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 be
King of Oz, come to think it over. I don't even care to live in that
country. What I want first is revenge. If we can conquer Oz, I'll
get enough magic then to conquer my own Kingdom of the Nomes, and I'll
go back and live in my underground caverns, which are more home-like
than the top of the earth. So here's my proposition: Help me conquer
Oz and get revenge, and help me get the magic away from Glinda and the
Wizard, and I'll let you be King of Oz forever afterward."

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

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

Next morning he said:

"Which way do you travel to-day?"

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