"What do you mean 'plans'?" asked Tom. "Why, Conjo was going to make you drink a magic potion that would wipe out all memory of your home, parents, and former lives. Then you would be content to stay on the island with him." "How dreadful!" exclaimed Twink, shuddering. "And I suppose he never meant for me to return to the Land of Oz," said the Shaggy Man. "Oh, no," replied Twiffle. "Conjo wanted your magic Compass badly, because it possesses a kind of magic that he knows nothing about. I believe he meant to transport you to the Land of Ev, where you could find your way back to Oz as best you could." "But now," said Twink happily, "the Airmobile will take us all to the Land of Oz." Twiffle shook his head. "No," he said, "I'm afraid it won't. Conjo is a clever wizard of sorts, but he is not powerful enough to invent a machine that will fly across the Deadly Desert." "You mean this contraption won't carry us over the desert and back to Oz?" the Shaggy Man asked, greatly disturbed. "No," said Twiffle. "I have heard of powerful birds managing to fly high enough to cross the Deadly Desert, but I know of no magic that can penetrate the barrier of invisibility that Glinda the Good spread across the deadly waste many years ago--certainly not Conjo's magic!" "Then what shall we do?" asked the Shaggy Man. "As I said," reminded Twiffle, "the most important thing was to get out of Conjo's power. The Airmobile will carry us to the edge of the Deadly Desert, but no farther." The Shaggy Man was silent considering. Once he had managed to cross the Deadly Desert in a sandboat--that had been before Glinda had laid down the magic barrier. But even since then, others had crossed the desert. So, the Shaggy Man didn't give up all hope. The Airmobile was carrying them swiftly and silently through the night. Below them the waters of the Nonestic Ocean gleamed silver in the moonlight. There was just the faintest rocking motion as the Airmobile sped along. Perhaps it was this and the fact that Shaggy and the two children were deep in their own thoughts that made them all fall asleep before they knew it. Twiffle smiled and applied himself to the operation of the Airmobile. He had no need for sleep. Twink was the first to awaken. The sun was well up in the sky, and the morning was bright and clear. She shook Tom awake and at the same time the Shaggy Man aroused himself. They looked over the side of the craft and saw below them a pleasant land of hills and rolling farmlands. "The Land of Ev," announced the Shaggy Man. "We shouldn't be so very far from the Deadly Desert now." Twiffle had looked up and was staring ahead of him in amazement. The little clown slowed down the Airmobile. Directly ahead of them was a cluster of little houses and buildings--a good sized village--in the sky. "What in the world can that be?" gasped Twink.