e me your sword," commanded the Scarecrow, "and I'll cut you
off."

Dorothy, with great difficulty, kept the parasol close to the Knight
while the Scarecrow reached for the sword. But Sir Hokus backed away
in alarm.

"'Tis part of me, an' you cut it off, I will be cut off, too. 'Tis
rooted in my back," he puffed.

"What shall we do?" cried Dorothy in distress. "Maybe if we take hold
of his hands we can keep him from going any higher."

The Scarecrow, jamming down his hat so it wouldn't blow off, nodded
approvingly, and each holding the parasol with one hand gave the
other to the Knight. And when Dorothy pointed the parasol down, to
her great delight Sir Hokus came also, the thin green branch growing
just about as fast as they moved.

Just then the little fan, which had been rolling around merrily in
Dorothy's pocket, slipped out and fell straight down toward the three
unsuspecting beasts below. Draft! No wonder!

But Dorothy never missed it, and quite unconscious of such a calamity
anxiously talked over the Knight's predicament with the Scarecrow.
They both decided that the best plan was to fly straight to the
Emerald City and have Ozma release the Knight from the enchanted
beanstalk.

"I'm sorry you got tangled up in my family tree, old fellow," said
the Scarecrow after they had flown some time in silence, "but this
makes us relations, doesn't it?" He winked broadly at the Knight.

"So it does," said Sir Hokus jovially. "I'm a branch of your family
now. Yet methinks I should not have swallowed that bean."

"Bean?" questioned Dorothy. "What bean?" The Knight carefully
explained how he had plucked a handful of red beans from the
beanstalk just before reaching the top of the tube and how he had
eaten one.

"So that's what started you growing!" exclaimed Dorothy in surprise.

"Alas, yes!" admitted the Knight. "I've never felt more grown-up in
my life," he finished solemnly. "An adventurous country, this Oz!"

"I should say it was," chuckled the Scarecrow. "But isn't it almost
time we were reaching the Emerald City, Dorothy?"

"I think I'm going in the right direction," answered the little girl,
"but I'll fly a little lower to be sure."

"Not too fast! Not too fast!" warned Sir Hokus, looking nervously
over his shoulder at his long, wriggling stem.

"There's Ozma's palace!" cried the Scarecrow all at once.

"And there's Ozma!" screamed Dorothy, peering down delightedly. "And
Scraps and Tik-Tok and every