"Coo-ee-oh's misfortune will prove a terrible blow to her people." 

 "What do you mean by that?" asked Dorothy in surprise. "Seems to me the Skeezers are in luck to lose their cruel Queen." 

 "If that were all you would be right," responded Lady Aurex; "and if the island were above water it would not be so serious. But here we all are, at the bottom of the lake, and fast prisoners in this dome." 

 "Can't you raise the island?" inquired Dorothy. 

 "No. Only Coo-ee-oh knew how to do that," was the answer. 

 "We can try," insisted Dorothy. "If it can be made to go down, it can be made to come up. The machinery is still here, I suppose. 

 "Yes; but the machinery works by magic, and Coo-ee-oh would never share her secret power with any one of us." 

 Dorothy's face grew grave; but she was thinking. 

 "Ozma knows a lot of magic," she said. 

 "But not that kind of magic," Ozma replied. 

 "Can't you learn how, by looking at the machinery?" 

 "I'm afraid not, my dear. It isn't fairy magic at all; it is witchcraft." 

 "Well," said Dorothy, turning to Lady Aurex, "you say there are other sub-sub-sinking boats. We can get in one of those, and shoot out to the top of the water, like Coo-ee-oh did, and so escape. And then we can help to rescue all the Skeezers down here." 

 "No one knows how to work the under-water boats but the Queen," declared Lady Aurex. 

 "Isn't there any door or window in this dome that we could open?" 

 "No; and, if there were, the water would rush in to flood the dome, and we could not get out." 

 "The Skeezers," said Ozma, "could not drown; they only get wet and soggy and in that condition they would be very uncomfortable and unhappy. But you are a mortal girl, Dorothy, and if your Magic Belt protected you from death you would have to lie forever at the bottom of the lake." 

 "No, I'd rather die quickly," asserted the little girl. "But there are doors in the basement that open—to 

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