o
wants to use some of it for a purpose of her own. Sit down and make
yourself comfortable, Unc Nunkie, and after I've finished my task I will
talk to you."

"You must know," said Margolotte, when they were all seated together on
the broad window-seat, "that my husband foolishly gave away all the
Powder of Life he first made to old Mombi the Witch, who used to live in
the Country of the Gillikins, to the north of here. Mombi gave to Dr.
Pipt a Powder of Perpetual Youth in exchange for his Powder of Life, but
she cheated him wickedly, for the Powder of Youth was no good and could
work no magic at all."

"Perhaps the Powder of Life couldn't either," said Ojo.

[Illustration]

"Yes; it is perfection," she declared. "The first lot we tested on our
Glass Cat, which not only began to live but has lived ever since. She's
somewhere around the house now."

"A Glass Cat!" exclaimed Ojo, astonished.

"Yes; she makes a very pleasant companion, but admires herself a little
more than is considered modest, and she positively refuses to catch
mice," explained Margolotte. "My husband made the cat some pink brains,
but they proved to be too high-bred and particular for a cat, so she
thinks it is undignified in her to catch mice. Also she has a pretty
blood-red heart, but it is made of stone--a ruby, I think--and so is
rather hard and unfeeling. I think the next Glass Cat the Magician makes
will have neither brains nor heart, for then it will not object to
catching mice and may prove of some use to us."

"What did old Mombi the Witch do with the Powder of Life your husband
gave her?" asked the boy.

"She brought Jack Pumpkinhead to life, for one thing," was the reply. "I
suppose you've heard of Jack Pumpkinhead. He is now living near the
Emerald City and is a great favorite with the Princess Ozma, who rules
all the Land of Oz."

"No; I've never heard of him," remarked Ojo. "I'm afraid I don't know
much about the Land of Oz. You see, I've lived all my life with Unc
Nunkie, the Silent One, and there was no one to tell me anything."

"That is one reason you are Ojo the Unlucky," said the woman, in a
sympathetic tone. "The more one knows, the luckier he is, for knowledge
is the greatest gift in life."

"But tell me, please, what you intend to do with this new lot of the
Powder of Life, which Dr. Pipt is making. He said his wife wanted it for
some especial purpose."

"So I do," she answered. "I want it to bring my Patchwork Gir