CHAPTER 17
The Mimics in the Emerald City
On the morning when the Mimic hordes swept over the border of the Deadly Desert and the Winkie Country and on to the Emerald City, Button Bright and the Patchwork Girl were playing leap-frog in the garden of the Royal Palace.
Cap'n Bill was sitting nearby on a bench in the sun, carving on a block of wood with his big jack-knife. The old sailor man worked slowly and painstakingly, but when he finished he knew he would have a good likeness of Princess Ozma's lovely features carved in the wood. This he planned to mount as a figurehead on the prow of the boat he was building as a surprise for Ozma.
Suddenly Button Bright, who had tumbled flat on his back, cried out:
"Look! Look at those birds!"
Scraps swept her yarn hair out of her button eyes and tilted her head back. The sky was darkening with a great cloud of birds. And what beautiful creatures those birds were!
"Birds of a feather
Flock together.