nothing.No; hungry I was born, and hungry I shall die.But I'll not have any cruel deeds 
on my conscience to be sorry for."
    "I think you are a very good tiger," said Dorothy, patting the huge head of the beast.
    "In that you are mistaken," was the reply."I am a good beast, perhaps, but a 
disgracefully bad tiger.For it is the nature of tigers to be cruel and ferocious, and in 
refusing to eat harmless living creatures I am acting as no good tiger has ever before 
acted. That is why I left the forest and joined my friend the Cowardly Lion."
    "But the Lion is not really cowardly," said Dorothy."I have seen him act as bravely 
as can be."
    "All a mistake, my dear," protested the Lion gravely."To others I may have seemed 
brave, at times, but I have never been in any danger that I was not afraid."
    "Nor I," said Dorothy, truthfully. "But I must go and set free Billina, and then I 
will see you again."
    She ran around to the back yard of the palace and soon found the chicken house, being 
guided to it by a loud cackling and crowing and a distracting hubbub of sounds such as 
chickens make when they are excited.
    Something seemed to be wrong in the chicken house, and when Dorothy looked through 
the slats in the door she saw a group of hens and roosters huddled in one corner and 
watching what appeared to be a whirling ball of feathers.It bounded here and there about 
the chicken house, and at first Dorothy could not tell what it was, while the screeching 
of the chickens nearly deafened her.
    But suddenly the bunch of feathers stopped whirling, and then, to her amazement, the 
girl saw Billina crouching upon the prostrate form of a speckled rooster.For an instant 
they both remained motionless, and then the yellow hen shook her wings to settle the 
feathers and walked toward the door with a strut of proud defiance and a cluck of 
victory, while the speckled rooster limped away to the group of other chickens, trailing 
his crumpled plumage in the dust as he went.
    "Why, Billina!" cried Dorothy, in a shocked voice; "have you been fighting?"
    "I really think I have," retorted Billina."Do you think I'd let that speckled villain 
of a rooster lord it over ME, and claim to run this chicken house, as long as I'm able to 
peck and scratch?Not if my name is Bill!"
    "It isn't Bill, it's Billina; and you're talking slang, which is very undig'n'fied," 
said Dorothy, reprovingly."Come here, Billina, and I'll let you out; for Ozma of Oz is 
here, and has set us free."
    So the yellow hen came to the door, which Dorothy unlatched for her to pass through, 
and the other chickens silently watched them from their corner without offering to 
approach nearer.
    The girl lifted her friend in her arms and exclaimed:
    "Oh, Billina! how dreadful you look.You've lost a lot of feathers, and one of your 
eyes is nearly pecked out, and your comb is bleeding!"
    "That's nothing," said Billina."Just look at the speckled rooster!
    Didn't I do him up brown?"
    Dorothy shook her head.
    "I don't 'prove of this, at all," she said, carrying Billina away toward the 
palace."It isn't a good thing for you to 'sociate with those common chickens.They would 
soon spoil your good manners, and you wouldn't be respec'able any more."
    "I didn't ask to associate with them," replied Billina."It is that cross old Princess 
who is to blame.But I was raised in the United States, and I won't allow any one-horse 
chicken of the Land of Ev to run over me and put on airs, as long as I can lift a claw in 
self-defense."
    "Very well, Billina," said Dorothy."We won't talk about it any more."
    Soon they came to the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger to whom the girl introduced 
the Yellow Hen.
    "Glad to meet any friend of Dorothy's," said the Lion, politely."To judge by your 
present appearance, you are not a coward, as I am."
    "Your present appearance makes my mouth water," said the Tiger, looking at Billina 
greedily."My, my! how good you would taste if I could only crunch you between my jaws.But 
don't worry.You would only appease my appetite for a moment; so it isn't worth while to 
eat you."
    "Thank you," said the hen, nestling closer in Dorothy's arms.
    "Besides, it wouldn't be right," continued the Tiger, looking steadily at Billina and 
clicking his jaws together.
    "Of course not," cried Dorothy, hastily."Billina is my friend, and you mustn't ever 
eat her under any circ'mstances."
    "I'll try to remember that," said the Tiger; "but I'm a little absent-minded, at 
times."
    Then Dorothy carried her pet into the drawing-room of the palace, where Tiktok, being 
invited to do so by Ozma, had seated himself between the Scarecrow and the Tin 
Woodman.Opposite to them sat Ozma herself and the Princess Langwidere, and beside them 
there was a vacant chair for Dorothy.
    Around this important group was ranged the Army of Oz, and as Dorothy looked at the 
handsome uniforms of the Twenty-Seven she said:
    "Why, they seem to be all officers."
    "They are, all except one," answered the Tin Woodman."I have in my Army eight 
Generals, six Colonels, seven Majors and five Captains, besides one private for them to 
command.I'd like to promote the private, for I believe no private should ever be in 
public life; and I've also noticed that officers usually fight better and are more 
reliable than common soldiers.Besides, the officers are more important looking, and lend 
dignity to our army."
    "No doubt you are right," said Dorothy, seating herself beside Ozma.
    "And now," announced the girlish Ruler of Oz, "we will hold a solemn conference to 
decide the best manner of liberating the royal family of this fair Land of Ev from their 
long imprisonment."
    
    9.The Royal Family of Ev
    
    The Tin Woodman was the first to address the meeting.
    "To begin with," said he, "word came to our noble and illustrious Ruler, Ozma of Oz, 
that the wife and ten children-five boys and five girls-of the former King of Ev, by name 
Evoldo, have been enslaved by the Nome King and are held prisoners in his underground 
palace.Also that there was no one in Ev powerful enough to release them. Naturally our 
Ozma wished to undertake the adventure of liberating the poor prisoners; but for a long 
time she could find no way to cross the great desert between the two countries.Finally 
she went to a friendly sorceress of our land named Glinda the Good, who heard the story 
and at once presented Ozma a magic carpet, which would continually unroll beneath our 
feet and so make a comfortable path for us to cross the desert.As soon as she had 
received the carpet our gracious Ruler ordered me to assemble our army, which I did.You 
behold in these bold warriors the pick of all the finest soldiers of Oz; and, if we are 
obliged to fight the Nome King, every officer as well as the private, will battle 
fiercely unto death."