ws waiting to be
milked.

They were almost at the gate when the golden bars slid back and a tall
soldier stepped out and faced them. Ojo thought he had never seen so
tall a man before. The soldier wore a handsome green and gold uniform,
with a tall hat in which was a waving plume, and he had a belt thickly
encrusted with jewels. But the most peculiar thing about him was his
long green beard, which fell far below his waist and perhaps made him
seem taller than he really was.

"Halt!" said the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, not in a stern voice
but rather in a friendly tone.

They halted before he spoke and stood looking at him.

"Good evening, Colonel," said the Shaggy Man. "What's the news since I
left? Anything important?"

"Billina has hatched out thirteen new chickens," replied the Soldier
with the Green Whiskers, "and they're the cutest little fluffy yellow
balls you ever saw. The Yellow Hen is mighty proud of those children, I
can tell you."

"She has a right to be," agreed the Shaggy Man. "Let me see; that's
about seven thousand chicks she has hatched out; isn't it, General?"

"That, at least," was the reply. "You will have to visit Billina and
congratulate her."

"It will give me pleasure to do that," said the Shaggy Man. "But you
will observe that I have brought some strangers home with me. I am going
to take them to see Dorothy."

"One moment, please," said the soldier, barring their way as they
started to enter the gate. "I am on duty, and I have orders to execute.
Is anyone in your party named Ojo the Unlucky?"

"Why, that's me!" cried Ojo, astonished at hearing his name on the lips
of a stranger.

The Soldier with the Green Whiskers nodded. "I thought so," said he,
"and I am sorry to announce that it is my painful duty to arrest you."

"Arrest me!" exclaimed the boy. "What for?"

"I haven't looked to see," answered the soldier. Then he drew a paper
from his breast pocket and glanced at it. "Oh, yes; you are to be
arrested for wilfully breaking one of the Laws of Oz."

"Breaking a law!" said Scraps. "Nonsense, Soldier; you're joking."

"Not this time," returned the soldier, with a sigh. "My dear child--what
are you, a rummage sale or a guess-me-quick?--in me you behold the
Body-Guard of our gracious Ruler, Princess Ozma, as well as the Royal
Army of Oz and the Police Force of the Emerald City."

"And only one man!" exclaimed the Patchwork Girl.

[Illustration]

"Only one, and plenty