But the Skeezers didn't need boats, as the girls soon
discovered. For on a sudden an opening appeared at the
base of the palace and from the opening came a slender
shaft of steel, reaching out slowly but steadily across
the water in the direction of the place where they
stood. To the girls this steel arrangement looked like
a triangle, with the base nearest the water. It came
toward them in the form of an arch, stretching out from
the palace wall until its end reached the bank and
rested there, while the other end still remained on the
island.

Then they saw that it was a bridge, consisting of a
steel footway just broad enough to walk on, and two
slender guide rails, one on either side, which were
connected with the footway by steel bars. The bridge
looked rather frail and Dorothy feared it would not
bear their weight, but Ozma at once called, "Come on!"
and started to walk across, holding fast to the rail on
either side. So Dorothy summoned her courage and
followed after. Before Ozma had taken three steps she
halted and so forced Dorothy to halt, for the bridge
was again moving and returning to the island.

"We need not walk after all," said Ozma. So they
stood still in their places and let the steel bridge
draw them onward. Indeed, the bridge drew them well
into the glass-domed building which covered the island,
and soon they found themselves standing in a marble
room where two handsomely dressed young men stood on a