'That is really fine!' declared Santa Claus, who loved toys and pretty things. 'I think, Mr. Wizard, I shall have you blow a bubble around me; then I can float away home and see the country spread out beneath me as I travel. There isn't a spot on earth that I haven't visited, but I usually go in the night-time, riding behind my swift reindeer. Here is a good chance to observe the country by daylight, while I am riding slowly and at my ease.'
'Do you think you will be able to guide the bubble?' asked the Wizard.
'Oh yes; I know enough magic to do that,' replied Santa Claus. 'You blow the bubble, with me inside of it, and I'll be sure to get home in safety.'
'Please send me home in a bubble, too!' begged the Queen of Merryland.
'Very well, madam; you shall try the journey first,' politely answered old Santa.
The pretty wax doll bade good-bye to the Princess Ozma and the others and stood on the platform while the Wizard blew a big soap-bubble around her. When completed, he allowed the bubble to float slowly upward, and there could be seen the little Queen of Merryland standing in the middle of it and blowing kisses from her fingers to those below. The bubble took a southerly direction, quickly floating out of sight.
'That's a very nice way to travel,' said Princess Fluff. 'I'd like to go home in a bubble, too.'
So the Wizard blew a big bubble around Princess Fluff, and another around King Bud, her brother, and a third one around Queen Zixi; and soon these three bubbles had mounted into the sky and were floating off in a group in the direction of the kingdom of Noland.
The success of these ventures induced the other guests from foreign lands to undertake bubble journeys, also; so the Wizard put them one by one inside his bubbles, and Santa Claus directed the way they should go, because he knew exactly where everybody lived.
Finally, Button-Bright said:
'I want to go home, too.'
'Why, so you shall!' cried Santa; 'for I'm sure your father and mother will be glad to see you again. Mr. Wizard, please blow a big, fine bubble for Button-Bright to ride in, and I'll agree to send him home to his family as safe as safe can be.'
'I'm sorry,' said Dorothy with a sigh, for she was fond of her little comrade; 'but p'raps it's best for Button-Bright to get home; 'cause his folks must be worrying just dreadful.'
She kissed the boy, and Ozma kissed him, too, and all the others waved their hands and said good-bye and wished him a pleasant journey.
'Are you glad to leave us, dear?' asked Dorothy, a little wistfully.
'Don't know,' said Button-Bright.
He sat down cross-legged on the platform, with his sailor hat tipped back on his head, and the Wizard blew a beautiful bubble all around him.
A minute later it had mounted into the sky, sailing toward the west, and the last they saw of Button-Bright he was still sitting in the middle of the shining globe and waving his sailor hat at those below.
'Will you ride in a bubble, or shall I send you and Toto home by means of the Magic Belt?' the Princess asked Dorothy.
'Guess I'll use the Belt,' replied the little girl. 'I'm sort of 'fraid of those bubbles.'
'Bow-wow!' said Toto, approvingly. He loved to bark at the bubbles as they sailed away, but he didn't care to ride in one.
Santa Claus decided to go next. He thanked Ozma for her hospitality and wished her many happy returns of the day. Then the Wizard blew a bubble around his chubby little body and smaller bubbles around each of his Ryls and Knooks.
As the kind and generous friend of children mounted into the air the people all cheered at the top of their voices, for they loved Santa Claus dearly; and the little man heard them through the walls of his bubble and waved his hands in return as he smiled down upon them. The band played bravely while every one watched the bubble until it was completely out of sight.
'How 'bout you, Polly?' Dorothy asked her friend. 'Are you 'fraid of bubbles, too?'
'No,' answered Polychrome, smiling; 'but Santa Claus promised to speak to my father as he passed through the sky. So perhaps I shall get home an easier way.'
Indeed, the little maid had scarcely made this speech when a sudden radiance filled the air, and while the people looked on in wonder the end of a gorgeous rainbow slowly settled down upon the platform.
With a glad cry, the Rainbow's Daughter sprang from her seat and danced along the curve of the bow, mounting gradually upward, while the folds of her gauzy gown whirled and floated around her like a cloud and blended with the colors of the rainbow itself.
'Good-bye Ozma! Good-bye Dorothy!' cried a voice they knew belonged to Polychrome; but now the little maiden's form had melted wholly into the rainbow, and their eyes could no longer see her.
Suddenly, the end of the rainbow lifted and its colors slowly faded like mist before a breeze. Dorothy sighed deeply and turned to Ozma.
'I'm sorry to lose Polly,' she said; 'but I guess she's better off with her father; 'cause even the Land of Oz couldn't be like home to a cloud fairy.'
'No indeed,' replied the Princess; 'but it has been delightful for us to know Polychrome for a little while, and – who knows? – perhaps we may meet the Rainbow's Daughter again, some day.'
The entertainment being now ended, all left the pavilion and formed their gay procession back to the Emerald City again. Of Dorothy's recent traveling companions only Toto and the shaggy man remained, and Ozma had decided to allow the latter to live in Oz for a time, at least. If he proved honest and true she promised to let him live there always, and the shaggy man was anxious to earn this reward.
They had a nice quiet dinner together and passed a pleasant evening with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, Tik-tok, and the Yellow Hen for company.
When Dorothy bade them good-night, she kissed them all good-bye at the same time. For Ozma had agreed that while Dorothy slept she and Toto should be transported by means of the Magic Belt to her own little bed in the Kansas farm-house and the little girl laughed as she thought how astonished Uncle Henry and Aunt Em would be when she came down to breakfast with them next morning.
Quite content to have had so pleasant an adventure, and a little tired by all the day's busy scenes, Dorothy clasped Toto in her arms and lay down upon the pretty white bed in her room in Ozma's royal palace.
Presently she was sound asleep.
