to support his monkey body and lion
head he flew swiftly to the tree where he had left Ruggedo. The Nome
was also transformed and was climbing down the tree because the
branches all around him were so thickly entwined that there was no room
between them to fly.

Kiki quickly joined his comrade and it did not take them long to reach
the ground.

8. The Li-Mon-Eags Make Trouble

There had been trouble in the Forest of Gugu that morning. Chipo the
Wild Boar had bitten the tail off Arx the Giraffe while the latter had
his head among the leaves of a tree, eating his breakfast. Arx kicked
with his heels and struck Tirrip, the great Kangaroo, who had a new
baby in her pouch. Tirrip knew it was the Wild Boar's fault, so she
knocked him over with one powerful blow and then ran away to escape
Chipo's sharp tusks. In the chase that followed a giant porcupine
stuck fifty sharp quills into the Boar and a chimpanzee in a tree threw
a cocoanut at the porcupine that jammed its head into its body.

All this was against the Laws of the Forest, and when the excitement
was over, Gugu the Leopard King called his royal Counselors together to
decide how best to punish the offenders.

The four lords of the forest were holding solemn council in a small
clearing when they saw two strange beasts approaching them--beasts the
like of which they had never seen before.

Not one of the four, however, relaxed his dignity or showed by a
movement that he was startled. The great Leopard crouched at full
length upon a fallen tree-trunk. Bru the Bear sat on his haunches
before the King; Rango the Gray Ape stood with his muscular arms
folded, and Loo the Unicorn reclined, much as a horse does, between his
fellow-councillors. With one consent they remained silent, eyeing with
steadfast looks the intruders, who were making their way into their
forest domain.

"Well met, Brothers!" said one of the strange beasts, coming to a halt
beside the group, while his comrade with hesitation lagged behind.

"We are not brothers," returned the Gray Ape, sternly. "Who are you,
and how came you in the forest of Gugu?"

"We are two Li-Mon-Eags," said Ruggedo, inventing the name. "Our home
is in Sky Island, and we have come to earth to warn the forest beasts
that the people of Oz are about to make war upon them and enslave them,
so that they will become beasts of burden forever after and obey only
the will of their two-legged masters."

A low r