"And it returned to the spot where the old castle had stood," put in the Wizard, leaning forward sagely.
"Well, that explains the feather, but who will explain the King?" demanded the Scarecrow, looking at the dummy with his head on one side.
"I'm about tired of being explained," mumbled Humpy sulkily. "If you don't pretty soon decide something, I'll go back to America. I've fallen and I've risen and now I want to sit still."
"Perhaps," suggested the tired tailor timidly, for he felt shy in the presence of so many celebrities, "perhaps Humpy is not the lost King at all! The feather said the King was in the palace, but it did not say the dummy was King."
"Bless me," cried the Scarecrow tossing up his hat, "his brain works as fast as his ears. That is an idea!" It had not occurred to any of them that Humpy might not be the King, but now they began to look at one another questioningly.
"But he's the image of Pastoria!" insisted Pajuka. "Don't you suppose I know my own sovereign? Ozma my dear, is this dummy not like your father?"
Ozma nodded: "But it wouldn't do any harm to look around," she added thoughtfully.
"Come on," cried the Scarecrow waving his hat, "we'll hunt from cellar to garret!"
"Keep a trunk on that witch!" called Scraps to the Elegant Elephant, as they all jumped up and started to follow the Scarecrow from the room.
"But wait!" exclaimed the tired tailor, catching hold of the straw man's arm. "How do you know you are not the King yourself?"
"Me the King!" ejaculated the Scarecrow falling back against a pillar.
"Well, Mombi could easily have changed you to a Scarecrow," mused Tora, but Dorothy hastily shook her head, for the Scarecrow's past was well known and though he had been proved an Emperor of Silver Island, she felt he could not be the lost King of Oz.
"Well, somebody in this castle is King," insisted Tora positively.
"But how shall we know?" gasped Dorothy, while the others looked equally puzzled.
"Find the man who fits the King's robe," cried Tora, waving his tape measure. "Try him," he finished, indicating Sir Hokus of Pokes.
"How did you ever think of that?" asked the Wizard admiringly. "Find the man who fits the robe! Why it's as simple as arithmetic. But how did you ever think of it?"