CHAPTER 22
Conjo in Control
"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."