For three days Dorothy heard
nothing from Oz. These were sad
days for the little girl, although
her friends were all quite happy
and contented. The Scarecrow
told them there were wonderful
thoughts in his head; but he
would not say what they were
because he knew no one could
understand them but himself.
When the Tin Woodman walked about
he felt his heart rattling around
in his breast; and he told Dorothy
he had discovered it to be a
kinder and more tender heart
than the one he had owned when
he was made of flesh. The Lion
declared he was afraid of nothing
on earth, and would gladly face
an army or a dozen of the fierce
Kalidahs.
Thus each of the little party
was satisfied except Dorothy,
who longed more than ever to
get back to Kansas.
On the fourth day, to her great
joy, Oz sent for her, and when
she entered the Throne Room he
greeted her pleasantly:
"Sit down,
my dear; I think I have found
the way to get you
out of this country."
"And back to Kansas?" she
asked eagerly.
"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas," said
Oz, "for I haven't the faintest
notion which way it lies. But
the first thing to do is to cross
the desert, and then it should
be easy to find your way home."
"How can I cross the desert?" she
inquired.
"Well, I'll tell you what I
think," said the little man. "You
see, when I came to this country
it was in a balloon. You also
came through the air, being carried
by a cyclone. So I believe the
best way to get across the desert
will be through the air. Now,
it is quite beyond my powers
to make a cyclone; but I've been
thinking the matter over, and
I believe I can make a balloon."
"How?" asked
Dorothy.
"A balloon," said Oz, "is
made of silk, which is coated
with
glue to keep the gas in it. I
have plenty of silk in the Palace,
so it will be no trouble to make
the balloon. But in all this
country there is no gas to fill
the balloon with, to make it
float."
"If it won't float," remarked
Dorothy, "it will be of no use
to us."
"True," answered Oz. "But
there is another way to make
it float,
which is to fill it with hot
air. Hot air isn't as good as
gas, for if the air should get
cold the balloon would come down
in the desert, and we should
be lost."
"We!" exclaimed the girl. "Are
you going with me?"
"Yes, of course," replied Oz. "I
am tired of being such a humbug.
If I should go out of this Palace
my people would soon discover
I am not a Wizard, and then they
would be vexed with me for having
deceived them. So I have to stay
shut up in these rooms all day,
and it gets tiresome. I'd much
rather go back to Kansas with
you and be in a circus again."
"I shall be glad to have your
company," said Dorothy.
"Thank you," he answered. "Now,
if you will help me sew the silk
together, we will begin to work
on our balloon."
So Dorothy took a needle and
thread, and as fast as Oz cut
the strips of silk into proper
shape the girl sewed them neatly
together. First there was a strip
of light green silk, then a strip
of dark green and then a strip
of emerald green; for Oz had
a fancy to make the balloon in
different shades of the color
about them. It took three days
to sew all the strips together,
but when it was finished they
had a big bag of green silk more
than twenty feet long.
Then Oz painted it on the inside
with a coat of thin glue, to
make it airtight, after which
he announced that the balloon
was ready.
"But we must have a basket
to ride in," he said. So he sent
the soldier with the green whiskers
for a big clothes basket, which
he fastened with many ropes to
the bottom of the balloon.
When it was all ready, Oz sent
word to his people that he was
going to make a visit to a great
brother Wizard who lived in the
clouds. The news spread rapidly
throughout the city and everyone
came to see the wonderful sight.
Oz ordered the balloon carried
out in front of the Palace, and
the people gazed upon it with
much curiosity. The Tin Woodman
had chopped a big pile of wood,
and now he made a fire of it,
and Oz held the bottom of the
balloon over the fire so that
the hot air that arose from it
would be caught in the silken
bag. Gradually the balloon swelled
out and rose into the air, until
finally the basket just touched
the ground.
Then Oz got into the basket
and said to all the people in
a loud voice:
"I am now going
away to make a visit. While
I am gone the
Scarecrow will rule over you.
I command you to obey him as
you would me."
The balloon was by this time
tugging hard at the rope that
held it to the ground, for the
air within it was hot, and this
made it so much lighter in weight
than the air without that it
pulled hard to rise into the
sky.
"Come, Dorothy!" cried the
Wizard. "Hurry up, or the balloon
will fly away."
"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied
Dorothy, who did not wish to
leave her little dog behind.
Toto had run into the crowd to
bark at a kitten, and Dorothy
at last found him. She picked
him up and ran towards the balloon.
She was within a few steps
of it, and Oz was holding out
his hands to help her into the
basket, when, crack! went the
ropes, and the balloon rose into
the air without her.
"Come back!" she screamed. "I
want to go, too!"
"I can't come back, my dear," called
Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!"
"Good-bye!" shouted
everyone, and all eyes were
turned upward
to where the Wizard was riding
in the basket, rising every moment
farther and farther into the
sky.
And that was the last any of
them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful
Wizard, though he may have reached
Omaha safely, and be there now,
for all we know. But the people
remembered him lovingly, and
said to one another:
"Oz was always
our friend. When he was here
he built for
us this beautiful Emerald City,
and now he is gone he has left
the Wise Scarecrow to rule over
us."
Still, for many days they grieved
over the loss of the Wonderful
Wizard, and would not be comforted.
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