The Silver Princess in Oz
BY RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON
Reilly & Lee edition, copyright 1938 but not renewed
Public domain
(34,405 words)

CHAPTER 1
THE KING REBELS
In a faraway northwestern corner of the Gilliken Country of Oz lies the
 rugged little Kingdom of Regalia, and in an airy and elegant castle set
 high on the tallest mountain lives Randy, its brave young King. When the
 Regalians are not busy celebrating one of their seventy-seven national
 holidays, they are busy tending their flocks of goats or looking after the
 vines that cover every mountain and hill, producing the largest and most
 luscious grapes in Oz. These proud and independent mountain folk have much
 to recommend them, and if they consider themselves superior to any and all
 of the other natives in Oz, we must not blame them too much. Perhaps the
 sharp, clear air and high altitude in which they live is responsible for
 their top-lofty attitude. Randy, it must be confessed, found the stiff and
 unbending manner of his subjects and their correct and formal behavior on
 all occasions stuffy in the extreme; and of all the stuffy occasions he had
 to endure, the weekly court reception was the stuffiest. Just as I started
 this story, he was winding up another of these royal and boring affairs.
"Hail! Hail! Give Majesty its proper due,
Hail Randywell, King Handywell of Brandenburg and Bompadoo!
Boom! BOOM! BOOM!"
At each crash of the drums, the young King winced and shuddered, then,
 pulling himself together, he nodded resignedly to his richly attired
 courtiers and subjects who were retiring backwards from the royal presence.
 As the last bowing figure swished through the double doors, Randy gave a
 huge sigh and groan. This was his three hundred and tenth reception since
 ascending the throne. Ahead stretched hundreds more, besides the daily
 courts where he acted as presiding Judge to settle all disputes of the
 realm; countless reviewings of troops; inspections of model goat farms; and
 attendance at numerous celebrations for national heroes of Regalia.
"Oh, being a King is awful," choked the youthful monarch, loosening his
 regal cape and letting it fall unheeded to the floor. "AWFUL! Will it
 always be like this, Uncle?"
"Like what?" His uncle, the Grand Duke Hoochafoo, who was still inclining
 his head mechanically in the direction of the door, caught himself abruptly
 in the middle of a bow.
"Oh, all this silly standing round and being bowed at, this `Hail! Hail! and
 Way for His Majesty!' stuff. Galloping Collopers, Uncle, I'd like to step
 out by myself occasionally without twenty footmen springing to open doors
 and fifty pages tooting on their blasted trumpets. Why, I cannot even cross
 the courtyard that a dozen guardsmen do not fall in behind me!" Flouncing
 over to the window, Randy stared out over the royal terrace. "Even the
 goats on the mountain have more fun than I do," he observed bitterly. "They
 can run, jump, climb and even butt one another, whileC4" Randy let his
 arms fall heavily at his sides. "I have not even anyone to fight with. If
 just ONCE somebody would punch me in the nose instead of bowing." Randy
 clenched and unclenched his fists.
"Hm-mm!! So that's what you want!" Looking quizzically at his young nephew,
 Uncle Hoochafoo crossed to the bell rope and gave it a savage ring. As
 Randy's personal servant and valet appeared to answer the ring, he spoke
 sharply, "Dawkins, kindly hit His Majesty on the nose!"
"The nose? Oh, but Your Lordship, I couldn't do a thing like that. 'Tisn't
 right, nor fitting C4 nor C4"
"I said hit him in the nose," commanded Uncle Hoochafoo, advancing grimly
 upon the terrified valet.
"Yes, yes, like this!" Bringing up his fist, Randy made such a splendid
 connection with the valet's nose, Dawkins toppled over backwards. Dancing
 from one foot to the other as the outraged servant sprang to his feet,
 Randy prepared to defend himself. But with his hand clapped to his nose,
 Dawkins was retiring rapidly. "Thank you!" he muttered in a strangled
 voice, "thank you very much!"
"Did you hear that? He said `Thank you,'FF20" screamed Randy as Dawkins
 disappeared with an agitated bow. "Oh, this is too much; I wish I were back
 with Nandywog in Tripedalia C4 or anywhere but here, doing nothing but
 this."
"Now, now! Don't take things so hard," begged his uncle, patting him kindly
 on the shoulder.
"Hard?" Randy glared at the old nobleman. "I can take things hard, Uncle,
 but I cannot take them soft. I'll never forgive my father for getting me
 into this C4 NEVER!" Randy's father, former King of Regalia, tiring of a
 royal life and routine, had retired to a distant cave to live the life of a
 hermit, and Randy, after traveling all over Oz to fulfill the seven
 difficult tests required of a Regalian ruler, had succeeded to the throne.
"You should not speak like that of your royal parent," chided Uncle
 Hoochafoo, tapping his spectacles absently against his teeth, "for you are
 very much like him, my boy, very much like him. Hmm! Hmm! Harumph!" Uncle
 Hoochafoo cleared his throat thoughtfully. "What you need is a change, a
 new interest. Ah, I have it! You must marry, my lad, you must marry! Some
 pretty little Princess or rich young Queen, and then everything will be
 punjanoobious!"
"Is being married anything like being a King?" inquired Randy suspiciously.
"Oh, no. No, indeed, quite the reverse." The eyes of the old Duke, who had
 once been married, grew glazed and pensive. "Once you are married, you will
 feel less like a King every day," he promised solemnly. "And the arguments
 alone will keep you occupied for hours." Uncle Hoochafoo raised both
 shoulders and eyebrows. "Wait, I'll just go consult the wise men about a
 proper Princess for you."
"No! No! I do not wish to be married," announced Randy, stamping his foot.
 "I'll not marry for years," he declared stubbornly. Then, as loud outcries
 and tremendous thumps interrupted them, he hurried over to an open window
 just in time to meet a large rock that came crashing through the amethyst
 pane.
"Look out!" blustered Uncle Hoochafoo, jerking Randy to his feet, for the
 rock had completely bowled him over. "Well, I see you have your wish. How's
 that for a knock in the nose, my lad? Not only the nose, but also the
 beginning of a beautiful black eye!"
"Have I really?" Racing over to a mirror, Randy proudly examined his injured
 orb. "Oh, Uncle, isn't this fun? Who did it? What's up, d'ye s'pose C4 a
 revolution?" Hurrying back to the window, Randy recklessly thrust out his
 head to stare down into the courtyard. Kayub, the Gatekeeper, had his
 shoulder braced against the gold-studded doors in the castle wall, but even
 so the doors were bulging and creaking from the thunderous blows struck
 from the other side.
"Open in the name of the LAW!" boomed a tremendous voice. Thump! Thump!
 Kerbang! "OPEN in the name of a Prince of the Realm! Open this door, you
 unmannerly Scuppernong!"
"No, no, stay where you are!" panted Kayub, waving desperately with one arm
 for the guards to come help him. "Stay where you are, or go to the rear
 entrance! Who do you think you are, hammering on the doors of His Majesty's
 castle?"
"I don't think, I know!" raged the voice from the other side of the wall. "I
 am a Prince of Pumperdink, you unspeakable clod. Open up this door before I
 break it down!" And after even more furious thumps, another shower of rocks
 came flying over the wall.
"Great Gillikens! I think C4 I believe C4 why, it IS! Kayub, Kayub, open
 the door! It is a Prince!" shouted Randy, using both hands as a megaphone.
"FF20`Tis nothing of the sort," grunted the Gatekeeper obstinately. "I
 looked through me little grill but a moment ago, and it's no Prince at all,
 but a parade! A parade of one elephant, if you please, and when I orders
 him to the rear entrance, he ups with his trunk and flings rocks over our
 wall!"
"But this elephant IS a Prince," insisted Randy, banging on the window
 ledge. "Besides, he's a great friend of mine."
"Open the door, fool!" directed Uncle Hoochafoo, leaning so far out the
 window his crown fell to the paving stones. "The King has spoken. Admit
 this elephant at once! At once!"
"And about time," fumed an indignant voice as Kayub reluctantly drew the
 bolts and swinging wide the doors stepped back to let a magnificently
 caparisoned elephant swing through. "A fine welcome this is, I must say,
 for the Elegant Elephant of Oz! Out of my way, wart!" Picking Kayub up in
 his trunk, the visitor jammed him down hard into a golden trash barrel,
 trumpeted fiercely at the double line of guards who had instantly sprung to
 attention, and went swaying across the courtyard.
Now nowhere but in Oz could an elephant talk, much less come hammering on
 the doors of a royal castle, but in Oz, as we very well know, animals talk
 and act as sensibly as people, which makes Oz about ten times as exciting
 as any other country on the map. But while I've been explaining all this,
 Randy had run down the steps and was halfway across the courtyard.
"Kabumpo, KABUMPO, is it really you? Oh, at last C4 AT LAST you are here!"
 Impatiently waving aside the guards, Randy led his mammoth and still
 muttering guest into the palace.
"Kabumpo, is it?" sniffed Kayub, jerking himself with great difficulty out
 of the trash barrel. "Such goings on. Well, all I sayC4" The Gatekeeper
 peered carefully over his shoulder to see that the elephant was safely
 inside the castle, then, raising his arm for the benefit of the staring
 guards, he cried fiercely, "All I can say is C4 just let him show his
 snoot around here again, and I'll kabumpo him down the mountain!"

CHAPTER 2
THE ELEGANT ELEPHANT OF OZ
Fortunately, the doors of Randy's castle were high and wide, and the rooms
 so large and spacious, even a guest as large as this elephant could quite
 easily be accommodated. Still irritated by the Gatekeeper's insolence,
 Kabumpo followed the young ruler to the throne room, where he sank stiffly
 to his haunches and waited in outraged silence for Randy to speak. Randy, h
owever, was so surprised and happy to see his old friend and comrade that he
 could not utter a word. But the Elegant Elephant could not long withstand
 the honest delight and affection beaming from the young King's eyes, and
 under that kindly glow his wrath melted away like fog in the sunshine.
 "Well! Well!" he rumbled testily. "How do I look?"
"Elegant!" breathed Randy, stepping back to have a better view. "Elegant as
 ever. You've worn your best robe and jewels, haven't you?"
"Always wear your best when I call on a King," said Kabumpo, smoothing down
 his embroidered collar complacently with his trunk.
"And I believe you've grown a foot," went on Randy, standing on tiptoe to
 pat Kabumpo on the shoulder.
"A foot," roared the Elegant Elephant, throwing back his head. "Oh, come
 now. I couldn't have grown a foot without noticing it, and I still have but
 four C4 here, count 'em! Say, who in hay bales gave you that black eye?"
"YOU did," Randy fairly spluttered with mirth at Kabumpo's discomfited
 expression. "I was just wishing someone would hit me in the nose, when
 along came that rock, and NOW look at me!"
"Yes," put in Uncle Hoochafoo, regarding Kabumpo severely through his
 monocle. "Now look at him!"
"Well, why didn't you tell that wart of a doorkeeper I was expected?"
 demanded Kabumpo explosively.
"The King of Regalia does not hold conversation with his doorkeeper,"
 explained Randy's uncle, giving the Elegant Elephant a very sour look.
"Oh, he doesn't!" Kabumpo lurched grandly to his feet. "Well, it's time
 somebody told him about the Elegant Elephant of Oz and how he should be
 received and welcomed. Let me tell you, sirrah C4 trumpets blow when I
 come and go in Pumperdink!"
"Then why did you ever leave there?" inquired the Duke coldly.
"Oh, Uncle, don't you remember, we were to review the Purple Guard at five?
 YOU go," urged Randy, fearful lest the tempery old Duke would still further
 insult the even more tempery old elephant. "Honestly, I feel a cold coming
 on." Randy coughed plaintively, at the same time winking at Kabumpo.
"Very well, I'll go," agreed his uncle stiffly. "But do not forget there is
 a dinner for the Grape Growers at seven, a concert of the Goat Herdsmen at
 eight, maneuvers of our Highland Guards in the Royal Barracks at nine,
 andC4"
"Yes, yes! All right!" Randy fairly pushed his royal relative toward the
 door.
"An ancient pest if I ever saw one," grumbled Kabumpo as the Grand Duke
 disappeared with a very grim expression. "Great gooselberries! Do we have
 to do all those dumb things? Why, it's six years since I've seen you,
 Randy, and I kinda thought we'd have a cozy time all to ourselves."
"I never have any time to myself," sighed the young monarch wistfully. "I do
 nothing but lay cornerstones and raise flags and stand around at Royal
 Courts and Receptions. Everybody bows and bows. Why, it's got so I even bow
 to myself when I look in the glass, and NOWC4" Randy raised his arms
 indignantly. "Now Uncle Hoochafoo says I must marry."
"Marry!" trumpeted Kabumpo, twinkling his eyes angrily. "What nonsense! Why,
 you are nowhere near old enough to marry. You were only about ten when I
 met you, and that makes you sixteen now, though I must say you don't look
 it!"
"Oh, no one in Oz looks his age," grinned Randy, "and you know I'd been ten
 for about four years before I knew you, Kabumpo, so that makes me twenty or
 so, doesn't it?"
"I don't care what it makes you," rumbled Kabumpo, "it makes me mad. And to
 think I actually helped get you into all this boring business. My ears and
 trunk, Kingling, it's up to me to get you out of it."
"How?" demanded Randy, folding his arms and leaning despondently against the
 mantel. "How does one stop being a King, Kabumpo?"
"Why, by stopping," announced the Elegant Elephant, spreading his ears to
 their fullest extent. "By taking a vacation, my fine young sprig. By
 departing and going hence for a suitable season. Do you suppose I came all
 the way from Pumperdink to hear Goatherds tootling on bells and Highlanders
 tramping round a barracks? I came to see you, my boy, and nobody else."
 Kabumpo paused to blow his trunk explosively on a violet silk handkerchief.
 "And after that, I thought we'd go and visit the Red Jinn."
"Oh, Kabumpo, could we?" Randy's face brightened and then as quickly fell.
 "I don't believe Uncle Hoochafoo will let me go," he finished dolefully.
"A King does not ask whether or not he may go, he GOES," stated the Elegant
 Elephant, beginning to sway like a ship under full sail. "But to avoid all
 arguments, we'll not start till later. Could you be ready by midnight,
 young one?"
"Oh, I'm ready now," declared Randy, picking up his cloak from the floor and
 snatching a sword from its bracket on the wall. "Why ever did you wait so
 long, Kabumpo? You promised to visit me six months after I was crowned."
"Well, you know how it is at a court." The Elegant Elephant sighed and
 settled back on his haunches again. "If it isn't one thing, it's another,
 but here I am at last. So C4 order up your dinner and a few bales of hay
 and a barrel of cider for me. I crave rest and refreshment."
"And what about the Grape Growers, the Goatherds and Highlanders?" worried
 Randy.
"Oh, them!" exclaimed Kabumpo inelegantly. "Here!" Seizing a pen from the
 royal desk, he scribbled a defiant message on a handy piece of parchment:
 "No admittance under extreme penalty of the Law. Do not disturb! By special
 order of His Majesty, King Randywell Handywell of Brandenburg and
 Bompadoo."
"See, I remembered all your names, and I've used them all!" Opening the door
 with his trunk, Kabumpo impaled the notice on the knob, then quietly closed
 the door and turned the key in the lock. And only once did they open it,
 and then to admit ten flustered footmen with Randy's dinner and Kabumpo's
 cider and hay. To imperious raps, taps and numerous notes thrust under the
 door by the young King's agitated uncle they paid no attention whatever.
 They were too busy talking over old times and the exciting days when they
 had journeyed all over Oz and with the help of Jinnicky, the little Red
 Jinn, saved the Royal Family of Pumperdink from the Witch of Follensby
 Forest.
Pumperdink, as most of you know, is in the north central part of the
 Gilliken Country of Oz, and ruled by King Pompus and Queen Posy. Their son,
 Prince Pompadore, has much to say about affairs in that Kingdom, but it is
 to Kabumpo, his Elegant Elephant, that Pompus turned oftenest for counsel
 and comfort. Given to the King by a celebrated Blue Emperor, Kabumpo has
 proved himself so wise and sagacious, Pompus depends on him for almost
 everything. It is Kabumpo who advises His Majesty when to have his hair cut
 and put aside his woolen underwear, when to go to the dentist, when to turn
 in his old four-horse chariot for a twelve-horse model, when to save money,
 when to spend it, how to get on with neighboring Kings, and how to get on
 without them. In fact, so heavy are the duties and responsibilities of this
 remarkable elephant, 'tis a wonder, even after six years, he managed this
 visit to Randy.
Randy's first meeting with Kabumpo had been more or less by chance. Sent out
 disguised as a poor mountain boy to pass the seven severe tests of Kingship
 required of Regalian Rulers, Randy had happened to come first to the
 Kingdom of Pumperdink and had been hailed before the King as a vagrant. The
 Elegant Elephant, taking an instant fancy to the boy, had insisted that he
 be allowed to stay on as his own royal attendant, and in this comical
 capacity Randy's adventures had begun. For scarcely had he been in the
 palace of Pumperdink a week before Kettywig, the King's brother, and the
 Witch of Follensby Forest, plotting to steal the crown, caused the whole
 royal family to disappear by some strange and fiery magic. Barely missing
 the same fate, Randy and Kabumpo managed to escape. On their way through
 the forest, they met a Soothsayer who told them to seek out the Red Jinn.
 Now no one in Oz had ever heard of this singular personage, but after many
 delays and hair-raising experiences, Randy and Kabumpo finally arrived at
 his splendid red glass castle. Jinnicky, it turned out, was the Wizard of
 Ev, and a merry and strange person he was. Jinnicky's whole body is encased
 in a shiny red jar into which he can retire like a turtle at will, and the
 little Wizard's disposition is so gay and jolly, everyone around him feels
 the same way. Not only did he welcome his visitors, but set off immediately
 to help the Royal Family of Pumperdink out of their misfortunes and
 enchantment. Once in Pumperdink, Randy, with the help of the Red Jinn's
 magic looking-glasses, was able to trace the lost King and his family and
 release them from the witch's spell. But before that, and while he was
 traveling here and there with Kabumpo and Jinnicky, the little Prince was
 fulfilling all the tests and conditions required by the ancient laws of
 Regalia of their Kings. In other words, he had made three true friends,
 served a strange King, saved a Queen, showed bravery in battle, overcome a
 fabulous monster, disenchanted a Princess, and received from a Wizard an
 important magic treasure. And now, looking back on those brave, bright
 days, he could not help thinking that earning his crown had been more fun
 than wearing it.
"I wish we could do it all over again," he mused as Kabumpo, after recalling
 their visit to Nandywog, the little giant, tossed off the last of the
 cider.
"But think where we're going now," gurgled Kabumpo, setting down the barrel
 with a resounding thud. "If something strange or exciting does not happen
 on the way there or back, or in Jinnicky's castle itself, I do not know my
 Oz and Evistery. Can't you just see Jinnicky's face when we arrive? I
 wonder if Alibabble is still Grand Advizier and if the magic dinner bell is
 still working. Yes! Yes? Who's there?" Kabumpo raised his voice irritably
 as a persistent whistling came through the keyhole.
"It's Dawkins," explained an20anxious voice from the other side of the
 door. "The Duke says as it's high time His Highness was in bed, Your
 Highness!"
"Oh, be off with you. Go dive in the feathers yourself. His Highness is
 going to sleep in here on the floor." Kabumpo stood so close and spoke so
 violently through the keyhole, Dawkins was blown back against the opposite
 wall. For a time, footsteps pattered up and down the corridor, then finally
 deciding the young King was to have his own way at last, the footmen and
 courtiers and even Uncle Hoochafoo took themselves off. But not till
 everything was absolutely quiet and still and everyone in the castle asleep
 did Kabumpo and Randy venture forth. Then, stepping softly as his own
 tremendous shadow, the Elegant Elephant with the young King on his back
 slipped through the silent halls and deserted courtyard, past the snoring
 sentries and keeper of the gate, and on out into the foresty Highlands
 beyond the palace wall. Here in the bright white light of a smiling moon
 they took the highway to the north, for the castle of the Red Jinn lies to
 the north by northeast of Regalia and Oz.
"How'll we cross the Deadly Desert?" murmured Randy, drowsily clutching the
 few belongings he had tied up in an old silver tablecloth. In it he had his
 oldest suit, some clean underwear, his toothbrush, and his trusty sword.
"Never cross a desert till you come to it," advised Kabumpo. "And we've
 crossed it before, you know."
"Yes, I know." Smiling to himself, Randy dropped his head on his bundle, and
 lulled by the agreeable motion of his gigantic bearer, soon fell asleep, to
 dream pleasantly of Alibabble and of Ginger, slave of the Red Jinn's dinner
 bell.

CHAPTER 3
GAPER'S GULCH
Kabumpo, as happy to escape from Court life as Randy, moved rhythmically as
 a ship through the soft spring night. Humming to himself and busy with his
 own thoughts, he scarcely noticed that the highway was growing steeper and
 narrower until he was brought up sharp by an impassable barrier of rock.
"Now, Bosh and Botherskites! I was sure this road ran straight to the Deadly
 Desert," he muttered, reaching back with his trunk to see that Randy was
 still safely aboard and asleep. "Beets and butternuts! Do I have to turn
 back, or plough through all this rubble?" The Elegant Elephant's small eyes
 twinkled with irritation, and easing himself to the right off the highway,
 he peered crossly up at the offending mass of stone. Finding no way round
 here, he swung over to the left and examined it closely from that side, and
 was just about to start resignedly through the brush when he discovered
 that what he had taken for an especially dark shadow was really a cleft in
 the rock. It was barely wide enough for him to squeeze through without
 scraping the jewels from his robe. "Now then, shall I risk it or wait till
 morning?" mused Kabumpo, swaying undecidedly to and fro. "It might take us
 straight through to the other side of the highway. On the other trunk, it
 might lead into a robber's cave or plunge us suddenly over a precipice!"
Edging closer, the Elegant Elephant thrust his trunk in to the crevice. It
 seemed smooth and solid, and resolved to try it even though little of the
 moonlight penetrated into the narrow opening, Kabumpo stepped inside and
 proceeded to pick his way cautiously along the rocky corridor. For about
 the length of a city street it ran straight ahead, then curved sharply to
 the right. Here Kabumpo was heartened to see a lantern hanging from an iron
 spike, while carved on the smooth rock below was a blunt message: "This is
 the entrance to Gaper's Gulch. Pause here and give three yawns and a
 stretch for Sleeperoo, Great, Grand and Most Snorious Gaper!"
"Snorious Gaper! Ho! Ho! Kerumph! Who ever heard of such nonsense?" snorted
 Kabumpo, squinting impatiently down at the notice. "Ah, Hah! HOH, HUM!" At
 this point, and without seeming able to help it, the Elegant Elephant
 yawned so terrifically his headpiece fell over one ear, and his jaw was
 almost dislocated. To recover his dignity and with tears starting from his
 eyes, he gave himself a quick shake, then stretched up his trunk to
 straighten his headgear.
"Splen-did!" drawled a sleepy voice. "You may now proceed as before."
 Blinking angrily about to see who had addressed him, the Elegant Elephant
 spied a round-faced and widely gaping guard standing in a little niche in
 the rock. Strapped to his shoulders, instead of a knapsack, was a fat
 feather pillow, and as Kabumpo came opposite, the guard's eyes closed and,
 falling back against his cushion, he began gently to snore. As Kabumpo
 stopped in some astonishment, the guard's nap was rudely interrupted by a
 pailful of pebbles that cascaded merrily down over his ears. There were
 twenty pails operating on a moving belt above his head, and at three-minute
 intervals they pelted him awake, as Kabumpo presently discovered. The
 buttons on the guard's uniform were illuminated and spelled out his name,
 "WINKS."
"Well, do I surprise you?" inquired Winks, shaking the pebbles from his
 shoulders and rubbing his eyes with his yellow-gloved hands. Kabumpo, too
 amused to speak, nodded.
"And you surprise me," admitted the guard, gaping three times just to prove
 it, "you big, enormous, impossible whatever you are C4 you! Why, you
 should have been underground months ago! But that'll all be taken care of,"
 he added smoothly. "Just follow the arrows, and you cannot miss C4 just
 follow the arrows C4 just folC4"
As Kabumpo, fuming from what he considered a mortal insult, lunged forward,
 the little soldier's eyes fell shut again. Held more by curiosity than by a
 desire to continue the conversation, Kabumpo waited for the next bucket of
 pebbles to shower over the guard.
"FF20`Low the arrows," went on Winks as calmly as if he had not been
 interrupted at all. "There are forty guards to point the way. Forty Winks,"
 he repeated, closing one eye. "Ha, Ha! To point the way. Ha, Ha! HOH, HUM!
 Do you get the point?"
As Kabumpo started off with a little snort of disgust, he felt a slight
 prick in his left hind leg, for Winks, just as he fell asleep, let fly an
 arrow from his old-fashioned bow. Before Kabumpo had reached the end of the
 passageway, he had passed forty of the Gaper Guards. After his experience
 with the first, he did not stop for further talk, but made the best speed
 possible, resolved to rush through Gaper's Gulch when he came to it without
 even pausing to express his contempt. The pebble awakeners were so neatly
 timed, each guard had a chance to speed an arrow after the flying elephant,
 and by the time Kabumpo reached the opening at the other end of the rocky
 pass, he had forty arrows pricking through his robe or stuck here and there
 in his ears and ankles. With his tough hide, they hurt no more than pin
 pricks, but vastly indignant at such treatment, the Elegant Elephant began
 jerking them out with his trunk.
"What do they think I am, a pincushion? Hoh!" he snorted, pulling out the
 last one and relieved to note that Randy had escaped the missiles entirely.
 Indeed, the young King of Regalia was sleeping as placidly as if he were
 home in his own castle. Kabumpo, too, felt unaccountably drowsy, and as he
 pushed his way down into the rocky little glen, his steps grew slower and
 slower. So far as he could see by the light of the fast-waning moon, there
 were neither houses nor people in Gaper's Gulch. In the center of the
 valley the rough stones and brush had been cleared away, and a series of
 flat rocks were spaced out almost like a gigantic checkerboard. Pausing
 beside the largest rock, Kabumpo spelled out the name of Sleeperoo the
 Great and Snorious.
"What is this, a cemetery?" gulped the Elegant Elephant. "But that could not
 be, for no one in Oz ever dies. Ho, Hum!" Leaning up against a dead pine
 and blinking furiously to keep awake, he pondered the unpleasant situation.
 Then, deciding that, cemetery or not, he must have some sleep, he lifted
 Randy down from his back and rolled him in a blanket he had thoughtfully
 brought along. Then, divesting himself of his jeweled robe and headpiece,
 Kabumpo stretched out carefully beside his young comrade, and in twenty
 minutes was fast asleep. How long he slumbered Kabumpo never knew, but from
 a nightmare in which he was struggling in a bank of treacherous quicksand,
 he awoke with a frightful sinking feeling to find he was surrounded by
 forty more of the Gaper Guards. Their buttons were also lit up, and on each
 plump chest he could read the word "Wake." The Wakes were busily at work
 with pick and spade, and unlike the Winks, did not seem the least bit
 drowsy. Half convinced he was still asleep and dreaming, Kabumpo peered out
 at them through half-closed lids, then gave a tremendous grunt. Great
 Gillikens! He was sinking! The busy little Wakes had dug a trench at least
 twenty feet deep all around him, and now, careless of their own safety,
 were shoveling away at the mound on which he was still precariously
 resting.
"Quick, a few more to the right," directed a crisp little voice. "Watch
 yourself there, Torpy. Ah, here he comes! Heads up, lads!"
As the chief Wake spoke, Kabumpo felt the mound give way, and down he rolled
 into the pit, while the Wakes scrambled frantically up the sides. "Did you
 hear that fierce TOOT?" puffed the little Guard addressed as Torpy. "It's
 awake, fellows! What's wrong with those sleeping arrows, don't they work
 anymore? I myself saw forty sticking in the big Whatisit when he came
 pounding out of the pass. Hurry, hurry! Let's get him underground!" And
 seizing their picks and spades again, the Gaper Guards began shoveling dirt
 into the pit, paying no attention to Kabumpo's furious blasts and bellows,
 which grew wilder and more anguished as he suddenly realized that Randy was
 no longer beside him.
"What have you done with the boy? Halt! Stop! How dare you cast dirt on an
 Imperial Prince of Pumperdink or try to bury the Elegant Elephant of Oz?"
 Shaking the mud from his head and raising his trunk, Kabumpo let out such
 an ear-splitting trumpet, twenty Wakes fell to their knees and the others
 dropped pick and shovel and stared at him in positive dismay.
"But sir, it is quite customary to bury all visitors," quavered Torpy as
 soon as he could make himself heard. "We'll dig you up in six months, and
 you'll be good as new. Our dormitories are so very comfortable, and all
 Gapers lie dormant for six months!"
"But I'm not a GAPER," screamed Kabumpo, interrupting himself with a yawn
 both wide and gusty.
"Oh, but you soon will be," asserted Torpy, squinting down at him earnestly.
 "Why, you're gaping already. Now lie down like a good beast. Sleeping
 underground is lovely."
"LOVELY!" repeated all the rest of the Wakes, beginning to croon as they
 shoveled. Kabumpo, opening his mouth to protest again, caught a bushel of
 earth between his tusks, and half choked and blind with rage, the Elegant
 Elephant hurled himself at the side of the pit. He could almost reach the
 top with his trunk, and as the Wakes, squealing with alarm, shoveled faster
 and faster, he wound his trunk round an old tree stump and by main strength
 hauled himself up over the edge.
"NOW!" he bellowed, spreading his ears like sails, "Where have you buried
 the boy? Quick, speak up or I'll pound you to splinters." Snatching a log
 in his trunk, Kabumpo surged forward. But the terrified Wakes, instead of
 answering, fled for their lives, leaving Kabumpo all alone in the ghostly
 little valley.
"Randy! Randy, where are you? Oh, my poor boy, are you suffocated?"
 Galloping this way and that, Kabumpo peered desperately about for a patch
 of newly turned earth. But only the wind whistling drearily through the
 dead branches of the pine trees came to answer him. Frantic with worry, the
 Elegant Elephant began pounding with his log on the headstones of the
 dormant Gapers, trumpeting at the same time in a way to wake the dead.

CHAPTER 4
OUT OF GAPER'S GULCH
Now the Gapers were not dead, but only sleeping, and soon the dormant
 natives of this strange Hiber-nation lifted up their headstones and began
 blinking out indignantly to see what and who had got loose in their quiet
 valley.
"Silence! Cease! Desist!" shuddered Sleeperoo the Great and Snorious,
 holding up his headstone with one hand and waving his other arm feebly at
 Kabumpo. "A bit more of that racket and we'll be roused for months. Who are
 you? And what is the meaning of all this Hah Hoh Humbuggery?"
Gaping ten times in quick succession, Sleeperoo stuck out his lip at the
 Elegant Elephant. Kabumpo, startled by the spectacle of a hundred lifted
 headstones and the round, dirty, moonlike faces gaping up at him, said
 nothing for a whole minute. Then, stepping over to the Chief Gaper, he
 burst out angrily: "I am a traveler whom your guards stuck full of arrows
 and then tried to bury. The young King who was with me has disappeared. I,
 the Elegant Elephant of Oz and Pumperdink, DEMAND his release. What have
 you done with the King of Regalia? Produce him at once, or I'll stand here
 and trumpet till doomsday!" To show he meant what he said, Kabumpo let out
 such a terrific blast the headstones of his listeners rocked and shivered.
"Oh, my head! My ears! My ears, my dears! Give him what he's yelling for,"
 sobbed Sleeperoo, crouching under his headstone as Kabumpo lifted his trunk
 for another trumpet.
"Is this C4 a C4 king?" called a fretful voice, and lurching 'round
 Kabumpo saw a fat old Gaper now halfway above ground. Balancing his stone
 on his fat head, he held Randy out at arm's length. "Instead of digging him
 a proper bed, they stuck him in with me," he complained. "Here, take him.
 He kicks like a mule, and I can't abide a kicker." With a relieved grunt,
 Kabumpo snatched Randy from the Gaper's damp clutches, thankful the boy
 still had strength enough to kick. Randy's face was quite pale and covered
 with dirt, but after a few anxious shakes he opened his eyes and looked
 confusedly 'round him.
"It's nothing," sniffed Kabumpo. "It's quite all right, my boy. You've just
 been buried to the ears and sleeping with a groundhog."
"Buried?" shivered Randy as Kabumpo set him gently on his back.
"Not buried at all, just lying dormant as a sensible body should," corrected
 the old Gaper, dropping out of sight with a slam of his headstone.
"Go away! Please go away!" begged Sleeperoo as Kabumpo began stepping
 gingerly between the stones. "You're ruining our rest, you big bullying
 Behemoth!"
"I'll not stir a step till you send a guide to lead me out of this gulch,"
 declared Kabumpo. "Call a guard, or I'll call one myself."
"No. No! Please NOT! Torpy Snorpy C4 I say, Torpy," wheezed Sleeperoo,
 stretching up his thin neck. "Come, come all of you at once. At ONCE!" As
 quickly as they had vanished, the Wakes slid from behind boulders and trees
 and up out of rocky crevices, their buttons twinkling cheerfully in the
 dark. "Conduct these travelers to the head of the valley," ordered
 Sleeperoo with a weak wave at the Gaper Guards.
"I thought this was a gulch," yawned Kabumpo, while Randy began to shake the
 dirt from his hair and ears.
"A gulch is a valley," sniffed Sleeperoo, lowering himself crossly. "Look it
 up in any pictionary. A gulch is a valley or chasm."
"And Gaper's Gulch is a yawning chasm," mumbled Kabumpo as the Chief Gaper
 and all the others began ducking back into their holes like rabbits into
 warrens. "Good night to you," he added as the last stone slammed down.
 "Now, then, you boys fetch my headpiece and robe from that pit, and let's
 start on."
Kabumpo spoke so sharply ten Wakes sprang to obey, and after they had
 brought them and both had been adjusted to Kabumpo's liking, he signaled
 imperiously for Torpy and Snorpy to lead the way, and their companions took
 thankfully to their heels. For a while the two little Wakes marched ahead
 in a subdued silence as the Elegant Elephant picked his way around rocks
 and tree stumps.
"Not mad, I hope." Torpy, most talkative of the two, looked anxiously over
 his shoulder.
"No, no, certainly not. I don't know when I've spent a more delightful
 evening," Kabumpo said. "Being stuck full of arrows and then buried alive
 is such splendid entertainment."
"Oh, I say now, we cannot all be alike," put in Snorpy, coming to the rescue
 of his embarrassed companion. "If those arrows had taken effect, you'd have
 been dead asleep before we buried you, and known nothing for six months.
 That's a lot of sleep to miss, Mister C4 er C4 Mister?"
"Kabumpo," chuckled Randy, who was now wide awake and quite recovered from
 his harrowing experience. "But you see, Kabumpo and I sleep every night and
 not all in one stretch as you do."
"More trouble that way," murmured Snorpy, shaking his head disapprovingly.
 "Keeps you hopping up and down all the time. In the Gulch we sleep half the
 year, and then we are done with it."
"And what do you do when you are not sleeping?" inquired Kabumpo, stifling a
 yawn with his trunk.
"We eat," grinned Snorpy, his eyes twinkling brighter than his buttons.
 "Breakfast from July to August thirty-first; lunch from September first
 till October thirty-first; and dinner from November first till New Year's."
"You mean you eat straight through without stopping?" gasped Randy, raising
 himself on one elbow. "All the time you're awake? Don't you ever work, play
 or go on journeys?"
"I do not know what you mean by `work, play and going on journeys,' but
 whatever they are, we don't. We eat and sleep, sleep and eat, and
 everything is perfectly gorgeous," confided the Wake with a satisfied skip.
"Gorging is gorgeous to some people, I suppose." Kabumpo tossed his head to
 show it was not his way. "Then how is it you fellows are not sleeping along
 with the other Gapers?"
"Oh, we're trained to sleep in summer and fall and to eat in winter and
 spring. The Winks are not so clever at staying awake as we are, but they'll
 learn, and meanwhile the pebbles keep them fairly active."
"Yes, active enough to shoot at visitors," grunted Kabumpo, winking back at
 Randy. "Do you shoot one another asleep, or is that a special treat you
 reserve for travelers?"
"We just shoot at travelers," admitted Snorpy quite cheerfully. "Otherwise
 they would interfere with our customs, interrupt our sleeping and eating,
 and wake us up out of season."
"Just as we did," chuckled Randy. "I suppose we interrupted your dinner,
 this being one of the dinner months?" Both Guards nodded, exchanging
 pleased little smiles.
"Come on back and have a bite with us," invited Snorpy generously. "We've
 weak fish for the first week, chops for the secondC4"
Randy, tugging at Kabumpo's collar, begged him to stop, for Randy was hungry
 as a brace of bears, but the Elegant Elephant, shaking his head till all
 his jewels rattled, declined the invitation with great firmness. "No
 knowing what will come of it," he whispered to his disappointed young
 comrade. "Might put us to sleep for a century, and it's about all I can do
 to keep my eyes open now. Wait till we're out of this goopy gulch, my lad,
 and we'll eat and sleep like gentlemen. After all, we are gentlemen and not
 groundhogs."
Urging his guides to greater speed, the weary beast pushed doggedly on
 through the brush and stubble. Snorpy and Torpy, insulted by the shortness
 with which the Elegant Elephant had refused their invitation, had little
 more to say and in less than an hour had brought the travelers to the end
 of the rocky little valley. From where they stood, a crooked path wound
 crazily upward, and with a silent wave aloft the two Wakes turned and ran.
"Back to their dinner," sighed Randy, looking hungrily after them. But
 Kabumpo, charmed to see the last of the ghostly gulch and its inhabitants,
 began to ascend the path, not even stopping for breath till he had come to
 the top. Even after this, he traveled on for about five miles to make sure
 no sleepy vapors or Gapers would trouble them again. The moon had waned and
 the stars grown faint as he stopped at last in a small patch of woodland.
 Here, without removing his headpiece or robe, Kabumpo braced his back
 against a mighty oak and fell asleep on his feet, and Randy, soothed and
 rocked by his tremendous snores, soon closed his eyes and slept also.

CHAPTER 5
HEADWAY
When Randy wakened, Kabumpo had already started on, grumbling under his
 breath, because nowhere in sight was there a green bush, a tree or anything
 at all that an elephant or little boy might eat. "Where are we?" yawned
 Randy, sitting up and rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. "Great Gillikens,
 this is as bad as Gaper's Gulch!"
"All the countries bordering on the Deadly Desert are queer, no-count little
 places," sniffed the Elegant Elephant, angrily jerking his robe off a
 cactus. "And from the feel of the air, we must be near the desert now."
At mention of the Deadly Desert, Randy lapsed into an uneasy silence, for
 how could they ever cross this tract of burning sand, and how could they
 reach Ev or Jinnicky's castles unless they did cross it? While this vast
 belt of destroying sand effectively kept enemies out of Oz, it also kept
 the Ozians in. "If we only had some of Jinnicky's magic or even his silver
 dinner bell to bring us a good breakfast!" sighed Randy, glancing around
 hungrily. "Pretty stupid of me not to have brought along a lunch, and
 there's not even a brook or stream in this miserable little patch of woods
 where a body could quench his thirst. Maybe it will rain, and that would
 help a little."
"Maybe," admitted Kabumpo, squinting up at the leaden sky. "Anyway, here we
 are out of the woods, but take a look at those rocks!"
"And those heads behind the rocks," whispered Randy, clutching Kabumpo's
 collar.
"There's something pretty odd about those heads, if you ask me," wheezed the
 Elegant Elephant, curling up his trunk. "Odd, or I'm losing my eye- and
 earsight."
"Odd!" hissed Randy, tightening his hold on Kabumpo's collar. "Good goats
 and gravy! They're flying 'round loose like birds. Why, they've got no
 bodies on 'em, no bodies at all!"
"Read the sign," directed Kabumpo, uncurling his trunk and pointing to a
 crude warning scratched on a flat slab at the edge of the road leading to
 the rocky promontory above.
"Heads up! This road leads to Headland, nobody's allowed."
"Humph! Well, we won't make much headway without our bodies," grunted
 Kabumpo as Randy read the message slowly to himself. "Such impudence! Why
 should we pay any attention to such stuff? Bodies or not, we're going on,
 and how can fellows minus feet and arms hope to stop us?"
"They might crash down on us with their heads," worried Randy as an angry
 flock of Headmen circled round and round at the top of the road, "and those
 heads look hard."
"Not any harder than mine. Keep your crown on, Randy," advised Kabumpo
 grimly. "The spikes will dent 'em good, and if you reach down in my
 left-hand pocket, you'll find a short club. The club will be better than
 your sword; you can't cut a head off no neck, and besides, we don't really
 want to injure the pests. All ready? Then here we go!"
Randy did not answer, for hooking his heels through Kabumpo's harness, he
 was already delving into the capacious pockets on the left side of the
 Elegant Elephant's robe, discovering not only a club, but a quiver full of
 darts. Jerking himself upright, the club in one hand and the darts in the
 other, he peered aloft with growing anxiety as, foot over foot, Kabumpo
 climbed up the granite slope. The faces of the Headmen were round and
 deeply wrinkled from the hot winds blowing off the desert; their ears, huge
 and fan-shaped, flapped like wings and like wings propelled them through
 the air. Before Kabumpo reached the top, a whole bevy came whizzing toward
 them, screaming out indignant threats and warnings.
"Off, be off!" they shouted hysterically. "Off with their arms, off with
 their legs, off with their bodies! Halt! Stop! Begone, you miserable,
 creepy-crawly creatures. You dare not set a foot on our beautiful
 Headland."
"Oh, daren't we?" Kabumpo shook his trunk belligerently. "And who is to stop
 us, pray?"
"I am," rasped the ugliest of the Headmen. Snatching a coil of wire from a
 niche in the rocks with his teeth, the ugly little Mugly came flapping
 toward them. Another of the Headmen hastened to seize the opposite end of
 the wire in his teeth, and stretching it between them they came rushing on.
"Watch out!" warned Randy, dropping flat between Kabumpo's ears. "They're
 going to trip you up."
"Wrong, how wrong," chattered all the Headmen, bobbing up and down like
 balloons let off their strings. "They're going to cut off his body,"
 confided one of the long-nosed tribesmen, zooming down to whisper this
 information in Randy's ear. "The creature's head is welcome enough, and
 with those enormous ears he'll have no trouble at all flying, but his body
 C4 oh, his body is awful and must stay behind. And your body, too, you
 little monster, we'll cut that off, too," promised the Headman in his oily
 voice. "What use is a body, anyway? I see you have very small ears, but
 they can be stretched. And just wait till you've been debodicated. You'll
 feel so right and light and flighty."
"Help! Stop! Help! Help!" screamed Randy as the ugly Mugly gave him a
 playful nip on the ear. "Back up, Kabumpo, back down. They're going to
 catch you in that wire and choke you."
"Oah! Nonsense," panted the Elegant Elephant. And heaving himself up over
 the last barrier, he stepped confidently out on the rocky plateau.
"Heads up! Heads up!" shrilled the Headmen, while the two with the wire,
 deftly encircling Kabumpo's great neck, began to fly apart in order to draw
 the noose tighter. Kabumpo ducked but much too late, and though his
 ferocious trumpeting sent swarms of Headmen fluttering aloft, the two
 holding the wire stuck to their task, pulling and jerking with all their
 might till Kabumpo's jeweled collar was pressing uncomfortably into his
 throat.
"Don't worry," he grunted gamely, "their teeth will give way before my neck
 goes. Calm yourself, my boy, ca-alm yourself."
But how could Randy feel calm with his best friend in such a predicament and
 already beginning to gasp for breath? Jumping up and down on Kabumpo's
 back, he rattled his club valiantly, but the Headmen were too high for him
 to reach, and when at last he flung the club with all his strength at the
 one on the left, it seemed to make no impression at all on the hard head of
 the enemy. Redoubling his efforts, he drew the wire tighter and tighter in
 his yellow teeth. In desperation, Randy suddenly remembered the darts, and
 drawing one from the quiver, sent it speeding upward. The first missed, but
 as the Elegant Elephant began to sway and quiver beneath him, the second
 found its mark, striking the Headman squarely in the middle of the
 forehead. An expression of surprise and dismay overspread his wrinkled
 features, and next instant, with a terrific yawn, he dropped the wire and
 fell headlong to the rocks, where he rolled over and over and over.
"Great Goopers!" exclaimed Randy, hardly able to believe his luck. "Why,
 he's not hurt at all, but has fallen asleep."
"Watch the others, the C4 others!" gulped Kabumpo, shaking his head in an
 effort to free it from the wire. Already another had flown to take his
 fallen comrade's place, but before he could snatch the wire, Randy brought
 him to earth with one of his sharply pointed darts. The next who ventured
 he shot down, too, and as the rest of the band came swarming down to see
 what was happening, Randy sent arrow after arrow winging into their midst
 till the flat, smooth rock was dotted with sleepy heads, for each one hit
 promptly fell asleep. Though his arm ached and his heart thumped
 uncomfortably, Randy did not even pause for breath till he had sent the
 last arrow into the air, and then quite suddenly he realized he had won
 this strange and ridiculous battle. More than half of the ear-men, as he
 could not help calling them to himself, lay snoring on the ground; the rest
 with terrified shrieks and whistles were flapping off as fast as their ears
 could carry then. Now entirely free of the wire, but still trembling and
 gasping, Kabumpo stared angrily after them.
"What I cannot understand," puffed Randy, sliding down to the ground to
 examine a group of the enemy, "is what put them to sleep? I thought your
 darts might hurt or head them off or puncture them like balloons, but
 instead C4 here they are asleep, and HOW asleep! Shall I pull out the
 arrows? I might need them later."
"They're not MY arrows," Kabumpo said, wrinkling his forehead in a puzzled
 frown. "I didn't have any arrows, but Ha, Ha, Kerumph!" The Elegant
 Elephant began to shake all over. "They must be Gaper Arrows C4 the Wakes
 must have stuck them in my pocket when they fetched my robe and headpiece.
 Pretty cute of the little rascals, at that. Why, these must be the same
 arrows the Winks shot at me, Randy, but my hide was too tough for them, and
 they didn't work."
"Well, they certainly made short work of the Headmen," said Randy, turning
 one over gently with his foot. "Goodness! I thought you'd be choked and
 done for, old fellow!"
"Who, ME? Nonsense! My neck would have broken their teeth in another minute
 or two."
"Well, then, shall I pull out the arrows?" asked Randy, who had his own
 opinion about Kabumpo's narrow escape. "We could use them again some time."
"No, NO! Leave them in! So long as those arrows stick fast, the little
 villains will sleep fast, and that's the only way I can stand 'em."
"But suppose the others fly back?" Randy still hesitated.
"Pooh! Don't you worry about that." Kabumpo raised his trunk scornfully.
 "They're frightened out of their wits and probably half way to the Sapphire
 City by this time. And when they do come back, we won't be here."
"Won't we?" Dubiously, Randy began to pace across the bare and arid plateau.
 "I certainly don't think much of Headland, do you?"
"I wouldn't have it for a gift, even if they threw in a tusk brush and
 diamond earrings besides!" snorted Kabumpo. "Why, it's nothing but a humpy,
 bumpy acre of rock without a tree, a house, a bird or even a blade of
 grass. I'd give the whole country for a mouthful of hay or a bucketful of
 water!"
"We might find a spring among the rocks," proposed Randy, hurrying along
 hopefully.
"More likely a fall," predicted Kabumpo, trudging gloomily behind him. But
 just then, Randy, who had vanished behind a sizeable boulder, gave an
 excited whoop.
"Hi, yi, Kabumpo! We're here! We're here, right on the edge of it!" he
 shouted vociferously. "LOOK!" The Elegant Elephant, pushing round the rock,
 did look, then, mopping his forehead with the tip of his robe, sank heavily
 to his haunches, and for a moment neither said a word. For, truly enough,
 the jagged point of Headland projected over the desert as a high cliff
 hangs over the sea. Below, the seething sand smoked, churned and tumbled,
 sending up sulphurous waves of heat that made both travelers cough and
 splutter.
"So all we have to do is cross," gasped Randy, dashing the tears brought by
 the smoke out of his eyes.
"And a simple thing that will be," grunted the Elegant Elephant
 sarcastically, "seeing that one foot on the sand spells instant
 destruction. If we could just flap our ears like the Headmen, we could fly
 across."
"But as we can't," sighed Randy, seating himself despondently on a boulder,
 "what are we to do?"
"Well, that remains to be seen," muttered Kabumpo, who had not the faintest
 notion. "FF20`Never cross a Deadly Desert on an empty stomach,' is my
 motto, and I'm going to stick to it."
"Sticking to mottoes won't get us anywhere," Randy said, skimming a stone
 off the edge and watching with a little shudder as it was sucked down into
 the whirling sand. "Doesn't that desert make you thirsty? Goopers, if I had
 a dipperful of water, I'd gladly do without the breakfast."
"Humph! Looks as if you might have that wish." Feeling hurriedly in the
 right pocket of his robe, Kabumpo dragged out a waterproof as large as a
 tent. "Just spread this over me, will you?" he puffed anxiously. "Storm
 coming. Hear that thunder? Storm coming."
"Coming?" cried Randy, springing up to help Kabumpo with the buckles. "Why,
 it's here!" He had to raise his voice to a scream to make himself heard
 above the gale that, arising apparently from nowhere, struck them furiously
 from behind. He had just fastened the last strap of the waterproof to
 Kabumpo's left ankle when the rain swept down in perfect torrents: rain
 accompanied by hailstones as big as Easter eggs. There was ample room for
 Randy beneath the Elegant Elephant, and standing between his front legs the
 young monarch lifted the waterproof, and reaching out caught a huge
 hailstone in his hand. Touching it against his parched lips, Randy gave a
 sigh of content, then, crunching it up rapturously, stuck out his head and
 let the pelting downpour cool his hot and dusty face. "Wonder if this will
 put out the desert?" he mused, ducking back as a terrible clap of thunder
 boomed like a cannonshot overhead. "SAY, it's a lucky thing you're so big,
 Kabumpo," he called up cheerily, "or we'd be blown away. Whee, listen to
 that wind, would you?"
"Have to do more than listen," howled the Elegant Elephant, bracing his feet
 and lowering his head. "Ahoy below! Catch hold of something, Randy! Help!
 Hi! Hold on! HOLD ON! For the love of blue C4 mountains! Here we GO! Here
 we blow! Oooomph! Blooomph! Ker-AHHHH!"
"Oh, no, Kabumpo! NO!" Leaping up, Randy caught the Elegant Elephant's broad
 belt. "Put on C4 the brakes! Quick!" And Kabumpo did try making a futile
 stand against the tearing wind. But the mighty gale, whistling under his
 waterproof, filled it up and out like a balloon, and with a regular
 ferryboat blast, Kabumpo rose into the air and zoomed like a Zeppelin over
 the Deadly Desert, while Randy, hanging grimly to the strap of his belt,
 banged to and fro like the clapper on a bell.

CHAPTER 6
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DESERT
Remembering the deadly and destroying nature of the sands below, Randy did
 not dare to look down. Besides, holding on took all his strength and
 attention, for Kabumpo was borne like a leaf before the howling gale,
 faster and faster and faster, till he and Randy were too dazed and dizzy to
 know or care how far they had gone or where they were blowing to. Which was
 perhaps just as well, for, as suddenly as it had risen, the gale abated,
 and coasting down the last high hill of the wind, saved from a serious
 crash only by his faithful tarpaulin, which now acted as a parachute,
 Kabumpo came jolting to earth. With closed eyes and trunk held stiffly
 before him, the Elegant Elephant remained perfectly motionless awaiting
 destruction and wondering vaguely how it would feel. He was convinced that
 they had come down on the desert itself. Then, as no fierce blasts of heat
 assailed him, he ventured to open one eye. Randy, shaken loose by the force
 of the landing, had rolled to the ground a few feet away, and now, jumping
 to his feet, cried joyously: "Why, it's over, Kabumpo. Over, and so are we!
 Ho! I never knew you could fly, old Push-the-Foot."
"Neither did I," shuddered the Elegant Elephant, and jerking off the
 waterproof, he flung it as hard and as far as he could.
"Oh, don't do that!" Randy dashed away to pick it up. "That good old coat
 saved our bacon and ballooned us across the desert as light as a couple of
 daisies."
"But we're no better off on this side than on the other," grumbled Kabumpo,
 surveying the barren countryside with positive hatred. "Not a house, a
 field, a farm or a castle in sight."
"The idea was to get away from castles, wasn't it?" Randy grinned up at his
 huge friend, and folding the waterproof into a neat packet, tucked it back
 in its place.
"Well, there's one thing about castles," observed the Elegant Elephant,
 giving his robe a quick tug here and there. "At least, the food's regular.
 I could eat a royal dinner from soup to napkins."
"Give me a boost up that tree, and I'll have a look around," proposed Randy.
"Need a spy glass to find anything worth looking at in this country,"
 complained Kabumpo, lifting Randy into the fork of a gnarled old tree.
 Shinning expertly up the rough trunk, Randy looked carefully in all
 directions.
"We certainly cleared the desert by a nice margin," he called down gaily.
 "It's at least a mile behind us, and toward the east I see a cluster of
 white towers that might be a castle."
"And nothing between," mourned Kabumpo with a hungry swallow, "no fields,
 orchards, or melon patches?"
"There are fields, but they're too far away for me to see what's growing,
 and there's a forest, too. What country is this, Kabumpo? Do you know?"
"Depends on how we blew," answered the Elegant Elephant, lifting Randy out
 of the tree and tossing him lightly over his shoulder. "If we blew straight
 from Headland, which is certainly the northwestern tip of the Gilliken
 Country of Oz, we should be in No Land. If we blew slantwise, this would be
 Ix."
"Then I hope we blew slantwise," Randy spread himself out luxuriously behind
 Kabumpo's ears. "For if we are in Ix, we have only one country to cross
 before we reach Ev and Jinnicky's castle."
"And the sooner we start, the sooner we'll arrive," agreed Kabumpo, swinging
 into motion. "But if I drop in my tracks, boy, don't be too surprised. I'm
 hollow as a drum and weak as a violet."
"Too bad we're not like the Headmen," said Randy, who felt dreadfully hollow
 himself. "Without a body, I suppose one does not feel hungry. Wonder what
 became of them, anyway?"
"Who cares?" sniffed Kabumpo, picking his way crossly through the rocks and
 brambles. "They probably blew about for a while, but with ears like sails,
 what's a gale of wind or weather? Ho! What's that I see yonder, a farmer?"
"No, just a hat stuck on a pole to scare away the crows," Randy told him
 after a careful squint. "But nothing grows in the field but rocks, so why
 do they bother?"
"Did you say a `hat'?" Kabumpo's small eyes began to burn and twinkle, and
 breaking into a run he was across the field like a flash.
"Kabumpo!" gasped Randy as the Elegant Elephant snatched the hat from the
 pole and took a huge bite from the brim. "Surely, surely you're not going
 to eat that old hat?"
"Why not?" demanded the Elegant Elephant, cramming the rest of the hat into
 his mouth and crunching it up with great gusto. "It's straw, isn't it? A
 little old and tough, to be sure, but nourishing, and anyway better than
 nothing!" Almost strangling on the crown, Kabumpo glanced sharply across
 the field, then looked apologetically back at his young rider. "Great
 Gooselberries," he muttered contritely, "I'm sorry as a goat. Why, I never
 saved you even an edge!"
"Oh, never mind," choked Randy, holding his sides at the very idea of such a
 thing. "Even if I were starving, I couldn't eat a hat. But look, old
 Push-the-Foot, isn't that a barn showing over the top of that hill?"
"Barn!" wheezed Kabumpo, lifting his trunk joyfully. "Why, so it is! Ho!
 This is something like!" And hiccoughing excitedly C4 from the effects of
 the hat, no doubt C4 Kabumpo went galloping over the brow of the little
 hill.
A pleasant valley dotted with small farms stretched out below. Randy was
 relieved to note that its inhabitants were usual-looking beings like
 himself. Children rode gleefully on wagons piled high with hay. Farmers in
 wide-brimmed yellow hats, rather like those worn by the Winkies in Oz,
 worked placidly in the fields. Everyone seemed contented, calm and happy;
 that is, until Kabumpo, delighted to find himself again in a land of
 plenty, came charging down the hill trumpeting like a whole band of music.
"Oh, too bad, you've frightened them nearly out of their wits," mourned
 Randy, hanging on to Kabumpo's collar to keep his balance as the Elegant
 Elephant, forgetting his elegance, made a dash for the nearest hayrick.
 "Help Hi C4 stop! Now see what you've done!"
To tell the truth, the havoc ensuing was not all Kabumpo's fault. No one in
 this tranquil valley of Ix had ever seen an elephant before, and the sight
 of one rushing down upon them was so unnerving and strange they fled in
 every direction, leaping into barns and houses, and barring and
 double-barring the doors against this terrifying monster. Horses hitched to
 their hay wagons cantered madly east and west, and the air was filled with
 loud shrieks, neighs and the bellows of stampeding cattle.
"Such dummies!" panted Kabumpo, coming to a complete standstill. "Well," he
 gave a tremendous sniff, "if they don't want to meet a King, a Prince, and
 the most elegant elephant in Oz, what do we care? I've invited myself to
 breakfast anyhow, and they can like it or Kabump it. Just wait till I load
 away one stack of this hay, my boy, and I'll find you a breakfast fit for a
 King and Traveler." And the Elegant Elephant was as good as his word. After
 tossing down a great mound of new-mown hay, he swaggered over to the
 nearest farmhouse. Pushing in the kitchen window with his trunk, he handed
 up to Randy everything the little farmer's wife had on her kitchen table 
C4 a bowl of milk, a pat of butter, a loaf of bread, a cold half chicken,
 and three hard-boiled eggs. "Do control yourself, madam," he advised as the
 palpitating little lady flattened herself against the opposite wall. "These
 pearls will more than pay for your provisions."
Afraid to touch the lovely chain Kabumpo placed on the table, the little
 lady watched with round eyes as Kabumpo backed away.
"Ho, I guess that will give her something to tell her grandchildren!"
 snorted the Elegant Elephant. Randy was too busy taking rapturous bites,
 first of bread and then of chicken, to answer.
"Why is it that everything tastes so much better when you are traveling?" he
 remarked a bit later as he finished off the rest of the chicken and put the
 bread, butter and eggs away for his lunch.
"FF20`Cause we're hungrier, I suppose," smiled Kabumpo, crossing another
 field, "and then, there's the novelty."
Recalling the straw hat with a little chuckle, Kabumpo winked back at his
 young rider. "But now that we've breakfasted, I think we'd better be
 moving. I see some of these farmers gathering up their courage and their
 pitchforks, and I'm too full to fight."
"Pooh! They couldn't hurt us," boasted Randy, stretching out comfortably. "I
 rather wish they hadn't run off, though; I'd like to ask them something
 about the country, and you know, Kabumpo C4 I've never ridden on a hay
 wagon in all my life, and I'd sorta like to try it."
"That's the worst of being a King," observed Kabumpo, walking carefully
 around a brown calf. "You miss a lot of the common and ordinary pleasures.
 Hmm-mmn, let's see, now, all the horses have run off, but there's still a
 heap of hay about, so why shouldn't you have a ride?"
"Without any wagon?" inquired Randy, looking wistfully at the largest of the
 haystacks.
"Why not?" puffed Kabumpo, and lifting Randy hurriedly down from his back,
 he rushed at the hayrick, burrowing into it with tusk, feet and trunk till
 he was in the exact center. Then, heaving up with his back and forward with
 his trunk, he pushed till his head stuck out the other side. "Come ON!" he
 grunted triumphantly. "You'll not only have your hay ride, but I'll have my
 lunch!"
Throwing Randy to the top of the load, the Elegant Elephant, looking far
 from elegant, set off at a lumbersome gallop, carrying the haystack right
 along with him. At sight of his prize haystack apparently running away by
 itself, the outraged owner stuck his head out of the window and screamed.
 But that did not bother Kabumpo. The load was but a feather's weight to
 him, and with the young King of Regalia dancing and yelling on the top, he
 swept merrily through the startled valley. Those at the lower end who had
 not seen Kabumpo arrive, now catching sight of a load of hay moving off by
 itself, simply fell against fences and barn doors, blinking and gulping
 with astonishment, too stunned and shocked to return the gay greetings of
 the nonchalant young Gilliken riding the load. Kabumpo, sampling stray
 wisps as he ran and peering out comically from under the hay, enjoyed to
 the utmost the sensation he was causing.
"Make a wish, my boy," he shouted exuberantly. "It's awfully lucky to wish
 on the first load of hay."
"Then I wish we would reach the Red Jinn's castle before night," decided
 Randy. "And wouldn't Jinnicky laugh if he could see us now? Did you leave a
 pearl for the hay, Kabumpo?"
"Certainly," retorted the elephant, speaking rather stuffily through the
 haystack. "We're travelers, not thieves. Hi! What's ahead, my lad? This
 load has shifted a bit over my left eye, and I can scarcely see out of my
 right."
"A dry river bed," called Randy, bouncing up and down with the keenest
 enjoyment. "Go slow, old Push-the-Foot, or you'll lose your lunch."
"Not on your life!" puffed the Elegant Elephant. "I'll stop and eat it
 first. HoC4"
"Hay foot, straw foot, any foot will do,
Down the bank and up the bank, and now, how is the view?"
"Elegant," breathed Randy, grinning to himself at Kabumpo's verses. "More
 fields, meadows, forests, everything!"
"But even so, I smell sulphur!" Kabumpo moved his trunk slowly from side to
 side. "Something's burning, my lad, and close at hand, too."
"Why, it's a HORSE!" Randy's voice cracked from the sheer shock of the
 thing. "And coming straight for us, too. Wait! Stop! Hold on! No, maybe
 you'd better run. Great Gillikens, it's smoking!"
"A pipe?" inquired Kabumpo, trying to see through the fringe of hay that was
 obscuring his vision. "And what if it is? Am I, the Elegant Elephant of Oz,
 to run from a mere and miserable equine?"
"But this horse," squealed Randy, sliding head first off the haystack, "this
 horse is different. Oh, really, REALLY, Kabumpo, I think we'd better run."
"Never!" Pushing the hay off his forehead with his trunk, Kabumpo looked
 fiercely out, then, with a start that dislodged half the load, he began
 running off as rapidly as he could, dragging Randy along by the tail of his
 coat.

CHAPTER 7
THE PRINCESS OF ANUTHER PLANET
Even so, Kabumpo was not fast enough, and as the immense black charger with
 its tail and mane curling like smoke, its fiery nostrils flashing flames a
 foot long, came galloping upon them, Randy flung himself face down on the
 ground to escape its burning breath. The most terrifying thing about the
 black steed was the complete silentness of its coming. Its metal-shod feet
 struck the earth without making a sound, giving Kabumpo such a sense of
 unreality he could not believe it was true, or move another step. In
 consequence, as the enormous animal swirled to a halt before them, a dozen
 darting flames from its nostrils set fire to the load of hay on his back,
 enveloping him in a hot and exceedingly dangerous bonfire.
Now thoroughly aroused, Kabumpo leapt this way and that, and Randy,
 unmindful of his own danger, jumped up and tried to beat out the fire with
 his cloak. But the hay blazed and crackled, and the Elegant Elephant would
 certainly have been roasted like a potato had he not reared up on his hind
 legs and let the whole burning burden slide from his back. Scorched and
 infuriated, his royal robes burned and blackened, Kabumpo backed into a
 handy brook and sat down, from which position he glared with positive
 hatred at his prancing adversary. But a complete change had come over this
 strange and unbelievable steed; his nostrils no longer spurted flames, and
 as Randy plumped down beside Kabumpo, deciding this was the safest spot for
 both of them, the lordly creature dropped to its knees and touched its
 forehead three times to the earth.
"Away, away! You big meddlesome menace!" panted the Elegant Elephant,
 throwing up his trunk. "Begone, you good-for-nothing hay burner!"
"But, Kabumpo," pleaded Randy as the horse, paying no attention to the
 Elegant Elephant's angry screeches, began throwing little puffs of red
 smoke into the air, "he's trying to give us a message. LOOK!"
"Hail and salutations!" The words floated out smoothly and ranged themselves
 in a neat line. "I hereby acknowledge you as my master! I can flash fire
 from the eye, the nose, and the mouth; but you C4 you flash fire from the
 whole body! Yonder rests my Mistress Planetty, Princess of Anuther Planet!
 Who are you, great-and-much-to-be-envied spurter of fire?"
"Sky writing!" gasped Randy. "Oh, Kabumpo, how're we going to answer? He did
 not hear your scolding. I don't believe he can hear at all. Fire spurter!
 Ho, ho! And HOW are you going to keep up that reputation?"
"I'm not!" grunted Kabumpo, but in a much less savage voice, for he was
 almost completely won over by the Thunder Colt's flattery. "Hmmm-hhh, let
 me see, now, couldn't we signal to the silly brute? There he stands looking
 up in the air for an answer."
"Well," Randy said, "with your trunk and my arms we could form any number of
 letters, soC4"
"This is Kabumpo, Elegant Elephant of Oz. I am Randy, King of Regalia." With
 infinite pains and patience, the two spelled out the message. Puzzled at
 first, then seeming to understand, Thun's clear yellow eyes snapped and
 twinkled with interest. Tossing his smoky mane, he puffed a single word
 into the air. "Come!" Then away he flashed at his noiseless gallop.
"Shall we?" cried Randy, jumping out of the creek, for he was curious to
 know more about the Thunder Colt and to meet the Princess of Anuther
 Planet. "Are you cooled off? Did the water put you out?"
"Oh, I'm put out, all right," grumbled Kabumpo, lurching up the bank. "Very
 put out and in splendid shape to meet a Princess, I must say."
"Come on, you don't look so bad," urged Randy, tugging impatiently at his
 tusk while Kabumpo himself endeavored to wring the water out of his robe
 with his trunk. "Even without any trappings or jewels at all, you'd stand
 out in any company. There's nobody bigger or handsomer than you, Kabumpo!
 Know it?"
"HAH!" The Elegant Elephant let go20his robe and gave Randy a quick
 embrace. "Then what are we waiting for, little Braggerwagger?" Tossing the
 young monarch over his shoulder, the Elegant Elephant started after the
 Thunder Colt, moving almost as smoothly and silently as Thun himself.
 Without one look behind, Thun had disappeared into a green forest, and how
 cool and delicious it seemed to Randy and Kabumpo after the dry desert
 lands they had been traversing. Flashing in and out between the tall trees,
 the Thunder Colt led them to an ancient oak, set by itself in a little
 clearing. Here, leaning thoughtfully against the bole of the tree, stood
 the little Princess of Anuther Planet.
Kabumpo, recognizing royalty at once when he saw it, lifted his trunk in a
 grave and dignified salute. Randy bowed, but in such a daze of surprise and
 admiration he scarcely knew he was bowing. The small figure under the oak
 was strange and beautiful beyond description, giving an impression both of
 strength and delicacy. Planetty was fashioned of tiny meshed links, fine as
 the chain mail worn by medieval knights, of a metal that resembled silver
 but which at the same time was iridescent and sparkling as glass. Yet the
 Princess of Anuther Planet was live and soft as Randy's own flesh-and-bone
 self. Her eyes were clear and yellow like Thun's; her hair, a cascade of
 gossamer net, sprayed out over her shoulders and fell halfway to her feet.
 Planetty's garments, trim and shaped to her figure, were of some veil-like
 net, and floating from her shoulders was a cloak of larger meshed metal
 thread almost like a fisherman's net.
"Highnesses, Highness! Oh, very high Highnesses!" Prancing lightly before
 her, Thun puffed his announcement importantly into the air. "Here you see
 Kabumpty, Nelegant Nelephant of Noz, and Sandy, Kind of Segalia."
"Oh, my goodness! He has us all mixed up," worried Randy in a whispered
 aside to Kabumpo, whose ears had gone straight back at the dreadful name
 Thun had fastened upon him.
"Never mind, I too am mixed up. Everything down here is too perfectly
 lettling."
"Oh, you can speak?" Leaning forward, Randy gazed delightedly down at the
 little metal maiden. He had been afraid at first she would use the same
 skywriting talk as Thun.
"But surely," smiled Planetty, each word striking the air with the
 distinctness of a silver bell, so that Randy was almost as interested in
 the tune as in the sense. "Only the creature folk on Anuther Planet are
 without power of speech or sound making. They must go softly and silently.
 That is the lenith law."
"And a good law, too," observed Kabumpo, looking resentfully up at the
 Thunder Colt's fading message. "Permit me to introduce myself again. Your
 Highness, I am Kabumpo, Elegant Elephant of Oz, and this is Randy, King of
 Regalia, which is also in Oz."
"Oz?" marveled Planetty, lifting her spear like silver staff, whose tip C4
 ending in three metal links C4 fascinated Randy. "Is this, then, the
 Planet of Oz? And what are those, and these, and this?" In rapid succession
 the little Princess touched a cluster of violets growing round the base of
 the oak, a moss-covered rock, and the tall tree itself.
"Why, flowers, rocks and a tree," laughed Randy. "Surely you must have
 flowers, trees, and rocks on Anuther Planet."
"No, no, nothing like this C4 all these colors and shapes. Everything on my
 planet is flat and greyling." The metal maiden raised her hands as she
 searched for the right words to explain Anuther Planet. "It is all so
 different with us," she confessed, dropping her arms to her side. "Yonder
 we have zonitors; not trees, but tall shafts of metal to which we fasten
 our nets when we sleep or rest. Underfoot we have network of various sizes
 and thicknesses with here and there sprays of vanadium. In our vanadium
 springs we freshen and renew ourselves, and without them we stiffen and
 cease to move."
With one finger pressed to his forehead, Randy tried to visualize Planetty's
 strange greyling world, but Kabumpo, ever more practical, inquired sharply:
 "And how often must you refresh and renew yourselves, Princess?"
"Every sonestor in the earling," answered the Princess with a bright nod.
 Thun, tiring of a conversation he could not hear, had cantered off to
 investigate a rabbit, and Randy, sliding to the ground, came over to stand
 nearer to this strange little Princess.
"Kabumpo and I do not understand all those words," he told her gently.
 "FF20`Sonestor C4 earling' C4 what do they mean?"
"Why, a sonester," trilled Planetty, throwing back her head and showing all
 of her tiny silver teeth, "is one dark, one light, one dark, one light, one
 dark, one light, one dark, one light, one dark, one light, one dark, one
 light, one dark, one light, and earling is when you waken from ret."
"Help!" shuddered Kabumpo, shaking his ears as if he had a bee in them.
"I know what she means," crowed Randy, snapping his fingers gleefully. "A
 sonester on Anuther Planet is the same as a week here; all those lights and
 darks are days, and earling is the morning and ret is rest!"
"Then, do you realize," worried Kabumpo, as Planetty looked questioningly
 from one to the other, "that if this little lady and her colt are separated
 from their vanadium springs for a week, they will become stiff, motionless
 statues? And thatC4" the Elegant Elephant looked the pretty Princess first
 up and then down "C4that would be a great pity! We must help them back to
 Anuther Planet as soon as we can, my boy."
"Yes, yes, that is what you must do," Planetty clapped her small silvery
 hands and blew a kiss to the elephant. "If Thun had just not jumped on that
 thunderbolt!"
"Jumped on a thunderbolt, did he?" A reluctant admiration crept into
 Kabumpo's voice. The Princess nodded so emphatically her long, lovely hair
 danced and shimmered round her face like a cloud shot with starlight.
"You see," she went on gravely, "we were on our way to a zorodell." Kabumpo
 and Randy exchanged startled glances, but realizing there would be many odd
 words in Planetty's language, did not interrupt her. "And halfway there,"
 continued Planetty calmly, "a dreadful storm overtook us. A bright flash of
 lightning frightened Thun, and though I signalled for him to stop, he
 sprang right up on a huge glowing thunderbolt that had fallen across the
 netway, and it fell and fell and fell, bringing us to where we are now."
"Well, that's one way of going places," commented Kabumpo, swinging his
 trunk from side to side.
"But how can we find Anuther Planet when none of us fly?" demanded Randy
 anxiously. "It must be miles above this country, for think how fast and far
 thunderbolts fall when they fall."
"Now you've forgotten the Red Jinn," boomed Kabumpo, winking meaningfully at
 the young King, for at Randy's words the little Princess had covered her
 face with her hands and three yellow jewels had trickled through her
 fingers. "Jinnicky can help Planetty and Thun go anyplace they wish,"
 insisted Kabumpo in his loud, challenging bass. "Come, Princess, summon
 your fire-breathing steed, and we will travel on to the most powerful
 wizard in Ev."
"Ev? Wizard? Oh, how gay it all sounds." Planetty's voice rang out merrily
 as Christmas bells. With a lively skip she tapped her staff three times on
 the ground, and Thun, though out of sight, came instantly bounding back to
 his little mistress. Vaulting easily upon his back, the Princess of Anuther
 Planet lifted her staff, and Kabumpo, picking up Randy, started away like a
 whole conquering army.

CHAPTER 8
ON TO EV
"Is there any way you can signal to your mount to trot ahead?" inquired
 Kabumpo, looking down sideways at the Thunder Colt, whose breath was
 blowing hot and uncomfortable against his side. "Let Thun be the vanguard,"
 he suggested craftily. "When I trumpet once, turn him left; at two, turn
 right; at three, he must halt."
"Oh, fine," approved Planetty, tapping out the message with her heel on the
 Thunder Colt's flank. "That will be simply delishicus." Thun evidently
 agreed with her, for, tossing his smoky mane, he cantered to a position
 just ahead of the Elegant Elephant, at which Kabumpo heaved a huge sigh of
 relief. He did not wish to hurt Thun's feelings; neither did he wish to
 catch fire again.
"Here travel Thun, the Thunder Colt; Planetty, Princess of Anuther Planet;
 Kabumpty of Noz; and Slandy, King of Seegalia! Give way, all ye comers and
 goers, and arouse me not, for I am a seething mass of molten metal!"
"Is he really?" marveled Randy, gazing up at the fiery message floating like
 a banner over their heads. Planetty nodded absently, her interest so taken
 up with the wildflowers below, the blue sky above, and the wide-armed,
 lacy-leafed trees of this ancient forest she could not bear to turn her
 head for fear of missing something. On her own far-away metal planet, skies
 were grey and leaden, and the various states of slate and silver strata
 arranged in stiff and net-like patterns. The gay colors of this bright new
 world simply delighted her, and Randy and Kabumpo she considered beings of
 rare and singular beauty. The word she used to herself when she thought of
 them was "netiful," which is Anuther way of saying beautiful.
"A wonder that high-talking Thomas couldn't get a name straight once in a
 while!" complained Kabumpo out of one corner of his mouth as Thun's
 sentence spiraled away in thin pink smoke.
"Oh, what difference does it make?" laughed Randy. "I think `Kabumpty' is
 real cute."
"CUTE!" raged the Elegant Elephant with such a fierce blast Planetty
 promptly turned Thun to the left.
"Now see what you've done," snickered Randy, giving Kabumpo's ear a
 mischievous tweak. "They think you want them to go left."
"As a matter of fact, I do," snapped Kabumpo grumpily. "We must go east
 through Ix and then north to Ev."
"Puzzling and more puzzling," murmured Planetty, looking round at the
 Elegant Elephant. "Where are all these curious places, Bumpo dear? I
 thought all the time we were in Noz. Did you not tell us you were the Big
 Bumpo of Noz?"
Randy peered rather anxiously over Kabumpo's ear to see how he was taking
 this second nickname, but he need not have worried. The "dear Bumpo,"
 spoken in the metal maid's ringing tones, fell like a charm on Kabumpo's
 ruffled feelings. And fairly oozing complacency and importance, he began to
 explain his own and Randy's real names and countries, hoping Planetty would
 straighten them out in her own head, if not in Thun's.
"You are right," he started off sonorously. "Randy and I both live in the
 Land of Oz, a great oblong country surrounded by a desert of burning sand.
 But in Oz there are many, many Kingdoms: first of all, the four large
 realms C4 the Gilliken Country of the North, the Quadling Country of the
 South, the Empire of the Winkies in the East, and the Land of the Munchkins
 in the West. Each of these Kingdoms has its own sovereign; but all are
 under the supreme rule of Ozma, a fairy Princess as lovely as your own
 small self, and Ozma lives in an Emerald City in the exact center of Oz."
Kabumpo paused impressively while Planetty's eyes twinkled merrily at his
 delicate flattery. "Now Randy and I hail from the north Gilliken Country of
 Oz," proceeded the Elegant Elephant, moving along as he spoke in a grand
 and leisurely manner. "I come from the Kingdom of Pumperdink, and Randy
 from the Regal little realm of Regalia. Only yesterday I arrived in Regalia
 to visit Randy, and we are now on our way to the castle of the Red Jinn, as
 I think I told you before. If we were in Oz, my dearC4" Kabumpo lingered
 over the "dear" "C4Ozma and her clever assistant, the Wizard of Oz, would
 quickly transport you to Anuther Planet with the magic belt. But, you see,
 we are not in Oz, for the same storm that overtook you and Thun overtook us
 and hurled us across the Deadly Desert to this Kingdom of Ix, where we all
 now find ourselves. Fortunately, too, for otherwise we might never have met
 a Princess from Anuther Planet."
The little Princess nodded in bright agreement.
"So," continued Kabumpo, picking up a huge tiger lily and holding it out to
 her, "as it is too difficult to travel back to the Emerald City of Oz, we
 will take you with us to the Wizard of Ev, whose castle is on the Nonestic
 Ocean in the country adjoining Ix."
"And a wizard is what?" Planetty turned almost completely round on her black
 charger, smiling teasingly over the tiger lily at Kabumpo.
"Why, a wizard, er, a wizardC4" The Elegant Elephant fumbled a bit trying
 to find the right words to explain.
"A wizard is a person who can do by magic what other people cannot do at
 all," finished Randy neatly.
"Magic?" Planetty still looked puzzled.
"Oh, never mind all the words," comforted Kabumpo, flapping his ears
 good-naturedly, "you'll soon see for yourself what they all mean, and I'm
 sure Jinnicky will be charmed to do his best tricks for you and send you
 back in fine and proper style to your own planet."
"Yes, Jinnicky can do almost anything," boasted Randy, taking off his crown
 and setting it back very much atilt, "and he's good fun, too. You'll like
 Jinnicky."
"As much as big Bumpo?" Planetty rolled her soft eyes fondly back at the
 Elegant Elephant, and Randy, feeling an unaccountable twinge of jealousy,
 wished she would look at him that way.
"Oh, maybe not so much as Kabumpo. Of course, there's nobody like HIM C4
 but pretty much as much," declared the young King loyally.
"But I like everything down here," decided Planetty, leaning forward to
 tickle Thun's ear with the lily. "It's all so nite and netiful."
"So now we know what we are," whispered Randy under his breath to Kabumpo.
 "And wait till Jinnicky sees us traveling with a fire-breathing Thunder
 Colt and the Princess of Anuther Planet. Oh, don't we meet important people
 on our journeys, Kabumpo?"
"Well, don't they meet US?" murmured the Elegant Elephant, increasing his
 speed a little to keep up with Thun. "Though I wouldn't call this colt
 important myself. How is he any better than an ordinary horse? His breath
 is hot and dangerous, and it's not much fun traveling with a deaf and dumb
 brute who burns everything he breathes on."
"Oh, he's not so dumb," observed Randy. "Look at the way he leaped over that
 fallen log just now, and think how useful he'll be at night to blaze a
 trail and light the campfires."
"Hadn't thought of that," admitted Kabumpo grudgingly. "I guess he would
 show up pretty well in the dark, and I suppose that does make him trail
 blazer and lighter of fires for this particular expedition. Ho, HO!
 KERUMPH! And between you and me and the desert, this expedition had better
 move pretty fast and not stop for sightseeing. Suppose those two Nuthers
 had that vanadium shower at the beginning of the week instead of the
 middle. That would give them only about two more days to go. Great
 Goosefeathers! I'd hate to have 'em stiffen up on us halfway to Jinnicky's.
 I might carry the Princess, but what would we do with the colt?"
"Let's not even think of it," begged Randy with a little shudder. "Great
 Goopers! Kabumpo, I hope Jinnicky will be at home and his magic is in good
 working order and powerful enough to send them back or keep them here if
 they decide to stay."
"If they decide to stay?" Kabumpo looked sharply back at his young rider.
 "Why should they?"
"Well, Planetty said she liked it down here, you heard her yourself a moment
 ago, and I thought maybeC4" Randy's face grew rosy with embarrassment.
"Ha, Ha! So that's the way the wind lies!" Kabumpo chuckled soundlessly.
 "Well, I wouldn't count on it, my lad," he called up softly. "She probably
 has some nite Planetty Prince waiting for her up yonder, and will fly away
 without so much as a backward glance. And as for Jinnicky being at home,
 why shouldn't he be at home? And as for his magic not being powerful
 enough, why shouldn't it be powerful enough? He was in fine shape and form
 when I saw him in the Emerald City three years ago. By the way, why weren't
 you at that grand celebration? I understood Ozma invited all the Rulers of
 the Realm."
"Uncle Hoochafoo did not want me to leave," sighed Randy. "He thinks a
 King's place is in his castle."
"I wonder what he thinks now?" said Kabumpo, trumpeting three times, for
 Thun was racing along too far ahead of them.
"Probably has all the wise men and guards running in circles to find me,"
 giggled Randy, immediately restored to good humor. "And say, when I do get
 back, old Push-the-Foot, I'M going to be KING, and everything will be very
 different and gay. Yes, there'll be a lot of changes in Regalia," he
 decided, shaking his head positively. "Why, all those dull receptions and
 reviewings would tire a visitor to tears."
"Ho, Ho! So you're still expecting her to visit you?" Waving his trunk,
 Kabumpo called out in a louder voice. "Not so fast there, Princess; hold
 Thun back a bit. We might run into danger, and we should all keep together
 on a journey. Besides," Kabumpo cleared his throat apologetically, "Randy
 and I must stop for a bite to eat."
Planetty's eyes widened, as they always did at strange words and customs,
 but she tugged obediently at Thun's mane, and the Thunder Colt came to an
 instant halt. Randy himself tried to coax the little Princess to eat
 something, but she was so upset and puzzled by the idea that he finally
 desisted and tried to share his bread and eggs with Kabumpo. But the
 Elegant Elephant generously refused a morsel, knowing Randy had little
 enough for himself, and lunched as best he could from the shoots of young
 trees and saplings. Thun was so interested when Kabumpo quenched his thirst
 at a small spring that he, too, thrust his head into the bubbling waters,
 but withdrew it instantly and with such an expression of pain and distress,
 Randy concluded that water hurt the Thunder Colt as much as fire hurt them.
 He was quite worried till the flames began to spurt from Thun's nostrils,
 for he was afraid the water might have put out Thun's fire and hastened the
 time when he should lose all power of life and motion.
"Do you do this often?" inquired Planetty as Randy tucked what was left into
 one of Kabumpo's small pockets.
"Eat?" Randy laughed in spite of himself. "Oh, about three times a day C4
 or light," he corrected himself hastily, remembering Planetty had so
 designated the daytime. "I suppose that vanadium spray or shower keeps you
 and Thun going the way food does Kabumpo and me."
Planetty nodded dreamily, then, seeing Kabumpo was ready to start, she
 tapped Thun with her silver heels, and away streaked the Thunder Colt,
 Kabumpo swinging along at a grand gallop behind him.
"Strange we have not passed any woodsmen's huts or seen any wild animals,"
 called Randy, jamming his crown down a little tighter to keep it from
 sailing off. "Hi! Watch out, there old Push-the-Foot! There's a wall ahead
 stretching away on all sides and going up higher than higher. What's a wall
 doing in a forest? Perhaps it shuts in the private shooting preserve of
 Queen Zixi herself. Say-ay, I'd like to meet the Queen of this country,
 wouldn't you?"
"No time, no time," puffed the Elegant Elephant, giving three short trumpets
 to warn Planetty to halt Thun. "Great Grump! Whoever built this wall wanted
 to shut out everything, even the sky. Can't even get a squint of the top,
 can you?"
"Is this the great Kingdom of Ev?" asked Planetty, who had pulled Thun up
 short and was looking at the wooden wall with lively interest.
"No, no, we're not nearly to Ev." The Elegant Elephant shook his head
 impatiently. "Back of this wall lives someone who dotes on privacy, I take
 it, or why should he shut himself in and everyone else out? Now then, shall
 we cruise round or knock a hole in the wood? I don't see any door, do you,
 Randy?"
"No, I don't." Standing on the elephant's back, Randy examined the wall with
 great care. "Why, it goes for miles," he groaned dolefully. "Miles!"
"Then we'll just bump though." Backing off, Kabumpo lowered his head and was
 about to lunge forward when Randy gave his ear a sharp tweak.
"Look!" he directed breathlessly. "Look!" While they had been talking, Thun
 had been sniffing curiously at the wooden wall, and now a whole round
 section of it was blazing merrily. "Hurray! He's burned a hole big enough
 for us all to go through," yelled the young King gleefully. "Come ON!"
Vexed to think the Thunder Colt had solved the difficulty so easily, and
 worried lest the whole wall should catch fire, Kabumpo signaled for
 Planetty to precede him. But he need not have worried about Thun's firing
 the wall. The Thunder Colt had burned as neat a hole in the boards as a
 cigarette burns in paper, and while the edges glowed a bit, they soon
 smouldered out, leaving a huge circular opening. So without further delay,
 Kabumpo stepped through, only to find himself facing the most curious
 company he had seen in the whole course of his travels.

CHAPTER 9
THE BOX WOOD
"Why! Why, they're all in boxes!" breathed Randy as a group with upraised
 and boxed fists advanced upon the newcomers.
"Chillywalla! Chillywalla!" yelled the Boxers, their voices coming muffled
 and strange through the hatboxes they wore on their heads.
"Chillywalla! Chillywalla, Chillywalla!" echoed Planetty, waving cheerfully
 at the oncoming host.
"Shh-hh, pss-st, Princess, that may be a war cry," warned Randy, drawing his
 sword and swinging it so swiftly round his head it whistled. Thun, too
 astonished to move a step, stood with lowered head, his flaming breath
 darting harmlessly into the moist floor of the forest.
"Chillywalla! Chillywalla! Chillywalla!" roared the Boxers, keeping a safe
 distance from Kabumpo's lashing trunk. "Chillywalla! CHILLYWALLA!" Their
 voices rose loud and imploring. As Randy slid off the Elegant Elephant's
 back to place himself beside Planetty, a perfectly enormous Boxer came
 clumping out of the Box Wood to the left.
"Yes! Yes?" he grunted, holding on to his hatbox as he ran. When he caught
 sight of the travelers, he stopped short, and not satisfied with peering
 through the eyeholes in his hatbox, took it off altogether and stood
 staring at them, his square eyes almost popping from his square head. "Box
 their ears, box their ears! Box their heads and arms and rears! Box their
 legs, their hands and chests, box that fire plug 'fore all the rest! An
 IRON box!" screamed Chillywalla as Thun, with a soundless snort, sent a
 shower of sparks into a candy box bush, toasting all the marshmallows in
 the boxes. "Oh, aren't you afraid to go about in this barebacked,
 barefaced, unboxed condition," he panted, "exposed to the awful dangers of
 the raw outer air?"
Chillywalla hastily clapped on his hatbox, but not before Randy noticed that
 his ears were nicely boxed, too. Without waiting for an answer to his
 question, the Boxer, with one shove of his enormous boxed fist, pushed Thun
 under a Box Tree. Planetty had just time to leap from his back when
 Chillywalla shook a huge iron box loose, and it came clanking down over the
 Thunder Colt. It was open at the bottom, and Thun, kicking and rearing
 underneath, jerked it east and west.
"He'll soon grow used to it," muttered Chillywalla, jabbing a dozen holes in
 the metal with a sharp pick he had drawn from a pocket in his box coat.
 "Now then, who's next? Ah! What a lovely lady!" Chillywalla gazed
 rapturously at the Princess from Anuther Planet, then, clapping his hands,
 called sharply, "Bring the jewel boxes for her ears, flower boxes for
 herself, a bonnet box for her head, candy boxes for her hands, slipper
 boxes for those tiny silver feet. Bring stocking boxes, glove boxes, and
 hurry! HURRY!"
"Oh, PLEASE!" Randy put himself firmly between Planetty and the determined
 Chillywalla. "The outer air does not hurt us at all, Mister Chillywalla. In
 fact, we like it!"
"Just try to find a box big enough for me!" invited Kabumpo, snatching up
 the little Princess and setting her high on his shoulder.
"I think I have a packing box that would just fit," mused the Chief Boxer,
 folding his arms and looking sideways at the Elegant Elephant. "Pack him
 up, pack him off, send him packing!" chattered the other Boxers, who had
 never seen anything like Kabumpo in their lives and distrusted him highly.
 But Chillywalla himself was quite interested in his singular visitors and
 inclined to be more than friendly.
"Better try our boxes," he urged seriously as he took the pile of bright
 cardboard containers an assistant had brought him. "Without bragging, I can
 say that they are the best boxes grown C4 stylish, nicely fitting and
 decidedly comfortable to wear."
"Ha, ha!" rumbled Kabumpo, rocking backward and forward at the very idea.
 "Mean to tell me you wear boxes over your other clothes and everywhere you
 go?"
"Certainly." Chillywalla nodded vigorously. "Do you suppose we want to stand
 around and disintegrate? What happens to articles after they are taken out
 of their boxes?" he demanded argumentatively. "Tell me that."
"Why," said Randy thoughtfully, "they're worn, or sold, or eaten, or
 spoiledC4"
"Exactly." Chillywalla snapped him up quickly. "They are worn out; they lose
 their freshness and their newness. Well, we intend to save ourselves from
 such a fate, and we do," he added complacently.
"You're certainly fresh enough," chuckled Kabumpo with a wink at Randy.
"But might not these boxes be fun to wear?" inquired Planetty, looking
 rather wistfully at the bright heap the Boxer Chief had intended for her.
"No, No and NO!" rumbled Kabumpo positively. "No boxes!"
"As you wish." Chillywalla shrugged his shoulders under his cardboard
 clothes box. "Shall I unbox the horse?"
"Better not," decided Randy, looking anxiously at the sparks issuing from
 the punctures in Thun's box. "But perhaps you would show us the way through
 this, thisC4"
"Box Wood," finished Chillywalla. "Yes, I will be most honored to conduct
 you through our forest. And you may pick as many boxes as you wish, too,"
 he added generously. "I'd like to do something for people who are so soon
 to spoil and wither."
"Ha, ha! Now, I'm sure that's very kind of you," roared Kabumpo, wiping his
 eyes on the fringe of his robe. "And I think it best we hurry along, my
 good fellow. Ho, whither away? It would never do to have a spoiled King and
 Princess and a bad horse and elephant on your hands."
"Oh, if you'd ONLY wear our boxes!" begged Chillywalla, almost ready to cry
 at the prospect of his visitors spoiling on the premises. Then as Kabumpo
 shook his head again, the Big Boxer started off at a rapid shuffle, anxious
 to have them out of the woods as soon as possible. Thun, during all this
 conversation, had been kicking and bucking under his iron box, but now
 Planetty tapped out a reassuring message with her staff and the Thunder
 Colt quieted down. On the whole, he behaved rather well, following the
 signals his little mistress tapped out, and pushing the iron box along
 without too much discomfort or complaint, though occasional indignant and
 fiery protests came puffing out of his iron container.
Randy considered the journey through the Box Wood one of their gayest and
 most entertaining adventures. The woodmen, in their brightly decorated
 boxes, shuffled cheerfully along beside them, stopping now and then to
 point with pride to their square box-like dwellings set at regular
 intervals under the spreading boxwood trees. The whole forest was covered
 by an enormous wooden box that shut out the sky and gave everything an
 artificial and unreal look. It was in one side of this monster box that
 Thun had burned the hole to admit them. Randy and Planetty, riding sociably
 together on Kabumpo's back, picked boxes from branches of all the trees
 they could reach, and it was such fun and so exciting they paid scarcely
 any attention to the remarks of Chillywalla. Even the Elegant Elephant
 snapped off a box or two and handed them back to his royal riders.
"Oh, look!" exulted Randy, opening a bright blue cardboard box. "This is
 just full of chocolate candy."
"Oh, throw that trash away," advised Chillywalla contemptuously. "We think
 nothing of the stuff that grows inside; it's the boxes themselves we are
 after."
"But this candy is good," objected Randy after sampling several pieces. "And
 mind you, Kabumpo, Planetty has just picked a jewel box full of real
 chains, rings and bracelets."
"Oh, they are netiful, netiful," crooned the Princess of Anuther Planet,
 hugging the velvet jewel box to her breast.
"Keep them if you wish," sniffed Chillywalla, "but they're just rubbish to
 us. When we pick boxes, we toss the contents away."
"Now, that's just plain foolishness," snorted Kabumpo, aghast at such a
 waste, as Randy picked a pencil box full of neatly sharpened pencils and
 Planetty a tidy sewing kit fitted out with scissors, needles and spools of
 thread. The thimble was not quite ripe, but as Planetty had never stitched
 a stitch in her royal life, she did not notice or care about that. Indeed,
 before they came to the other side of the Box Wood, she and Randy were
 sitting in the midst of a high heap of their treasures, and Kabumpo looked
 as if he were making a lengthy safari, loaded up and down for the journey.
Randy had stuffed most of the boxes into big net bags Kabumpo always brought
 along for emergencies, and these he tied to the Elegant Elephant's harness.
 There were bread boxes packed with tiny loaves and biscuits, cake boxes
 stuffed with sugar buns and cookies, stamp boxes, flower boxes, glove
 boxes, coat and suit boxes. Last of all, Randy picked a Band Box and it
 played such gay tunes when he lifted the lid, Planetty clapped her silver
 hands, and even Kabumpo began to hum under his breath. Traveling through
 the Box Wood with kind-hearted Chillywalla was more like a surprise party
 than anything else. To Planetty it was all so delightful, she began to
 wonder how she had ever been satisfied with her life on Anuther Planet.
"Are all the countries down here as different and happy as this?" she asked,
 fingering the necklace she had taken from the jewel box. "All our countries
 are greyling and sad. No birds sing, no flowers grow, and people are all
 the same."
"Oh, just wait till you've been to OZ," exclaimed Randy, shutting the band
 box so he could talk better. "Oz countries are even more surprising than
 this, and wait till you've seen Ev and Jinnicky's Red Glass Castle!"
"You'll never reach it," predicted Chillywalla, shaking his hatbox gloomily.
 "You'll spoil in a few hours now, especially the big one, loaded down with
 all that stuff and rubbish. Throw it away," he begged again, looking so
 sorrowful Randy was afraid he was going to burst out crying. "Toss out that
 rubbish and wear our boxes before it is too late!"
"Rubbish!" Randy shook his fingers reprovingly at the Boxer. "Why, all these
 things are terribly nice and useful. If we go through enemy countries, we
 can placate the natives with cakes and cigars, and if we go through
 friendly countries, we'll use the suits and flowers and candy for gifts.
 Really, you've been a great help to us, Mr. Chillywalla, and if you ever
 come to Regalia, you may have anything in my castle you wish!"
"Are there any boxes in your castle?" Chillywalla peered up at Randy through
 the slits in his hat box.
"Not many," admitted Randy truthfully. "You see, in my country we keep the
 contents and throw the boxes away."
"Throw the boxes away!" gasped Chillywalla, jumping three times into the
 air. "Oh, you rogues! You rascals! You, YOU BOXIBALS! Lefters! Righters!
 Boxers all! Here! Here at once! Have at these Box-destroying savages!"
"Now see what you've done," mourned Kabumpo as hundreds of the Boxers,
 heeding Chillywalla's call, darted out of their dwellings and came leaping
 from behind the box bushes and trees. "You've started a war! That's what!"
"Box them! Box them good!" shrieked Chillywalla, raining harmless blows on
 Kabumpo's trunk with his boxed fists. A hundred more boxed both Thun and
 the Elegant Elephant from the rear, and so loud and angry were their cries
 Planetty covered her ears.
"Too bad we have to leave when everything was so pleasant," wheezed Kabumpo.
 "But never mind, here's the other side of the Box Wood. Flatten out,
 youngsters, and I'll bump through."
And bump through he did, with such a splintering of boards it sounded like
 an explosion of cannoncrackers. Thun, at three taps from Planetty, bumped
 after him, and before the Boxers realized what was happening, they were far
 away from there. "I'll soon have that box off you!" panted Kabumpo. And
 putting his trunk under Thun's iron box, he heaved it up in short order,
 screaming shrilly as he did, for the Thunder Colt's breath had made the
 metal uncomfortably hot.
"I thank you, great and mighty Master!" Thun sent the words up in a perfect
 shower of sparks. "Let us begone from these notorious boxers."
"Oh, they're not so bad," mused Randy as Planetty signaled for Thun to go
 left. "Just peculiar. Imagine keeping the boxes and throwing away all the
 lovely things inside. And imagine a country where everything grows in
 boxes!" he added, standing up to wave at Chillywalla and his square-headed
 comrades, who were looking angrily through the break in the side of their
 wall.
"Goodbye!" he called clearly. "Goodbye, Chillywalla, and thanks for the
 presents!"
"Boxibals!" hissed the Boxer Chief and his men, shaking their fists
 furiously at the departing visitors.
"And that makes us no better than cannibals, I suppose," grunted Kabumpo,
 looking rather wearily at the stretch of forest ahead. He had rather hoped
 to find himself in open country.

CHAPTER 10
NIGHT IN THE FOREST
All afternoon the four travelers moved through the Ixian forest, Planetty
 exclaiming over the flowers, ferns and bright birds that flitted from tree
 to tree, Thun sending up frequent high-flown sentences, Kabumpo and Randy
 looking rather anxiously for some landmark that would prove they were on
 the road to Ev. As it grew darker, the Elegant Elephant wisely decided to
 make camp, stopping in a small, tidy clearing for that purpose. As Kabumpo
 swung to an impressive halt, Randy slid to the ground, pulling the net bags
 with him, and began to sort out boxes containing food. Then he quickly
 gathered some faggots for a fire, as the night was raw and chilly, and had
 Planetty signal Thun to breathe on the wood. Thun, only too happy to be of
 some use, quickly lighted the campfire, and he and the little Princess
 watched curiously while Randy prepared his own and Kabumpo's supper, making
 coffee in a tin box with some water Kabumpo had fetched in his collapsible
 canvas bucket. The Elegant Elephant did rather well with the contents of
 seven cake boxes and four bread and cereal containers, and Randy found so
 many good things to eat among Chillywalla's presents he felt sorry not to
 be able to share them with Planetty or Thun.
"It would be more fun if you ate, too," he observed, looking down sideways
 at the little Princess, who was sitting on a boulder, hands clasped about
 her knees, while she gazed contentedly up at the stars.
"Would it?" Planetty smiled faintly, tapping her silver heels against the
 rock. "This seems nite enough," she sighed, stretching up her arms
 luxuriantly, "but now it is time to ret." Slipping off her metal cape, the
 Princess of Anuther Planet tossed one end against a white birch and the
 other to a tall pine. To Randy's surprise, the ends of the cape instantly
 attached themselves to the trees, making a soft, flexible hammock. Into
 this Planetty climbed with utmost ease and satisfaction. "Good net, Randy
 and Big Bumpo, dear," she called softly. "Take care of Thun. I've told him
 to stay where he is till the earling, and he will, he will."
With a smile, Planetty closed her bright eyes, and the wind swaying her
 silver hammock soon rocked her to sleep. It had been a long day, and Randy
 felt very drowsy himself. Walking over to the Thunder Colt, he turned his
 head so that his fiery breath would fall harmlessly on a cluster of damp
 rocks. He was pleased to find this steed from another planet so obedient
 and gentle. Though formed of some live and lively black metal, Thun was
 soft and satiny to the touch and seemed to enjoy having his back rubbed as
 much as an ordinary horse.
"Tap me twice on the shoulder if aught occurs, Slandy," he signalled,
 blowing the words out lazily between Randy's pats. "And good net to you, my
 Nozzies! Good net!"
"That language is just full of foolishness," sniffed Kabumpo, spreading a
 blanket on the ground for Randy and then stretching himself full length
 beneath a beech tree. "Put out the fire, Nozzy, my lad, the creature's
 breath makes light enough to frighten off any wild men or monsters."
"Oh, I don't believe there are any wild beasts or savages in this forest,"
 Randy said, stamping out the embers of the campfire. "It's too quiet and
 peaceful. I have an idea we're almost across Ix and will reach Ev by
 morning. What do you think, Kabumpo?"
Kabumpo made no answer, for the Elegant Elephant had stopped thinking and
 was already comfortably asnore. So, with a terrific yawn, Randy wrapped
 himself in the blanket, and curling up close to his big and faithful
 comrade, fell into an instant and pleasant slumber. Morning came all too
 soon, and Randy was rudely awakened by Kabumpo, who was shaking him
 violently by the shoulders. "Come on! Come on!" blustered the Elegant
 Elephant impatiently. "Stir out of it, my boy, we've all been up for hours.
 Is it proper to lie abed and let a Princess light the fire?"
"She didn't!" Sitting bolt upright, Randy saw that Planetty, with Thun's
 help, actually had lighted a fire and set water to boil in the tin box just
 as he had done the evening before. "Oh my goodness, Planetty! You musn't do
 that rough work," he exclaimed, hurrying over to take the big cake box from
 Planetty's hands.
"Why not?" beamed the little Princess, hugging the box close. "See, I have
 found the great choconut cake for Big Bumpo to eat C4 I mean neat."
"Ha, ha! Choconut cake!" Kabumpo swayed merrily from side to side. "Very
 neat, my dear. If there's one thing I love for breakfast, it's choconut
 cake." Laughing so he could hardly keep his balance, Kabumpo held out his
 trunk for the cake box. "What a splendid little castle keeper you'll make
 for some young King, Netty, my child!"
"Netty? Is that now my name?" Planetty pushed back her flying cloud of hair
 with an interested sniff.
"If you like it," said Randy, his ears turning quite red at Kabumpo's
 teasing remarks. Leading the little Princess to a flat rock, he sat her
 down with great ceremony and then began opening up boxes of crackers and
 fruit.
"Netty's a nite name," decided the Princess, her head thoughtfully on one
 side. "I must tell Thun." Skipping over to the Thunder Colt, who with
 drooping head and tail was enjoying a little colt nap, she tapped out her
 new nickname in the strange code she used when talking to him.
"No longer Planetty of Anuther Planet!" flashed Thun, awake in a twinkling
 and sending up his message in a shower of sparks. "But Anetty of Oz!"
"At least he's left off the N," mumbled Kabumpo, speaking thickly through
 the cocoanut cake which he had tossed whole into his capacious mouth.
 "Sounds rather well, don't you think?"
"Wonderful!" agreed Randy, who could scarcely keep his eyes off the
 sparkling little Princess. "It's too bad she's not like us, Kabumpo, then
 she could go back to Oz and stay there always."
"If she were like us, she wouldn't be so interesting," said Kabumpo, shaking
 his head judiciously. "Besides, down here the poor child is completely out
 of her element and liable to disintegrate or suffocate or Ev knows whatC4"
 he went on, discarding a box of prunes for a carton of tea.
"How was the cake?" Randy changed the subject, for he could not bear to
 think of Planetty in danger of any sort.
"Stale," announced Kabumpo, making a wry face as he swallowed some tea
 leaves. "I'll certainly be glad to catch up with some regular elephant
 food. This eating bits out of boxes is diabolical C420simply diabolical!
 Here, give me those crackers and eat some of that other stuff. And look at
 little Netty Ann, would you, shaking out that blanket as if she'd been
 traveling with us for years. Why, the lass is a born housewife!"
"And isn't she pretty?" smiled Randy, waving to Planetty as he began packing
 the boxes in the net bags again and stamping out the fire. "I wonder what
 it's like up where she lives, Kabumpo?"
"Why not ask her?" Swinging up his saddle sacks, Kabumpo called gaily to the
 little Princess, who came running over, the blanket neatly folded on her
 arm.
"Thank you, Netty. You are certainly a great help to us!" Taking the blanket
 and giving her an approving pat on the shoulder, Randy caught hold of
 Kabumpo's belt strap and pulled himself easily aloft. "All ready to go?"
Planetty nodded cheerfully as she mounted the Thunder Colt. "Will this
 lightling be as nite as the last?" she demanded, tapping Thun gently with
 her staff.
"Nicer," promised Randy as Thun pranced merrily ahead, Planetty's long cape
 billowing like a silver cloud behind them.
"What do you do when you are at home?" called Randy as Kabumpo, giving two
 short trumpets, followed close on the heels of the Thunder Colt.
"Home?" Planetty turned a frankly puzzled face.
"I mean, do you have a house or a castle?" persisted Randy, determined to
 have the matter settled in his mind once for all. "Do you have brothers and
 sisters, and is your father a King?"
"No house, no castle, no those other words," answered Planetty in even
 greater bewilderment. "On Anuther Planet each is to herself or himself
 alone. One floats, rides, skips or drifts through the leadling heights and
 lowlands, hanging the cape where one happens to be."
"Regular gypsies," murmured Kabumpo under his breath. "So nobody belongs to
 nobody, and nobody has anybody? Sounds crazy to me."
"Yes, if you have no families, no fathers or mothersC4" Randy was plainly
 distressed by such a country and existence "C4I don't see how you came to
 be at all."
"We rise full grown from our Vanadium springs, and naturally I have my own
 spring. Is that, then, my father?"
"Tell her `yes,'FF20" hissed Kabumpo between his tusks. "Why mix her all up
 with our way of doing things? If she wants a spring for a father, let her
 have it!" Kabumpo waved his trunk largely. "Ho, ho, kerumph! I've always
 thought of springs as a cure for rheumatism, but live and learn C4 eh,
 Randy C4 live and learn."
Randy paid small attention to the Elegant Elephant's asides; he was too busy
 explaining life as it was lived in Oz to Planetty, making it all so bright
 and fascinating, the eyes of the little Princess fairly sparkled with
 interest and envy. "I think I will not go with you to this Wizard of Ev,"
 she announced in a small voice as the young King paused for breath. "I do
 not believe I shall like that old wizard or his castle." Touching Thun with
 her staff, Planetty turned the Thunder Colt sideways and went zigzagging so
 rapidly through the trees they almost lost sight of her entirely.
"Now what?" stormed the Elegant Elephant, charging recklessly after her
 through the forest. "What's come over the little netwit? Come back! Come
 back, you foolish girl!" he trumpeted anxiously. "We'll take you to Oz
 after you've been to Ev," he added with a sudden burst of comprehension.
At Kabumpo's promise, Planetty half turned on her charger. "But this Wizard
 of Ev will send us back to Anuther Planet. It is yourself that has said
 so."
"No, no! We just said he would help you!" shouted Randy, leaning forward and
 waving both arms for Planetty to turn back. "Oh, you really must see
 Jinnicky," he begged earnestly. "Without his magic, you cannot live away
 from that Vanadium spring. Do you want to be stiff and still as a statue
 for the rest of your days?"
"I'd rather be a statue down here with you and Bumpo, where the birds sing
 and the flowers grow and the woods are green and wonderful, than to be a
 live Princess of Anuther Planet!" sighed the metal maiden, hiding her face
 in Thun's mane.
"You WOULD?" cried Randy, almost falling off the elephant in his extreme joy
 and excitement. "Then you just SHALL, and Jinnicky will change everything
 so you can live down here always and come back to Oz with Kabumpo and me!
 Would you like that, Planetty?"
"Oh, that would be netiful!" Clasping Thun with both arms, the little
 Princess laid her soft cheek against his neck. "NETIFUL!"
"Then ride on, Princess! Ride on!" Kabumpo spoke gruffly, for his feeling
 had quite overcome him. "Toss me a 'kerchief, will you, Randy?" he gulped
 desperately. "Oh, boo hoo, kerSNIFF! To think she really likes us that
 much! Do you think she'd hear if I blew my trunk?"
"No, no, she's way ahead of us now," whispered Randy, handing an enormous
 handkerchief down to Kabumpo after taking a sly wipe on it himself. "Oh,
 isn't this a gorgeous day, Kabumpo, and isn't everything turning out
 splendidly? And see there C4 we've actually come to the end of the
 forest."

CHAPTER 11
THE FIELD OF FEATHERS
"Good Gapers, everything's pink!" marveled Randy as Kabumpo, still muttering
 and snuffling, pushed his way through the last fringe of the forest.
"So now we're in the pink, eh?" With a last convulsive snort, Kabumpo
 stuffed the handkerchief into a lower pocket and trumpeted three times for
 Thun to halt. "Are those flowers, d'ye 'spose? May I see one of them, my
 dear?"
Catching up with the little Princess, who was already on the edge of the
 field, Kabumpo took the long spray she had picked and passed it back to
 Randy. "My gooseness, it's a feather! The largest and finest I've ever
 seen," Randy said in surprise. "Hey, I always thought feathers grew on
 birds, yet here's a whole field of feathers, Kabumpo C4 imagine that! And
 taller than I am, too."
"Well, there's no harm in feathers," observed Kabumpo jocularly. "Pick a
 plume for your bonnet, my child. The girls in our countries adorn
 themselves with these pretty fripperies. I've even worn them myself at
 court functions," he admitted self-consciously. "But do you think you can
 hold the colt's head up as we go through? Burnt feathers smell rather
 awful, and we don't wish to anger the owner or spoil his crop."
A bit confused by the words "owner" and "crop," Planetty nevertheless caught
 the idea and explained it so cleverly to Thun, the Thunder Colt started
 through the field holding his head high and handsome so that the flames
 spurted upward and not down.
"It was rather like plowing through a wheat field," decided Randy as
 Kabumpo, treading lightly as he could, stepped after Thun. It was, though,
 more like a sea of waving plumes, endlessly bending, nodding and rippling
 in the wind. Planetty gathered armfuls of these bright and newest
 treasures, liking them almost as much as the flowers in the forest. Thun,
 for his part, found the whole experience irksome in the extreme.
"These pink feathers give me the big pain in the neck," he puffed up
 indignantly as he trotted along with his head in the air. Planetty, reading
 his message with a little smile, was astonished to hear a series of roars
 and explosions behind her. Surely Thun's remarks were not as funny as all
 that! Turning round, she was shocked to see Kabumpo swaying and stumbling
 in his tracks, coughing and spluttering, and torn by such gigantic guffaws
 he had already shaken Randy from his back. The young King himself rolled
 and twisted on the ground, fairly gasping for breath.
"It's the feathers!" he gasped weakly as Planetty, leaping off the Thunder
 Colt, ran back to investigate. "They're tickling us to death. Get away
 quickly, Netty dear, before they get you C4 Oh, ha, ha, HAH! Oh, ho, ho!
 Quick! Before it is too late. Oh, hi, hi, hi! I shall die laughing!" To the
 startled little Princess, he appeared to be dying already.
"No, no! Please not!" she cried, dropping her armful of feathers. With
 surprising strength she jerked Randy upright, and in spite of his continued
 roars and wild writhings, managed to fling him across Thun's back. Now
 Kabumpo was down, kicking and rolling hysterically. It seemed to Planetty
 that the feathers were wickedly alive and tickling them on purpose. They
 tossed, swayed and brushed against her and Thun, too, but having no effect
 on the metallic skin of the Nuthers, curled away in distaste.
"Stop! Stop! I hate you!" screamed Planetty, stamping on the bunch she had
 picked a moment before, then struggling in vain to pull Kabumpo up by his
 trunk. "Thun! Thun! What shall we do?" Racing back to the Thunder Colt,
 Planetty tapped out all that was happening to their best and only friends,
 holding the convulsed and still laughing Randy in place with one hand as
 she did so. Thun, from anxious glances over his shoulder, had guessed more
 than half the difficulty.
"Search in the Kabumpty's pocket for something to tie round him so I may
 pull him out of the feathers," flashed the Thunder Colt, swinging in a
 circle to prance and stamp on the plumes still curling down to tickle the
 helpless boy on his back.
Feeling in Kabumpo's pockets as he tossed and lashed about was hard enough,
 but Planetty, who was quick and clever, soon found a long, stout, heavily
 linked gold chain Kabumpo twisted round and round his neck on important
 occasions. Slipping the chain through his belt, the little Princess clasped
 the other ends round the Thunder Colt's chest, making a strong and splendid
 harness. Then, mounting quickly and holding desperately to Randy, Planetty
 gave the signal for Thun to start. And away through the deadly field
 charged the night-black steed, burning feathers left and right with his
 flashing breath and dragging Kabumpo along as easily as if he had been a
 sack of potatoes instead of a two-ton elephant. The feathers bending
 beneath made the going soft so that the Elegant Elephant did not suffer so
 much as a scratch, and Thun galloped so swiftly that in less than ten
 minutes they had reached the other side of the beautiful but treacherous
 field. Going half a mile beyond, Thun came to an anxious halt, the golden
 chain falling slack around his ankles, while Planetty jumped down to see
 how Kabumpo was doing.
The Elegant Elephant had stopped laughing, but his eyes still rolled and his
 muscles still twitched and rippled from the terrible tickling he had
 endured. Randy, exhausted and weak, hung like a dummy stuffed with straw
 over the Thunder Colt's back. "Oh, we were too late, too long!" mourned
 Planetty, wringing her hands and running distractedly between the Elegant
 Elephant and the insensible King. "Oh, my netness, they will become stiff
 and still as Nuthers deprived of their springs," she tapped out dolefully
 to Thun.
"Do not be too sure." The Thunder Colt puffed out his message slowly. "See,
 already the big Kabumpty is trying to rise." And such, indeed, was the
 case. Astonished and mortified to find himself stretched on the ground in
 broad daylight and still too confused to realize what had happened, the
 Elegant Elephant lurched to his feet and stood blinking uncertainly around.
 Then, his eyes suddenly coming into proper focus, he caught sight of Randy
 lying limply across the Thunder Colt.
"What in Oz? What in Ix? What in Ev is the matter here?" he panted, wobbling
 dizzily over to Thun.
"Feathers!" sighed Planetty, clasping both arms round Kabumpo's trunk and
 beginning to pat and smooth its wrinkled surface. "The feathers tickled you
 and you fell down, my poor Bumpo. Randy too was almost laughed to the
 death. What does death mean?" Planetty looked up anxiously into his eyes.
"Great Grump! So that was it! Great Gillikens! I remember now, we were both
 nearly tickled to death, and it was awful, AWFUL! Not that Ozians ever do
 die," he explained hastily, "but, after all, we are not in Oz, and anything
 might have happened. And what I'd like to know is how in Ev we ever got out
 of those feathers."
"Thun pulled you out," Planetty told him proudly. "And look, LOOK, Bumpo
 dear, Randy is going to waken, too."
"Randy! Randy, do you hear that?" Kabumpo lifted the young King down and
 shook him gently backward and forward. "This colt of Planetty's, this
 Thunder Colt, all by himself, mind you, pulled us out of that infernal
 feather field! You and me, but mostly me. Now tell me, how did he manage to
 pull an elephant all that way?"
Randy, only half comprehending what Kabumpo was saying, said nothing, but
 Thun, guessing Kabumpo's question, threw back his head and puffed quickly:
 "We Nuthers are strong as iron, Master. Strong for ourselves, strong for
 our friends. Thun, the Thunder Colt, will always be strong for Kabumpty!"
"Strong! Strong? Why, you're marvelous," gasped the Elegant Elephant.
 Placing Randy on the ground, he fished jewels from his pocket with a
 reckless trunk till he found a band of pearls to fit Thun. Then carelessly
 risking the sparks from the Thunder Colt's nostrils, he fastened the pearls
 in place. "Tell him, tell him THANKS!" he blurted out breathlessly. "Tell
 him from now on we are friends and equals, friends and warriors together!"
With a pleased nod, Planetty translated for Thun, and the delighted colt,
 tossing his flying mane, raced round and round his three comrades, filling
 the air with high-flown and flaming sentences. "Friends and warriors!" he
 heralded, rearing joyously. "Friends and warriors!"
By this time Randy had recovered his breath and his memory and felt not only
 able but impatient to continue the journey. The field of feathers could
 still be seen waving pink and provokingly in the distance, but without one
 backward glance the four travelers set their faces to the north. A few of
 Chillywalla's boxes had been crushed while Kabumpo rolled in the feathers,
 and he and Randy still felt weak and worn from their dreadful experience,
 but these were small matters when they considered the dreadful fate they
 had escaped through the quick action of Planetty and Thun. "I always
 thought of Ix as a pleasant country," sighed Randy as Kabumpo moved slowly
 along a shady bypath.
"I don't believe this is Ix," stated the Elegant Elephant bluntly. "The
 air's different, smells salty, and this sandy road looks as if we might be
 near the sea. I think myself that we've come north by east through Ix into
 Ev and will reach the Nonestic Ocean by evening." Kabumpo paused to peer up
 at a rough board nailed to a pine.
"So! You got through the feathers, did you?" sneered the notice in
 threatening red letters. "Then so much the worse for you! Beware! Watch
 out! Gludwig the Glubrious has his eye on you."
"Glubrious!" sniffed Kabumpo, elevating his trunk scornfully as Randy read
 and re-read the impertinent message. "I don't recall anyone named Gludwig,
 do you?"
"Sounds rather awful, doesn't it?" whispered Randy, sliding to the ground to
 examine the billboard from all sides. "Say, look here, Kabumpo, there's
 something on the back. It's been scratched out with red chalk, but I can
 still read it."
"Then read it," advised Kabumpo briefly.
"This is the Land of Ev! Everybody welcome! Take this road to the Castle of
 the Red Jinn."
"Oh, that means we're almost there!" exulted the young King, but his joy
 evaporated quickly as he re-read the other side of the board. "Looks as if
 someone had switched signs on Jinnicky," he muttered, pushing back his
 crown with a little whistle. "Do you think anything has happened to him?"
"Probably some mischievous country boy trying out his chalk," answered the
 Elegant Elephant, not believing one of his own words. "Straight on, my
 dear," he called cheerfully to Planetty, who had pulled in the colt and was
 looking questioningly back at them. "At last we are in the Land of Ev, and
 just ahead lies the castle of our wizard."
"Oh, Bumpo, how nite!" Planetty hugged herself from pure joy. "I've never
 seen a castle, I've never seen a wizard!"
"But Kabumpo," worried Randy as the little Princess of Anuther Planet
 galloped gaily ahead of them, "suppose this Gludwig really has his eye on
 us? Suppose he rushes out before we can reach Jinnicky's castle?"
"Well, that will not be very `nite,' will it?" The Elegant Elephant spoke
 ruefully. "But what can we do? Are we going to stop for a mere sign?"
"No!" declared Randy, feeling about for his sword. "Of course not. But I'll
 wager a Willikin he was the fellow who planted those feathers."
"Very likely," agreed Kabumpo, pushing grimly along through the sand.

CHAPTER 12
ARRIVAL AT THE CASTLE OF THE RED JINN
The further they traveled into Ev, the more interesting the country became
 to Planetty and Thun. Now wild orange and lemon trees added their spicy
 tang to the salty air; waving palms edged the sandy roadway; and after
 traversing a grove of lordly cocoanut trees, the four suddenly found
 themselves facing the great, green, rolling Nonestic.
"A spring!" caroled Planetty, galloping Thun down to the water's edge. "Oh,
 never have I seen so netiful a spring!"
"Not a spring, Princess, an ocean," corrected Kabumpo, ambling good
 naturedly after Thun. "This is a salt, salt sea, full of ships, sailors,
 shells, crabs, islands, fish and fishermen."
"And will I see all of them?" Slipping from Thun's back, Planetty waded out
 a little way, hopping gleefully over the edges of the smaller waves.
"Sometime," promised Randy, dismounting hastily to keep her from venturing
 too far. "Look over your shoulder, Netty," he urged, drawing her back
 toward shore, "and then tell me what you think!"
Explaining this gay, wide and wonderful world to the little Princess of
 Anuther Planet Randy found more fun than anything he had ever done or
 imagined. Tense with expectation, he and Kabumpo watched as Planetty gazed
 off to the right. "Why C4 'tis a high, high hill of red that