it could get upon its feet again the
sailor pushed the sharp stake right through its body and then with the
flat side of the axe he hammered the stake as far into the ground as it
would go. By this means he captured the great beast and made it
harmless, for try as it would, it could not get away from the stake
that held it.

Cap'n Bill knew he could not kill the Kalidah, for no living thing in
Oz can be killed, so he stood back and watched the beast wriggle and
growl and paw the earth with its sharp claws, and then, satisfied it
could not escape, he told Trot to come out of the water again and dry
her wet shoes and stockings in the sun.

"Are you sure he can't get away?" she asked.

"I'd bet a cookie on it," said Cap'n Bill, so Trot came ashore and took
off her shoes and stockings and laid them on the log to dry, while the
sailor-man resumed his work on the raft.

The Kalidah, realizing after many struggles that it could not escape,
now became quiet, but it said in a harsh, snarling voice:

"I suppose you think you're clever, to pin me to the ground in this
manner. But when my friends, the other Kalidahs, come here, they'll
tear you to pieces for treating me this way."

"P'raps," remarked Cap'n Bill, coolly, as he chopped at the logs, "an'
p'raps not. When are your folks comin' here?"

"I don't know," admitted the Kalidah. "But when they DO come, you
can't escape them."

"If they hold off long enough, I'll have my raft ready," said Cap'n
Bill.

"What are you going to do with a raft?" inquired the beast.

"We're goin' over to that island, to get the Magic Flower."

The huge beast looked at him in surprise a moment, and then it began to
laugh. The laugh was a good deal like a roar, and it had a cruel and
derisive sound, but it was a laugh nevertheless.

"Good!" said the Kalidah. "Good! Very good! I'm glad you're going to
get the Magic Flower. But what will you do with it?"

"We're going to take it to Ozma, as a present on her birthday."

The Kalidah laughed again; then it became sober. "If you get to the
land on your raft before my people can catch you," it said, "you will
be safe from us. We can swim like ducks, so the girl couldn't have
escaped me by getting into the water; but Kalidahs don't go to that
island over there."

"Why not?" asked Trot.

The beast was silent.

"Tell us the reason," urged Cap'n Bill.

"Well, it's the Isle of the Magic Flower," answered the Kalidah, "and
we don