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"I have seen the First and Foremost Phanfasm of the Mountain of Phantastico, and he will bring his people to assist us." "What!" cried the King. "The Phanfasms! You don't mean it, Guph!" "It is true," declared the General, proudly. The King became thoughtful, and his brows wrinkled.
He glared at the stranger in evident surprise. "Why have you captured this foolish wanderer and brought him here?" he demanded, addressing the owl-man. "I did not capture him," was the answer. "He passed the scarlet alligator and came here of his own free will and accord." The First and Foremost looked at the General. "Have you tired of life, then?" he asked. "No indeed," answered Guph.
Guph tried to think what to say next, and a happy thought soon occurred to him. "We want you to help us in this conquest," he announced, "for we need the mighty aid of the Growleywogs in order to make sure that we shall not be defeated. You are the strongest people in all the world, and you hate good and happy creatures as much as we Nomes do.
Then, despairing at last of wakening the beast, and worried over the fate of her friends, Polychrome again ran down to the entrance and hurried along the passage into the Nome King's cavern. Here she found Ruggedo lolling in his throne and smoking a long pipe. Beside him stood General Guph and Kaliko, and ranged before the King were the Rose Princess, Files and the Shaggy Man.
With all his knowledge and bravery General Guph did not know that the steady glare from the bear eyes was reading his inmost thoughts as surely as if they had been put into words.
The woman now raised her arms, even as the man-bear had done, and in a twinkling the wolves became crawling lizards, while she herself changed into a huge butterfly. Guph had only time to cry out in fear and take a step backward to avoid the lizards when another transformation occurred, and all returned instantly to the forms they had originally worn.
But they are protected by magic, so the hawk did not get a single one of them." "That is a very bad report," said the King, nervously. "Very bad, indeed. My Nomes are willing to fight, but they simply can't face hen's eggs and I don't blame them." "They won't need to face them," replied Guph. "I'm afraid of eggs myself, and don't propose to take any chances of being poisoned by them.
"So you did; and perhaps you fooled yourself," retorted the alligator. "Go up the mountain, if you dare, and find out what the First and Foremost will do to you!" "I will," declared Guph, boldly; and on he went up the path. At first the scene was wild enough, but gradually it grew more and more awful in appearance.
"In a few hours Oz will be a desert!" said the Chief of the Whimsies, with an evil laugh. "My dear Guph," remarked the Nome King to his General, "at last my vengeance upon Ozma of Oz and her people is about to be accomplished." "You are right!" declared the General. "Ozma is surely lost."
"If you have anything to say that is interesting," he remarked, "speak out, before I strangle you." So Guph spoke out. He tried not to pay any attention to a strange rustling sound that he heard, as of an unseen multitude drawing near to listen to his words. His eyes could see only the fierce bear-man, and to him he addressed his speech.
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