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wizards," said Barnaby. "They let the witches do the work and then take the credit. It's the same way in stories."
    "Why, yes," said Fredericka. "Even the Wizard of Oz was a humbug. Remember?"
    Then she broke off. She had had an exciting thought. And the more she thought of the thought, the more exciting it was. "You know what?" she said. "This could
be
Oz, back in prehistory times. Before the books tell about it. Nobody knows
what
it looked like, then. Mr. Oswaldo could even be the real Wizard of Oz. This could be how he got there in the first place. And we're in it from the beginning!"
    "But in the book the real Wizard tells Dorothy he came in a balloon," objected Abbie.
    "Yes," Fredericka admitted, "but in the book the real Wizard doesn't always tell the truth. Think back."
    Everybody thought back.
    Fredericka went up to the nearest cheering peasant and tapped him on the shoulder. "Please," she said, "what country
is
this?"
    "We be called Dragonland," said the peasant, "up till now, but now all that be changed. Have to think up something new. Oswaldoland, maybe."
    "You see?" said Fredericka to the others. "It all works out. The name could have got shortened in the mists of time. Anyway, I'll always think it
was
Oz. I'll feel part of it from now on."
    "Or if it isn't," said Abbie, "it's someplace else just as interesting!"
    And all agreed.
    "And now," said Barnaby, "I guess it's time to go."
    "How do we
do
that?" said John.
    "I'm not sure," said Barnaby. He went up to Mrs. Funkhouser and the round gentleman, and the other four followed. "Are you really going to stay and rule the country?" he asked.
    "I must do as my public demands," said the round gentleman. "They want me. Listen to them cheering."
    "I suppose I'll have to stay, too," said Mrs. Funkhouser. "
Somebody
'll have to see that you're picked up and kept out of trouble!"
    "They've offered us a lovely palace," confided the Wizard (if it was truly he). "The one the princesses used to live in that the dragon ate."
    "Thirty rooms!" said Mrs. Funkhouser grimly. "Think of the dusting!"
    "Come, come, dear lady," said the round gentleman (who might be the Wizard) in rather a lordly way. "The maids of honor will attend to that."
    "I," said Mrs. Funkhouser, "have never trusted a maid yet and never will!"
    "Could we have our book now?" said Susan. "We'll be taking it home with us. Are you sure you'll be all right here without it?"
    "Just let me take one more quick glance," said the round gentleman. He studied the first three or four pages briefly."There! That'll give me enough new tricks to stay in business for years!"
    Susan offered Mrs. Funkhouser a look at the book, but she waved it away.
    "I won't be needing it. Just use my common sense. All a matter of good housekeeping."
    "What method of travel were you planning to use?" the round gentleman asked the five children.
    "That's just it," said Susan. "We're not quite sure."
    "Vanishing cream," said Mrs. Funkhouser promptly, without so much as a glance in the book's direction. "There's some in my top bureau drawer." And Fredericka ran to fetch it.
    "Shall we let her?" whispered Abbie. "What if we just
vanish
? And don't turn up anywhere?"
    "Trust the book," counseled Barnaby. "It's done pretty well so far."
    And then Fredericka returned with the jar of vanishing cream, and Mrs. Funkhouser rubbed a little on the foreheads of each.
    But Susan clasped the book tight and wished, too, just in case.
     
    You may wonder what vanishing feels like. The answer is that it feels like nothing at all. One second the five children were standing in a magic country (that might or might not be Oz), watching a wizard (who might or might not be
the
Wizard) give a demonstration of One Hundred Easy Card Tricks, while a crowd of peasants cheered.
    The next second they found themselves sitting on the front steps of Barnaby and Abbie and Fredericka's little white house in Connecticut.
    "Back from the library already?" said Barnaby and Abbie and