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17 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L Frank Baum · Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter seventeen, how the balloon was launched. For three days, Dorothy heard
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  nothing from Oz. These were sad days for the little girl, although her
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  friends were all quite happy and contented. The scarecrow told them there were wonderful
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  thoughts in his head, but he would not say what they were, because
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  he knew no one could understand them but himself. When the tin woodman walked
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  about, he felt his heart rattling around in his breast, and he told
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  Dorothy he had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the
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  one he had owned when he was made of flesh. The lion declared he
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  was afraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army or a
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  dozen of the fierce Kalidahs. Thus each of the little party was satisfied,
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  except Dorothy, who longed more than ever to get back to Kansas. On
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  the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and
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  when she entered the throne room, he greeted her pleasantly. Sit down,
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  my dear, I think I have found a way to get you out of
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  this country and back to Kansas. She asked eagerly. Well, I'm not
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  sure about Kansas, said Oz, for I haven't the faintest notion which way
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  it lies. But the first thing to do is to cross the desert,
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  and then it should be easy to find your way home. How can I
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  cross the desert, she inquired, Well, I'll tell you what I think,
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  said the little man. You see, when I came to this country,
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  it was in a balloon. You also came through the air, being
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  carried by a cyclone, So I believe the best way to get across the
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  desert will be through the air. Now, it is quite beyond my powers
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  to make a cyclone, but I've been thinking the matter over, and I
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  believe I can make a balloon. How, asked Dorothy. A balloon,
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  said Oz, is made of silk, which is coated with glue to keep
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  the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the palace, so
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  it will be no trouble to make the balloon. But in all this country
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  there is no gas to fill the balloon with to make it float. If
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  it won't float, remarked Dorothy, it will be of no use to us,
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  true, answered Oz. But there is another way to make it float,
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  which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good
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  as gas, for if the air should get cold, the balloon would come
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  down in the desert and we should be lost, we exclaimed the girl.
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  Are you going with me? Yes, of course, replied Oz. I
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  am tired of being such a humbug. If I should go out of this
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  palace, my people would soon discover I am not a wizard, and then
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  they would be vexed with me for having deceived them. So I have to
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  stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome. I'd
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  much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again.
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  I shall be glad to have your company, said Dorothy. Thank you,
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  he answered, Now, if you will help me sew the silk together,
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  we will begin work on our balloon. So Dorothy took a needle and thread,
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  and as fast as Oz cut the strips of silk into proper shape,
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  the girl sewed them neatly together. First there was a strip of light green
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  silk, then a strip of dark green, and then a strip of emerald
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  green, for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon in different shades of
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  the color about them. It took three days to sew all the strips together,
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  but when it was finished, they had a big bag of green silk
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  more than twenty feet long. Then Oz painted it on the inside with a
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  coat of thin glue to make it air tight, after which he announced that
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  the balloon was ready. But we must have a basket to ride in,
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  he said. So he sent the soldier with the green whiskers for a big
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  clothes basket, which he fashioned with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.
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  When it was already Oz sent word to his people that he was going
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  to make a visit to a great brother wizard who lived in the clouds.
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  The news spread rapidly throughout the city, and everyone came to see the wonderful
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  sight. Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the palace, and
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  the people gazed upon it with much curiosity. The tin woodman had chopped a
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  big pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and
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  Oz held the bottom of the balloon over the fire, so that the hot
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  air that rose from it would be caught in the silken bag. Gradually,
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  the balloon swelled out and rose into the air, until finally the basket just
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  touched the ground. Then Oz got into the basket and said to all the
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  people in a loud voice. I am now going away to make a visit.
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  While I am gone, the Scarecrow will rule over you. I command
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  you to obey him as you would me. The balloon was by this time
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  tugging hard at the rope that held it to the ground, for the air
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  within was hot, and this made it so much lighter in weight than the
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  air without that it pulled hard to rise into the sky. Come, Dorothy,
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  cried the wizard. Hurry up, or the balloon will fly away.
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  I can't find Toto anywhere, replied Dorothy, who did not wished to leave
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  her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at a
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  kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran
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  towards the balloon. She was within a few steps of it, and Oz
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  was holding out his hands to help her into the basket when crack went the
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  ropes and the balloon rose into the air without her. Come back, she
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  screamed, I want to go too. I can't come back, my dear,
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  called Oz from the basket. Goodbye, goodbye, shouted everyone, and
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  all eyes were turned upward to where the Wizard was riding in the basket,
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  rising every moment farther and farther into the sky. And that was the last
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  any of them ever saw of Oz the Wonderful Wizard. Though he may have
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  reached Omaha safely and be there now for all we know. But the people
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  remembered him lovingly and said to one another, Oz was always our friend.
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  When he was here, he built for us this beautiful emerald city. And
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  now he is gone. He has left us the wide Scarecrow to rule over
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  us. Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the wonderful
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  Wizard and would not be comforted. End of Chapter seventeen.