Chunum had taken Samuel Salt and Ato on an expedition into the jungle so that the Royal Explorer of Oz could procure a creeping bird and flying reptile for his collection. Nikobo, old jungaleer that she was, had gone along to see that no harm came to them. To Tandy a snake with feathers and a bird with scales and fangs was no novelty, but Samuel, returning with a pair of each, considered them the most peculiar and precious of his queer specimens. He carried their cages everywhere he went and spent long rapt hours watching the snakes fly and the birds creep about their new cages. Ato had discovered a new and rare fruit and had brought along several slips to plant in the rail boxes he had outside the galley. Nikobo had swum to her heart's content in a green and muddy jungle stream and all three were now quite ready and anxious to continue the voyage. Aboard the _Crescent Moon_ one of the Guards had been established to feed the monkey fish and water boy and tend to the plants in the hold and serve as watchman. And early one bright morning, just a week after they had landed, the members of the Royal Exploration Party of Oz set forth from the palace. Oz flags fluttered and snapped in the fresh morning breeze, mingling with the white banners of Ozamaland, and the streets and avenues were lined with Tandy's cheering and now quite cheerful subjects. Riding Nikobo, accompanied by Chunum on a white elephant and the entire camel corps and elephant guard, the party made their way down to the water's edge, feeling exactly, as Ato whispered in a laughing undertone to Roger, like a whole circus and a zoo. Besides Roger, Tandy, Samuel Salt and Ato, Nikobo carried two large cages and two small cages. In the small cages were the flying reptiles and creeping birds. In the large cages a baby white camel and a baby white elephant. "You'll sink, my Lass," worried Samuel Salt, as Nikobo, having safely made her way down the rocky cliff road, waded confidently out into the sea. "Not me," murmured the hippopotamus comfortably. "You may get wet, but I'll get you safely out to the ship. Trust me." "Goodbye! Goodbye, all!" cried Tandy, standing up on her back to wave to the crowds collected on the cliffs. Now that he was leaving, he felt a strange fondness for them. "Goodbye, Chunum! I'll be back, never fear!" "Goodbye, Little Fellow! Goodbye, Little King! A fair and far-away voyage to you," called the tall old desert chief, standing up in his stirrups to wave his long lance. "To the sun--the moon--the stars I commend you! Go in happiness and return in health and live long to rule over Ozamaland." "You take care of the country and we'll take care of the King," shouted Samuel. "Goodbye! Goodbye! Be watching, all of you, for the ships from Oz!" "Goodbye! Goodbye!" called the Nobles, the natives, the guards; even the elephants and camels raised their shrill voices in farewell as Nikobo swam strongly away from the shore and toward the _Crescent Moon_.