"Ho--hum," said he. "I see 'em, Your Majesty."

"What do they look like?" inquired the Monarch.

"That's a hard question to answer, for a queerer
assortment of creatures I never yet beheld,"
replied the nome. "However, such a collection of
curiosities may prove dangerous. There's a copper
man, worked by machinery--"

"Bah! that's only Tik-Tok," said Ruggedo.
"I'm not afraid of him. Why, only the other day
I met the fellow and threw him down a well."

"Then some one must have pulled him out again,"
said Kaliko. "And there's a little girl--"

"Dorothy?" asked Ruggedo, jumping up in fear.

"No; some other girl. In fact, there are several
girls, of various sizes; but Dorothy is not with
them, nor is Ozma."

"That's good!" exclaimed the King, sighing in
relief.

Kaliko still had his eye to the spyglass.

"I see," said he, "an army of men from Oogaboo.