one end of the rope and called to Glinda to sit in the chair while he
and some of the Skeezers lowered her to the pavement. In this way the
Sorceress reached the ground quite comfortably and the three Adepts and
Ervic soon followed her.

The Skeezers quickly recognized the three Adepts at Magic, whom they
had learned to respect before their wicked Queen betrayed them, and
welcomed them as friends. All the inhabitants of the village had been
greatly frightened by their imprisonment under water, but now realized
that an attempt was to be made to rescue them.

Glinda, the Wizard and the Adepts followed Ozma and Dorothy into the
palace, and they asked Lady Aurex and Ervic to join them. After Ozma
had told of her adventures in trying to prevent war between the
Flatheads and the Skeezers, and Glinda had told all about the Rescue
Expedition and the restoration of the three Adepts by the help of
Ervic, a serious consultation was held as to how the island could be
made to rise.

"I've tried every way in my power," said Ozma, "but Coo-ee-oh used a
very unusual sort of magic which I do not understand. She seems to have
prepared her witchcraft in such a way that a spoken word is necessary
to accomplish her designs, and these spoken words are known only to
herself."

"That is a method we taught her," declared Aurah the Adept.

"I can do no more, Glinda," continued Ozma, "so I wish you would try
what your sorcery can accomplish."

"First, then," said Glinda, "let us visit the basement of the island,
which I am told is underneath the village."

A flight of marble stairs led from one of Coo-ee-oh's private rooms
down to the basement, but when the party arrived all were puzzled by
what they saw. In the center of a broad, low room, stood a mass of
great cog-wheels, chains and pulleys, all interlocked and seeming to
form a huge machine; but there was no engine or other motive power to
make the wheels turn.

"This, I suppose, is the means by which the island is lowered or
raised," said Ozma, "but the magic word which is needed to move the
machinery is unknown to us."

The three Adepts were carefully examining the mass of wheels, and soon
the golden-haired one said:

"These wheels do not control the island at all. On the contrary, one
set of them is used to open the doors of the little rooms where the
submarines are kept, as may be seen from the chains and pulleys used.
Each boat is kept in a little room with two doors, one to