Tik-Tok of Oz | Page 5

fierce and succeeded so well that all his commanding officers
were secretly afraid of him.
The women were there, protesting that Queen Ann Soforth had no right
to take their husbands and fathers from them; but Ann commanded
them to keep silent, and that was the hardest order to obey they had
ever received.
The Queen appeared before her Army dressed in an imposing uniform
of green, covered with gold braid. She wore a green soldier-cap with a
purple plume in it and looked so royal and dignified that everyone in
Oogaboo except the Army was glad she was going. The Army was
sorry she was not going alone.
"Form ranks!" she cried in her shrill voice.
Salye leaned out of the palace window and laughed.

"I believe your Army can run better than it can fight," she observed.
"Of course," replied General Bunn, proudly. "We're not looking for
trouble, you know, but for plunder. The more plunder and the less
fighting we get, the better we shall like our work."
"For my part," said Files, "I prefer war and carnage to anything. The
only way to become a hero is to conquer, and the story-books all say
that the easiest way to conquer is to fight."
"That's the idea, my brave man!" agreed Ann. "To fight is to conquer
and to conquer is to secure plunder and to secure plunder is to become
a hero. With such noble determination to back me, the world is mine!
Good-bye, Salye. When we return we shall be rich and famous. Come,
Generals; let us march."
At this the Generals straightened up and threw out their chests. Then
they swung their glittering swords in rapid circles and cried to the
Colonels:
"For-ward March!"
Then the Colonels shouted to the Majors: "For-ward March!" and the
Majors yelled to the Captains: "For-ward March!" and the Captains
screamed to the Private:
"For-ward March!"
So Files shouldered his gun and began to march, and all the officers
followed after him. Queen Ann came last of all, rejoicing in her noble
army and wondering why she had not decided long ago to conquer the
world.
In this order the procession marched out of Oogaboo and took the
narrow mountain pass which led into the lovely Fairyland of Oz.
Chapter Three

Magic Mystifies the Marchers
Princess Ozma was all unaware that the Army of Oogaboo, led by their
ambitious Queen, was determined to conquer her Kingdom. The
beautiful girl Ruler of Oz was busy with the welfare of her subjects and
had no time to think of Ann Soforth and her disloyal plans. But there
was one who constantly guarded the peace and happiness of the Land
of Oz and this was the Official Sorceress of the Kingdom, Glinda the
Good.
In her magnificent castle, which stands far north of the Emerald City
where Ozma holds her court, Glinda owns a wonderful magic Record
Book, in which is printed every event that takes place anywhere, just as
soon as it happens.
The smallest things and the biggest things are all recorded in this book.
If a child stamps its foot in anger, Glinda reads about it; if a city burns
down, Glinda finds the fact noted in her book.
The Sorceress always reads her Record Book every day, and so it was
she knew that Ann Soforth, Queen of Oogaboo, had foolishly
assembled an army of sixteen officers and one private soldier, with
which she intended to invade and conquer the Land of Oz.
There was no danger but that Ozma, supported by the magic arts of
Glinda the Good and the powerful Wizard of Oz--both her firm
friends--could easily defeat a far more imposing army than Ann's; but it
would be a shame to have the peace of Oz interrupted by any sort of
quarreling or fighting. So Glinda did not even mention the matter to
Ozma, or to anyone else. She merely went into a great chamber of her
castle, known as the Magic Room, where she performed a magical
ceremony which caused the mountain pass that led from Oogaboo to
make several turns and twists. The result was that when Ann and her
army came to the end of the pass they were not in the Land of Oz at all,
but in an adjoining territory that was quite distinct from Ozma's domain
and separated from Oz by an invisible barrier.
As the Oogaboo people emerged into this country, the pass they had

traversed disappeared behind them and it was not likely they would
ever find their way back into the valley of Oogaboo. They were greatly
puzzled, indeed, by their surroundings and did not know which way to
go. None of them had ever visited Oz, so it took them some time to
discover they were not in