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Why?" asked Button-Bright.

There wasn't any use making all our people unhappy till we were dead certain

that Ozma can't be found."

Pshaw," said Button-Bright, "it's nothing to get lost. I've been lost lots of

times."

That's true," admitted Trot, who knew that the boy had a habit of getting lost

and then finding himself again, "but it's diff'rent with Ozma. She's the Ruler

of all this big fairyland, and we're 'fraid that the reason she's lost is because

somebody has stolen her away."

Only wicked people steal," said Ojo. "Do you know of any wicked people in

Oz, Dorothy?"

No," she replied.

They're here, though," cried Scraps, dancing up to them and then circling

around the group. "Ozma's stolen; someone in Oz stole her; only wicked

people steal; so someone in Oz is wicked!"

There was no denying the truth of this statement. The faces of all of them

were now solemn and sorrowful. "One thing is sure," said Button-Bright after

a time, "if Ozma has been stolen, someone ought to find her and punish the

thief."

There may be a lot of thieves," suggested Trot gravely, "and in this fairy

country they don't seem to have any soldiers or policemen."

There is one soldier," claimed Dorothy.

He has green whiskers and a gun and is a Major-General, but no one is afraid

of either his gun or his whiskers, 'cause he's so tender-hearted that he

wouldn't hurt a fly."

Well, a soldier is a soldier," said Betsy, "and perhaps he'd hurt a wicked thief

if he wouldn't hurt a fly. Where is he?"

He went fishing about two months ago and hasn't come back yet," explained

Button-Bright.

Then I can't see that he will be of much use to us in this trouble," sighed little

Trot. "But p'raps Ozma, who is a fairy, can get away from the thieves without

any help from anyone."

The Lost Princess of Oz