tants. The nearer
the travelers came to the great city the more prosperous the country
became, and they crossed many bridges over the sparkling streams and
rivulets that watered the lands.

As they walked leisurely along the shaggy man said to the Tin Woodman:

"What sort of a Magic Powder was it that made your friend the
Pumpkinhead live?"

"It was called the Powder of Life," was the answer; "and it was
invented by a crooked Sorcerer who lived in the mountains of the North
Country. A Witch named Mombi got some of this powder from the crooked
Sorcerer and took it home with her. Ozma lived with the Witch then,
for it was before she became our Princess, while Mombi had transformed
her into the shape of a boy. Well, while Mombi was gone to the crooked
Sorcerer's, the boy made this pumpkin-headed man to amuse himself, and
also with the hope of frightening the Witch with it when she returned.
But Mombi was not scared, and she sprinkled the Pumpkinhead with her
Magic Powder of Life, to see if the Powder would work. Ozma was
watching, and saw the Pumpkinhead come to life; so that night she took
the pepper-box containing the Powder and ran away with it and with
Jack, in search of adventures.

"Next day they found a wooden Saw-Horse standing by the roadside, and
sprinkled it with the Powder. It came to life at once, and Jack
Pumpkinhead rode the Saw-Horse to the Emerald City."

"What became of the Saw-Horse, afterward?" asked the shaggy man, much
interested in this story.

"Oh, it's alive yet, and you will probably meet it presently in the
Emerald City. Afterward, Ozma used the last of the Powder to bring the
Flying Gump to life; but as soon as it had carried her away from her
enemies the Gump was taken apart, so it doesn't exist any more."

"It's too bad the Powder of Life was all used up," remarked the shaggy
man; "it would be a handy thing to have around."

"I am not so sure of that, sir," answered the Tin Woodman. "A while
ago the crooked Sorcerer who invented the Magic Powder fell down a
precipice and was killed. All his possessions went to a relative--an
old woman named Dyna, who lives in the Emerald City. She went to the
mountains where the Sorcerer had lived and brought away everything she
thought of value. Among them was a small bottle of the Powder of Life;
but of course Dyna didn't know it was a Magic Powder, at all. It
happened she had once had a big blue bear for a pet; but the bear
choked to d