Part 31 (1/2)
”I know, dear. My first duty is to my subjects, and I think it would be a delight to us all to have Betsy with us. There's a pretty suite of rooms just opposite your own where she can live, and I'll build a golden stall for Hank in the stable where the Sawhorse lives. Then we'll introduce the mule to the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, and I'm sure they will soon become firm friends. But I cannot very well admit Betsy and Hank into Oz unless I also admit s.h.a.ggy's brother.”
”And, unless you admit s.h.a.ggy's brother, you will keep out poor s.h.a.ggy, whom we are all very fond of,” said the Wizard.
”Well, why not ad-mit him?” demanded Tik-Tok.
”The Land of Oz is not a refuge for all mortals in distress,” explained Ozma. ”I do not wish to be unkind to s.h.a.ggy Man, but his brother has no claim on me.”
”The Land of Oz isn't crowded,” suggested Dorothy.
”Then you advise me to admit s.h.a.ggy's brother?” inquired Ozma.
”Well, we can't afford to lose our s.h.a.ggy Man, can we?”
”No, indeed!” returned Ozma. ”What do you say, Wizard?”
”I'm getting my magic ready to transport them all.”
”And you, Tik-Tok?”
”s.h.a.g-gy's broth-er is a good fel-low, and we can't spare s.h.a.g-gy.”
”So, then; the question is settled,” decided Ozma. ”Perform your magic, Wizard!”
He did so, placing a silver plate upon a small standard and pouring upon the plate a small quant.i.ty of pink powder which was contained in a crystal vial. Then he muttered a rather difficult incantation which the sorceress Glinda the Good had taught him, and it all ended in a puff of perfumed smoke from the silver plate. This smoke was so pungent that it made both Ozma and Dorothy rub their eyes for a moment.
”You must pardon these disagreeable fumes,” said the Wizard. ”I a.s.sure you the smoke is a very necessary part of my wizardry.”
”Look!” cried Dorothy, pointing to the Magic Picture; ”they're gone!
All of them are gone.”
Indeed, the picture now showed the same rocky landscape as before, but the three people and the mule had disappeared from it.
”They are gone,” said the Wizard, polis.h.i.+ng the silver plate and wrapping it in a fine cloth, ”because they are here.”
At that moment Jellia Jamb entered the room.
”Your Highness,” she said to Ozma, ”the s.h.a.ggy Man and another man are in the waiting room and ask to pay their respects to you. s.h.a.ggy is crying like a baby, but he says they are tears of joy.”
”Send them here at once, Jellia!” commanded Ozma.
”Also,” continued the maid, ”a girl and a small-sized mule have mysteriously arrived, but they don't seem to know where they are or how they came here. Shall I send them here, too?”
”Oh, no!” exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly jumping up from her chair; ”I'll go to meet Betsy myself, for she'll feel awful strange in this big palace.”
And she ran down the stairs two at a time to greet her new friend, Betsy Bobbin.
Chapter Twenty-Five