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the Tin Woodman. "Therefore I believe it is a good thing that all the Magic

Powder of Life is now used up, as it can not cause any more trouble."

Perhaps you're right," said the shaggy man, thoughtfully.

At noon they stopped at a farmhouse, where it delighted the farmer and his

wife to be able to give them a good luncheon. The farm people knew Dorothy,

having seen her when she was in the country before, and they treated the little

girl with as much respect as they did the Emperor, because she was a friend

of the powerful Princess Ozma.

They had not proceeded far after leaving this farm-house before coming to a

high bridge over a broad river. This river, the Tin Woodman informed them,

was the boundary between the Country of the Winkies and the territory of the

Emerald City. The city itself was still a long way off, but all around it was a

green meadow as pretty as a well-kept lawn, and in this were neither houses

nor farms to spoil the beauty of the scene.

From the top of the high bridge they could see far away the magnificent spires

and splendid domes of the superb city, sparkling like brilliant jewels as they

towered above the emerald walls. The shaggy man drew a deep breath of awe

and amazement, for never had he dreamed that such a grand and beautiful

place could exist--even in the fairyland of Oz.

Polly was so pleased that her violet eyes sparkled like amethysts, and she

danced away from her companions across the bridge and into a group of

feathery trees lining both the roadsides. These trees she stopped to look at

with pleasure and surprise, for their leaves were shaped like ostrich plumes,

their feather edges beautifully curled; and all the plumes were tinted in the

same dainty rainbow hues that appeared in Polychrome's own pretty gauze

gown.

Father ought to see these trees," she murmured; "they are almost as lovely as

his own rainbows."

Then she gave a start of terror, for beneath the trees came stalking two great

beasts, either one big enough to crush the little Daughter of the Rainbow with

one blow of his paws, or to eat her up with one snap of his enormous jaws.

One was a tawny lion, as tall as a horse, nearly; the other a striped tiger

almost the same size.

Polly was too frightened to scream or to stir; she stood still with a wildly

beating heart until Dorothy rushed past her and with a glad cry threw her

The Road to Oz