I wish--Oh, how earnestly I wish--that I
was back there this minute!"
"So do I!" yelled every officer in a fervent
tone.
Now, it is time for the reader to know that in
the far-away Land of Oz the lovely Ruler, Ozma,
had been following the adventures of her Shaggy
Man, and Tik-Tok, and all the others they had met.
Day by day Ozma, with the wonderful Wizard of Oz
seated beside her, had gazed upon a Magic Picture
in a radium frame, which occupied one side of the
Ruler's cosy boudoir in the palace of the Emerald
City. The singular thing about this Magic Picture
was that it showed whatever scene Ozma wished to
see, with the figures all in motion, just as it
was taking place. So Ozma and the Wizard had
watched every action of the adventurers from the
time Shaggy had met shipwrecked Betsy and Hank in
the Rose Kingdom, at which time the Rose Princess,
a distant cousin of Ozma, had been exiled by her
heartless subjects.
When Ann and her people so earnestly wished to
return to Oogaboo, Ozma was sorry for them and
remembered that Oogaboo was a corner of the Land
of Oz. She turned to her attendant and asked:
"Can not your magic take these unhappy people to
their old home, Wizard?"
"It can, Your Highness," replied the little
Wizard.
"I think the poor Queen has suffered enough in
her misguided effort to conquer the world," said
Ozma, smiling at the absurdity of the undertaking,
"so no doubt she will hereafter be contented in
her own little Kingdom.
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