On such occasions as this, it was always the custom of the Wizard to put on a display of his magic. Tonight he did not. In fact the Little Wizard seemed silent and worried throughout the dinner. As the guests began to leave the table, the Wizard approached Ozma unhappily. "I can't imagine what Conjo did with my Black Bag of Magic Tools," he said. "We should have questioned him before you sent him back to the Isle of Conjo." Ozma shook her head. "That would have done no good. Conjo lost all memory of his former actions when he drank of the waters of the Fountain of Oblivion." The only others remaining around the table now were Dorothy, Shaggy, Twink, Tom, and the beaver King. "Did you look in the Magic Picture to see where Conjo might have hidden the Black Bag?" Ozma asked. "No," said the Wizard, "we were so excited and things happened so swiftly that we never thought of the Magic Picture." "Then let us consult the picture immediately," said Ozma. The Girl Ruler rose and motioned the rest to follow her as she made her way to her suite of rooms and the Magic Picture. CHAPTER 25 The Black Bag of Magic Tools Ozma swept the velvet drape from the Magic Picture. There was the familiar scene that appeared when the Picture was not in use--a peaceful Oz countryside with rolling fields and hills and a large tree growing in the foreground. "Show us the Wizard's Black Bag of Magic Tools," Ozma said. There was no change in the picture. "What can be wrong?" whispered Dorothy soberly. "Perhaps the Magic Picture can only show _people_ and not _things_," suggested the Shaggy Man. "I don't recall our ever having asked it to show an _object_ before." Ozma's face was puzzled. She was staring intently at the familiar picture. "No," she said quietly. "I think the Magic Picture is doing its best to show us the Black Bag right now." Everyone looked at Ozma in astonishment. There was nothing in the Magic Picture that looked anything like the Black Bag. It was merely the old familiar scene that the magic picture showed when it was not in use. "Conjo was very clever in a way," said Ozma. "He hid the Black Bag by means of his wizard powers in a place where few people would think to look. But he forgot that the Magic Picture is my own fairy creation, and I understand its magic better than anyone else." The Little Ruler paused, saying to those around her: "Watch this closely now." She murmured a fairy charm so softly that none of the group could distinguish the words. Something was moving in the Magic Picture. From behind the trunk of the tree that arose in the foreground of the picture, slipped a small black object. It grew larger and larger until it filled a quarter of the picture. Then it fell out of the picture-frame to the floor. It was the Wizard's Black Bag of Magic Tools! The Little Wizard leaped forward and gratefully seized his precious Black Bag. "So Conjo hid it behind the tree in the Magic Picture!" he exclaimed. CHAPTER 26