  "Conjo!" exclaimed the Shaggy Man. "Of course that's who it is. He used Ozma's Magic Compass to bring him to the Emerald City and then started his mischief!" "I wonder what he wants—what his purpose is in hiding my Black Bag and then locking himself in the tower?" mused the Wizard. "Perhaps," said Dorothy, "it would be a good thing if Twiffle told us all he knows about this Conjo, since he seems to be better acquainted with him than anyone else is." "A good idea," agreed the Wizard, and they all turned to Twiffle. The little clown recounted his life with Conjo, telling all he could remember from the time when Conjo brought him to life to his escape with Shaggy and Twink and Tom in the Airmobile. The Wizard considered. "Apparently the only really bad thing Conjo has done is to take these children out of their home and plan to make them prisoners. Outside of that he has been merely selfish, lazy, and foolishly vain. Perhaps if we tried to talk with him, we could prove the folly of his latest actions. He must know that as soon as Ozma returns he will be helpless before her fairy powers." The Wizard led the way to Ozma's Grand Throne Room, on one side of which was the door that led to the tower and Magic Workroom. The young beavers and their King hurried along after the Wizard and Shaggy and the rest. "Perhaps Conjo would listen to you," the Wizard suggested to Twiffle, "if you asked him to come out and talk with us." Twiffle walked to the tower door, knocked as loudly as he could on it, and said: "Come out, Conjo. It is foolish of you to hide away in there. These people want to talk with you and try to be your friends." Everyone waited with hushed breath. Had Conjo heard? Would he come out? After a few moments the door opened a crack, then slowly farther and farther, until Conjo stood revealed in the doorway. The little man was quivering with excitement. "Yes," Conjo said with what was meant to be a smile, "I will talk to you. But don't any one of you come one step nearer this door. If you do, I will transform you all into door-mats and jumping-jacks." "What do you want?" asked the Wizard quietly. "Why have you hidden my Black Bag of Magic Tools and shut me off from my Magic Workroom?" "You should be able to figure that out," replied Conjo. "I had to do that to render you helpless. Without your magic you are powerless to defend yourselves. I now have at my command all of your magic as well as my own. So, I rather think you will be glad enough to do as I say." "And just what is that?" asked the Wizard. "From now on," said Conjo, "I am the Wizard of Oz, and you," Conjo pointed to the Wizard, "are my assistant!" Dorothy gasped at the audacity of the little man, while the Shaggy Man laughed aloud. The Wizard could only whisper unbelievingly: "You want to be me?" "No," said Conjo, who seemed relaxed now and enjoying the consternation he had created, "I want to be the Wizard of Oz—it's only a title you know, and I deserve it just as much as you. I'm tired of being a wizard nobody knows about. Now I have all your magic so who is there to say I am not the Wizard of Oz? Ho, ho, ho—ha, ha, he, he, he!" The little man seemed vastly amused. "Ozma will have something to say about this," said Dorothy indignantly. "If you think she'll let you come in here and steal all the Wizard's magic and then try to steal his name on top of all that you're very badly mistaken." "I'll take care of Ozma when the time comes. After all, she's only a girl," said Conjo easily. "And now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go up and study the Wizard's magic. Please set a place for me at dinner, I shall be quite hungry. And don't bother to look for the Wizard's Black Bag. You'll never find it. Ha, ha, ha, ho, ho, he, he, he!" Conjo was about to close the door, when the King of the Fairy Beavers raised his beechwood wand. From the tip of it came a stream of water that played directly on Conjo's face. Conjo gasped and sputtered, opened his mouth to cry out, and the stream of water filled his mouth. He choked and swallowed a large amount of the water. Immediately the stream ceased flowing from the beaver King's wand. Conjo stared at them all with innocent wonder in his eyes. "Where am I?" he said. |
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