“Do you mean that Princess Ozma will see this cave in her enchanted picture, and see all of us here, and what we are doing?” demanded Zeb.

“Of course; when it is four o’clock,” she replied, with a laugh at his startled expression.

“And when you make a sign she will bring you to her in the Land of Oz?” continued the boy.

“That’s it, exactly; by means of the Magic Belt.”

“Then,” said the Wizard, “you will be saved, little Dorothy; and I am very glad of it. The rest of us will die much more cheerfully when we know you have escaped our sad fate.”

“I won’t die cheerfully!” protested the kitten. “There’s nothing cheerful about dying that I could ever see, although they say a cat has nine lives, and so must die nine times.”

“Have you ever died yet?” enquired the boy.