Tik-Tok has served me and my comrades faithfully, as you requested him to do, and I hope you will now transport the Clockwork Man back to your fairyland of Oz." "I will do that," replied Ozma.

"But how about yourself, Shaggy ?" "I have been very happy in Oz," he said, "but my duty to others forces me to exile myself from that delightful land.

I must take care of my new-found brother, for one thing, and I have a new comrade in a dear little girl named Betsy Bobbin, who has no home to go to, and no other friends but me and a small donkey named Hank.

I have promised Betsy never to desert her as long as she needs a friend, and so I must give up the delights of the Land of Oz forever." He said this with a sigh of regret, and Ozma made no reply but laid the tiny instrument on her table, thus cutting off all further communication with the Shaggy Man.

But the lovely Ruler of Oz still watched her magic picture, with a thoughtful expression upon her face, and the little Wizard of Oz watched Ozma and smiled softly to himself.
In the cavern of the Nome King Shaggy replaced the wireless telephone in his pocket and turning to Betsy said in as cheerful a voice as he could muster: "Well, little comrade, what shall we do next ?" "I don't know, I'm sure," she answered with a puzzled face.