rincess Ozma of Oz was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, well," said Ugu when the invaders had stood in silence for a
moment, staring about them. "This visit is an unexpected pleasure, I
assure you. I knew you were coming, and I know why you are here. You
are not welcome, for I cannot use any of you to my advantage, but as
you have insisted on coming, I hope you will make the afternoon call as
brief as possible. It won't take long to transact your business with
me. You will ask me for Ozma, and my reply will be that you may find
her--if you can."

"Sir," answered the Wizard in a tone of rebuke, "you are a very wicked
and cruel person. I suppose you imagine, because you have stolen this
poor woman's dishpan and all the best magic in Oz, that you are more
powerful than we are and will be able to triumph over us."

"Yes," said Ugu the Shoemaker, slowly filling his pipe with fresh
tobacco from a silver bowl that stood beside him, "that is exactly what
I imagine. It will do you no good to demand from me the girl who was
formerly the Ruler of Oz, because I will not tell you where I have
hidden her, and you can't guess in a thousand years. Neither will I
restore to you any of the magic I have captured. I am not so foolish.
But bear this in mind: I mean to be the Ruler of Oz myself, hereafter,
so I advise you to be careful how you address your future Monarch."

"Ozma is still Ruler of Oz, wherever you may have hidden her," declared
the Wizard. "And bear this in mind, miserable Shoemaker: we intend to
find her and to rescue her in time, but our first duty and pleasure
will be to conquer you and then punish you for your misdeeds."

"Very well, go ahead and conquer," said Ugu. "I'd really like to see
how you can do it."

Now although the little Wizard had spoken so boldly, he had at the
moment no idea how they might conquer the magician. He had that
morning given the Frogman, at his request, a dose of zosozo from his
bottle, and the Frogman had promised to fight a good fight if it was
necessary, but the Wizard knew that strength alone could not avail
against magical arts. The toy Bear King seemed to have some pretty
good magic, however, and the Wizard depended to an extent on that. But
something ought to be done right away, and the Wizard didn't know what
it was.

While he considered this perplexing question and the others stood
looking at him as their leader, a queer thing happened. The floor of
the great circular