"Now," said the Wizard, "we must start for home. But how are wegoing to carry that big gold flower-pot? Cap'n Bill can't lug it allthe way, that's certain."

"No," acknowledged the sailor-man; "it's pretty heavy. I could carryit for a little while, but I'd have to stop to rest every few minutes."

"Couldn't we put it on your back?" Dorothy asked the Cowardly Lion,with a good-natured yawn.

"I don't object to carrying it, if you can fasten it on," answeredthe Lion.

"If it falls off," said Trot, "it might get smashed an' be ruined."

"I'll fix it," promised Cap'n Bill. "I'll make a flat board out ofone of these tree trunks, an' tie the board on the lion's back, an'set the flower-pot on the board." He set to work at once to do this,but as he only had his big knife for a tool his progress was slow.

So the Wizard took from his black bag a tiny saw that shone likesilver and said to it:

"Saw, Little Saw, come show your power;Make us a board for the Magic Flower."

And at once the Little Saw began to move and it sawed the log sofast that those who watched it work were astonished. It seemed tounderstand, too, just what the board was to be used for, for when itwas completed it was flat on top and hollowed beneath in such a mannerthat it exactly fitted the Lion's back.

"That beats whittlin'!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill, admiringly. "Youdon't happen to have TWO o' them saws; do you, Wizard?"

"No," replied the Wizard, wiping the Magic Saw carefully with hissilk handkerchief and putting it back in the black bag. "It's theonly saw of its kind in the world; and if there were more like it, itwouldn't be so wonderful."

They now tied the board on the Lion's back, flat side up, and Cap'nBill carefully placed the Magic Flower on the board.

"For fear o' accidents," he said, "I'll walk beside the Lion andhold onto the flower-pot."

Trot and Dorothy could both ride on the back of the Hungry Tiger,and between them they carried the cage of monkeys. But thisarrangement left the Wizard, as well as the sailor, to make thejourney on foot, and so the procession moved slowly and the Glass Catgrumbled because it would take so long to get to the Emerald City.

The Cat was sour-tempered and grumpy, at first, but before they hadjourneyed far, the crystal creature had discovered a fine amusement.The long tails of the monkeys were constantly sticking through thebars of their cage, and when they did, the Glass Cat would slyly seizethe tails in her paws and pull them. That made the monkeys scream,and their screams pleased the Glass Cat immensely. Trot and Dorothytried to stop this naughty amusement, but when they were not lookingthe Cat would pull the tails again, and the creature was so sly andquick that the monkeys could seldom escape. They scolded the Catangrily and shook the bars of their cage, but they could not get outand the Cat only laughed at them.

After the party had left the forest and were on the plains of theMunchkin Country, it grew dark, and they were obliged to make camp forthe night, choosing a pretty place beside a brook. By means of hismagic the Wizard created three tents, pitched in a row on the grassand nicely fitted with all that was needful for the comfort of hiscomrades. The middle tent was for Dorothy and Trot, and had in it twocosy white beds and two chairs. Another tent, also with beds andchairs, was for the Wizard and Cap'n Bill, while the third tent wasfor the Hungry Tiger, the Cowardly Lion, the cage of Monkeys and theGlass Cat. Outside the tents the Wizard made a fire and placed overit a magic kettle from which he presently drew all sorts of nicethings for their supper, smoking hot.

After they had eaten and talked together for a while under thetwinkling stars, they all went to bed and the people were soonasleep. The Lion and the Tiger had almost fallen asleep, too, whenthey were roused by the screams of the monkeys, for the Glass Cat waspulling their tails again. Annoyed by the uproar, the Hungry Tigercried: "Stop that racket!" and getting sight of the Glass Cat, heraised his big paw and struck at the creature. The cat was quickenough to dodge the blow, but the claws of the Hungry Tiger scrapedthe monkey's cage and bent two of the bars.

Then the Tiger lay down again to sleep, but the monkeys soondiscovered that the bending of the bars would allow them to squeezethrough. They did not leave the cage, however, but after whisperingtogether they let their tails stick out and all remained quiet.Presently the Glass Cat stole near the cage again and gave a yank toone of the tails. Instantly the monkeys leaped through the bars, oneafter another, and although they were so small the entire dozen ofthem surrounded the Glass Cat and clung to her claws and tail and earsand made her a prisoner. Then they forced her out of the tent anddown to the banks of the stream. The monkeys had noticed that thesebanks were covered with thick, slimy mud of a dark blue color, andwhen they had taken the Cat to the stream, they smeared this mud allover the glass body of the cat, filling the creature's ears and eyeswith it, so that she could neither see nor hear. She was no longertransparent and so thick was the mud upon her that no one could seeher pink brains or her ruby heart.

In this condition they led the pussy back to the tent and then gotinside their cage again.

By morning the mud had dried hard on the Glass Cat and it was a dullblue color throughout. Dorothy and Trot were horrified, but theWizard shook his head and said it served the Glass Cat right forteasing the monkeys.

Cap'n Bill, with his strong hands, soon bent the golden wires of themonkeys' cage into the proper position and then he asked the Wizard ifhe should wash the Glass Cat in the water of the brook.

"Not just yet," answered the Wizard. "The Cat deserves to bepunished, so I think I'll leave that blue mud--which is as bad aspaint--upon her body until she gets to the Emerald City. The sillycreature is so vain that she will be greatly shamed when the Oz peoplesee her in this condition, and perhaps she'll take the lesson to heartand leave the monkeys alone hereafter."

However, the Glass Cat could not see or hear, and to avoid carryingher on the journey the Wizard picked the mud out of her eyes and earsand Dorothy dampened her handkerchief and washed both the eyes andears clean.

As soon as she could speak the Glass Cat asked indignantly: "Aren'tyou going to punish those monkeys for playing such a trick on me?"

"No," answered the Wizard. "You played a trick on them by pullingtheir tails, so this is only tit-for-tat, and I'm glad the monkeys hadtheir revenge."

He wouldn't allow the Glass Cat to go near the water, to washherself, but made her follow them when they resumed their journeytoward the Emerald City.

"This is only part of your punishment," said the Wizard, severely."Ozma will laugh at you, when we get to her palace, and so will theScarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, and Tik-Tok, and the Shaggy Man, andButton-Bright, and the Patchwork Girl, and--"

"And the Pink Kitten," added Dorothy.

That suggestion hurt the Glass Cat more than anything else. ThePink Kitten always quarreled with the Glass Cat and insisted thatflesh was superior to glass, while the Glass Cat would jeer at thePink Kitten, because it had no pink brains. But the pink brains wereall daubed with blue mud, just now, and if the Pink Kitten should seethe Glass Cat in such a condition, it would be dreadfully humiliating.

For several hours the Glass Cat walked along very meekly, but towardnoon it seized an opportunity when no one was looking and darted awaythrough the long grass. It remembered that there was a tiny lake ofpure water near by, and to this lake the Cat sped as fast as it could go.

The others never missed her until they stopped for lunch, and thenit was too late to hunt for her.

"I s'pect she's gone somewhere to clean herself," said Dorothy.

"Never mind," replied the Wizard. "Perhaps this glass creature hasbeen punished enough, and we must not forget she saved both Trot andCap'n Bill."

"After first leading 'em onto an enchanted island," added Dorothy."But I think, as you do, that the Glass Cat is punished enough, andp'raps she won't try to pull the monkeys' tails again."

The Glass Cat did not rejoin the party of travelers. She was stillresentful, and they moved too slowly to suit her, besides. When theyarrived at the Royal Palace, one of the first things they saw was theGlass Cat curled up on a bench as bright and clean and transparent asever. But she pretended not to notice them, and they passed her bywithout remark.