Ruggedo refused to share Peter’s dinner, crunching up instead a handful of pebbles he had in his pocket. As the moon rose the sea grew calmer and, riding up and down the silvered waves, the strange ship mates sat conversing together. Delighted to be off the lonely island, impressed by Peter’s enterprise and spirit, Ruggedo had grown almost friendly. He listened quite pleasantly, while Peter told how the balloon bird had carried him off and then in his turn related a bit of his own history. He first explained to the little boy how Dorothy had captured his magic belt, which seemed to be his most treasured possession, and how she had given it to Ozma. Pulling away at his pipe, he spoke of his many efforts to recover his property, but always, it seemed, through no fault of his own, he had been defeated. After his last attempt he related how Ozma had banished him to the lonely island where Peter had found him.
“Well, why bother with the belt?” asked Peter, a little sleepily, as the gnome paused to knock the ashes from his pipe. “If you have all the riches you say you have, and are ruler over five hundred thousand gnomes, why do you need this belt?”
“Because it is my most magic possession,” explained Ruggedo impatiently. “With the magic belt one can change people into any shape or form whatsoever and transport them where one desires. And don’t you see that so long as Ozma has this belt, I am in her power?”
“I suppose so,” yawned Peter, but he couldn’t help reflecting, from what he had read of Ozma and what he already knew of Ruggedo, that the magic belt was far safer with the little fairy ruler of Oz.
“Why did Dorothy take it from you in the first place?” he inquired drowsily.
“Just because I wanted to transform her and a few of those useless Oz people into ornaments for my palace,” complained Ruggedo in a grieved voice.
“Oh!” murmured Peter and, chuckling a little to himself, curled into a more comfortable position. The deck was hard and wet, but Peter, thinking over the strange events of the day, did not even notice. Up to now, he had believed in the usual things of life, like grandfathers, school, baseball, circuses, vacations in summer, plenty of friends and fun. To suddenly be confronted by balloon birds, gnomes, fairy kingdoms and sea quakes was terribly confusing. Peter tried his best to figure it all out but, lulled by the motion of the ship and the monotonous drone of Ruggedo’s voice, he finally fell into a deep slumber.