"But we are good friends now," put in Atmos hastily, as Reddy tugged the Vegetable Man loose. "Aren't we, little Princess?" Ozma nodded and smiled and went hurriedly on with her story. After being tossed about by the rolling country, it had at last flung them into a small lake, which was on the whole, rather fortunate, as they were nearly choked with dust. Atmos, in spite of his iron boots, floated nicely, and after they had washed off the mud, he towed the little fairy safely to shore. The sun had soon dried them off and they had taken the first road that stretched ahead. "And you see," finished Ozma, smiling gaily at Betsy, "it was a lucky road, for it brought us straight to you." Betsy's story, as you can well imagine took much longer, for the time had not flown as fast for the earth travellers as it had for the sky travellers. And as the little girl, helped out by Carter and Reddy and the Hungry Tiger, recounted her strange trip with Carter to Rash, the discovery of the Hungry Tiger, the wickedness of Irashi, the story of the lost rubies and the little Prince, their escape and fall Down Town--Ozma and Atmos listened with simply breathless attention. And as Betsy described their experiences with Kaliko and the tumble down the fire-fall, the airman snatched two handkerchiefs from the tree and began to mop his head with first one and then the other. "Too strange to believe," sighed the airman weakly. "They'll never believe this in the Cloud Country." Ozma smiled to herself at this, and decided that the airman's lecture would last several centuries if he tried to include Betsy's story with his own. Betsy was so out of breath by this time, Reddy took up the tale and told them all about Immense City and the Giants. As he put on the wig to demonstrate its marvelous power, Ozma looked up at the little Prince in frank admiration. "You have shown yourself wise and brave and deserve to rule over a Kingdom," said the little Fairy, as Reddy took off the wig and sat down beside her. "I wish I had some of my magic appliances with me, then we could locate the last ruby and restore you to the throne at once. As it is, we'll have to go back to the Emerald City and consult the Wizard of Oz." "Last ruby," puffed Atmos, who had not paid much attention to the ruby part of the story. "Why, I have a ruby." Reaching in one of his air pockets, the skyman produced a sparkling square gem. Seizing the jewel with a gasp of surprise, Reddy brought out the other two and held them up for all to see. "Why, it is the last ruby," cried the little Prince, pointing to the R, carved distinctly on the side of the gem. "It is the ruby that protects me from all danger in the air." "But how did Atmos get it?" exclaimed Betsy, completely bewildered. "Well, he is an airman," began Reddy, not quite sure himself, but too surprised and delighted to really care, "And I suppose--"