Kiki Aru, in the form of the Li-Mon-Eag, had scrambled into thehigh, thick branches of the tree, so no one could see him, and therehe opened the Wizard's black bag, which he had carried away in hisflight. He was curious to see what the Wizard's magic tools lookedlike, and hoped he could use some of them and so secure more power;but after he had taken the articles, one by one, from the bag, he hadto admit they were puzzles to him. For, unless he understood theiruses, they were of no value whatever. Kiki Aru, the Hyup boy, was nowizard or magician at all, and could do nothing unusual except to usethe Magic Word he had stolen from his father on Mount Munch. So hehung the Wizard's black bag on a branch of the tree and then climbeddown to the lower limbs that he might see what the victims of histransformations were doing.

They were all on top of the flat rock, talking together in tones solow that Kiki could not hear what they said.

"This is certainly a misfortune," remarked the Wizard in the Fox'sform, "but our transformations are a sort of enchantment which is veryeasy to break--when you know how and have the tools to do it with.The tools are in my Black Bag; but where is the Bag?"

No one knew that, for none had seen Kiki Aru fly away with it.

"Let's look and see if we can find it," suggested Dorothy the Lamb.

So they left the rock, and all of them searched the clearning highand low without finding the Bag of Magic Tools. The Goose searched asearnestly as the others, for if he could discover it, he meant to hideit where the Wizard could never find it, because if the Wizard changedhim back to his proper form, along with the others, he would then berecognized as Ruggedo the Nome, and they would send him out of theLand of Oz and so ruin all his hopes of conquest.

Ruggedo was not really sorry, now that he thought about it, thatKiki had transformed all these Oz folks. The forest beasts, it wastrue, had been so frightened that they would now never consent to betransformed into men, but Kiki could transform them against theirwill, and once they were all in human forms, it would not beimpossible to induce them to conquer the Oz people.

So all was not lost, thought the old Nome, and the best thing forhim to do was to rejoin the Hyup boy who had the secret of thetransformations. So, having made sure the Wizard's black bag was notin the clearing, the Goose wandered away through the trees when theothers were not looking, and when out of their hearing, he begancalling, "Kiki Aru! Kiki Aru! Quack--quack! Kiki Aru!"

The Boy and the Woman, the Fox, the Lamb, and the Rabbit, not being ableto find the bag, went back to the rock, all feeling exceedingly strange.

"Where's the Goose?" asked the Wizard.

"He must have run away," replied Dorothy. "I wonder who he was?"

"I think," said Gugu the King, who was the fat Woman, "that theGoose was the stranger who proposed that we make war upon the Ozpeople. If so, his transformation was merely a trick to deceive us,and he has now gone to join his comrade, that wicked Li-Mon-Eag whoobeyed all his commands."

"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy. "Shall we go back to theEmerald City, as we are, and then visit Glinda the Good and ask her tobreak the enchantments?"

"I think so," replied the Wizard Fox. "And we can take Gugu theKing with us, and have Glinda restore him to his natural shape. But Ihate to leave my Bag of Magic Tools behind me, for without it I shalllose much of my power as a Wizard. Also, if I go back to the EmeraldCity in the shape of a Fox, the Oz people will think I'm a poor Wizardand will lose their respect for me."

"Let us make still another search for your tools," suggested theCowardly Lion, "and then, if we fail to find the Black Bag anywhere inthis forest, we must go back home as we are."

"Why did you come here, anyway?" inquired Gugu.

"We wanted to borrow a dozen monkeys, to use on Ozma's birthday,"explained the Wizard. "We were going to make them small, and trainthem to do tricks, and put them inside Ozma's birthday cake."

"Well," said the Forest King, "you would have to get the consent ofRango the Gray Ape, to do that. He commands all the tribes of monkeys."

"I'm afraid it's too late, now," said Dorothy, regretfully. "It wasa splendid plan, but we've got troubles of our own, and I don't likebeing a lamb at all."

"You're nice and fuzzy," said the Cowardly Lion.

"That's nothing," declared Dorothy. "I've never been 'speciallyproud of myself, but I'd rather be the way I was born than anythingelse in the whole world."

The Glass Cat, although it had some disagreeable ways and manners,nevertheless realized that Trot and Cap'n Bill were its friends and sowas quite disturbed at the fix it had gotten them into by leading themto the Isle of the Magic Flower. The ruby heart of the Glass Cat wascold and hard, but still it was a heart, and to have a heart of anysort is to have some consideration for others. But the queertransparent creature didn't want Trot and Cap'n Bill to know it wassorry for them, and therefore it moved very slowly until it hadcrossed the river and was out of sight among the trees of the forest.Then it headed straight toward the Emerald City, and trotted so fastthat it was like a crystal streak crossing the valleys and plains.Being glass, the cat was tireless, and with no reason to delay itsjourney, it reached Ozma's palace in wonderfully quick time.

"Where's the Wizard?" it asked the Pink Kitten, which was curled upin the sunshine on the lowest step of the palace entrance.

"Don't bother me," lazily answered the Pink Kitten, whose name was Eureka.

"I must find the Wizard at once!" said the Glass Cat.

"Then find him," advised Eureka, and went to sleep again.

The Glass Cat darted up the stairway and came upon Toto, Dorothy'slittle black dog.

"Where's the Wizard?" asked the Cat.

"Gone on a journey with Dorothy," replied Toto.

"When did they go, and where have they gone?" demanded the Cat.

"They went yesterday, and I heard them say they would go to theGreat Forest in the Munchkin Country."

"Dear me," said the Glass Cat; "that is a long journey."

"But they rode on the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion," explainedToto, "and the Wizard carried his Black Bag of Magic Tools."

The Glass Cat knew the Great Forest of Gugu well, for it hadtraveled through this forest many times in its journeys through theLand of Oz. And it reflected that the Forest of Gugu was nearer tothe Isle of the Magic Flower than the Emerald City was, and so, if itcould manage to find the Wizard, it could lead him across the GillikinCountry to where Trot and Cap'n Bill were prisoned. It was a wildcountry and little traveled, but the Glass Cat knew every path. Sovery little time need be lost, after all.

Without stopping to ask any more questions the Cat darted out of thepalace and away from the Emerald City, taking the most direct route tothe Forest of Gugu. Again the creature flashed through the countrylike a streak of light, and it would surprise you to know how quicklyit reached the edge of the Great Forest.

There were no monkey guards among the trees to cry out a warning,and this was so unusual that it astonished the Glass Cat. Goingfarther into the forest it presently came upon a wolf, which at firstbounded away in terror. But then, seeing it was only a Glass Cat, theWolf stopped, and the Cat could see it was trembling, as if from aterrible fright.

"What's the matter?" asked the Cat.

"A dreadful Magician has come among us!" exclaimed the Wolf, "andhe's changing the forms of all the beasts--quick as a wink--and makingthem all his slaves."

The Glass Cat smiled and said:

"Why, that's only the Wizard of Oz. He may be having some fun withyou forest people, but the Wizard wouldn't hurt a beast for anything."

"I don't mean the Wizard," explained the Wolf. "And if the Wizardof Oz is that funny little man who rode a great Tiger into theclearing, he's been transformed himself by the terrible Magician."

"The Wizard transformed? Why, that's impossible," declared theGlass Cat.

"No; it isn't. I saw him with my own eyes, changed into the form ofa Fox, and the girl who was with him was changed to a woolly Lamb."

The Glass Cat was indeed surprised.

"When did that happen?" it asked.

"Just a little while ago in the clearing. All the animals had metthere, but they ran away when the Magician began his transformations,and I'm thankful I escaped with my natural shape. But I'm stillafraid, and I'm going somewhere to hide."

With this the Wolf ran on, and the Glass Cat, which knew where thebig clearing was, went toward it. But now it walked more slowly, andits pink brains rolled and tumbled around at a great rate because itwas thinking over the amazing news the Wolf had told it.

When the Glass Cat reached the clearing, it saw a Fox, a Lamb, aRabbit, a Munchkin boy and a fat Gillikin woman, all wandering aroundin an aimless sort of way, for they were again searching for the BlackBag of Magic Tools.

The Cat watched them a moment and then it walked slowly into theopen space. At once the Lamb ran toward it, crying:

"Oh, Wizard, here's the Glass Cat!"

"Where, Dorothy?" asked the Fox.

"Here!"

The Boy and the Woman and the Rabbit now joined the Fox and theLamb, and they all stood before the Glass Cat and speaking together,almost like a chorus, asked: "Have you seen the Black Bag?"

"Often," replied the Glass Cat, "but not lately."

"It's lost," said the Fox, "and we must find it."

"Are you the Wizard?" asked the Cat.

"Yes."

"And who are these others?"

"I'm Dorothy," said the Lamb.

"I'm the Cowardly Lion," said the Munchkin boy.

"I'm the Hungry Tiger," said the Rabbit.

"I'm Gugu, King of the Forest," said the fat Woman.

The Glass Cat sat on its hind legs and began to laugh. "My, what afunny lot!" exclaimed the Creature. "Who played this joke on you?"

"It's no joke at all," declared the Wizard. "It was a cruel, wickedtransformation, and the Magician that did it has the head of a lion,the body of a monkey, the wings of an eagle and a round ball on theend of his tail."

The Glass Cat laughed again. "That Magician must look funnier thanyou do," it said. "Where is he now?"

"Somewhere in the forest," said the Cowardly Lion. "He just jumpedinto that tall maple tree over there, for he can climb like a monkeyand fly like an eagle, and then he disappeared in the forest."

"And there was another Magician, just like him, who was his friend,"added Dorothy, "but they probably quarreled, for the wickedest onechanged his friend into the form of a Goose."

"What became of the Goose?" asked the Cat, looking around.

"He must have gone away to find his friend," answered Gugu the King."But a Goose can't travel very fast, so we could easily find him if wewanted to."

"The worst thing of all," said the Wizard, "is that my Black Bag islost. It disappeared when I was transformed. If I could find it Icould easily break these enchantments by means of my magic, and wewould resume our own forms again. Will you help us search for theBlack Bag, Friend Cat?"

"Of course," replied the Glass Cat. "But I expect the strangeMagician carried it away with him. If he's a magician, he knows youneed that Bag, and perhaps he's afraid of your magic. So he'sprobably taken the Bag with him, and you won't see it again unless youfind the Magician."

"That sounds reasonable," remarked the Lamb, which was Dorothy."Those pink brains of yours seem to be working pretty well to-day."

"If the Glass Cat is right," said the Wizard in a solemn voice,"there's more trouble ahead of us. That Magician is dangerous, and ifwe go near him he may transform us into shapes not as nice as these."

"I don't see how we could be any WORSE off," growled Gugu, who wasindignant because he was forced to appear in the form of a fat woman.

"Anyway," said the Cowardly Lion, "our best plan is to find theMagician and try to get the Black Bag from him. We may manage tosteal it, or perhaps we can argue him into giving it to us."

"Why not find the Goose, first?" asked Dorothy. "The Goose will beangry at the Magician, and he may be able to help us."

"That isn't a bad idea," returned the Wizard. "Come on, Friends;let's find that Goose. We will separate and search in differentdirections, and the first to find the Goose must bring him here, wherewe will all meet again in an hour."