"
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.
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