Mombi sat crouched beside her bubbling cauldron casting her spell once more. She cackled as she added the finishing touch to her brew by dropping in a few black feathers. Then all at once a loud cawing was heard coming from inside of the cauldron. Then slowly the image of the Gump as it was flying through the sky appeared in the cauldron.

"Now let us see how they can get by in the desert and get past old Sandy!" Mombi cackled mercilessly.

Tip had been laying back in the sofa cushions when he suddenly felt himself being awakened by a loud cawing noise followed by a slight snapping noise.

"What's going on?" he asked as he sat up and looked around.

Then he looked downward and saw unto his horror that many great black crows were pecking away at the rope cord that was tied around the Gump and holding all of it together.

"Oh no!" he exclaimed. "If they break the ropes we'll crash!"

"And there is nowhere to land down there either!" added the Scarecrow as he looked down and saw that there was a vast desert beneath them as far as the eye could see.

Just then there was another snapping sound followed by another, and then the next thing they all knew they were all falling freely downward with the the Gump falling in pieces all around them.

They fell many feet to the Earth below them and landed in heaps on the sand dunes in the desert around them. They picked themselves up and looked all around them. They could see nothing except for a vast wasteland everywhere. They then noticed the pieces of their faithful Gump lying scattered around them.

"Oh dear!" sighed the Tin Woodman. "Now what are we going to do?"

"I fear I don't know," said the Scarecrow. "This is a worse prison than the Palace's dungeon was."

"And this hot air is liable to spoil my head!" added Jack Pumpkinhead woefully.

"Have no fear, my friends," said the Wogglebug confidently. "For I see a solution in sight. All we have to do is put the Gump back together again and this time tie the cords into tighter thicker knots."

"Oh, of course!" said the Scarecrow. "I was just going to say so!"

Then they were just about to proceed with this task when all of a sudden there was a great rumbling and shaking felt from under the ground beneath them. They all stopped and stood still in fear and dread of what might be causing it.

"What's happening now?" Jack Pumpkinhead.

"It feels like a small earthquake to me," replied the Wogglebug.

Just then, the sand before them started to open up and Tip screamed a little as his foot nearly fell into the hole that was forming in the sand beneath it. He leaped out of the way and clung onto the Wogglebug for support. Then they all watched as from up out of the sand came the most hideously ugly witch that any of them had ever seen.

"And just what are you all doing here trespassing on my property!" she demanded furiously.

"Your property?" said Tip in confusion. "Who exactly are you?"

"If it's any of your business," she snarled. "I am the Wretched Witch of the Wastelands and I live here! And I do not want anyone to come bother me!"

"We do beg your pardon," said the Wogglebug. "We mean you no harm. We just crashed and fell down here. But if you will just let us repair our aircraft we'll be on our way."

"Aircraft? What aircraft?" inquired the witch looking around. "All I see around here is a bunch of litter!" She then spotted the head of the Gump lying half buried in the sand. She went up to it and took it.

"Although this Gump's head here might make a fine addition to my collection I have of things that happen to fall down here," she said.

"But you can't take it!" exclaimed Tip. "It belongs to us!"

"Well, it's obviously of no use to you now, is it?" sneered the witch.

"But how can we get back to Oz without our Gump's head?" said Tip.

"Good point," said the witch thoughtfully. "And to show you I bear no ill will to you, I will put you out of your and my misery away from here!"

Just then the sand began to blow and billow up from the ground all around them. It swirled and whirled around faster and faster until it was nearly blinding to them. Then when it cleared just as suddenly a moment later, they all found themselves standing in a completely different place.

They were now on a small oasis of land with patches of grass and a small spring of fresh water nearby. Various palm trees and shrubs bearing dates and nuts were growing around them.

"There you are," said the witch with satisfaction. "Now just make yourselves at home. I'm sure you'll be very comfortable!" And with that she disappeared from their sight in a puff of sand and smoke.

"Now we're even worse off than ever before!" wailed the Scarecrow. "How are we ever going to get back to Oz now?"

"Well, why don't we just walk back?" said Jack.

"Walk back?" repeated the Scarecrow incredulously.

"I actually think the Pumpkinhead may be right," said the Wogglebug. "For after all, what other choice do we have if we really want to get back to Oz?"

"You may be right," agreed Tip. "But still it may take us a few days or so to get all the way to the end of the desert. And we'll need some things to keep up our strength, you and me at least."

"A point well taken," said the Wogglebug. "And I know just what to do. First we can fill our pockets up with all the dates and nuts that are growing on these plants around here. And as for water, here is a spring of such here and the Tin Woodman's torso is basically a hollow can and so if we just fill it up with all the water it can hold then we ought to be able to cross the desert successfully."

"That is very well thought out!" said Tip very much impressed. "But are you certain that there will be enough water?"

The Wogglebug though for a bit ,and then he measured the Tin Woodman's torso with his hands. Then he smoothed out some sand and with his walking stick he wrote down the formula Pi x R2 x D=cu in.

"You see, the radius of a circle is how long it is from the edge of the circle to the center which in the Tin Woodman is 10 inches. So Pi times radius squared would be 314.28 times his depth which is 30 inches comes out to 9428.5 cubic inches. divided by 1728 equals 5.4 cubic feet. Now you multiply that by 7.47 equals 40.7 gallons. Enough to get all of us back to Oz."

"You're right!" said Tip much impressed once again. "How did you figure all of that out."

"Oh, just by my thorough education, and also my natural genius," replied the Wogglebug with ease.

"Well, it seems to me you weren't genius enough to figure it out in your head," remarked the Scarecrow.

At this the Wogglebug gave a dirty look. Then the Tin Woodman quickly said, "Well, in any case, I will be most happy to assist you. Just please take out my heart first to keep it from getting wet."

And so they did and Tip kept it secured in his inside jacket pocket. Then he and the Wogglebug filled up the Tin Woodman's torso with all the water from the spring it would hold. Then they started on their way back to Oz across the desert.

After they had traveled for a long while they became rather hot and tired and so they stopped to rest and take a drink of their water supply.

Suddenly, Tip felt something long, sharp, and hairy take hold of his leg from underneath it. He let out a yelp of surprise and looked down to see what looked like a long hairy coil wrapping around his leg that was coming out from underneath the sand.

"Help! Something has got me!" he exclaimed in panic.

The others looked and rushed to him. They all grabbed hold of him and tried with all their might to pull him free from the long coil's grip. But the more they pulled the tighter it wound itself around him. Then suddenly the sand opened up three more long coils appeared out of it and wrapped themselves around Tip's body and began to pull him out of their hold.

"Help! Something's got me!" Tip screamed.

Then on the other side another set of coils appeared out of the sand and wrapped around Tip and began to pull him downward with them.

"Oh my Heavens!" exclaimed the Wogglebug in abject horror. "I do believe that is a Ctenzinae! A Trapdoor Spider that has Tip!"

Just then the Trapdoor Spider hauled Tip down into it's underground hole with him still screaming all the while.

"Oh my poor dear father!" sobbed Jack Pumpkinhead. "Now I shall become an orphan!"

The Wogglebug looked at Jack, and then at the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman who had looks of utmost despair on their faces, then he looked down at the hole in the sand that was left in the spider's wake.

He heaved a heavy sigh of resignation, knowing just what he had to do. He got down on the ground on all fours and began to crawl into the hole.

"What in the world are you doing?" exclaimed the Scarecrow.

"I'm going to rescue Tip," replied the Wogglebug as he dug deeper into the sand to make the hole wider.

"But won't you be eaten by that spider?" exclaimed the Tin Woodman.

"I won't be if I can help it," the Wogglebug said. "But I'll have to risk it just the same!"

Then he crawled and scrudged his way in through the hole. Then he climbed carefully down a long wall of solid sand and then dropped down onto a floor of sand. He soon found Tip caught still caught in the spider's clutches, only now he was also stuck in a very thick and sticky giant web.

The Wogglebug rushed up to the web and ran behind the spider and then spoke to Tip in a whisper so that the spider wouldn't detect his presence.

"Tip, listen to me. You must listen and do as I say if I am to succeed at getting us out of here. You must try and kick the spider in it's left right eye when I tell you to, and only when I tell you to."

Tip just nodded. Then he watched as the Wogglebug carefully and quickly took the ends of the web which were like very thick spools of sticky yarn, and began to tie them all around the spider's legs until he had made a perfect bow. Then he whispered, "Now!"

So then Tip gathered up his strength and wrenched his left leg loose enough from the spider's grip and then struck it with all the force he could into the spider's left right eyeball. The spider at once let out a screech of pain and agony and released its hold on the boy.

The Wogglebug then dropped himself down and went around to Tip and took hold of him and picked up, and then as he was limping badly he assisted him all the way up the hole on his back. Tip once galnced back down and noticed the spider was struggling in vain to pry its legs apart which were tied up so securely.

When at last they crawled back out of the hole the Wogglebug exclaimed, "Come on! We must fill in the hole and get out of here!"

So then they all scooped up piles of sand and filled up the hoel which was the spider's domain. Once this was done they all hurried away from the spot.

When they were far, far away from it, they stopped to rest as the sun was now setting. They buried the Tin Woodman's chest in the sand so as to keep the water cool. Then Tip and the Wogglebug laid against it and fell fats asleep.

Early in the next morning they woke up and started off again. They traveled for about half of the day when they came in sight of the edge of the desert far ahead of them at which they could see a bit of reddish tinted grass on the other side.

"We're almost at the Quadling Country!" exclaimed Tip in joy.

"That is where Glinda the Good lives!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "And I'm sure she will be able to help us!"

Just then they heard an unwelcomely familiar voice exclaim, "Not if I can help it!"

Then the ground beneath them began to shake once again and then open up and out came yet again the Wretched Witch herself.

"So you escaped my pet spider, did you?" she sneered at them. "Well, let's see how you can escape these!"

And just then the sand dunes seem to come alive as they formed the shapes of creatures that grew in size until they were three times as tall as the Tin Woodman was. These sand monsters began to advance on them from all around them.

"Oh dear me! We're surrounded!" wailed Jack Pumpkinhead.

"I don't see any way out this time!" said the Scarecrow.

Tip felt he was right, and so he hurriedly reached inside his trouser pocket and took the box containing the wishing pills and popped one into his mouth, swallowed it and cried out as loud and clear as he could,

"I wish my friends and I were all in the Gump and flying away from here!"

And the very next moment they were.