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27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz

The Nome King and his terrible allies sat at the banquet table until

midnight. There was much quarreling between the Growleywogs and

Phanfasms, and one of the wee-headed Whimsies got angry at General

Guph and choked him until he nearly stopped breathing. Yet no one was

seriously hurt, and the Nome King felt much relieved when the clock

struck twelve and they all sprang up and seized their weapons.

Aha!" shouted the First and Foremost. "Now to conquer the Land of Oz!"

He marshaled his Phanfasms in battle array and at his word of command

they marched into the tunnel and began the long journey through it to

the Emerald City. The First and Foremost intended to take all the

treasures of Oz for himself; to kill all who could be killed and enslave the

rest; to destroy and lay waste the whole country, and afterward to

conquer and enslave the Nomes, the Growleywogs and the Whimsies.

And he knew his power was sufficient to enable him to do all these things

easily.

Next marched into the tunnel the army of gigantic Growleywogs, with

their Grand Gallipoot at their head. They were dreadful beings, indeed,

and longed to get to Oz that they might begin to pilfer and destroy. The

Grand Gallipoot was a little afraid of the First and Foremost, but had a

cunning plan to murder or destroy that powerful being and secure the

wealth of Oz for himself. Mighty little of the plunder would the Nome

King get, thought the Grand Gallipoot.

The Chief of the Whimsies now marched his false-headed forces into the

tunnel. In his wicked little head was a plot to destroy both the First and

Foremost and the Grand Gallipoot. He intended to let them conquer Oz,

since they insisted on going first; but he would afterward treacherously

destroy them, as well as King Roquat, and keep all the slaves and

treasure of Ozma's kingdom for himself.

After all his dangerous allies had marched into the tunnel the Nome King

and General Guph started to follow them, at the head of fifty thousand

Nomes, all fully armed.

Guph," said the King, "those creatures ahead of us mean mischief. They

intend to get everything for themselves and leave us nothing."

The Emerald City of Oz