y would have reached Australia in his ship, and had
probably given her up for lost; so he couldn't worry any more than he
did if she stayed away from him a while longer. So she would go to Oz.

They bade good-bye to the people of Ev, and the King promised Ozma that
he would ever be grateful to her and render the Land of Oz any service
that might lie within his power.

And then they approached the edge of the dangerous desert, and Ozma
threw down the magic carpet, which at once unrolled far enough for all
of them to walk upon it without being crowded.

Tiktok, claiming to be Dorothy's faithful follower because he belonged
to her, had been permitted to join the party, and before they started
the girl wound up his machinery as far as possible, and the copper man
stepped off as briskly as any one of them.

Ozma also invited Billina to visit the Land of Oz, and the yellow hen
was glad enough to go where new sights and scenes awaited her.

They began the trip across the desert early in the morning, and as they
stopped only long enough for Billina to lay her daily egg, before
sunset they espied the green slopes and wooded hills of the beautiful
Land of Oz. They entered it in the Munchkin territory, and the King of
the Munchkins met them at the border and welcomed Ozma with great
respect, being very pleased by her safe return. For Ozma of Oz ruled
the King of the Munchkins, the King of the Winkies, the King of the
Quadlings and the King of the Gillikins just as those kings ruled their
own people; and this supreme ruler of the Land of Oz lived in a great
town of her own, called the Emerald City, which was in the exact center
of the four kingdoms of the Land of Oz.

The Munchkin king entertained them at his palace that night, and in the
morning they set out for the Emerald City, travelling over a road of
yellow brick that led straight to the jewel-studded gates. Everywhere
the people turned out to greet their beloved Ozma, and to hail joyfully
the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, who were popular
favorites. Dorothy, too, remembered some of the people, who had
befriended her on the occasion of her first visit to Oz, and they were
well pleased to see the little Kansas girl again, and showered her with
compliments and good wishes.

At one place, where they stopped to refresh themselves, Ozma accepted a
bowl of milk from the hands of a pretty dairy-maid. Then she looked at
the girl more closely, and excl