came evident that the whole vast room was slowly turning
upside down! Only Ugu the Shoemaker, kept in place by the bars of his
golden cage, remained in his former position, and the wicked magician
seemed to enjoy the surprise of his victims immensely.

First, they all slid down to the wall back of them, but as the room
continued to turn over they next slid down the wall and found themselves
at the bottom of the great dome, bumping against the big chandelier
which, like everything else, was now upside-down.

The turning movement now stopped and the room became stationary. Looking
far up, they saw Ugu suspended in his cage at the very top, which had
once been the floor.

"Ah," said he, grinning down at them, "the way to conquer is to act, and
he who acts promptly is sure to win. This makes a very good prison, from
which I am sure you cannot escape. Please amuse yourselves in any way
you like, but I must beg you to excuse me, as I have business in another
part of my castle."

[Illustration]

Saying this, he opened a trap door in the floor of his cage (which was
now over his head) and climbed through it and disappeared from their
view. The diamond dishpan still remained in the cage, but the bars kept
it from falling down on their heads.

"Well, I declare!" said the Patchwork Girl, seizing one of the bars of
the chandelier and swinging from it, "we must peg one for the Shoemaker,
for he has trapped us very cleverly."

"Get off my foot, please," said the Lion to the Sawhorse.

"And oblige me, Mr. Mule," remarked the Woozy, "by taking your tail out
of my left eye."

"It's rather crowded down here," explained Dorothy, "because the dome is
rounding and we have all slid into the middle of it. But let us keep as
quiet as possible until we can think what's best to be done."

"Dear, dear!" wailed Cayke; "I wish I had my darling dishpan," and she
held her arms longingly toward it.

"I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there," sighed the Wizard.

"Don't you s'pose we could get to it?" asked Trot anxiously.

"We'd have to fly," laughed the Patchwork Girl.

But the Wizard took the suggestion seriously, and so did the Frogman.
They talked it over and soon planned an attempt to reach the shelves
where the magical instruments were. First the Frogman lay against the
rounding dome and braced his foot on the stem of the chandelier; then
the Wizard climbed over him and lay on the dome with his feet on the
Frogman's shou