"Oh!" shuddered Dorothy, clutching the Scarecrow, "Here he comes!"
"Way for the Grand Gheewizard! Way for the Grand Gheewizard!"
The crowd parted. Hobbling toward the throne came the ugly little Gheewizard of the Silver Island holding a large silver vase high above his head, and after him—!
When Sir Hokus caught a glimpse of what came after, he leaped clean over the Comfortable Camel.
"Uds daggers!" roared the Knight. "At last!"
He rushed forward violently. There was a sharp thrust of his good sword, then an explosion like twenty giant firecrackers in one, and the room became quite black with smoke. Before anyone realized what had happened, Sir Hokus was back, dragging something after him and shouting exuberantly, "A dragon! I have slain a dragon! What happiness!"
Everyone was coughing and spluttering from the smoke, but as it cleared Dorothy saw that it was indeed a dragon Sir Hokus had slain, the rheumatic dragon of the old Gheewizard himself.
"Why didn't you get the wizard?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion angrily.
"Must have exploded," said the Comfortable Camel, sniffing the skin daintily.