the army of children which besieged the postoffice, conquered the postmen and delivered to me its imperious commands, insisted that trot and cap'n bill be admitted to the land of oz, where trot could enjoy the society of dorothy, betsy bobbin and ozma, while the one-legged sailor-man might become a comrade of the tin woodman, the shaggy man, tik-tok and all the other quaint people who inhabit this wonderful fairyland.

it was no easy task to obey this order and land trot and cap'n bill safely in oz, as you will discover by reading this book. indeed, it required the best efforts of our dear old friend, the scarecrow, to save them from a dreadful fate on the journey; but the story leaves them happily located in ozma's splendid palace and dorothy has promised me that button-bright and the three girls are sure to encounter, in the near future, some marvelous adventures in the land of oz, which i hope to be permitted to relate to you in the next oz book.

meantime, i am deeply grateful to my little readers for their continued enthusiasm over the oz stories, as evinced in the many letters they send me, all of which are lovingly cherished. it takes more and more oz books every year to satisfy the demands of old and new readers, and there have been formed many "oz reading societies," where the oz books owned by different members are read aloud. all this is very gratifying to me and encourages me to write more stories. when the children have had enough of them, i hope they will let me know, and then i'll try to write something different.

l. frank baum

"royal historian of oz."

"ozcot"

at hollywood

in california, 1915.