WIZARD OF OZ - Complete Series. L. Frank Baum

the glass palace was quite big enough for the horse and buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children found themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people at once followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious room, leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy the center of the hall.

      “Come to us, oh, Gwig!” called the man, in a loud voice.

      Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared and rolled over the floor; then it slowly spread and ascended into the dome, disclosing a strange personage seated upon a glass throne just before Jim’s nose. He was formed just as were the other inhabitants of this land and his clothing only differed from theirs in being bright yellow. But he had no hair at all, and all over his bald head and face and upon the backs of his hands grew sharp thorns like those found on the branches of rosebushes. There was even a thorn upon the tip of his nose and he looked so funny that Dorothy laughed when she saw him.

      The Sorcerer, hearing the laugh, looked toward the little girl with cold, cruel eyes, and his glance made her grow sober in an instant.

      “Why have you dared to intrude your unwelcome persons into the secluded Land of the Mangaboos?” he asked, sternly.

      “‘Cause we couldn’t help it,” said Dorothy.

      “Why did you wickedly and viciously send the Rain of Stones to crack and break our houses?” he continued.

      “We didn’t,” declared the girl.

      “Prove it!” cried the Sorcerer.

      “We don’t have to prove it,” answered Dorothy, indignantly. “If you had any sense at all you’d known it was the earthquake.”

      “We only know that yesterday came a Rain of Stones upon us, which did much damage and injured some of our people. Today came another Rain of Stones, and soon after it you appeared among us.”

      “By the way,” said the man with the star, looking steadily at the Sorcerer, “you told us yesterday that there would not be a second Rain of Stones. Yet one has just occurred that was even worse than the first. What is your sorcery good for if it cannot tell us the truth?”

      “My sorcery does tell the truth!” declared the thorn-covered man. “I said there would be but one Rain of Stones. This second one was a Rain of People-and-Horse-and-Buggy. And some stones came with them.”

      “Will there be any more Rains?” asked the man with the star.

      “No, my Prince.”

      “Neither stones nor people?”

      “No, my Prince.”

      “Are you sure?”

      “Quite sure, my Prince. My sorcery tells me so.”

      Just then a man came running into the hall and addressed the Prince after making a low bow.

      “More wonders in the air, my Lord,” said he.

      Immediately the Prince and all of his people flocked out of the hall into the street, that they might see what was about to happen. Dorothy and Zeb jumped out of the buggy and ran after them, but the Sorcerer remained calmly in his throne.

      Far up in the air was an object that looked like a balloon. It was not so high as the glowing star of the six colored suns, but was descending slowly through the air—so slowly that at first it scarcely seemed to move.

      The throng stood still and waited. It was all they could do, for to go away and leave that strange sight was impossible; nor could they hurry its fall in any way. The earth children were not noticed, being so near the average size of the Mangaboos, and the horse had remained in the House of the Sorcerer, with Eureka curled up asleep on the seat of the buggy.

      Gradually the balloon grew bigger, which was proof that it was settling down upon the Land of the Mangaboos. Dorothy was surprised to find how patient the people were, for her own little heart was beating rapidly with excitement. A balloon meant to her some other arrival from the surface of the earth, and she hoped it would be some one able to assist her and Zeb out of their difficulties.

      In an hour the balloon had come near enough for her to see a basket suspended below it; in two hours she could see a head looking over the side of the basket; in three hours the big balloon settled slowly into the great square in which they stood and came to rest on the glass pavement.

      Then a little man jumped out of the basket, took off his tall hat, and bowed very gracefully to the crowd of Mangaboos around him. He was quite an old little man and his head was long and entirely bald.

      “Why,” cried Dorothy, in amazement, “it’s Oz!”

      The little man looked toward her and seemed as much surprised as she was. But he smiled and bowed as he answered:

      “Yes, my dear; I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Eh? And you are little Dorothy, from Kansas. I remember you very well.”

      “Who did you say it was?” whispered Zeb to the girl.

      “It’s the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Haven’t you heard of him?”

      Just then the man with the star came and stood before the Wizard.

      “Sir,” said he, “why are you here, in the Land of the Mangaboos?”

      “Didn’t know what land it was, my son,” returned the other, with a pleasant smile; “and, to be honest, I didn’t mean to visit you when I started out. I live on top of the earth, your honor, which is far better than living inside it; but yesterday I went up in a balloon, and when I came down I fell into a big crack in the earth, caused by an earthquake. I had let so much gas out of my balloon that I could not rise again, and in a few minutes the earth closed over my head. So I continued to descend until I reached this place, and if you will show me a way to get out of it, I’ll go with pleasure. Sorry to have troubled you; but it couldn’t be helped.”

      The Prince had listened with attention. Said he:

      “This child, who is from the crust of the earth, like yourself, called you a Wizard. Is not a Wizard something like a Sorcerer?”

      “It’s better,” replied Oz, promptly. “One Wizard is worth three Sorcerers.”

      “Ah, you shall prove that,” said the Prince. “We Mangaboos have, at the present time, one of the most wonderful Sorcerers that ever was picked from a bush; but he sometimes makes mistakes. Do you ever make mistakes?”

      “Never!” declared the Wizard, boldly.

      “Oh, Oz!” said Dorothy; “you made a lot of mistakes when you were in the marvelous Land of Oz.”

      “Nonsense!” said the little man, turning red—although just then a ray of violet sunlight was on his round face.

      “Come with me,” said the Prince to him. “I wish to meet our Sorcerer.”

      The Wizard did not like this invitation, but he could not refuse to accept it. So he followed the Prince into the great domed hall, and Dorothy and Zeb came after them, while the throng of people trooped in also.

      There sat the thorny Sorcerer in his chair of state, and when the Wizard saw him he began to laugh, uttering comical little chuckles.

      “What an absurd creature!” he exclaimed.

      “He may look absurd,” said the Prince, in his quiet voice; “but he is an excellent Sorcerer. The only fault I find with him is that he is so often wrong.”

      “I am never wrong,” answered the Sorcerer.

      “Only a short time ago you told me there would be no more Rain of Stones or of People,” said the Prince.

      “Well, what then?”

      “Here is another person descended from the air to prove you were wrong.”

      “One person