to go, too," added Trot.

"All right," said Dorothy. "I'll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she will
let us take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be much nicer
for us than having to walk all the way. This Land of Oz is a pretty
big place when you get to all the edges of it."

So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace until
she came to the royal suite, which filled all the front of the second
floor. In a little waiting room sat Ozma's maid, Jellia Jamb, who was
busily sewing. "Is Ozma up yet?" inquired Dorothy.

"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word from
her this morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her
breakfast, and it is far past her usual time for them."

"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Yes," agreed the maid, "but of course no harm could have happened to
her. No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, and Ozma is
herself a powerful fairy, and she has no enemies so far as we know.
Therefore I am not at all worried about her, though I must admit her
silence is unusual."

"Perhaps," said Dorothy thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or she may
be reading or working out some new sort of magic to do good to her
people."

"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I haven't
dared disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a privileged
character, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't mind at all if
you went in to see her."

"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer
chamber, she went in. All was still here. She walked into another
room, which was Ozma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery
richly broidered with threads of pure gold, the girl entered the
sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of Oz. The bed of ivory and gold was
vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of Ozma was to be found.

Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happened
to her friend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other rooms
of the suite. She went into the music room, the library, the
laboratory, the bath, the wardrobe, and even into the great throne
room, which adjoined the royal suite, but in none of these places could
she find Ozma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, Jellia
Jamb, and said:

"She isn't in her rooms now, so she must have gone out."

"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her,"
replied Jellia