Part 26 (1/2)

”Oh!” cried Dorothy, in an anxious voice, ”I'm sure Uncle Henry isn't getting any better, and it's because he is worried about me. Ozma, dear, I must go to him at once!”

”How can you?” asked Ozma.

”I don't know,” replied Dorothy; ”but let us go to Glinda the Good.

I'm sure she will help me, and advise me how to get to Uncle Henry.”

Ozma readily agreed to this plan and caused the Sawhorse to be harnessed to a pretty green and pink phaeton, and the two girls rode away to visit the famous sorceress.

Glinda received them graciously, and listened to Dorothy's story with attention.

”I have the magic belt, you know,” said the little girl. ”If I buckled it around my waist and commanded it to take me to Uncle Henry, wouldn't it do it?”

”I think so,” replied Glinda, with a smile.

”And then,” continued Dorothy, ”if I ever wanted to come back here again, the belt would bring me.”

”In that you are wrong,” said the sorceress. ”The belt has magical powers only while it is in some fairy country, such as the Land of Oz, or the Land of Ev. Indeed, my little friend, were you to wear it and wish yourself in Australia, with your uncle, the wish would doubtless be fulfilled, because it was made in fairyland. But you would not find the magic belt around you when you arrived at your destination.”

”What would become of it?” asked the girl.

”It would be lost, as were your silver shoes when you visited Oz before, and no one would ever see it again. It seems too bad to destroy the use of the magic belt in that way, doesn't it?”

”Then,” said Dorothy, after a moment's thought, ”I will give the magic belt to Ozma, for she can use it in her own country. And she can wish me transported to Uncle Henry without losing the belt.”

”That is a wise plan,” replied Glinda.