Free L. Frank Baum_Oz 14 by Glinda of Oz

dome.
    "Good!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I hate that old Su-dic, but I'm glad
Coo-ee-oh is punished."
    "This is a dreadful misfortune!" cried Lady Aurex, pressing her hands
upon her heart.
    "Yes," agreed Ozma, nodding her head thoughtfully; "Coo-ee-oh's
misfortune will prove a terrible blow to her people."
    "What do you mean by that?" asked Dorothy in surprise. "Seems to me the
Skeezers are in luck to lose their cruel Queen."
    "If that were all you would be right," responded Lady Aurex; "and if
the island were above water it would not be so serious. But here we all
are, at the bottom of the lake, and fast prisoners in this dome."
    "Can't you raise the island?" inquired Dorothy.
    "No. Only Coo-ee-oh knew how to do that," was the answer.
    "We can try," insisted Dorothy. "If it can be made to go down, it can
be made to come up. The machinery is still here, I suppose.
    "Yes; but the machinery works by magic, and Coo-ee-oh would never share
her secret power with any one of us."
    Dorothy's face grew grave; but she was thinking.
    "Ozma knows a lot of magic," she said.
    "But not that kind of magic," Ozma replied.
    "Can't you learn how, by looking at the machinery?"
    "I'm afraid not, my dear. It isn't fairy magic at all; it is
witchcraft."
    "Well," said Dorothy, turning to Lady Aurex, "you say there are other
sub-sub-sinking boats. We can get in one of those, and shoot out to the
top of the water, like Coo-ee-oh did, and so escape. And then we can
help to rescue all the Skeezers down here."
    "No one knows how to work the under-water boats but the Queen,"
declared Lady Aurex.
    "Isn't there any door or window in this dome that we could open?"
    "No; and, if there were, the water would rush in to flood the dome, and
we could not get out."
    "The Skeezers," said Ozma, "could not drown; they only get wet and
soggy and in that condition they would be very uncomfortable and
unhappy. But you are a mortal girl, Dorothy, and if your Magic Belt
protected you from death you would have to lie forever at the bottom of
the lake."
    "No, I'd rather die quickly," asserted the little girl. "But there are
doors in the basement that open—to let out the bridges and the
boats—and that would not flood the dome, you know."
    "Those doors open by a magic word, and only Coo-ee-oh knows the word
that must be uttered," said Lady Aurex.
    "Dear me!" exclaimed Dorothy, "that dreadful Queen's witchcraft upsets
all my plans to escape. I guess I'll give it up, Ozma, and let you save
us."
    Ozma smiled, but her smile was not so cheerful as usual. The Princess
of Oz found herself confronted with a serious problem, and although she
had no thought of despairing she realized that the Skeezers and their
island, as well as Dorothy and herself, were in grave trouble and that
unless she could find a means to save them they would be lost to the
Land of Oz for all future time.
    "In such a dilemma," said she, musingly, "nothing is gained by haste.
Careful thought may aid us, and so may the course of events. The
unexpected is always likely to happen, and cheerful patience is better
than reckless action."
    "All right," returned Dorothy; "take your time, Ozma; there's no hurry.
How about some breakfast, Lady Aurex?"
    Their hostess led them back to the house, where she ordered her
trembling servants to prepare and serve breakfast. All the Skeezers
were frightened and anxious over the transformation of their Queen into
a swan. Coo-ee-oh was feared and hated, but they had depended on her
magic to conquer the Flatheads and she was the only one who could raise
their island to the surface of the lake again.
    Before breakfast was over several of the leading Skeezers came to Aurex
to ask her advice and to question Princess Ozma, of whom they knew
nothing except that she claimed to be a fairy and the Ruler of all the
land, including the Lake of the Skeezers.
    "If what you told Queen Coo-ee-oh was the truth," they said to her,
"you are our lawful mistress, and we may depend on you to get us out