“Good-night!” sighed Scraps, for she had taken a great fancy to Peter, and had rather hoped he would stay in Oz.
“Would you like to go now?” asked Ozma, with a merry smile, for Ozma had a little plan of her own. Peter nodded a little bashfully, for it did seem a bit rude to want to leave so delightful a place and company, but he felt that he ought to get in a little practice for the game. So Ozma immediately put on her magic belt and, extending her right hand, said, imperiously:
“I command you to transport this boy and the pirate’s gold to Philadelphia!” Instantly Peter vanished and the Ozites, running up the stairs two at a time, crowded round the magic picture in Ozma’s sitting room.
“Show us Peter,” panted Ozma, for she was a little out of breath from her run. At her words the country scene in the picture faded and there was Peter, sitting in the middle of a dusty ball field, with a bag of gold on each side, and a crowd of cheering boys around him.
“I thought some of that gold might be real!” exclaimed Ozma, turning triumphantly to the Wizard. “Polacky must have been a real pirate before he sailed into the Nonestic Ocean and while I could not transport any of our gold or jewels to Philadelphia, two bags of the pirate’s gold were real.”
“Oh! Won’t he have fun!” squealed Dorothy, giving Scraps a hug.
That night Peter, sitting on the arm of his grandfather’s chair, had the pleasure of seeing in the evening paper the heading he had thought up himself:
“Philadelphia Boy Finds Treasure and Saves the Emerald City of Oz.”
Back in the Capital there were only a few things to settle now. The Silence Stone and Magic Cloak were carefully stored away in the emerald safe in the Wizard’s laboratory to be used in case of extreme danger or war.