He had that morning given the Frogman, at his request, a dose of zosozo from his bottle, and the Frogman had promised to fight a good fight if it was necessary, but the Wizard knew that strength alone could not avail against magical arts.

The toy Bear King seemed to have some pretty good magic, however, and the Wizard depended to an extent on that.

But something ought to be done right away, and the Wizard didn't know what it was.
While he considered this perplexing question and the others stood looking at him as their leader, a queer thing happened.

The floor of the great circular hall on which they were standing suddenly began to tip.

Instead of being flat and level, it became a slant, and the slant grew steeper and steeper until none of the party could manage to stand upon it.