avail against the long spears and terrible swords of our foes?"
    "The best thing we can do," said one of the girls, "is to surrender as quickly as 
possible, before we get hurt."
    "Not so," returned Jinjur, more bravely. "The enemy is still outside the walls, so we 
must try to gain time by engaging them in parley. Go you with a flag of truce to Glinda 
and ask her why she has dared to invade my dominions, and what are her demands." So the 
girl passed through the gates, bearing a white flag to show she was on a mission of 
peace, and came to Glinda's tent. "Tell your Queen," said the Sorceress to the girl, 
"that she must deliver up to me old Mombi, to be my prisoner. If this is done I will not 
molest her farther." Now when this message was delivered to the Queen it filled her with 
dismay, for Mombi was her chief counsellor, and Jinjur was terribly afraid of the old 
hag. But she sent for Mombi, and told her what Glinda had said.
    "I see trouble ahead for all of us," muttered the old witch, after glancing into a 
magic mirror she carried in her pocket. "But we may even yet escape by deceiving this 
sorceress, clever as she thinks herself."
    "Don't you think it will be safer for me to deliver you into her hands?" asked 
Jinjur, nervously.
    "If you do, it will cost you the throne of the Emerald City!" answered the witch, 
positively. "But if you will let me have my own way, I can save us both very easily."
    "Then do as you please," replied Jinjur, "for it is so aristocratic to be a Queen 
that I do not wish to be obliged to return home again, to make beds and wash dishes for 
my mother." So Mombi called Jellia Jamb to her, and performed a certain magical rite with 
which she was familiar. As a result of the enchantment Jellia took on the form and 
features of Mombi, while the old witch grew to resemble the girl so closely that it 
seemed impossible anyone could guess the deception.
    "Now," said old Mombi to the Queen, "let your soldiers deliver up this girl to 
Glinda. She will think she has the real Mombi in her power, and so will return 
immediately to her own country in the South." Therefore Jellia, hobbling along like an 
aged woman, was led from the city gates and taken before Glinda.
    "Here is the person you demanded," said one of the guards, "and our Queen now begs 
you will go away, as you promised, and leave us in peace."
    "That I will surely do," replied Glinda, much pleased; "if this is really the person 
she seems to be."
    "It is certainly old Mombi," said the guard, who believed she was speaking the truth; 
and then Jinjur's soldiers returned within the city's gates.
    The Sorceress quickly summoned the Scarecrow and his friends to her tent, and began 
to question the supposed Mombi about the lost girl Ozma. But Jellia knew nothing at all 
of this affair, and presently she grew so nervous under the questioning that she gave way 
and began to weep, to Glinda's great astonishment.
    "Here is some foolish trickery!" said the Sorceress, her eyes flashing with anger. 
"This is not Mombi at all, but some other person who has been made to resemble her! Tell 
me," she demanded, turning to the trembling girl, "what is your name?" This Jellia dared 
not tell, having been threatened with death by the witch if she confessed the fraud. But 
Glinda, sweet and fair though she was, understood magic better than any other person in 
the Land of Oz. So, by uttering a few potent words and making a peculiar gesture, she 
quickly transformed the girl into her proper shape, while at the same time old Mombi, far 
away in Jinjur's palace, suddenly resumed her own crooked form and evil features.
    "Why, it's Jellia Jamb!" cried the Scarecrow, recognizing in the girl one of his old 
friends.
    "It's our interpreter!" said the Pumpkinhead, smiling pleasantly.
    Then Jellia was forced to tell of the trick Mombi had played and she also begged 
Glinda's protection, which the Sorceress readily granted. But Glinda was now really 
angry, and sent word to Jinjur that the fraud was discovered and she must deliver up the 
real Mombi or suffer terrible consequences. Jinjur was prepared for this message, for the 
witch well understood, when her natural form was thrust upon her, that Glinda had 
discovered her trickery. But the wicked old creature had already thought up a new 
deception, and had made Jinjur promise to carry it out. So the Queen said to Glinda's 
messenger: "Tell your mistress that I cannot find Mombi anywhere, but that Glinda is 
welcome to enter the city and search herself for the old woman. She may also bring her 
friends with her, if she likes; but if she does not find Mombi by sundown, the Sorceress 
must promise to go away peaceably and bother us no more." Glinda agreed to these terms, 
well knowing that Mombi was somewhere within the city walls. So Jinjur caused the gates 
to be thrown open, and Glinda marched in at the head of a company of soldiers, followed 
by the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, while Jack Pumpkinhead rode astride the Saw-Horse, 
and the Educated, Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug sauntered behind in a dignified manner. Tip 
walked by the side of the Sorceress, for Glinda had conceived a great liking for the boy.
    Of course old Mombi had no intention of being found by Glinda; so, while her enemies 
were marching up the street, the witch transformed herself into a red rose growing upon a 
bush in the garden of the palace. It was a clever idea, and a trick Glinda did not 
suspect; so several precious hours were spent in a vain search for Mombi.
    As sundown approached the Sorceress realized she had been defeated by the superior 
cunning of the aged witch; so she gave the command to her people to march out of the city 
and back to their tents.
    The Scarecrow and his comrades happened to be searching in the garden of the palace 
just then, and they turned with disappointment to obey Glinda's command. But before they 
left the garden the Tin Woodman, who was fond of flowers, chanced to espy a big red rose 
growing upon a bush; so he plucked the flower and fastened it securely in the tin 
buttonhole of his tin bosom.
    As he did this he fancied he heard a low moan proceed from the rose; but he paid no 
attention to the sound, and Mombi was thus carried out of the city and into Glinda's camp 
without anyone having a suspicion that they had succeeded in their quest.
    
    
    The Transformation of Old Mombi
    
    The Witch was at first frightened at finding herself captured by the enemy; but soon 
she decided that she was exactly as safe in the Tin Woodman's button-hole as growing upon 
the bush. For no one knew the rose and Mombi to be one, and now that she was without the 
gates of the City her chances of escaping altogether from Glinda were much improved.
    "But there is no hurry," thought Mombi. "I will wait awhile and enjoy the humiliation 
of this Sorceress when she finds I have outwitted her." So throughout the night the rose 
lay quietly on the Woodman's bosom, and in the morning, when Glinda summoned our friends 
to a consultation, Nick Chopper carried his pretty flower with him to the white silk tent.
    "For some reason," said Glinda, "we have failed to find this cunning old Mombi; so I 
fear our expedition will prove a failure. And for that I am sorry, because without our 
assistance little Ozma will never be rescued and restored to her rightful position as 
Queen of the Emerald City"
    "Do not let us give up so easily," said the Pumpkinhead. "Let us do something else."
    "Something else must really be done," replied Glinda, with a smile. "yet I cannot 
understand how I have been defeated so easily by an old Witch who knows far less of magic