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"First tell us where we are," begged the little girl, for the Scarecrow's silver
hat and queue filled her with alarm.
"You are on the Silver Island," said the Scarecrow slowly. "And I am the
Emperor--or his good-for-nothing spirit--and tomorrow," the Scarecrow
glared around wildly, "tomorrow I'll be eighty-five going on eighty-six." His
voice broke and ended in a barely controlled sob.
"
Doubt that," drawled the Doubtful Dromedary sleepily.
"
Eighty-five years old!" gasped Dorothy. "Why, no one in Oz grows any
older!"
"
We are no longer in Oz." The Scarecrow shook his head sadly. Then, fixing
the group with a puzzled stare, he exclaimed, "But how did you get here?"
"On a wish," said the Knight in a hollow voice.
"Yes," said Dorothy, "we've been hunting you all over Oz, and at last we
came to Wish Way, and I said 'I wish we were all with the Scarecrow,' just
like that--and next minute--"
"We fell and fell--and fell--and fell," wheezed the Comfortable Camel.
"And fell--and fell--and fell--and fell," droned the Dromedary, "And--"
"Here you are," finished the Scarecrow hastily, for the Dromedary showed
signs of going on forever.
"Now tell us every single thing that has happened to you," demanded
Dorothy eagerly.
Happy Toko had recognized Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion from the
Scarecrow's description, and he now approached with an arm full of
cushions. These he set in a circle on the floor, with one for the Scarecrow in
the center, and with a warning finger on his lips placed himself behind his
Master.
"
Tappy is right!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "We must be as quiet as possible,
for a great danger hangs over me."
Without more ado, he told them of his amazing fall down the beanstalk; of
his adventures on Silver Island; of his sons and grandsons and the
Gheewizard's elixir which would turn him from a lively Scarecrow into an
old, old Emperor. All that I have told you, he told Dorothy, up to the very
point where his eldest son had bound him to the bean pole and tied up poor,
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