"Who are you, and where did you come from?" inquired
the Wizard.
"We are Skeezers," answered one of them, "and our
home is on the Magic Isle of the Lake. We ran away when
we saw you coming, and hid behind the trees, but as you
are Strangers and seem to be friendly we decided to
meet you, for we are in great trouble and need
assistance."
"If you belong on the island, why are you here?"
demanded Glinda.
So they told her all the story: How the Queen had
defied the Flatheads and submerged the whole island so
that her enemies could not get to it or destroy it;
how, when the Flatheads came to the shore, Coo-ee-oh
had commanded them, together with their friend Ervic,
to go with her in the submarine to conquer the Su-dic,
and how the boat had shot out from the basement of the
sunken isle, obeying a magic word, and risen to the
surface, where it opened and floated upon the water.
Then followed the account of how the Su-dic had
transformed Coo-ee-oh into a swan, after which she had
forgotten all the witchcraft she ever knew. The young
men told how, in the night when they were asleep, their
comrade Ervic had mysteriously disappeared, while the
boat in some strange manner had floated to the shore
and stranded upon the beach.
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