journeys."

"Well," replied Dorothy, "we'll prob'bly find out alot on this trip, and we'll learn all about theSkeezers and Flatheads, anyhow. Time doesn't make muchdiff'rence in the Land of Oz, 'cause we don't grow up,or get old, or become sick and die, as they do otherplaces; so, if we explore one place at a time, we'llby-an'-by know all about every nook and corner in Oz."

Dorothy wore around her waist the Nome King's MagicBelt, which protected her from harm, and the Magic Ringwhich Glinda had given her was on her finger. Ozma hadmerely slipped a small silver wand into the bosom ofher gown, for fairies do not use chemicals and herbsand the tools of wizards and sorcerers to perform theirmagic. The Silver Wand was Ozma's one weapon of offenseand defense and by its use she could accomplish manythings.

They had left the Emerald City just at sunrise andthe Sawhorse traveled very swiftly over the roadstowards the north, but in a few hours the wooden animalhad to slacken his pace because the farm houses hadbecome few and far between and often there were nopaths at all in the direction they wished to follow. Atsuch times they crossed the fields, avoiding groups oftrees and fording the streams and rivulets wheneverthey came to them. But finally they reached a broadhillside closely covered with scrubby brush, throughwhich the wagon could not pass.

"It will be difficult even for you and me to getthrough without tearing our dresses," said Ozma, "so wemust leave the Sawhorse and the Wagon here until ourreturn."

"That's all right," Dorothy replied, "I'm tiredriding, anyhow. Do you s'pose, Ozma, we're anywherenear the Skeezer Country?"

"I cannot tell, Dorothy dear, but I know we've beengoing in the right direction, so we are sure to find itin time."

The scrubby brush was almost like a grove of smalltrees, for it reached as high as the heads of the twogirls, neither of whom was very tall. They were obligedto thread their way in and out, until Dorothy wasafraid they would get lost, and finally they werehalted by a curious thing that barred their furtherprogress. It was a huge web -- as if woven by giganticspiders -- and the delicate, lacy film was fastenedstoutly to the branches of the bushes and continued tothe right and left in the form of a half circle. Thethreads of this web were of a brilliant purple colorand woven into numerous artistic patterns, but itreached from the ground to branches above the heads ofthe girls and formed a sort of fence that hedged themin.

"It doesn't look very strong, though," said Dorothy."I wonder if we couldn't break through." She tried butfound the web stronger than it seemed. All her effortscould not break a single thread.

"We must go back, I think, and try to get around thispeculiar web," Ozma decided.

So they turned to the right and, following the webfound that it seemed to spread in a regular circle. Onand on they went until finally Ozma said they hadreturned to the exact spot from which they had started."Here is a handkerchief you dropped when we were herebefore," she said to Dorothy.

"In that case, they must have built the web behindus, after we walked into the trap," exclaimed thelittle girl.

"True," agreed Ozma, "an enemy has tried to imprisonus."

"And they did it, too," said Dorothy. "I wonder whoit was."

"It's a spider-web, I'm quite sure," returned Ozma,"but it must be the work of enormous spiders."

"Quite right!" cried a voice behind them. Turningquickly around they beheld a huge purple spider sittingnot two yards away and regarding them with its smallbright eyes.

Then there crawled from the bushes a dozen more greatpurple spiders, which saluted the first one and said:

"The web is finished, O King, and the strangers areour prisoners."

Dorothy did not like the looks of these spiders atall. They had big heads, sharp claws, small eyes andfuzzy hair all over their purple bodies.

"They look wicked," she whispered to Ozma. "Whatshall we do?"

Ozma gazed upon the spiders with a serious face.

"What is your object in making us prisoners?" sheinquired.

"We need someone to keep house for us," answered theSpider King. "There is sweeping and dusting to be done,and polishing and washing of dishes, and that is workmy people dislike to do. So we decided that if anystrangers came our way we would capture them and makethem our servants."

"I am Princess Ozma, Ruler of all Oz," said the girlwith dignity.

"Well, I am King of all Spiders," was the reply, "andthat makes me your master. Come with me to my palaceand I will instruct you in your work."

"I won't," said Dorothy indignantly. "We won't haveanything to do with you."

"We'll see about that," returned the Spider in asevere tone, and the next instant he made a divestraight at Dorothy, opening the claws in his legs asif to grab and pinch her with the sharp points. But thegirl was wearing her Magic Belt and was not harmed. TheSpider King could not even touch her. He turned swiftlyand made a dash at Ozma, but she held her Magic Wandover his head and the monster recoiled as if it hadbeen struck.

"You'd better let us go," Dorothy advised him, "foryou see you can't hurt us."

"So I see," returned the Spider King angrily. "Yourmagic is greater than mine. But I'll not help you toescape. If you can break the magic web my people havewoven you may go; if not you must stay here andstarve." With that the Spider King uttered a peculiarwhistle and all the spiders disappeared.

"There is more magic in my fairyland than I dreamedof," remarked the beautiful Ozma, with a sigh of regret."It seems that my laws have not been obeyed, for eventhese monstrous spiders defy me by means of Magic."

"Never mind that now," said Dorothy; "let's see whatwe can do to get out of this trap."

They now examined the web with great care and wereamazed at its strength. Although finer than the finestsilken hairs, it resisted all their efforts to workthrough, even though both girls threw all their weightagainst it.

"We must find some instrument which will cut thethreads of the web," said Ozma, finally. "Let us lookabout for such a tool."

So they wandered among the bushes and finally came toa shallow pool of water, formed by a small bubblingspring. Dorothy stooped to get a drink and discoveredin the water a green crab, about as big as her hand.The crab had two big, sharp claws, and as soon asDorothy saw them she had an idea that those claws couldsave them.

"Come out of the water," she called to the crab; "Iwant to talk to you."

Rather lazily the crab rose to the surface and caughthold of a bit of rock. With his head above the water hesaid in a cross voice:

"What do you want?"

"We want you to cut the web of the purple spiderswith your claws, so we can get through it," answeredDorothy. "You can do that, can't you?"

"I suppose so," replied the crab. "But if I do whatwill you give me?"

"What do you wish?" Ozma inquired.

"I wish to be white, instead of green," said thecrab. "Green crabs are very common, and white ones arerare; besides the purple spiders, which infest thishillside, are afraid of white crabs. Could you make mewhite if I should agree to cut the web for you?"

"Yes," said Ozma, "I can do that easily. And, so youmay know I am speaking the truth, I will change yourcolor now."

She waved her silver wand over the pool and the crabinstantly became snow-white -- all except his eyes,which remained black. The creature saw his reflectionin the water and was so delighted that he at onceclimbed out of the pool and began moving slowly towardthe web, by backing away from the pool. He moved sovery slowly that Dorothy cried out impatiently: "Dearme, this will never do!" Caching the crab in her handsshe ran with him to the web.

She had to hold him up even then, so he could reachwith his claws strand after strand of the filmy purpleweb, which he was able to sever with one nip.

When enough of the web had been cut to allow them topass, Dorothy ran back to the pool and placed the whitecrab in the water, after which she rejoined Ozma. Theywere just in time to escape through the web, forseveral of the purple spiders now appeared, havingdiscovered that their web had been cut, and had thegirls not rushed through the opening the spiders wouldhave quickly repaired the cuts and again imprisonedthem.

Ozma and Dorothy ran as fast as they could andalthough the angry spiders threw a number of strands ofweb after them, hoping to lasso them or entangle themin the coils, they managed to escape and clamber to thetop of the hill.