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"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."
"I now remember," returned Aujah, "that one of the arts we taught Coo-ee-oh was the way to expand steel, and I think that explains how the island is raised and lowered. I noticed in the basement a big steel pillar that passed through the floor and extended upward to this palace. Perhaps the end of it is concealed in this very room.
"Hasn't Ozma the power to raise the island to the surface?" inquired Glinda. "No," was the reply, and the Record refused to say more except that Queen Coo-ee-oh, who alone could command the island to rise, had been transformed by the Flathead Su-dic into a Diamond Swan.
Near by floated the submarine in which the Queen had come, but the Skeezers who were in it were puzzled what to do with themselves. Perhaps they were not sorry their cruel mistress had been transformed into a Diamond Swan, but the transformation had left them quite helpless. The under-water boat was not operated by machinery, but by certain mystic words uttered by Coo-ee-oh.
"But how do you suppose Coo-ee-oh managed to sink the island, and make it rise again?" inquired Glinda. This the Adepts could not yet explain. As nothing more could be learned from the basement they mounted the steps to the Queen's private suite again, and Ozma showed them to a special room where Coo-ee-oh kept her magical instruments and performed all her arts of witchcraft. The Magic Words
"Am I not beautiful?" asked Coo-ee-oh, arching her neck gracefully and spreading her diamond-sprinkled wings. "I can see my reflection in the water, and I'm sure there is no bird nor beast, nor human as magnificent as I am!" "How shall we get back to the island, your Majesty?" pleaded Ervic.
So, when I learned there might be war between two faraway people of Oz, I came here to settle the dispute and adjust the quarrel." "No one asked you to come," declared Queen Coo-ee-oh. "It is my business to settle this dispute, not yours. You say my island is a part of the Land of Oz, which you rule, but that is all nonsense, for I've never heard of the Land of Oz, nor of you.
Then they rushed into the living room of the house and found Lady Aurex, fully dressed, awaiting them. "Do not be alarmed," said their hostess. "Coo-ee-oh has decided to submerge the island, that is all. But it proves the Flatheads are coming to attack us." "What do you mean by sub-sub-merging the island?" asked Dorothy. "Come here and see," was the reply.
Of course this attempt to destroy the fishes frightened the Queen, for her safety lies in keeping the three fishes alive." "I s'pose Coo-ee-oh will fight the Flatheads with all her might," observed Dorothy. "And with all her magic," added Ozma, thoughtfully. "I do not see how the Flatheads can get to this island to hurt us," said Lady Aurex.
"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?"
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