buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children
found themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people
at once followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious
room, leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy
the center of the hall.

"Come to us, oh, Gwig!" called the man, in a loud voice.

Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared and rolled over the floor; then it
slowly spread and ascended into the dome, disclosing a strange
personage seated upon a glass throne just before Jim's nose. He was
formed just as were the other inhabitants of this land and his
clothing only differed from theirs in being bright yellow. But he had
no hair at all, and all over his bald head and face and upon the backs
of his hands grew sharp thorns like those found on the branches of
rose-bushes. There was even a thorn upon the tip of his nose and he
looked so funny that Dorothy laughed when she saw him.

The Sorcerer, hearing the laugh, looked toward the little girl with
cold, cruel eyes, and his glance made her grow sober in an instant.

"Why have you dared to intrude your unwelcome persons into the
secluded Land of the Mangaboos?" he asked, sternly.

"'Cause we couldn't help it," said Dorothy.

"Why did you wickedly and viciously send the Rain of Stones to crack
and break our houses?" he continued.

"We didn't," declared the girl.