tefully to all his subjects and then went away to
see if he could find any cake in the royal pantry.

Ozma of Oz and her people, as well as Dorothy, Tiktok and Billina, were
splendidly entertained by the Queen mother, who owed all her happiness
to their kind offices; and that evening the yellow hen was publicly
presented with a beautiful necklace of pearls and sapphires, as a token
of esteem from the new King.

[Illustration]

The Emerald City

[Illustration]

Dorothy decided to accept Ozma's invitation to return with her to the
Land of Oz. There was no greater chance of her getting home from Ev than
from Oz, and the little girl was anxious to see once more the country
where she had encountered such wonderful adventures. By this time Uncle
Henry would have reached Australia in his ship, and had probably given
her up for lost; so he couldn't worry any more than he did if she stayed
away from him a while longer. So she would go to Oz.

They bade good-bye to the people of Ev, and the King promised Ozma that
he would ever be grateful to her and render the Land of Oz any service
that might lie within his power.

And then they approached the edge of the dangerous desert, and Ozma
threw down the magic carpet, which at once unrolled far enough for all
of them to walk upon it without being crowded.

Tiktok, claiming to be Dorothy's faithful follower because he belonged
to her, had been permitted to join the party, and before they started
the girl wound up his machinery as far as possible, and the copper man
stepped off as briskly as any one of them.

Ozma also invited Billina to visit the Land of Oz, and the yellow hen
was glad enough to go where new sights and scenes awaited her.

They began the trip across the desert early in the morning, and as they
stopped only long enough for Billina to lay her daily egg, before sunset
they espied the green slopes and wooded hills of the beautiful Land of
Oz. They entered it in the Munchkin territory, and the King of the
Munchkins met them at the border and welcomed Ozma with great respect,
being very pleased by her safe return. For Ozma of Oz ruled the King of
the Munchkins, the King of the Winkies, the King of the Quadlings and
the King of the Gillikins just as those kings ruled their own people;
and this supreme ruler of the Land of Oz lived in a great town of her
own, called the Emerald City, which was in the exact center of the four
kingdoms of the Land of Oz.

Th