. "I hate those
things, Dorothy, although they are nothing new to either you or me. I
was a balloonist for many years, and once my balloon carried me to the
Land of Oz, and once to the Vegetable Kingdom. And once Ozma had a
Gump that flew all over this kingdom and had sense enough to go where
it was told to--which airships won't do. The house which the cyclone
brought to Oz all the way from Kansas, with you and Toto in it--was a
real airship at the time; so you see we've got plenty of experience
flying with the birds."

"Airships are not so bad, after all," declared Dorothy. "Some day
they'll fly all over the world, and perhaps bring people even to the
Land of Oz."

"I must speak to Ozma about that," said the Wizard, with a slight
frown. "It wouldn't do at all, you know, for the Emerald City to
become a way-station on an airship line."

"No," said Dorothy, "I don't s'pose it would. But what can we do to
prevent it?"

"I'm working out a magic recipe to fuddle men's brains, so they'll
never make an airship that will go where they want it to go," the
Wizard confided to her. "That won't keep the things from flying, now
and then, but it'll keep them from flying to the Land of Oz."

Just then the Sawhorse drew the wagon out of the forest and a beautiful
landscape lay spread before the travelers' eyes. Moreover, right
before them was a good road that wound away through the hills and
valleys.

"Now," said the Wizard, with evident delight, "we are on the right
track again, and there is nothing more to worry about."

"It's a foolish thing to take chances in a strange country," observed
the Shaggy Man. "Had we kept to the roads we never would have been
lost. Roads always lead to some place, else they wouldn't be roads."

"This road," added the Wizard, "leads to Rigmarole Town. I'm sure of
that because I enchanted the wagon wheels."

Sure enough, after riding along the road for an hour or two they
entered a pretty valley where a village was nestled among the hills.
The houses were Munchkin shaped, for they were all domes, with windows
wider than they were high, and pretty balconies over the front doors.

Aunt Em was greatly relieved to find this town "neither paper nor
patch-work," and the only surprising thing about it was that it was so
far distant from all other towns.

As the Sawhorse drew the wagon into the main street the travelers
noticed that the place was filled with people, standing in groups and