good as destroyed already!" muttered the Grand
Gallipoot, shaking his war club fiercely.

"In a few hours Oz will be a desert!" said the Chief of the Whimsies,
with an evil laugh.

"My dear Guph," remarked the Nome King to his General, "at last my
vengeance upon Ozma of Oz and her people is about to be accomplished."

"You are right!" declared the General. "Ozma is surely lost."

And now the First and Foremost, who was in advance and nearing the
Emerald City, began to cough and to sneeze.

"This tunnel is terribly dusty," he growled, angrily. "I'll punish
that Nome King for not having it swept clean. My throat and eyes are
getting full of dust and I'm as thirsty as a fish!"

The Grand Gallipoot was coughing too, and his throat was parched and
dry.

"What a dusty place!" he cried. "I'll be glad when we reach Oz, where
we can get a drink."

"Who has any water?" asked the Whimsie Chief, gasping and choking. But
none of his followers carried a drop of water, so he hastened on to get
through the dusty tunnel to the Land of Oz.

"Where did all this dust come from?" demanded General Guph, trying hard
to swallow but finding his throat so dry he couldn't.

"I don't know," answered the Nome King. "I've been in the tunnel every
day while it was being built, but I never noticed any dust before."

"Let's hurry!" cried the General. "I'd give half the gold in Oz for a
drink of water."

The dust grew thicker and thicker, and the throats and eyes and noses
of the invaders were filled with it. But not one halted or turned
back. They hurried forward more fierce and vengeful than ever.

28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain

The Scarecrow had no need to sleep; neither had the Tin Woodman or
Tiktok or Jack Pumpkinhead. So they all wandered out into the palace
grounds and stood beside the sparkling water of the Forbidden Fountain
until daybreak. During this time they indulged in occasional
conversation.

"Nothing could make me forget what I know," remarked the Scarecrow,
gazing into the fountain, "for I cannot drink the Water of Oblivion or
water of any kind. And I am glad that this is so, for I consider my
wisdom unexcelled."

"You are cer-tain-ly ve-ry wise," agreed Tiktok. "For my part, I can
on-ly think by ma-chin-er-y, so I do not pre-tend to know as much as
you do."

"My tin brains are very bright, but that is all I claim for them," said
Nick Chopper, modestly. "Yet I do not aspire to be