That is a splendid idea, you must admit, and it's so easy
that we won't have any trouble at all to carry it through to success."
"Will the beasts consent, do you think?" asked the boy.
"To be sure they will. We can get every beast in Oz on our
side--except a few who live in Ozma's palace, and they won't count."
4. Conspirators
Kiki Aru didn't know much about Oz and didn't know much about the
beasts who lived there, but the old Nome's plan seemed to him to be
quite reasonable. He had a faint suspicion that Ruggedo meant to get
the best of him in some way, and he resolved to keep a close watch on
his fellow-conspirator. As long as he kept to himself the secret word
of the transformations, Ruggedo would not dare to harm him, and he
promised himself that as soon as they had conquered Oz, he would transform
the old Nome into a marble statue and keep him in that form forever.
Ruggedo, on his part, decided that he could, by careful watching and
listening, surprise the boy's secret, and when he had learned the
magic word he would transform Kiki Aru into a bundle of faggots and
burn him up and so be rid of him.
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