“Hurrah! hurray, well I should say!” Squirming round, Scraps looked delightedly at the huge egg in Peter’s lap. “As soon as you see Ruggedo, throw it at his head,” advised Scraps, in an excited whisper. “But I promised to keep it safe for the oztrich,” objected Peter uneasily, “and I can’t break my promise, can I?” “You’d be breaking the egg, not your promise,” said Scraps earnestly. “Besides, Ozma’s more important than an oztrich egg.” “I’ll threaten to throw it,” decided Peter. “Anyway, we’ll wait till we come to the Emerald City. Hello, what’s this?” Looming up ahead was a high yellow wall. With a snort of displeasure, the oztrich came to a halt. “Do you see any gate?” he wheezed, curling his long neck around at Peter. “I see something over there to the right,” answered the little boy, “but are you sure this is a safe place to go through?” [Illustration] “No,” admitted the Oztrich hoarsely, “but unless we go through, how are we to go on to the Emerald City?” [Illustration] “I’ll open the gate,” volunteered Scraps, slipping easily to the ground. Running over to the right, Scraps soon found the hollowed out space Peter had noticed, but instead of a gate, an upright piano was wedged into the opening. Scraps tried to see over the top, but it was too tall. Then she tried to shove it aside, but it was too heavy. So shrugging her shoulders and tossing back her yarn, Scraps sat down at the piano and started to play the Grand March of Oz, which she had been practicing faithfully on Dorothy’s piano back at the palace. At the first chord, the piano, as if moved on an invisible hinge, fell backwards and Scraps, taken entirely by surprise, jumped over the top. The oztrich was not slow to follow and he had barely jumped over the fallen piano before it snapped back into its upright position, shutting them into the queerest city Peter had yet seen. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER 13 Tune Town Sings The Wanderers Onward “Now how did this happen!” Sitting exactly where she had fallen, Scraps folded her arms dramatically. “Opening chords!” boomed a deep voice, and out from a niche in the wall sprang a handsome person in a bandmaster’s uniform. “The gates of Tune Town are locked with piano keys,” he explained graciously, “so when you struck the opening chords, of course you fell in.” “Very good,” murmured Ozwold. “But now that we are in, how do we get out?” “Out of tune?” exclaimed the bandmaster in a shocked voice. “Don’t get out of tune, I beg of you, besides it’s against the law. May I call your attention to our principle laws here?” Raising his baton he pointed to a large poster on the wall and much to his astonishment, Peter read: “No talking allowed, sing! No walking permitted, dance!” “But you’re talking,” said Peter, shifting the oztrich egg from one knee to the other.