"Really," said Dorothy, looking solemn, "this is very s'prising. We
can't find even a shadow of Ozma anywhere in the Em'rald City; and,
wherever she's gone, she's taken her Magic Picture with her."
She was standing in the courtyard of the palace with Betsy and Trot,
while Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, danced around the group, her hair
flying in the wind.
"P'raps," said Scraps, still dancing, "someone has stolen Ozma."
"Oh, they'd never dare do that!" exclaimed tiny Trot.
"And stolen the Magic Picture, too, so the thing can't tell where she
is," added the Patchwork Girl.
"That's nonsense," said Dorothy. "Why, ev'ryone loves Ozma. There isn't
a person in the Land of Oz who would steal a single thing she owns."
"Huh!" replied the Patchwork Girl. "You don't know ev'ry person in the
Land of Oz."
"Why don't I?"
"It's a big country," said Scraps. "There are cracks and corners in it
that even Ozma doesn't know of."
"The Patchwork Girl's just daffy," declared Betsy.
"No; she's right about that," replied Dorothy thoughtfully. "There are
lots of queer people in this fairyland who never come near Ozma or the
Em'rald City. I've seen some of 'em myself, girls; but I haven't seen
all, of course, and there _might_ be some wicked persons left in Oz,
yet, though I think the wicked witches have all been destroyed."
Just then the Wooden Sawhorse dashed into the courtyard with the Wizard
of Oz on his back.
"Have you found Ozma?" cried the Wizard when the Sawhorse stopped beside
them.
"Not yet," said Dorothy. "Doesn't Glinda know where she is?"
"No. Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic instruments are gone.
Someone must have stolen them."
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Dorothy, in alarm. "This is the biggest steal I
ever heard of. Who do you think did it, Wizard?"
"I've no idea," he answered. "But I have come to get my own bag of magic
tools and carry them to Glinda. She is so much more powerful than I that
she may be able to discover the truth by means of my magic, quicker and
better than I could myself."
"Hurry, then," said Dorothy, "for we're all getting terr'bly worried."
The Wizard rushed away to his rooms but presently came back with a long,
sad face.
"It's gone!" he said.
"What's gone?" asked Scraps.
"My black bag of magic tools. Someone must have stolen it!"
They looked at one another in amazement.
[Illustration]
"This thing is getting desperate," continued the Wizard. "All the
magic that belongs to Ozma, or to Glinda, or to me, has been stolen."
"Do you suppose Ozma could have taken them, herself, for some purpose?"
asked Betsy.
"No, indeed," declared the Wizard. "I suspect some enemy has stolen Ozma
and, for fear we would follow and recapture her, has taken all our magic
away from us."
"How dreadful!" cried Dorothy. "The idea of anyone wanting to injure our
dear Ozma! Can't we do _any_thing to find her, Wizard?"
"I'll ask Glinda. I must go straight back to her and tell her that my
magic tools have also disappeared. The good Sorceress will be greatly
shocked, I know."
With this he jumped upon the back of the Sawhorse again and the quaint
steed, which never tired, dashed away at full speed.
The three girls were very much disturbed in mind. Even the Patchwork
Girl was more quiet than usual and seemed to realize that a great
calamity had overtaken them all. Ozma was a fairy of considerable power
and all the creatures in Oz, as well as the three mortal girls from the
outside world, looked upon her as their protector and friend. The idea
of their beautiful girl Ruler's being overpowered by an enemy and
dragged from her splendid palace a captive was too astonishing for them
to comprehend, at first. Yet what other explanation of the mystery could
there be?
"Ozma wouldn't go away willingly, without letting us know about it,"
asserted Dorothy; "and she wouldn't steal Glinda's Great Book of
Records, or the Wizard's magic, 'cause she could get them any time, just
by asking for 'em. I'm sure some wicked person has done all this."
"Someone in the Land of Oz?" asked Trot.
"Of course. No one could get across the Deadly Desert, you know, and no
one but an Oz person could know about the Magic Picture and the Book of
Records and the Wizard's magic, or where they were kept, and so be able
to steal the whole outfit before we could stop 'em. It _must_ be someone
who lives in the Land of Oz."
"But who--who--who?" asked Scraps. "That's the question. Who?"
"If we knew," replied Dorothy, severely, "we wouldn't be standing here,
doing nothing."
Just then two boys entered the courtyard and approached the group of
girls. One boy was dressed in the fantastic Munchkin costume--a blue
jacket and knickerbockers, blue leather shoes and a blue hat with a
high peak and tiny silver bells dangling from its rim--and this was Ojo
the Lucky, who had once come from the Munchkin Country of Oz and now
lived in the Emerald City. The other boy was an American, from
Philadelphia, and had lately found his way to Oz in the company of Trot
and Cap'n Bill. His name was Button-Bright; that is, everyone called him
by that name, and knew no other.
Button-Bright was not quite as big as the Munchkin boy, but he wore the
same kind of clothes, only they were of different colors. As the two
came up to the girls, arm in arm, Button-Bright remarked:
"Hello, Dorothy. They say Ozma is lost."
"_Who_ says so?" she asked.
"Everybody's talking about it, in the City," he replied.
"I wonder how the people found it out?" Dorothy asked.
"I know," said Ojo. "Jellia Jamb told them. She has been asking
everywhere if anyone has seen Ozma."
"That's too bad," observed Dorothy, frowning.
"Why?" asked Button-Bright.
"There wasn't any use making all our people unhappy, till we were dead
certain that Ozma can't be found."
[Illustration]
"Pshaw," said Button-Bright, "It's nothing to get lost. I've been lost
lots of times."
"That's true," admitted Trot, who knew that the boy had a habit of
getting lost and then finding himself again; "but it's diff'rent with
Ozma. She's the Ruler of all this big fairyland and we're 'fraid that
the reason she's lost is because somebody has stolen her away."
"Only wicked people steal," said Ojo. "Do you know of any wicked people
in Oz, Dorothy?"
"No," she replied.
"They're here, though," cried Scraps, dancing up to them and then
circling around the group. "Ozma's stolen; someone in Oz stole her; only
wicked people steal; so someone in Oz is wicked!"
There was no denying the truth of this statement. The faces of all of
them were now solemn and sorrowful.
"One thing is sure," said Button-Bright, after a time, "if Ozma has been
stolen, someone ought to find her and punish the thief."
"There may be a lot of thieves," suggested Trot gravely, "and in this
fairy country they don't seem to have any soldiers or policemen."
"There is one soldier," claimed Dorothy. "He has green whiskers and a
gun and is a Major-General; but no one is afraid of either his gun or
his whiskers, 'cause he's so tender-hearted that he wouldn't hurt a
fly."
"Well, a soldier's a soldier," said Betsy, "and perhaps he'd hurt a
wicked thief if he wouldn't hurt a fly. Where is he?"
"He went fishing about two months ago and hasn't come back yet,"
explained Button-Bright.
"Then I can't see that he will be of much use to us in this trouble,"
sighed little Trot. "But p'raps Ozma, who is a fairy, can get away from
the thieves without any help from anybody."
"She _might_ be able to," admitted Dorothy, reflectively, "but if she
had the power to do that, it isn't likely she'd have let herself be
stolen. So the thieves must have been even more powerful in magic than
our Ozma."
There was no denying this argument and, although they talked the matter
over all the rest of that day, they were unable to decide how Ozma had
been stolen against her will or who had committed the dreadful deed.
Toward evening the Wizard came back, riding slowly upon the Sawhorse
because he felt discouraged and perplexed. Glinda came, later, in her
aerial chariot drawn by twenty milk-white swans, and she also seemed
worried and unhappy. More of Ozma's friends joined them and that evening
they all had a long talk together.
"I think," said Dorothy, "we ought to start out right away in search of
our dear Ozma. It seems cruel for us to live comf'tably in her palace
while she is a pris'ner in the power of some wicked enemy."
"Yes," agreed Glinda the Sorceress, "someone ought to search for her. I
cannot go myself, because I must work hard in order to create some new
instruments of sorcery by means of which I may rescue our fair Ruler.
But if you can find her, in the meantime, and let me know who has stolen
her, it will enable me to rescue her much more quickly."
"Then we'll start to-morrow morning," decided Dorothy. "Betsy and Trot
and I won't waste another minute."
"I'm not sure you girls will make good detectives," remarked the Wizard;
"but I'll go with you, to protect you from harm and to give you my
advice. All my wizardry, alas, is stolen, so I am now really no more a
wizard than any of you; but I will try to protect you from any enemies
you may meet."
"What harm could happen to us in Oz?" inquired Trot.
"What harm happened to Ozma?" returned the Wizard. "If there is an Evil
Power abroad in our fairyland, which is able to steal not only Ozma and
her Magic Picture, but Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic, and
my black bag containing all my tricks of wizardry, then that Evil Power
may yet cause us considerable injury. Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda,
so no power can kill or destroy them; but you girls are all mortals, and
so are Button-Bright and I, so we must watch out for ourselves."
"Nothing can kill me," said Ojo, the Munchkin boy.
"That is true," replied the Sorceress, "and I think it may be well to
divide the searchers into several parties, that they may cover all the
land of Oz more quickly. So I will send Ojo and Unc Nunkie and Dr. Pipt
into the Munchkin Country, which they are well acquainted with; and I
will send the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman into the Quadling Country,
for they are fearless and brave and never tire; and to the Gillikin
Country, where many dangers lurk, I will send the Shaggy Man and his
brother, with Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead. Dorothy may make up her own
party and travel into the Winkie Country. All of you must inquire
everywhere for Ozma and try to discover where she is =hidden=."
[Illustration: Map of Part of the LAND OF OZ Showing the Search for the
LOST PRINCESS]
They thought this a very wise plan and adopted it without question. In
Ozma's absence Glinda the Good was the most important person in Oz and
all were glad to serve under her direction.
[Illustration]
The Search Party
[Illustration]