The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-10-09

The King is villain" declared the
Scarecrow.
His laugh is worse than another
mans frown," said the private, with a
shudder.
Il thought he was honest, but
was mistaken" remarked Tiktok,
My thoughts are us-u-al-ly correct,
but 1t is Smith and Thinkers fault II
they sometimes, go wrong or do not
Smith and Tinker made very good
JOB Of YOU" said ozma, kindly. Il do
not think they should be blamed il you
are not quite perfect"
Thank you" replied Tiktok.
Then" said Billina, in her brisk lit
Nome King, and see What he has to
say for himself"
So they started for the entrance.
Ozma going first, with the Queen and
her train of little Princess and
Princesses following. Then came Tiktok.
and the Scarecrow with Billina perched
upon his straw stuffed shoulder. The
twenty-six officers and the private
brought up the rear.
AS they reached the ball the doors
flew open before them; but then they
all stopped and stared into the domed
cavern with faces of establishment and
| dismay. For the room was filled with
the mail-clad warriors of the Nome
| King, rank after rank standing in or
| derby array. The electric lights upon
their brows cleaned brightly their bat
tle-a axes were poised as II to strike down
! their foes; yet they remained notion
less as statues, awaiting the word of
| command.
] And in the center of this terrible
! army sat the little King upon his throne
| of rock. But he neither smiled nor
laughed. Instead his face was distorted
with rage, and most dreadful to behold.
After Billina had entered the palace
Dorothy and Evring sat down to await
the success or failure OF her mission,
and the Nome King occupied his throne
and smoked his long pipe for while In
a cheerful and contented mood.
Then the bell above the throne, which
| sounded whenever an enchantment was
broken, began to ring, and the King
gave a start of annoyance and ex-
claimed. "Rocketty-ricketts!"
When the bell rang second time the
King shouted angrily, 'Smudge and
blazes" and at third ring he screamed
in a fury, "Hppikaloric!" which mus,
be dreadful word because we don't
know what 1t means.
After that the bell went on ringing
time after time; but the King was nov
so violently enraged that he could moi
utter a word, but hoped out of his
throne and all around the room> in a
Iiidu lTenSy, SO lnat he REMINDED DOT
othy of a jumping Jack
The girl was, for her part filled with
joy at every peal of the bell, for IL an
nounced the fact that Billina had trans.
formed one more ornament into livinl
person, Dorothy was also amazed al
Billina's success, for she could not i'm
agine how the yellow hen was able tc
. guess correctly from all the bewilder'
ing number of articles clustered in tn,
rooms Of the palace But after she haC
counted ten, and the bell continued t
ring she knew that not only the roya
family of Ev. but 0zma and her fol
lowers also, were being restored to thei
natural forms, and she was so delighted
that the antics Of the angry King onl!
made her laugh merrily.
, I Perhaps the little monarch could no
be more furious than he was before
but the girls laughter nearly drov,
him frantic, and he roared at her lik'
q savage beast. Then, as he found tina
all his entertainments were likely to b.
/ dspel'ed and his victims every one Sc
} free, he suddenly ran to the little doc
that opened the balcony and gave tn,
shrill whistle that summoned his war
riors,
, Editors Note--Next week we shall
learn how the Scarecrow outwitted tn
J wicked Nome King, when he sought I
make Dorothy and ozma and all thei
: party his prisoners, and of how the,
thus defeated the Kings terrible armies