lighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise into
the sky.
Come, Dorothy! cried the Wizard. Hurry up, or the balloon will fly
away.
I can t find Toto anywhere, replied Dorothy, who did not wish to
leave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a
kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran
towards the balloon.
She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands to
help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the balloon
rose into the air without her.
Come back! she screamed. I want to go, too!
I can t come back, my dear, called Oz from the basket. Good-bye!
Good-bye! shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward to where
the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every moment farther and
farther into the sky.
And that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard,
though he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all we
know. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another:
Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this
beautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise
Scarecrow to rule over us.
Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the Wonderful
Wizard, and would not be comforted.
Chapter XVIII
Away to the South
97