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You don't know what you're talking about," continued the General,

seating himself upon a large cut diamond. "I advise you to stand in a

corner and count sixty before you speak again. By that time you may be

more sensible."

The King looked around for something to throw at General Blug, but as

nothing was handy he began to consider that perhaps the man was right

and he had been talking foolishly. So he merely threw himself into his

glittering throne and tipped his crown over his ear and curled his feet up

under him and glared wickedly at Blug.

In the first place," said the General, "we cannot march across the deadly

desert to the Land of Oz. And if we could, the Ruler of that country,

Princess Ozma, has certain fairy powers that would render my army

helpless. Had you not lost your Magic Belt we might have some chance

of defeating Ozma; but the Belt is gone."

I want it!" screamed the King. "I must have it."

Well, then, let us try in a sensible way to get it," replied the General.

The Belt was captured by a little girl named Dorothy, who lives in

Kansas, in the United States of America."

But she left it in the Emerald City, with Ozma," declared the King.

How do you know that?" asked the General.

One of my spies, who is a Blackbird, flew over the desert to the Land of

Oz, and saw the Magic Belt in Ozma's palace," replied the King with a

groan.

Now that gives me an idea," said General Blug, thoughtfully. "There are

two ways to get to the Land of Oz without traveling across the sandy

desert."

What are they?" demanded the King, eagerly.

One way is OVER the desert, through the air; and the other way is

UNDER the desert, through the earth."

Hearing this the Nome King uttered a yell of joy and leaped from his

throne, to resume his wild walk up and down the cavern.

The Emerald City of Oz