Kiki turned around and saw a queer old man standing near. He didn'tstand straight, for he was crooked. He had a fat body and thin legsand arms. He had a big, round face with bushy, white whiskers thatcame to a point below his waist, and white hair that came to a pointon top of his head. He wore dull-gray clothes that were tight fitting,and his pockets were all bunched out as if stuffed full of something.

"I didn't know you were here," said Kiki.

"I didn't come until after you did," said the queer old man.

"Who are you?" asked Kiki.

"My name's Ruggedo. I used to be the Nome King; but I got kickedout of my country, and now I'm a wanderer."

"What made them kick you out?" inquired the Hyup boy.

"Well, it's the fashion to kick kings nowadays. I was a pretty goodKing--to myself--but those dreadful Oz people wouldn't let me alone.So I had to abdicate."

"What does that mean?"

"It means to be kicked out. But let's talk about somethingpleasant. Who are you and where did you come from?"

"I'm called Kiki Aru. I used to live on Mount Munch in the Land ofOz, but now I'm a wanderer like yourself."

The Nome King gave him a shrewd look.

"I heard that bird say that you transformed yourself into a magpieand back again. Is that true?"

Kiki hesitated, but saw no reason to deny it. He felt that it wouldmake him appear more important.

"Well--yes," he said.

"Then you're a wizard?"

"No; I only understand transformations," he admitted.

"Well, that's pretty good magic, anyhow," declared old Ruggedo. "Iused to have some very fine magic, myself, but my enemies took it allaway from me. Where are you going now?"

"I'm going into the inn, to get some supper and a bed," said Kiki.

"Have you the money to pay for it?" asked the Nome.

"I have one gold piece."

"Which you stole. Very good. And you're glad that you're wicked.Better yet. I like you, young man, and I'll go to the inn with you ifyou'll promise not to eat eggs for supper."

"Don't you like eggs?" asked Kiki.

"I'm afraid of 'em; they're dangerous!" said Ruggedo, with a shudder.

"All right," agreed Kiki; "I won't ask for eggs."

"Then come along," said the Nome.

When they entered the inn, the landlord scowled at Kiki and said:

"I told you I would not feed you unless you had money."

Kiki showed him the gold piece.

"And how about you?" asked the landlord, turning to Ruggedo. "Haveyou money?"

"I've something better," answered the old Nome, and taking a bagfrom one of his pockets he poured from it upon the table a mass ofglittering gems--diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

The landlord was very polite to the strangers after that. He servedthem an excellent supper, and while they ate it, the Hyup boy askedhis companion:

"Where did you get so many jewels?"

"Well, I'll tell you," answered the Nome. "When those Oz people tookmy kingdom away from me--just because it was my kingdom and I wantedto run it to suit myself-- they said I could take as many preciousstones as I could carry. So I had a lot of pockets made in my clothesand loaded them all up. Jewels are fine things to have with you whenyou travel; you can trade them for anything."

"Are they better than gold pieces?" asked Kiki.

"The smallest of these jewels is worth a hundred gold pieces such asyou stole from the old man."

"Don't talk so loud," begged Kiki, uneasily. "Some one else mighthear what you are saying."

After supper they took a walk together, and the former Nome King said:

"Do you know the Shaggy Man, and the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman,and Dorothy, and Ozma and all the other Oz people?"

"No," replied the boy, "I have never been away from Mount Munch untilI flew over the Deadly Desert the other day in the shape of a hawk."

"Then you've never seen the Emerald City of Oz?"

"Never."

"Well," said the Nome, "I knew all the Oz people, and you can guessI do not love them. All during my wanderings I have brooded on how Ican be revenged on them. Now that I've met you I can see a way toconquer the Land of Oz and be King there myself, which is better thanbeing King of the Nomes."

"How can you do that?" inquired Kiki Aru, wonderingly.

"Never mind how. In the first place, I'll make a bargain with you.Tell me the secret of how to perform transformations and I will giveyou a pocketful of jewels, the biggest and finest that I possess."

"No," said Kiki, who realized that to share his power with anotherwould be dangerous to himself.

"I'll give you TWO pocketsful of jewels," said the Nome.

"No," answered Kiki.

"I'll give you every jewel I possess."

"No, no, no!" said Kiki, who was beginning to be frightened.

"Then," said the Nome, with a wicked look at the boy, "I'll tellthe inn-keeper that you stole that gold piece and he will have youput in prison."

Kiki laughed at the threat.

"Before he can do that," said he, "I will transform myself into alion and tear him to pieces, or into a bear and eat him up, or into afly and fly away where he could not find me."

"Can you really do such wonderful transformations?" asked the oldNome, looking at him curiously.

"Of course," declared Kiki. I can transform you into a stick ofwood, in a flash, or into a stone, and leave you here by the roadside."

"The wicked Nome shivered a little when he heard that, but it madehim long more than ever to possess the great secret. After a whilehe said:

"I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will help me to conquer Oz andto transform the Oz people, who are my enemies, into sticks or stones,by telling me your secret, I'll agree to make YOU the Ruler of all Oz,and I will be your Prime Minister and see that your orders are obeyed."

"I'll help do that," said Kiki, "but I won't tell you my secret."

The Nome was so furious at this refusal that he jumped up and downwith rage and spluttered and choked for a long time before he couldcontrol his passion. But the boy was not at all frightened. Helaughed at the wicked old Nome, which made him more furious than ever.

"Let's give up the idea," he proposed, when Ruggedo had quietedsomewhat. "I don't know the Oz people you mention and so they are notmy enemies. If they've kicked you out of your kingdom, that's youraffair--not mine."

"Wouldn't you like to be king of that splendid fairyland?"asked Ruggedo.

"Yes, I would," replied Kiki Aru; "but you want to be king yourself,and we would quarrel over it."

"No," said the Nome, trying to deceive him. "I don't care to beKing of Oz, come to think it over. I don't even care to live in thatcountry. What I want first is revenge. If we can conquer Oz, I'llget enough magic then to conquer my own Kingdom of the Nomes, and I'llgo back and live in my underground caverns, which are more home-likethan the top of the earth. So here's my proposition: Help me conquerOz and get revenge, and help me get the magic away from Glinda and theWizard, and I'll let you be King of Oz forever afterward."

"I'll think it over," answered Kiki, and that is all he would saythat evening.

In the night when all in the Inn were asleep but himself, old Ruggedothe Nome rose softly from his couch and went into the room of Kiki Aruthe Hyup, and searched everywhere for the magic tool that performed histransformations. Of course, there was no such tool, and althoughRuggedo searched in all the boy's pockets, he found nothing magicalwhatever. So he went back to his bed and began to doubt that Kikicould perform transformations.

Next morning he said:

"Which way do you travel to-day?"

"I think I shall visit the Rose Kingdom," answered the boy.

"That is a long journey," declared the Nome.

"I shall transform myself into a bird," said Kiki, "and so fly tothe Rose Kingdom in an hour."

"Then transform me, also, into a bird, and I will go with you,"suggested Ruggedo. "But, in that case, let us fly together to theLand of Oz, and see what it looks like."

Kiki thought this over. Pleasant as were the countries he hadvisited, he heard everywhere that the Land of Oz was more beautifuland delightful. The Land of Oz was his own country, too, and if therewas any possibility of his becoming its King, he must know somethingabout it.

While Kiki the Hyup thought, Ruggedo the Nome was also thinking.This boy possessed a marvelous power, and although very simple in someways, he was determined not to part with his secret. However, ifRuggedo could get him to transport the wily old Nome to Oz, which hecould reach in no other way, he might then induce the boy to followhis advice and enter into the plot for revenge, which he had alreadyplanned in his wicked heart.

"There are wizards and magicians in Oz," remarked Kiki, after atime. "They might discover us, in spite of our transformations."

"Not if we are careful," Ruggedo assured him. "Ozma has a MagicPicture, in which she can see whatever she wishes to see; but Ozmawill know nothing of our going to Oz, and so she will not command herMagic Picture to show where we are or what we are doing. Glinda theGood has a Great Book called the Book of Records, in which ismagically written everything that people do in the Land of Oz, justthe instant they do it."

"Then," said Kiki, "there is no use our attempting to conquer thecountry, for Glinda would read in her book all that we do, and as hermagic is greater than mine, she would soon put a stop to our plans."

"I said 'people,' didn't I?" retorted the Nome. "The book doesn'tmake a record of what birds do, or beasts. It only tells the doingsof people. So, if we fly into the country as birds, Glinda won't knowanything about it."

"Two birds couldn't conquer the Land of Oz," asserted the boy, scornfully.

"No; that's true," admitted Ruggedo, and then he rubbed his foreheadand stroked his long pointed beard and thought some more.

"Ah, now I have the idea!" he declared. "I suppose you cantransform us into beasts as well as birds?"

"Of course."

"And can you make a bird a beast, and a beast a bird again, withouttaking a human form in between?"

"Certainly," said Kiki. "I can transform myself or others intoanything that can talk. There's a magic word that must be spoken inconnection with the transformations, and as beasts and birds anddragons and fishes can talk in Oz, we may become any of these wedesire to. However, if I transformed myself into a tree, I wouldalways remain a tree, because then I could not utter the magic word tochange the transformation."

"I see; I see," said Ruggedo, nodding his bushy, white head until thepoint of his hair waved back and forth like a pendulum. "That fits inwith my idea, exactly. Now, listen, and I'll explain to you my plan.We'll fly to Oz as birds and settle in one of the thick forests in theGillikin Country. There you will transform us into powerful beasts,and as Glinda doesn't keep any track of the doings of beasts we canact without being discovered."

"But how can two beasts raise an army to conquer the powerful peopleof Oz?" inquired Kiki.

"That's easy. But not an army of PEOPLE, mind you. That would bequickly discovered. And while we are in Oz you and I will neverresume our human forms until we've conquered the country and destroyedGlinda, and Ozma, and the Wizard, and Dorothy, and all the rest, andso have nothing more to fear from them."

"It is impossible to kill anyone in the Land of Oz," declared Kiki.

"It isn't necessary to kill the Oz people," rejoined Ruggedo.

"I'm afraid I don't understand you," objected the boy. "What willhappen to the Oz people, and what sort of an army could we gettogether, except of people?"

"I'll tell you. The forests of Oz are full of beasts. Some ofthem, in the far-away places, are savage and cruel, and would gladlyfollow a leader as savage as themselves. They have never troubled theOz people much, because they had no leader to urge them on, but wewill tell them to help us conquer Oz and as a reward we will transformall the beasts into men and women, and let them live in the houses andenjoy all the good things; and we will transform all the people of Ozinto beasts of various sorts, and send them to live in the forests andthe jungles. That is a splendid idea, you must admit, and it's so easythat we won't have any trouble at all to carry it through to success."

"Will the beasts consent, do you think?" asked the boy.

"To be sure they will. We can get every beast in Oz on ourside--except a few who live in Ozma's palace, and they won't count."