ntil we bump through?" panted Dorothy
anxiously.

"No, by my hilts!" roared Sir Hokus, and setting his foot in a notch
of the beanstalk, he cut with his sword the rope that bound him to
the parasol. "Put the parasol down half way, and I'll climb ahead and
cut an opening."

With great difficulty Dorothy partially lowered the parasol, and
instantly their speed diminished. Indeed, they barely moved at all,
and the Knight had soon passed them on his climb to the top.

"Are you there?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion anxiously. A great clod of
earth landed on his head, filling his eyes and mouth with mud.

"Ugh!" roared the lion.

"It's getting light! It's getting light!" screamed Dorothy, and in
her excitement snapped the parasol up.

Sir Hokus, having cut with his sword a large circular hole in the
thin crust of earth covering the tube, was about to step out when the
parasol, hurling up from below, caught him neatly on its top, and out
burst the whole party and sailed up almost to the clouds!

"Welcome to Oz!" cried Dorothy, looking down happily on the dear
familiar Munchkin landscape.

"Home at last!" exulted the Scarecrow, wafting a kiss downward.

"Let's get down to earth before we knock the sun into a cocked hat,"
gasped the Cowardly Lion, for Dorothy, in her excitement, had
forgotten to lower the parasol.

Now the little girl lowered the parasol carefully at first, then
faster and faster and finally shut it altogether.

Sir Hokus took a high dive from the top. Down tumbled the others,
over and over. But fortunately for all, there was a great haystack
below, and upon this they landed in a jumbled heap close to the magic
bean pole. As it happened, there was no one in sight. Up they jumped
in a trice, and while the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedary
munched contentedly at the hay, Sir Hokus and the Scarecrow placed
some loose boards over the opening around the bean pole and covered
them with dirt and cornstalks.

"I will get Ozma to close it properly with the Magic Belt," said the
Scarecrow gravely. "It wouldn't do to have people sliding down my
family tree and scaring poor Tappy. As for me, I shall never leave Oz
again!"

"I hope not," growled the Cowardly Lion, tenderly examining his
scratched hide.

"But if you hadn't, I'd never have had such lovely adventures or
found Sir Hokus and the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedary,"
said Dorothy. "And what a lot I have to tell Ozma! Let's go straight
t