son."

Kiki laughed at the threat.

"Before he can do that," said he, "I will transform myself into a lion
and tear him to pieces, or into a bear and eat him up, or into a fly
and fly away where he could not find me."

"Can you really do such wonderful transformations?" asked the old Nome,
looking at him curiously.

"Of course," declared Kiki. "I can transform you into a stick of wood,
in a flash, or into a stone, and leave you here by the roadside."

"The wicked Nome shivered a little when he heard that, but it made him
long more than ever to possess the great secret. After a while he said:

"I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will help me to conquer Oz and to
transform the Oz people, who are my enemies, into sticks or stones, by
telling me your secret, I'll agree to make YOU the Ruler of all Oz, and
I will be your Prime Minister and see that your orders are obeyed."

"I'll help do that," said Kiki, "but I won't tell you my secret."

The Nome was so furious at this refusal that he jumped up and down with
rage and spluttered and choked for a long time before he could control
his passion. But the boy was not at all frightened. He laughed at the
wicked old Nome, which made him more furious than ever.

"Let's give up the idea," he proposed, when Ruggedo had quieted
somewhat. "I don't know the Oz people you mention and so they are not
my enemies. If they've kicked you out of your kingdom, that's your
affair--not mine."

"Wouldn't you like to be king of that splendid fairyland?" asked
Ruggedo.

"Yes, I would," replied Kiki Aru; "but you want to be king yourself,
and we would quarrel over it."

"No," said the Nome, trying to deceive him. "I don't care to be King
of Oz, come to think it over. I don't even care to live in that
country. What I want first is revenge. If we can conquer Oz, I'll get
enough magic then to conquer my own Kingdom of the Nomes, and I'll go
back and live in my underground caverns, which are more home-like than
the top of the earth. So here's my proposition: Help me conquer Oz and
get revenge, and help me get the magic away from Glinda and the Wizard,
and I'll let you be King of Oz forever afterward."

"I'll think it over," answered Kiki, and that is all he would say that
evening.

In the night when all in the Inn were asleep but himself, old Ruggedo
the Nome rose softly from his couch and went into the room of Kiki Aru
the Hyup, and searched everywhere for the magic tool that