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@@ -0,0 +1,5999 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scarecrow of Oz, by L. Frank Baum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Scarecrow of Oz + +Author: L. Frank Baum + +Posting Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #957] +Release Date: June, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCARECROW OF OZ *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonac. + + + + + + + + +THE SCARECROW of OZ + + +by + +L. Frank Baum + + + + + Dedicated to + + "The uplifters" of Los Angeles, California, in + grateful appreciation of the pleasure I have derived + from association with them, and in recognition of + their sincere endeavor to uplift humanity through + kindness, consideration and good-fellowship. They are + big men--all of them--and all with the generous + hearts of little children. + + L. Frank Baum + + + + + +'TWIXT YOU AND ME + +The Army of Children which besieged the Postoffice, conquered the +Postmen and delivered to me its imperious Commands, insisted that Trot +and Cap'n Bill be admitted to the Land of Oz, where Trot could enjoy +the society of Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin and Ozma, while the one-legged +sailor-man might become a comrade of the Tin Woodman, the Shaggy Man, +Tik-Tok and all the other quaint people who inhabit this wonderful +fairyland. + +It was no easy task to obey this order and land Trot and Cap'n Bill +safely in Oz, as you will discover by reading this book. Indeed, it +required the best efforts of our dear old friend, the Scarecrow, to +save them from a dreadful fate on the journey; but the story leaves +them happily located in Ozma's splendid palace and Dorothy has promised +me that Button-Bright and the three girls are sure to encounter, in the +near future, some marvelous adventures in the Land of Oz, which I hope +to be permitted to relate to you in the next Oz Book. + +Meantime, I am deeply grateful to my little readers for their continued +enthusiasm over the Oz stories, as evinced in the many letters they +send me, all of which are lovingly cherished. It takes more and more Oz +Books every year to satisfy the demands of old and new readers, and +there have been formed many "Oz Reading Societies," where the Oz Books +owned by different members are read aloud. All this is very gratifying +to me and encourages me to write more stories. When the children have +had enough of them, I hope they will let me know, and then I'll try to +write something different. + +L. Frank Baum + "Royal Historian of Oz." + "OZCOT" + at HOLLYWOOD + in CALIFORNIA, 1915. + + + + +LIST OF CHAPTERS + + 1 - The Great Whirlpool + 2 - The Cavern Under the Sea + 3 - The Ork + 4 - Daylight at Last + 5 - The Little Old Man of the Island + 6 - The Flight of the Midgets + 7 - The Bumpy Man + 8 - Button-Bright is Lost, and Found Again + 9 - The Kingdom of Jinxland + 10 - Pon, the Gardener's Boy + 11 - The Wicked King and Googly-Goo + 12 - The Wooden-Legged Grass-Hopper + 13 - Glinda the Good and the Scarecrow of Oz + 14 - The Frozen Heart + 15 - Trot Meets the Scarecrow + 16 - Pon Summons the King to Surrender + 17 - The Ork Rescues Button-Bright + 18 - The Scarecrow Meets an Enemy + 19 - The Conquest of the Witch + 20 - Queen Gloria + 21 - Dorothy, Betsy and Ozma + 22 - The Waterfall + 23 - The Land of Oz + 24 - The Royal Reception + + + + +Chapter One + +The Great Whirlpool + + +"Seems to me," said Cap'n Bill, as he sat beside Trot under the big +acacia tree, looking out over the blue ocean, "seems to me, Trot, as +how the more we know, the more we find we don't know." + +"I can't quite make that out, Cap'n Bill," answered the little girl in +a serious voice, after a moment's thought, during which her eyes +followed those of the old sailor-man across the glassy surface of the +sea. "Seems to me that all we learn is jus' so much gained." + +"I know; it looks that way at first sight," said the sailor, nodding +his head; "but those as knows the least have a habit of thinkin' they +know all there is to know, while them as knows the most admits what a +turr'ble big world this is. It's the knowing ones that realize one +lifetime ain't long enough to git more'n a few dips o' the oars of +knowledge." + +Trot didn't answer. She was a very little girl, with big, solemn eyes +and an earnest, simple manner. Cap'n Bill had been her faithful +companion for years and had taught her almost everything she knew. + +He was a wonderful man, this Cap'n Bill. Not so very old, although his +hair was grizzled--what there was of it. Most of his head was bald as +an egg and as shiny as oilcloth, and this made his big ears stick out +in a funny way. His eyes had a gentle look and were pale blue in color, +and his round face was rugged and bronzed. Cap'n Bill's left leg was +missing, from the knee down, and that was why the sailor no longer +sailed the seas. The wooden leg he wore was good enough to stump around +with on land, or even to take Trot out for a row or a sail on the +ocean, but when it came to "runnin' up aloft" or performing active +duties on shipboard, the old sailor was not equal to the task. The loss +of his leg had ruined his career and the old sailor found comfort in +devoting himself to the education and companionship of the little girl. + +The accident to Cap'n Bill's leg bad happened at about the time Trot +was born, and ever since that he had lived with Trot's mother as "a +star boarder," having enough money saved up to pay for his weekly +"keep." He loved the baby and often held her on his lap; her first +ride was on Cap'n Bill's shoulders, for she had no baby-carriage; and +when she began to toddle around, the child and the sailor became close +comrades and enjoyed many strange adventures together. It is said the +fairies had been present at Trot's birth and had marked her forehead +with their invisible mystic signs, so that she was able to see and do +many wonderful things. + +The acacia tree was on top of a high bluff, but a path ran down the +bank in a zigzag way to the water's edge, where Cap'n Bill's boat was +moored to a rock by means of a stout cable. It had been a hot, sultry +afternoon, with scarcely a breath of air stirring, so Cap'n Bill and +Trot had been quietly sitting beneath the shade of the tree, waiting +for the sun to get low enough for them to take a row. + +They had decided to visit one of the great caves which the waves had +washed out of the rocky coast during many years of steady effort. The +caves were a source of continual delight to both the girl and the +sailor, who loved to explore their awesome depths. + +"I b'lieve, Cap'n," remarked Trot, at last, "that it's time for us to +start." + +The old man cast a shrewd glance at the sky, the sea and the motionless +boat. Then he shook his head. + +"Mebbe it's time, Trot," he answered, "but I don't jes' like the looks +o' things this afternoon." + +"What's wrong?" she asked wonderingly. + +"Can't say as to that. Things is too quiet to suit me, that's all. No +breeze, not a ripple a-top the water, nary a gull a-flyin' anywhere, +an' the end o' the hottest day o' the year. I ain't no weather-prophet, +Trot, but any sailor would know the signs is ominous." + +"There's nothing wrong that I can see," said Trot. + +"If there was a cloud in the sky even as big as my thumb, we might +worry about it; but--look, Cap'n!--the sky is as clear as can be." + +He looked again and nodded. + +"P'r'aps we can make the cave, all right," he agreed, not wishing to +disappoint her. "It's only a little way out, an' we'll be on the +watch; so come along, Trot." + +Together they descended the winding path to the beach. It was no +trouble for the girl to keep her footing on the steep way, but Cap'n +Bill, because of his wooden leg, had to hold on to rocks and roots now +and then to save himself from tumbling. On a level path he was as spry +as anyone, but to climb up hill or down required some care. + +They reached the boat safely and while Trot was untying the rope Cap'n +Bill reached into a crevice of the rock and drew out several tallow +candles and a box of wax matches, which he thrust into the capacious +pockets of his "sou'wester." This sou'wester was a short coat of +oilskin which the old sailor wore on all occasions--when he wore a coat +at all--and the pockets always contained a variety of objects, useful +and ornamental, which made even Trot wonder where they all came from +and why Cap'n Bill should treasure them. The jackknives--a big one and +a little one--the bits of cord, the fishhooks, the nails: these were +handy to have on certain occasions. But bits of shell, and tin boxes +with unknown contents, buttons, pincers, bottles of curious stones and +the like, seemed quite unnecessary to carry around. That was Cap'n +Bill's business, however, and now that he added the candles and the +matches to his collection Trot made no comment, for she knew these last +were to light their way through the caves. The sailor always rowed the +boat, for he handled the oars with strength and skill. Trot sat in the +stern and steered. The place where they embarked was a little bight or +circular bay, and the boat cut across a much larger bay toward a +distant headland where the caves were located, right at the water's +edge. They were nearly a mile from shore and about halfway across the +bay when Trot suddenly sat up straight and exclaimed: "What's that, +Cap'n?" + +He stopped rowing and turned half around to look. + +"That, Trot," he slowly replied, "looks to me mighty like a whirlpool." + +"What makes it, Cap'n?" + +"A whirl in the air makes the whirl in the water. I was afraid as we'd +meet with trouble, Trot. Things didn't look right. The air was too +still." + +"It's coming closer," said the girl. + +The old man grabbed the oars and began rowing with all his strength. + +"'Tain't comin' closer to us, Trot," he gasped; "it's we that are +comin' closer to the whirlpool. The thing is drawin' us to it like a +magnet!" + +Trot's sun-bronzed face was a little paler as she grasped the tiller +firmly and tried to steer the boat away; but she said not a word to +indicate fear. + +The swirl of the water as they came nearer made a roaring sound that +was fearful to listen to. So fierce and powerful was the whirlpool that +it drew the surface of the sea into the form of a great basin, slanting +downward toward the center, where a big hole had been made in the +ocean--a hole with walls of water that were kept in place by the rapid +whirling of the air. + +The boat in which Trot and Cap'n Bill were riding was just on the outer +edge of this saucer-like slant, and the old sailor knew very well that +unless he could quickly force the little craft away from the rushing +current they would soon be drawn into the great black hole that yawned +in the middle. So he exerted all his might and pulled as he had never +pulled before. He pulled so hard that the left oar snapped in two and +sent Cap'n Bill sprawling upon the bottom of the boat. + +He scrambled up quickly enough and glanced over the side. Then he +looked at Trot, who sat quite still, with a serious, far-away look in +her sweet eyes. The boat was now speeding swiftly of its own accord, +following the line of the circular basin round and round and gradually +drawing nearer to the great hole in the center. Any further effort to +escape the whirlpool was useless, and realizing this fact Cap'n Bill +turned toward Trot and put an arm around her, as if to shield her from +the awful fate before them. He did not try to speak, because the roar +of the waters would have drowned the sound of his voice. + +These two faithful comrades had faced dangers before, but nothing to +equal that which now faced them. Yet Cap'n Bill, noting the look in +Trot's eyes and remembering how often she had been protected by unseen +powers, did not quite give way to despair. + +The great hole in the dark water--now growing nearer and nearer--looked +very terrifying; but they were both brave enough to face it and await +the result of the adventure. + + + + +Chapter Two + +The Cavern Under the Sea + + +The circles were so much smaller at the bottom of the basin, and the +boat moved so much more swiftly, that Trot was beginning to get dizzy +with the motion, when suddenly the boat made a leap and dived headlong +into the murky depths of the hole. Whirling like tops, but still +clinging together, the sailor and the girl were separated from their +boat and plunged down--down--down--into the farthermost recesses of the +great ocean. + +At first their fall was swift as an arrow, but presently they seemed to +be going more moderately and Trot was almost sure that unseen arms were +about her, supporting her and protecting her. She could see nothing, +because the water filled her eyes and blurred her vision, but she clung +fast to Cap'n Bill's sou'wester, while other arms clung fast to her, +and so they gradually sank down and down until a full stop was made, +when they began to ascend again. + +But it seemed to Trot that they were not rising straight to the surface +from where they had come. The water was no longer whirling them and +they seemed to be drawn in a slanting direction through still, cool +ocean depths. And then--in much quicker time than I have told it--up +they popped to the surface and were cast at full length upon a sandy +beach, where they lay choking and gasping for breath and wondering what +had happened to them. + +Trot was the first to recover. Disengaging herself from Cap'n Bill's +wet embrace and sitting up, she rubbed the water from her eyes and then +looked around her. A soft, bluish-green glow lighted the place, which +seemed to be a sort of cavern, for above and on either side of her were +rugged rocks. They had been cast upon a beach of clear sand, which +slanted upward from the pool of water at their feet--a pool which +doubtless led into the big ocean that fed it. Above the reach of the +waves of the pool were more rocks, and still more and more, into the +dim windings and recesses of which the glowing light from the water did +not penetrate. + +The place looked grim and lonely, but Trot was thankful that she was +still alive and had suffered no severe injury during her trying +adventure under water. At her side Cap'n Bill was sputtering and +coughing, trying to get rid of the water he had swallowed. Both of them +were soaked through, yet the cavern was warm and comfortable and a +wetting did not dismay the little girl in the least. + +She crawled up the slant of sand and gathered in her hand a bunch of +dried seaweed, with which she mopped the face of Cap'n Bill and cleared +the water from his eyes and ears. Presently the old man sat up and +stared at her intently. Then he nodded his bald head three times and +said in a gurgling voice: + +"Mighty good, Trot; mighty good! We didn't reach Davy Jones's locker +that time, did we? Though why we didn't, an' why we're here, is more'n +I kin make out." + +"Take it easy, Cap'n," she replied. "We're safe enough, I guess, at +least for the time being." + +He squeezed the water out of the bottoms of his loose trousers and felt +of his wooden leg and arms and head, and finding he had brought all of +his person with him he gathered courage to examine closely their +surroundings. + +"Where d'ye think we are, Trot?" he presently asked. + +"Can't say, Cap'n. P'r'aps in one of our caves." + +He shook his head. "No," said he, "I don't think that, at all. The +distance we came up didn't seem half as far as the distance we went +down; an' you'll notice there ain't any outside entrance to this cavern +whatever. It's a reg'lar dome over this pool o' water, and unless +there's some passage at the back, up yonder, we're fast pris'ners." + +Trot looked thoughtfully over her shoulder. + +"When we're rested," she said, "we will crawl up there and see if +there's a way to get out." + +Cap'n Bill reached in the pocket of his oilskin coat and took out his +pipe. It was still dry, for he kept it in an oilskin pouch with his +tobacco. His matches were in a tight tin box, so in a few moments the +old sailor was smoking contentedly. Trot knew it helped him to think +when he was in any difficulty. Also, the pipe did much to restore the +old sailor's composure, after his long ducking and his terrible +fright--a fright that was more on Trot's account than his own. + +The sand was dry where they sat, and soaked up the water that dripped +from their clothing. When Trot had squeezed the wet out of her hair she +began to feel much like her old self again. By and by they got upon +their feet and crept up the incline to the scattered boulders above. +Some of these were of huge size, but by passing between some and around +others, they were able to reach the extreme rear of the cavern. + +"Yes," said Trot, with interest, "here's a round hole." + +"And it's black as night inside it," remarked Cap'n Bill. + +"Just the same," answered the girl, "we ought to explore it, and see +where it goes, 'cause it's the only poss'ble way we can get out of this +place." + +Cap'n Bill eyed the hole doubtfully + +"It may be a way out o' here, Trot," he said, "but it may be a way into +a far worse place than this. I'm not sure but our best plan is to stay +right here." + +Trot wasn't sure, either, when she thought of it in that light. After +awhile she made her way back to the sands again, and Cap'n Bill +followed her. As they sat down, the child looked thoughtfully at the +sailor's bulging pockets. + +"How much food have we got, Cap'n?" she asked. + +"Half a dozen ship's biscuits an' a hunk o' cheese," he replied. "Want +some now, Trot?" + +She shook her head, saying: + +"That ought to keep us alive 'bout three days if we're careful of it." + +"Longer'n that, Trot," said Cap'n Bill, but his voice was a little +troubled and unsteady. + +"But if we stay here we're bound to starve in time," continued the +girl, "while if we go into the dark hole--" + +"Some things are more hard to face than starvation," said the +sailor-man, gravely. "We don't know what's inside that dark hole: Trot, +nor where it might lead us to." + +"There's a way to find that out," she persisted. + +Instead of replying, Cap'n Bill began searching in his pockets. He soon +drew out a little package of fish-hooks and a long line. Trot watched +him join them together. Then he crept a little way up the slope and +turned over a big rock. Two or three small crabs began scurrying away +over the sands and the old sailor caught them and put one on his hook +and the others in his pocket. Coming back to the pool he swung the hook +over his shoulder and circled it around his head and cast it nearly +into the center of the water, where he allowed it to sink gradually, +paying out the line as far as it would go. When the end was reached, he +began drawing it in again, until the crab bait was floating on the +surface. + +Trot watched him cast the line a second time, and a third. She decided +that either there were no fishes in the pool or they would not bite the +crab bait. But Cap'n Bill was an old fisherman and not easily +discouraged. When the crab got away he put another on the hook. When +the crabs were all gone he climbed up the rocks and found some more. + +Meantime Trot tired of watching him and lay down upon the sands, where +she fell fast asleep. During the next two hours her clothing dried +completely, as did that of the old sailor. They were both so used to +salt water that there was no danger of taking cold. + +Finally the little girl was wakened by a splash beside her and a grunt +of satisfaction from Cap'n Bill. She opened her eyes to find that the +Cap'n had landed a silver-scaled fish weighing about two pounds. This +cheered her considerably and she hurried to scrape together a heap of +seaweed, while Cap'n Bill cut up the fish with his jackknife and got it +ready for cooking. + +They had cooked fish with seaweed before. Cap'n Bill wrapped his fish +in some of the weed and dipped it in the water to dampen it. Then he +lighted a match and set fire to Trot's heap, which speedily burned down +to a glowing bed of ashes. Then they laid the wrapped fish on the +ashes, covered it with more seaweed, and allowed this to catch fire and +burn to embers. After feeding the fire with seaweed for some time, the +sailor finally decided that their supper was ready, so he scattered the +ashes and drew out the bits of fish, still encased in their smoking +wrappings. + +When these wrappings were removed, the fish was found thoroughly cooked +and both Trot and Cap'n Bill ate of it freely. It had a slight flavor +of seaweed and would have been better with a sprinkling of salt. + +The soft glow which until now had lighted the cavern, began to grow +dim, but there was a great quantity of seaweed in the place, so after +they had eaten their fish they kept the fire alive for a time by giving +it a handful of fuel now and then. + +From an inner pocket the sailor drew a small flask of battered metal +and unscrewing the cap handed it to Trot. She took but one swallow of +the water although she wanted more, and she noticed that Cap'n Bill +merely wet his lips with it. + +"S'pose," said she, staring at the glowing seaweed fire and speaking +slowly, "that we can catch all the fish we need; how 'bout the +drinking-water, Cap'n?" + +He moved uneasily but did not reply. Both of them were thinking about +the dark hole, but while Trot had little fear of it the old man could +not overcome his dislike to enter the place. He knew that Trot was +right, though. To remain in the cavern, where they now were, could only +result in slow but sure death. + +It was nighttime up on the earth's surface, so the little girl became +drowsy and soon fell asleep. After a time the old sailor slumbered on +the sands beside her. It was very still and nothing disturbed them for +hours. When at last they awoke the cavern was light again. + +They had divided one of the biscuits and were munching it for breakfast +when they were startled by a sudden splash in the pool. Looking toward +it they saw emerging from the water the most curious creature either of +them had ever beheld. It wasn't a fish, Trot decided, nor was it a +beast. It had wings, though, and queer wings they were: shaped like an +inverted chopping-bowl and covered with tough skin instead of feathers. +It had four legs--much like the legs of a stork, only double the +number--and its head was shaped a good deal like that of a poll parrot, +with a beak that curved downward in front and upward at the edges, and +was half bill and half mouth. But to call it a bird was out of the +question, because it had no feathers whatever except a crest of wavy +plumes of a scarlet color on the very top of its head. The strange +creature must have weighed as much as Cap'n Bill, and as it floundered +and struggled to get out of the water to the sandy beach it was so big +and unusual that both Trot and her companion stared at it in wonder--in +wonder that was not unmixed with fear. + + + + +Chapter Three + +The Ork + + +The eyes that regarded them, as the creature stood dripping before +them, were bright and mild in expression, and the queer addition to +their party made no attempt to attack them and seemed quite as +surprised by the meeting as they were. + +"I wonder," whispered Trot, "what it is." + +"Who, me?" exclaimed the creature in a shrill, high-pitched voice. +"Why, I'm an Ork." + +"Oh!" said the girl. "But what is an Ork?" + +"I am," he repeated, a little proudly, as he shook the water from his +funny wings; "and if ever an Ork was glad to be out of the water and on +dry land again, you can be mighty sure that I'm that especial, +individual Ork!" + +"Have you been in the water long?" inquired Cap'n Bill, thinking it +only polite to show an interest in the strange creature. + +"Why, this last ducking was about ten minutes, I believe, and that's +about nine minutes and sixty seconds too long for comfort," was the +reply. "But last night I was in an awful pickle, I assure you. The +whirlpool caught me, and--" + +"Oh, were you in the whirlpool, too?" asked Trot eagerly. + +He gave her a glance that was somewhat reproachful. + +"I believe I was mentioning the fact, young lady, when your desire to +talk interrupted me," said the Ork. "I am not usually careless in my +actions, but that whirlpool was so busy yesterday that I thought I'd +see what mischief it was up to. So I flew a little too near it and the +suction of the air drew me down into the depths of the ocean. Water and +I are natural enemies, and it would have conquered me this time had not +a bevy of pretty mermaids come to my assistance and dragged me away +from the whirling water and far up into a cavern, where they deserted +me." + +"Why, that's about the same thing that happened to us," cried Trot. +"Was your cavern like this one?" + +"I haven't examined this one yet," answered the Ork; "but if they +happen to be alike I shudder at our fate, for the other one was a +prison, with no outlet except by means of the water. I stayed there +all night, however, and this morning I plunged into the pool, as far +down as I could go, and then swam as hard and as far as I could. The +rocks scraped my back, now and then, and I barely escaped the clutches +of an ugly sea-monster; but by and by I came to the surface to catch my +breath, and found myself here. That's the whole story, and as I see you +have something to eat I entreat you to give me a share of it. The truth +is, I'm half starved." + +With these words the Ork squatted down beside them. Very reluctantly +Cap'n Bill drew another biscuit from his pocket and held it out. The +Ork promptly seized it in one of its front claws and began to nibble +the biscuit in much the same manner a parrot might have done. + +"We haven't much grub," said the sailor-man, "but we're willin' to +share it with a comrade in distress." + +"That's right," returned the Ork, cocking its head sidewise in a +cheerful manner, and then for a few minutes there was silence while +they all ate of the biscuits. After a while Trot said: + +"I've never seen or heard of an Ork before. Are there many of you?" + +"We are rather few and exclusive, I believe," was the reply. "In the +country where I was born we are the absolute rulers of all living +things, from ants to elephants." + +"What country is that?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +"Orkland." + +"Where does it lie?" + +"I don't know, exactly. You see, I have a restless nature, for some +reason, while all the rest of my race are quiet and contented Orks and +seldom stray far from home. From childhood days I loved to fly long +distances away, although father often warned me that I would get into +trouble by so doing. + +"'It's a big world, Flipper, my son,' he would say, 'and I've heard +that in parts of it live queer two-legged creatures called Men, who war +upon all other living things and would have little respect for even an +Ork.' + +"This naturally aroused my curiosity and after I had completed my +education and left school I decided to fly out into the world and try +to get a glimpse of the creatures called Men. So I left home without +saying good-bye, an act I shall always regret. Adventures were many, I +found. I sighted men several times, but have never before been so close +to them as now. Also I had to fight my way through the air, for I met +gigantic birds, with fluffy feathers all over them, which attacked me +fiercely. Besides, it kept me busy escaping from floating airships. In +my rambling I had lost all track of distance or direction, so that when +I wanted to go home I had no idea where my country was located. I've +now been trying to find it for several months and it was during one of +my flights over the ocean that I met the whirlpool and became its +victim." + +Trot and Cap'n Bill listened to this recital with much interest, and +from the friendly tone and harmless appearance of the Ork they judged +he was not likely to prove so disagreeable a companion as at first they +had feared he might be. + +The Ork sat upon its haunches much as a cat does, but used the +finger-like claws of its front legs almost as cleverly as if they were +hands. Perhaps the most curious thing about the creature was its tail, +or what ought to have been its tail. This queer arrangement of skin, +bones and muscle was shaped like the propellers used on boats and +airships, having fan-like surfaces and being pivoted to its body. Cap'n +Bill knew something of mechanics, and observing the propeller-like tail +of the Ork he said: + +"I s'pose you're a pretty swift flyer?" + +"Yes, indeed; the Orks are admitted to be Kings of the Air." + +"Your wings don't seem to amount to much," remarked Trot. + +"Well, they are not very big," admitted the Ork, waving the four hollow +skins gently to and fro, "but they serve to support my body in the air +while I speed along by means of my tail. Still, taken altogether, I'm +very handsomely formed, don't you think?" + +Trot did not like to reply, but Cap'n Bill nodded gravely. "For an +Ork," said he, "you're a wonder. I've never seen one afore, but I can +imagine you're as good as any." + +That seemed to please the creature and it began walking around the +cavern, making its way easily up the slope. While it was gone, Trot and +Cap'n Bill each took another sip from the water-flask, to wash down +their breakfast. + +"Why, here's a hole--an exit--an outlet!" exclaimed the Ork from above. + +"We know," said Trot. "We found it last night." + +"Well, then, let's be off," continued the Ork, after sticking its head +into the black hole and sniffing once or twice. "The air seems fresh +and sweet, and it can't lead us to any worse place than this." + +The girl and the sailor-man got up and climbed to the side of the Ork. + +"We'd about decided to explore this hole before you came," explained +Cap'n Bill; "but it's a dangerous place to navigate in the dark, so +wait till I light a candle." + +"What is a candle?" inquired the Ork. + +"You'll see in a minute," said Trot. + +The old sailor drew one of the candles from his right-side pocket and +the tin matchbox from his left-side pocket. When he lighted the match +the Ork gave a startled jump and eyed the flame suspiciously; but Cap'n +Bill proceeded to light the candle and the action interested the Ork +very much. + +"Light," it said, somewhat nervously, "is valuable in a hole of this +sort. The candle is not dangerous, I hope?" + +"Sometimes it burns your fingers," answered Trot, "but that's about the +worst it can do--'cept to blow out when you don't want it to." + +Cap'n Bill shielded the flame with his hand and crept into the hole. It +wasn't any too big for a grown man, but after he had crawled a few feet +it grew larger. Trot came close behind him and then the Ork followed. + +"Seems like a reg'lar tunnel," muttered the sailor-man, who was +creeping along awkwardly because of his wooden leg. The rocks, too, +hurt his knees. + +For nearly half an hour the three moved slowly along the tunnel, which +made many twists and turns and sometimes slanted downward and sometimes +upward. Finally Cap'n Bill stopped short, with an exclamation of +disappointment, and held the flickering candle far ahead to light the +scene. + +"What's wrong?" demanded Trot, who could see nothing because the +sailor's form completely filled the hole. + +"Why, we've come to the end of our travels, I guess," he replied. + +"Is the hole blocked?" inquired the Ork. + +"No; it's wuss nor that," replied Cap'n Bill sadly. "I'm on the edge of +a precipice. Wait a minute an' I'll move along and let you see for +yourselves. Be careful, Trot, not to fall." + +Then he crept forward a little and moved to one side, holding the +candle so that the girl could see to follow him. The Ork came next and +now all three knelt on a narrow ledge of rock which dropped straight +away and left a huge black space which the tiny flame of the candle +could not illuminate. + +"H-m!" said the Ork, peering over the edge; "this doesn't look very +promising, I'll admit. But let me take your candle, and I'll fly down +and see what's below us." + +"Aren't you afraid?" asked Trot. + +"Certainly I'm afraid," responded the Ork. "But if we intend to escape +we can't stay on this shelf forever. So, as I notice you poor creatures +cannot fly, it is my duty to explore the place for you." + +Cap'n Bill handed the Ork the candle, which had now burned to about +half its length. The Ork took it in one claw rather cautiously and then +tipped its body forward and slipped over the edge. They heard a queer +buzzing sound, as the tail revolved, and a brisk flapping of the +peculiar wings, but they were more interested just then in following +with their eyes the tiny speck of light which marked the location of +the candle. This light first made a great circle, then dropped slowly +downward and suddenly was extinguished, leaving everything before them +black as ink. + +"Hi, there! How did that happen?" cried the Ork. + +"It blew out, I guess," shouted Cap'n Bill. "Fetch it here." + +"I can't see where you are," said the Ork. + +So Cap'n Bill got out another candle and lighted it, and its flame +enabled the Ork to fly back to them. It alighted on the edge and held +out the bit of candle. + +"What made it stop burning?" asked the creature. + +"The wind," said Trot. "You must be more careful, this time." + +"What's the place like?" inquired Cap'n Bill. + +"I don't know, yet; but there must be a bottom to it, so I'll try to +find it." + +With this the Ork started out again and this time sank downward more +slowly. Down, down, down it went, till the candle was a mere spark, and +then it headed away to the left and Trot and Cap'n Bill lost all sight +of it. + +In a few minutes, however, they saw the spark of light again, and as +the sailor still held the second lighted candle the Ork made straight +toward them. It was only a few yards distant when suddenly it dropped +the candle with a cry of pain and next moment alighted, fluttering +wildly, upon the rocky ledge. + +"What's the matter?" asked Trot. + +"It bit me!" wailed the Ork. "I don't like your candles. The thing +began to disappear slowly as soon as I took it in my claw, and it grew +smaller and smaller until just now it turned and bit me--a most +unfriendly thing to do. Oh--oh! Ouch, what a bite!" + +"That's the nature of candles, I'm sorry to say," explained Cap'n Bill, +with a grin. "You have to handle 'em mighty keerful. But tell us, what +did you find down there?" + +"I found a way to continue our journey," said the Ork, nursing tenderly +the claw which had been burned. "Just below us is a great lake of black +water, which looked so cold and wicked that it made me shudder; but +away at the left there's a big tunnel, which we can easily walk +through. I don't know where it leads to, of course, but we must follow +it and find out." "why, we can't get to it," protested the little girl. +"We can't fly, as you do, you must remember." + +"No, that's true," replied the Ork musingly. "Your bodies are built +very poorly, it seems to me, since all you can do is crawl upon the +earth's surface. But you may ride upon my back, and in that way I can +promise you a safe journey to the tunnel." + +"Are you strong enough to carry us?" asked Cap'n Bill, doubtfully. + +"Yes, indeed; I'm strong enough to carry a dozen of you, if you could +find a place to sit," was the reply; "but there's only room between my +wings for one at a time, so I'll have to make two trips." + +"All right; I'll go first," decided Cap'n Bill. + +He lit another candle for Trot to hold while they were gone and to +light the Ork on his return to her, and then the old sailor got upon +the Ork's back, where he sat with his wooden leg sticking straight out +sidewise. + +"If you start to fall, clasp your arms around my neck," advised the +creature. + +"If I start to fall, it's good night an' pleasant dreams," said Cap'n +Bill. + +"All ready?" asked the Ork. + +"Start the buzz-tail," said Cap'n Bill, with a tremble in his voice. +But the Ork flew away so gently that the old man never even tottered in +his seat. Trot watched the light of Cap'n Bill's candle till it +disappeared in the far distance. She didn't like to be left alone on +this dangerous ledge, with a lake of black water hundreds of feet below +her; but she was a brave little girl and waited patiently for the +return of the Ork. It came even sooner than she had expected and the +creature said to her: + +"Your friend is safe in the tunnel. Now, then, get aboard and I'll +carry you to him in a jiffy." + +I'm sure not many little girls would have cared to take that awful ride +through the huge black cavern on the back of a skinny Ork. Trot didn't +care for it, herself, but it just had to be done and so she did it as +courageously as possible. Her heart beat fast and she was so nervous +she could scarcely hold the candle in her fingers as the Ork sped +swiftly through the darkness. + +It seemed like a long ride to her, yet in reality the Ork covered the +distance in a wonderfully brief period of time and soon Trot stood +safely beside Cap'n Bill on the level floor of a big arched tunnel. The +sailor-man was very glad to greet his little comrade again and both +were grateful to the Ork for his assistance. + +"I dunno where this tunnel leads to," remarked Cap'n Bill, "but it +surely looks more promisin' than that other hole we crept through." + +"When the Ork is rested," said Trot, "we'll travel on and see what +happens." + +"Rested!" cried the Ork, as scornfully as his shrill voice would allow. +"That bit of flying didn't tire me at all. I'm used to flying days at a +time, without ever once stopping." + +"Then let's move on," proposed Cap'n Bill. He still held in his hand +one lighted candle, so Trot blew out the other flame and placed her +candle in the sailor's big pocket. She knew it was not wise to burn two +candles at once. + +The tunnel was straight and smooth and very easy to walk through, so +they made good progress. Trot thought that the tunnel began about two +miles from the cavern where they had been cast by the whirlpool, but +now it was impossible to guess the miles traveled, for they walked +steadily for hours and hours without any change in their surroundings. + +Finally Cap'n Bill stopped to rest. + +"There's somethin' queer about this 'ere tunnel, I'm certain," he +declared, wagging his head dolefully. "Here's three candles gone +a'ready, an' only three more left us, yet the tunnel's the same as it +was when we started. An' how long it's goin' to keep up, no one knows." + +"Couldn't we walk without a light?" asked Trot. "The way seems safe +enough." + +"It does right now," was the reply, "but we can't tell when we are +likely to come to another gulf, or somethin' jes' as dangerous. In that +case we'd be killed afore we knew it." + +"Suppose I go ahead?" suggested the Ork. "I don't fear a fall, you +know, and if anything happens I'll call out and warn you." + +"That's a good idea," declared Trot, and Cap'n Bill thought so, too. So +the Ork started off ahead, quite in the dark, and hand in band the two +followed him. + +When they had walked in this way for a good long time the Ork halted +and demanded food. Cap'n Bill had not mentioned food because there was +so little left--only three biscuits and a lump of cheese about as big +as his two fingers--but he gave the Ork half of a biscuit, sighing as +he did so. The creature didn't care for the cheese, so the sailor +divided it between himself and Trot. They lighted a candle and sat down +in the tunnel while they ate. + +"My feet hurt me," grumbled the Ork. "I'm not used to walking and this +rocky passage is so uneven and lumpy that it hurts me to walk upon it." + +"Can't you fly along?" asked Trot. + +"No; the roof is too low," said the Ork. + +After the meal they resumed their journey, which Trot began to fear +would never end. When Cap'n Bill noticed how tired the little girl was, +he paused and lighted a match and looked at his big silver watch. + +"Why, it's night!" he exclaimed. "We've tramped all day, an' still +we're in this awful passage, which mebbe goes straight through the +middle of the world, an' mebbe is a circle--in which case we can keep +walkin' till doomsday. Not knowin' what's before us so well as we know +what's behind us, I propose we make a stop, now, an' try to sleep till +mornin'." + +"That will suit me," asserted the Ork, with a groan. "My feet are +hurting me dreadfully and for the last few miles I've been limping with +pain." + +"My foot hurts, too," said the sailor, looking for a smooth place on +the rocky floor to sit down. + +"Your foot!" cried the Ork. "why, you've only one to hurt you, while I +have four. So I suffer four times as much as you possibly can. Here; +hold the candle while I look at the bottoms of my claws. I declare," he +said, examining them by the flickering light, "there are bunches of +pain all over them!" + +"P'r'aps," said Trot, who was very glad to sit down beside her +companions, "you've got corns." + +"Corns? Nonsense! Orks never have corns," protested the creature, +rubbing its sore feet tenderly. + +"Then mebbe they're--they're-- What do you call 'em, Cap'n Bill? +Something 'bout the Pilgrim's Progress, you know." + +"Bunions," said Cap'n Bill. + +"Oh, yes; mebbe you've got bunions." + +"It is possible," moaned the Ork. "But whatever they are, another day +of such walking on them would drive me crazy." + +"I'm sure they'll feel better by mornin'," said Cap'n Bill, +encouragingly. "Go to sleep an' try to forget your sore feet." + +The Ork cast a reproachful look at the sailor-man, who didn't see it. +Then the creature asked plaintively: "Do we eat now, or do we starve?" + +"There's only half a biscuit left for you," answered Cap'n Bill. "No +one knows how long we'll have to stay in this dark tunnel, where +there's nothing whatever to eat; so I advise you to save that morsel o' +food till later." + +"Give it me now!" demanded the Ork. "If I'm going to starve, I'll do it +all at once--not by degrees." + +Cap'n Bill produced the biscuit and the creature ate it in a trice. +Trot was rather hungry and whispered to Cap'n Bill that she'd take part +of her share; but the old man secretly broke his own half-biscuit in +two, saving Trot's share for a time of greater need. + +He was beginning to be worried over the little girl's plight and long +after she was asleep and the Ork was snoring in a rather disagreeable +manner, Cap'n Bill sat with his back to a rock and smoked his pipe and +tried to think of some way to escape from this seemingly endless +tunnel. But after a time he also slept, for hobbling on a wooden leg +all day was tiresome, and there in the dark slumbered the three +adventurers for many hours, until the Ork roused itself and kicked the +old sailor with one foot. + +"It must be another day," said he. + + + + +Chapter Four + +Daylight at Last + + +Cap'n Bill rubbed his eyes, lit a match and consulted his watch. + +"Nine o'clock. Yes, I guess it's another day, sure enough. Shall we go +on?" he asked. + +"Of course," replied the Ork. "Unless this tunnel is different from +everything else in the world, and has no end, we'll find a way out of +it sooner or later." + +The sailor gently wakened Trot. She felt much rested by her long sleep +and sprang to her feet eagerly. + +"Let's start, Cap'n," was all she said. + +They resumed the journey and had only taken a few steps when the Ork +cried "Wow!" and made a great fluttering of its wings and whirling of +its tail. The others, who were following a short distance behind, +stopped abruptly. + +"What's the matter?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +"Give us a light," was the reply. "I think we've come to the end of the +tunnel." Then, while Cap'n Bill lighted a candle, the creature added: +"If that is true, we needn't have wakened so soon, for we were almost +at the end of this place when we went to sleep." + +The sailor-man and Trot came forward with a light. A wall of rock +really faced the tunnel, but now they saw that the opening made a sharp +turn to the left. So they followed on, by a narrower passage, and then +made another sharp turn this time to the right. + +"Blow out the light, Cap'n," said the Ork, in a pleased voice. "We've +struck daylight." + +Daylight at last! A shaft of mellow light fell almost at their feet as +Trot and the sailor turned the corner of the passage, but it came from +above, and raising their eyes they found they were at the bottom of a +deep, rocky well, with the top far, far above their heads. And here the +passage ended. + +For a while they gazed in silence, at least two of them being filled +with dismay at the sight. But the Ork merely whistled softly and said +cheerfully: + +"That was the toughest journey I ever had the misfortune to undertake, +and I'm glad it's over. Yet, unless I can manage to fly to the top of +this pit, we are entombed here forever." + +"Do you think there is room enough for you to fly in?" asked the little +girl anxiously; and Cap'n Bill added: + +"It's a straight-up shaft, so I don't see how you'll ever manage it." + +"Were I an ordinary bird--one of those horrid feathered things--I +wouldn't even make the attempt to fly out," said the Ork. "But my +mechanical propeller tail can accomplish wonders, and whenever you're +ready I'll show you a trick that is worth while." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Trot; "do you intend to take us up, too?" + +"Why not?" + +"I thought," said Cap'n Bill, "as you'd go first, an' then send +somebody to help us by lettin' down a rope." + +"Ropes are dangerous," replied the Ork, "and I might not be able to +find one to reach all this distance. Besides, it stands to reason that +if I can get out myself I can also carry you two with me." + +"Well, I'm not afraid," said Trot, who longed to be on the earth's +surface again. + +"S'pose we fall?" suggested Cap'n Bill, doubtfully. + +"Why, in that case we would all fall together," returned the Ork. "Get +aboard, little girl; sit across my shoulders and put both your arms +around my neck." + +Trot obeyed and when she was seated on the Ork, Cap'n Bill inquired: + +"How 'bout me, Mr. Ork?" + +"Why, I think you'd best grab hold of my rear legs and let me carry you +up in that manner," was the reply. + +Cap'n Bill looked way up at the top of the well, and then he looked at +the Ork's slender, skinny legs and heaved a deep sigh. + +"It's goin' to be some dangle, I guess; but if you don't waste too much +time on the way up, I may be able to hang on," said he. + +"All ready, then!" cried the Ork, and at once his whirling tail began +to revolve. Trot felt herself rising into the air; when the creature's +legs left the ground Cap'n Bill grasped two of them firmly and held on +for dear life. The Ork's body was tipped straight upward, and Trot had +to embrace the neck very tightly to keep from sliding off. Even in this +position the Ork had trouble in escaping the rough sides of the well. +Several times it exclaimed "Wow!" as it bumped its back, or a wing hit +against some jagged projection; but the tail kept whirling with +remarkable swiftness and the daylight grew brighter and brighter. It +was, indeed, a long journey from the bottom to the top, yet almost +before Trot realized they had come so far, they popped out of the hole +into the clear air and sunshine and a moment later the Ork alighted +gently upon the ground. + +The release was so sudden that even with the creature's care for its +passengers Cap'n Bill struck the earth with a shock that sent him +rolling heel over head; but by the time Trot had slid down from her +seat the old sailor-man was sitting up and looking around him with much +satisfaction. + +"It's sort o' pretty here," said he. + +"Earth is a beautiful place!" cried Trot. + +"I wonder where on earth we are?" pondered the Ork, turning first one +bright eye and then the other to this side and that. Trees there were, +in plenty, and shrubs and flowers and green turf. But there were no +houses; there were no paths; there was no sign of civilization whatever. + +"Just before I settled down on the ground I thought I caught a view of +the ocean," said the Ork. "Let's see if I was right." Then he flew to a +little hill, near by, and Trot and Cap'n Bill followed him more slowly. +When they stood on the top of the hill they could see the blue waves of +the ocean in front of them, to the right of them, and at the left of +them. Behind the hill was a forest that shut out the view. + +"I hope it ain't an island, Trot," said Cap'n Bill gravely. + +"If it is, I s'pose we're prisoners," she replied. + +"Ezzackly so, Trot." + +"But, 'even so, it's better than those terr'ble underground tunnels and +caverns," declared the girl. + +"You are right, little one," agreed the Ork. "Anything above ground is +better than the best that lies under ground. So let's not quarrel with +our fate but be thankful we've escaped." + +"We are, indeed!" she replied. "But I wonder if we can find something +to eat in this place?" + +"Let's explore an' find out," proposed Cap'n Bill. "Those trees over at +the left look like cherry-trees." + +On the way to them the explorers had to walk through a tangle of vines +and Cap'n Bill, who went first, stumbled and pitched forward on his +face. + +"Why, it's a melon!" cried Trot delightedly, as she saw what had caused +the sailor to fall. + +Cap'n Bill rose to his foot, for he was not at all hurt, and examined +the melon. Then he took his big jackknife from his pocket and cut the +melon open. It was quite ripe and looked delicious; but the old man +tasted it before he permitted Trot to eat any. Deciding it was good he +gave her a big slice and then offered the Ork some. The creature looked +at the fruit somewhat disdainfully, at first, but once he had tasted +its flavor he ate of it as heartily as did the others. Among the vines +they discovered many other melons, and Trot said gratefully: "Well, +there's no danger of our starving, even if this is an island." + +"Melons," remarked Cap'n Bill, "are both food an' water. We couldn't +have struck anything better." + +Farther on they came to the cherry trees, where they obtained some of +the fruit, and at the edge of the little forest were wild plums. The +forest itself consisted entirely of nut trees--walnuts, filberts, +almonds and chestnuts--so there would be plenty of wholesome food for +them while they remained there. + +Cap'n Bill and Trot decided to walk through the forest, to discover +what was on the other side of it, but the Ork's feet were still so sore +and "lumpy" from walking on the rocks that the creature said he +preferred to fly over the tree-tops and meet them on the other side. +The forest was not large, so by walking briskly for fifteen minutes +they reached its farthest edge and saw before them the shore of the +ocean. + +"It's an island, all right," said Trot, with a sigh. + +"Yes, and a pretty island, too," said Cap'n Bill, trying to conceal his +disappointment on Trot's account. "I guess, partner, if the wuss comes +to the wuss, I could build a raft--or even a boat--from those trees, +so's we could sail away in it." + +The little girl brightened at this suggestion. "I don't see the Ork +anywhere," she remarked, looking around. Then her eyes lighted upon +something and she exclaimed: "Oh, Cap'n Bill! Isn't that a house, over +there to the left?" + +Cap'n Bill, looking closely, saw a shed-like structure built at one +edge of the forest. + +"Seems like it, Trot. Not that I'd call it much of a house, but it's a +buildin', all right. Let's go over an' see if it's occypied." + + + + +Chapter Five + +The Little Old Man of the Island + + +A few steps brought them to the shed, which was merely a roof of boughs +built over a square space, with some branches of trees fastened to the +sides to keep off the wind. The front was quite open and faced the sea, +and as our friends came nearer they observed a little man, with a long +pointed beard, sitting motionless on a stool and staring thoughtfully +out over the water. + +"Get out of the way, please," he called in a fretful voice. "Can't you +see you are obstructing my view?" + +"Good morning," said Cap'n Bill, politely. + +"It isn't a good morning!" snapped the little man. "I've seen plenty of +mornings better than this. Do you call it a good morning when I'm +pestered with such a crowd as you?" + +Trot was astonished to hear such words from a stranger whom they had +greeted quite properly, and Cap'n Bill grew red at the little man's +rudeness. But the sailor said, in a quiet tone of voice: + +"Are you the only one as lives on this 'ere island?" + +"Your grammar's bad," was the reply. "But this is my own exclusive +island, and I'll thank you to get off it as soon as possible." + +"We'd like to do that," said Trot, and then she and Cap'n Bill turned +away and walked down to the shore, to see if any other land was in +sight. + +The little man rose and followed them, although both were now too +provoked to pay any attention to him. + +"Nothin' in sight, partner," reported Cap'n Bill, shading his eyes with +his hand; "so we'll have to stay here for a time, anyhow. It isn't a +bad place, Trot, by any means." + +"That's all you know about it!" broke in the little man. "The trees are +altogether too green and the rocks are harder than they ought to be. I +find the sand very grainy and the water dreadfully wet. Every breeze +makes a draught and the sun shines in the daytime, when there's no need +of it, and disappears just as soon as it begins to get dark. If you +remain here you'll find the island very unsatisfactory." + +Trot turned to look at him, and her sweet face was grave and curious. + +"I wonder who you are," she said. + +"My name is Pessim," said he, with an air of pride. "I'm called the +Observer." + +"Oh. What do you observe?" asked the little girl. + +"Everything I see," was the reply, in a more surly tone. Then Pessim +drew back with a startled exclamation and looked at some footprints in +the sand. "Why, good gracious me!" he cried in distress. + +"What's the matter now?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +"Someone has pushed the earth in! Don't you see it? + +"It isn't pushed in far enough to hurt anything," said Trot, examining +the footprints. + +"Everything hurts that isn't right," insisted the man. "If the earth +were pushed in a mile, it would be a great calamity, wouldn't it?" + +"I s'pose so," admitted the little girl. + +"Well, here it is pushed in a full inch! That's a twelfth of a foot, +or a little more than a millionth part of a mile. Therefore it is +one-millionth part of a calamity--Oh, dear! How dreadful!" said Pessim +in a wailing voice. + +"Try to forget it, sir," advised Cap'n Bill, soothingly. "It's +beginning to rain. Let's get under your shed and keep dry." + +"Raining! Is it really raining?" asked Pessim, beginning to weep. + +"It is," answered Cap'n Bill, as the drops began to descend, "and I +don't see any way to stop it--although I'm some observer myself." + +"No; we can't stop it, I fear," said the man. "Are you very busy just +now?" + +"I won't be after I get to the shed," replied the sailor-man. + +"Then do me a favor, please," begged Pessim, walking briskly along +behind them, for they were hastening to the shed. + +"Depends on what it is," said Cap'n Bill. + +"I wish you would take my umbrella down to the shore and hold it over +the poor fishes till it stops raining. I'm afraid they'll get wet," +said Pessim. + +Trot laughed, but Cap'n Bill thought the little man was poking fun at +him and so he scowled upon Pessim in a way that showed he was angry. + +They reached the shed before getting very wet, although the rain was +now coming down in big drops. The roof of the shed protected them and +while they stood watching the rainstorm something buzzed in and circled +around Pessim's head. At once the Observer began beating it away with +his hands, crying out: + +"A bumblebee! A bumblebee! The queerest bumblebee I ever saw!" + +Cap'n Bill and Trot both looked at it and the little girl said in +surprise: + +"Dear me! It's a wee little Ork!" + +"That's what it is, sure enough," exclaimed Cap'n Bill. + +Really, it wasn't much bigger than a big bumblebee, and when it came +toward Trot she allowed it to alight on her shoulder. + +"It's me, all right," said a very small voice in her ear; "but I'm in +an awful pickle, just the same!" + +"What, are you our Ork, then?" demanded the girl, much amazed. + +"No, I'm my own Ork. But I'm the only Ork you know," replied the tiny +creature. + +"What's happened to you?" asked the sailor, putting his head close to +Trot's shoulder in order to hear the reply better. Pessim also put his +head close, and the Ork said: + +"You will remember that when I left you I started to fly over the +trees, and just as I got to this side of the forest I saw a bush that +was loaded down with the most luscious fruit you can imagine. The +fruit was about the size of a gooseberry and of a lovely lavender +color. So I swooped down and picked off one in my bill and ate it. At +once I began to grow small. I could feel myself shrinking, shrinking +away, and it frightened me terribly, so that I lighted on the ground to +think over what was happening. In a few seconds I had shrunk to the +size you now see me; but there I remained, getting no smaller, indeed, +but no larger. It is certainly a dreadful affliction! After I had +recovered somewhat from the shock I began to search for you. It is not +so easy to find one's way when a creature is so small, but fortunately +I spied you here in this shed and came to you at once." + +Cap'n Bill and Trot were much astonished at this story and felt grieved +for the poor Ork, but the little man Pessim seemed to think it a good +joke. He began laughing when he heard the story and laughed until he +choked, after which he lay down on the ground and rolled and laughed +again, while the tears of merriment coursed down his wrinkled cheeks. + +"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" he finally gasped, sitting up and wiping his +eyes. "This is too rich! It's almost too joyful to be true." + +"I don't see anything funny about it," remarked Trot indignantly. + +"You would if you'd had my experience," said Pessim, getting upon his +feet and gradually resuming his solemn and dissatisfied expression of +countenance. "The same thing happened to me." + +"Oh, did it? And how did you happen to come to this island?" asked the +girl. + +"I didn't come; the neighbors brought me," replied the little man, with +a frown at the recollection. "They said I was quarrelsome and +fault-finding and blamed me because I told them all the things that +went wrong, or never were right, and because I told them how things +ought to be. So they brought me here and left me all alone, saying that +if I quarreled with myself, no one else would be made unhappy. Absurd, +wasn't it?" + +"Seems to me," said Cap'n Bill, "those neighbors did the proper thing." + +"Well," resumed Pessim, "when I found myself King of this island I was +obliged to live upon fruits, and I found many fruits growing here that +I had never seen before. I tasted several and found them good and +wholesome. But one day I ate a lavender berry--as the Ork did--and +immediately I grew so small that I was scarcely two inches high. It was +a very unpleasant condition and like the Ork I became frightened. I +could not walk very well nor very far, for every lump of earth in my +way seemed a mountain, every blade of grass a tree and every grain of +sand a rocky boulder. For several days I stumbled around in an agony of +fear. Once a tree toad nearly gobbled me up, and if I ran out from the +shelter of the bushes the gulls and cormorants swooped down upon me. +Finally I decided to eat another berry and become nothing at all, since +life, to one as small as I was, had become a dreary nightmare. + +"At last I found a small tree that I thought bore the same fruit as +that I had eaten. The berry was dark purple instead of light lavender, +but otherwise it was quite similar. Being unable to climb the tree, I +was obliged to wait underneath it until a sharp breeze arose and shook +the limbs so that a berry fell. Instantly I seized it and taking a last +view of the world--as I then thought--I ate the berry in a twinkling. +Then, to my surprise, I began to grow big again, until I became of my +former stature, and so I have since remained. Needless to say, I have +never eaten again of the lavender fruit, nor do any of the beasts or +birds that live upon this island eat it." + +They had all three listened eagerly to this amazing tale, and when it +was finished the Ork exclaimed: + +"Do you think, then, that the deep purple berry is the antidote for the +lavender one?" + +"I'm sure of it," answered Pessim. + +"Then lead me to the tree at once!" begged the Ork, "for this tiny form +I now have terrifies me greatly." + +Pessim examined the Ork closely + +"You are ugly enough as you are," said he. "Were you any larger you +might be dangerous." + +"Oh, no," Trot assured him; "the Ork has been our good friend. Please +take us to the tree." + +Then Pessim consented, although rather reluctantly. He led them to the +right, which was the east side of the island, and in a few minutes +brought them near to the edge of the grove which faced the shore of the +ocean. Here stood a small tree bearing berries of a deep purple color. +The fruit looked very enticing and Cap'n Bill reached up and selected +one that seemed especially plump and ripe. + +The Ork had remained perched upon Trot's shoulder but now it flew down +to the ground. It was so difficult for Cap'n Bill to kneel down, with +his wooden leg, that the little girl took the berry from him and held +it close to the Ork's head. + +"It's too big to go into my mouth," said the little creature, looking +at the fruit sidewise. + +"You'll have to make sev'ral mouthfuls of it, I guess," said Trot; and +that is what the Ork did. He pecked at the soft, ripe fruit with his +bill and ate it up very quickly, because it was good. + +Even before he had finished the berry they could see the Ork begin to +grow. In a few minutes he had regained his natural size and was +strutting before them, quite delighted with his transformation. + +"Well, well! What do you think of me now?" he asked proudly. + +"You are very skinny and remarkably ugly," declared Pessim. + +"You are a poor judge of Orks," was the reply. "Anyone can see that I'm +much handsomer than those dreadful things called birds, which are all +fluff and feathers." + +"Their feathers make soft beds," asserted Pessim. "And my skin would +make excellent drumheads," retorted the Ork. "Nevertheless, a plucked +bird or a skinned Ork would be of no value to himself, so we needn't +brag of our usefulness after we are dead. But for the sake of argument, +friend Pessim, I'd like to know what good you would be, were you not +alive?" + +"Never mind that," said Cap'n Bill. "He isn't much good as he is." + +"I am King of this Island, allow me to say, and you're intruding on my +property," declared the little man, scowling upon them. "If you don't +like me--and I'm sure you don't, for no one else does--why don't you go +away and leave me to myself?" + +"Well, the Ork can fly, but we can't," explained Trot, in answer. "We +don't want to stay here a bit, but I don't see how we can get away." + +"You can go back into the hole you came from." + +Cap'n Bill shook his head; Trot shuddered at the thought; the Ork +laughed aloud. + +"You may be King here," the creature said to Pessim, "but we intend to +run this island to suit ourselves, for we are three and you are one, +and the balance of power lies with us." + +The little man made no reply to this, although as they walked back to +the shed his face wore its fiercest scowl. Cap'n Bill gathered a lot of +leaves and, assisted by Trot, prepared two nice beds in opposite +corners of the shed. Pessim slept in a hammock which he swung between +two trees. + +They required no dishes, as all their food consisted of fruits and nuts +picked from the trees; they made no fire, for the weather was warm and +there was nothing to cook; the shed had no furniture other than the +rude stool which the little man was accustomed to sit upon. He called +it his "throne" and they let him keep it. + +So they lived upon the island for three days, and rested and ate to +their hearts' content. Still, they were not at all happy in this life +because of Pessim. He continually found fault with them, and all that +they did, and all their surroundings. He could see nothing good or +admirable in all the world and Trot soon came to understand why the +little man's former neighbors had brought him to this island and left +him there, all alone, so he could not annoy anyone. It was their +misfortune that they had been led to this place by their adventures, +for often they would have preferred the company of a wild beast to that +of Pessim. + +On the fourth day a happy thought came to the Ork. They had all been +racking their brains for a possible way to leave the island, and +discussing this or that method, without finding a plan that was +practical. Cap'n Bill had said he could make a raft of the trees, big +enough to float them all, but he had no tools except those two +pocketknives and it was not possible to chop down tree with such small +blades. + +"And s'pose we got afloat on the ocean," said Trot, "where would we +drift to, and how long would it take us to get there?" + +Cap'n Bill was forced to admit he didn't know. The Ork could fly away +from the island any time it wished to, but the queer creature was loyal +to his new friends and refused to leave them in such a lonely, forsaken +place. + +It was when Trot urged him to go, on this fourth morning, that the Ork +had his happy thought. + +"I will go," said he, "if you two will agree to ride upon my back." + +"We are too heavy; you might drop us," objected Cap'n Bill. + +"Yes, you are rather heavy for a long journey," acknowledged the Ork, +"but you might eat of those lavender berries and become so small that I +could carry you with ease." + +This quaint suggestion startled Trot and she looked gravely at the +speaker while she considered it, but Cap'n Bill gave a scornful snort +and asked: + +"What would become of us afterward? We wouldn't be much good if we were +some two or three inches high. No, Mr. Ork, I'd rather stay here, as I +am, than be a hop-o'-my-thumb somewhere else." + +"Why couldn't you take some of the dark purple berries along with you, +to eat after we had reached our destination?" inquired the Ork. "Then +you could grow big again whenever you pleased." + +Trot clapped her hands with delight. + +"That's it!" she exclaimed. "Let's do it, Cap'n Bill." + +The old sailor did not like the idea at first, but he thought it over +carefully and the more he thought the better it seemed. + +"How could you manage to carry us, if we were so small?" he asked. + +"I could put you in a paper bag, and tie the bag around my neck." + +"But we haven't a paper bag," objected Trot. + +The Ork looked at her. + +"There's your sunbonnet," it said presently, "which is hollow in the +middle and has two strings that you could tie around my neck." + +Trot took off her sunbonnet and regarded it critically. Yes, it might +easily hold both her and Cap'n Bill, after they had eaten the lavender +berries and been reduced in size. She tied the strings around the Ork's +neck and the sunbonnet made a bag in which two tiny people might ride +without danger of falling out. So she said: + +"I b'lieve we'll do it that way, Cap'n." + +Cap'n Bill groaned but could make no logical objection except that the +plan seemed to him quite dangerous--and dangerous in more ways than one. + +"I think so, myself," said Trot soberly. "But nobody can stay alive +without getting into danger sometimes, and danger doesn't mean getting +hurt, Cap'n; it only means we might get hurt. So I guess we'll have to +take the risk." + +"Let's go and find the berries," said the Ork. + +They said nothing to Pessim, who was sitting on his stool and scowling +dismally as he stared at the ocean, but started at once to seek the +trees that bore the magic fruits. The Ork remembered very well where +the lavender berries grew and led his companions quickly to the spot. + +Cap'n Bill gathered two berries and placed them carefully in his +pocket. Then they went around to the east side of the island and found +the tree that bore the dark purple berries. + +"I guess I'll take four of these," said the sailor-man, "so in case one +doesn't make us grow big we can eat another." + +"Better take six," advised the Ork. "It's well to be on the safe side, +and I'm sure these trees grow nowhere else in all the world." + +So Cap'n Bill gathered six of the purple berries and with their +precious fruit they returned to the shed to big good-bye to Pessim. +Perhaps they would not have granted the surly little man this courtesy +had they not wished to use him to tie the sunbonnet around the Ork's +neck. + +When Pessim learned they were about to leave him he at first looked +greatly pleased, but he suddenly recollected that nothing ought to +please him and so began to grumble about being left alone. + +"We knew it wouldn't suit you," remarked Cap'n Bill. "It didn't suit +you to have us here, and it won't suit you to have us go away." + +"That is quite true," admitted Pessim. "I haven't been suited since I +can remember; so it doesn't matter to me in the least whether you go or +stay." + +He was interested in their experiment, however, and willingly agreed to +assist, although he prophesied they would fall out of the sunbonnet on +their way and be either drowned in the ocean or crushed upon some rocky +shore. This uncheerful prospect did not daunt Trot, but it made Cap'n +Bill quite nervous. + +"I will eat my berry first," said Trot, as she placed her sunbonnet on +the ground, in such manner that they could get into it. + +Then she ate the lavender berry and in a few seconds became so small +that Cap'n Bill picked her up gently with his thumb and one finger and +placed her in the middle of the sunbonnet. Then he placed beside her +the six purple berries--each one being about as big as the tiny Trot's +head--and all preparations being now made the old sailor ate his +lavender berry and became very small--wooden leg and all! + +Cap'n Bill stumbled sadly in trying to climb over the edge of the +sunbonnet and pitched in beside Trot headfirst, which caused the +unhappy Pessim to laugh with glee. Then the King of the Island picked +up the sunbonnet--so rudely that he shook its occupants like peas in a +pod--and tied it, by means of its strings, securely around the Ork's +neck. + +"I hope, Trot, you sewed those strings on tight," said Cap'n Bill +anxiously. + +"Why, we are not very heavy, you know," she replied, "so I think the +stitches will hold. But be careful and not crush the berries, Cap'n." + +"One is jammed already," he said, looking at them. + +"All ready?" asked the Ork. + +"Yes!" they cried together, and Pessim came close to the sunbonnet and +called out to them: "You'll be smashed or drowned, I'm sure you will! +But farewell, and good riddance to you." + +The Ork was provoked by this unkind speech, so he turned his tail +toward the little man and made it revolve so fast that the rush of air +tumbled Pessim over backward and he rolled several times upon the +ground before he could stop himself and sit up. By that time the Ork +was high in the air and speeding swiftly over the ocean. + + + + +Chapter Six + +The Flight of the Midgets + + +Cap'n Bill and Trot rode very comfortably in the sunbonnet. The motion +was quite steady, for they weighed so little that the Ork flew without +effort. Yet they were both somewhat nervous about their future fate and +could not help wishing they were safe on land and their natural size +again. + +"You're terr'ble small, Trot," remarked Cap'n Bill, looking at his +companion. + +"Same to you, Cap'n," she said with a laugh; "but as long as we have +the purple berries we needn't worry about our size." + +"In a circus," mused the old man, "we'd be curiosities. But in a +sunbonnet--high up in the air--sailin' over a big, unknown ocean--they +ain't no word in any booktionary to describe us." + +"Why, we're midgets, that's all," said the little girl. The Ork flew +silently for a long time. The slight swaying of the sunbonnet made +Cap'n Bill drowsy, and he began to doze. Trot, however, was wide awake, +and after enduring the monotonous journey as long as she was able she +called out: + +"Don't you see land anywhere, Mr. Ork?" + +"Not yet," he answered. "This is a big ocean and I've no idea in which +direction the nearest land to that island lies; but if I keep flying in +a straight line I'm sure to reach some place some time." + +That seemed reasonable, so the little people in the sunbonnet remained +as patient as possible; that is, Cap'n Bill dozed and Trot tried to +remember her geography lessons so she could figure out what land they +were likely to arrive at. + +For hours and hours the Ork flew steadily, keeping to the straight line +and searching with his eyes the horizon of the ocean for land. Cap'n +Bill was fast asleep and snoring and Trot had laid her head on his +shoulder to rest it when suddenly the Ork exclaimed: + +"There! I've caught a glimpse of land, at last." + +At this announcement they roused themselves. Cap'n Bill stood up and +tried to peek over the edge of the sunbonnet. + +"What does it look like?" he inquired. + +"Looks like another island," said the Ork; "but I can judge it better +in a minute or two." + +"I don't care much for islands, since we visited that other one," +declared Trot. + +Soon the Ork made another announcement. + +"It is surely an island, and a little one, too," said he. "But I won't +stop, because I see a much bigger land straight ahead of it." + +"That's right," approved Cap'n Bill. "The bigger the land, the better +it will suit us." + +"It's almost a continent," continued the Ork after a brief silence, +during which he did not decrease the speed of his flight. "I wonder if +it can be Orkland, the place I have been seeking so long?" + +"I hope not," whispered Trot to Cap'n Bill--so softly that the Ork +could not hear her--"for I shouldn't like to be in a country where only +Orks live. This one Ork isn't a bad companion, but a lot of him +wouldn't be much fun." + +After a few more minutes of flying the Ork called out in a sad voice: + +"No! this is not my country. It's a place I have never seen before, +although I have wandered far and wide. It seems to be all mountains and +deserts and green valleys and queer cities and lakes and rivers--mixed +up in a very puzzling way." + +"Most countries are like that," commented Cap'n Bill. "Are you going to +land?" + +"Pretty soon," was the reply. "There is a mountain peak just ahead of +me. What do you say to our landing on that?" + +"All right," agreed the sailor-man, for both he and Trot were getting +tired of riding in the sunbonnet and longed to set foot on solid ground +again. + +So in a few minutes the Ork slowed down his speed and then came to a +stop so easily that they were scarcely jarred at all. Then the creature +squatted down until the sunbonnet rested on the ground, and began +trying to unfasten with its claws the knotted strings. + +This proved a very clumsy task, because the strings were tied at the +back of the Ork's neck, just where his claws would not easily reach. +After much fumbling he said: + +"I'm afraid I can't let you out, and there is no one near to help me." + +This was at first discouraging, but after a little thought Cap'n Bill +said: + +"If you don't mind, Trot, I can cut a slit in your sunbonnet with my +knife." + +"Do," she replied. "The slit won't matter, 'cause I can sew it up again +afterward, when I am big." + +So Cap'n Bill got out his knife, which was just as small, in +proportion, as he was, and after considerable trouble managed to cut a +long slit in the sunbonnet. First he squeezed through the opening +himself and then helped Trot to get out. + +When they stood on firm ground again their first act was to begin +eating the dark purple berries which they had brought with them. Two of +these Trot had guarded carefully during the long journey, by holding +them in her lap, for their safety meant much to the tiny people. + +"I'm not very hungry," said the little girl as she handed a berry to +Cap'n Bill, "but hunger doesn't count, in this case. It's like taking +medicine to make you well, so we must manage to eat 'em, somehow or +other." + +But the berries proved quite pleasant to taste and as Cap'n Bill and +Trot nibbled at their edges their forms began to grow in size--slowly +but steadily. The bigger they grew the easier it was for them to eat +the berries, which of course became smaller to them, and by the time +the fruit was eaten our friends had regained their natural size. + +The little girl was greatly relieved when she found herself as large as +she had ever been, and Cap'n Bill shared her satisfaction; for, +although they had seen the effect of the berries on the Ork, they had +not been sure the magic fruit would have the same effect on human +beings, or that the magic would work in any other country than that in +which the berries grew. + +"What shall we do with the other four berries?" asked Trot, as she +picked up her sunbonnet, marveling that she had ever been small enough +to ride in it. "They're no good to us now, are they, Cap'n?" + +"I'm not sure as to that," he replied. "If they were eaten by one who +had never eaten the lavender berries, they might have no effect at all; +but then, contrarywise, they might. One of 'em has got badly jammed, so +I'll throw it away, but the other three I b'lieve I'll carry with me. +They're magic things, you know, and may come handy to us some time." + +He now searched in his big pockets and drew out a small wooden box with +a sliding cover. The sailor had kept an assortment of nails, of +various sizes, in this box, but those he now dumped loosely into his +pocket and in the box placed the three sound purple berries. + +When this important matter was attended to they found time to look +about them and see what sort of place the Ork had landed them in. + + + + +Chapter Seven + +The Bumpy Man + + +The mountain on which they had alighted was not a barren waste, but had +on its sides patches of green grass, some bushes, a few slender trees +and here and there masses of tumbled rocks. The sides of the slope +seemed rather steep, but with care one could climb up or down them with +ease and safety. The view from where they now stood showed pleasant +valleys and fertile hills lying below the heights. Trot thought she saw +some houses of queer shapes scattered about the lower landscape, and +there were moving dots that might be people or animals, yet were too +far away for her to see them clearly. + +Not far from the place where they stood was the top of the mountain, +which seemed to be flat, so the Ork proposed to his companions that he +would fly up and see what was there. + +"That's a good idea," said Trot, "'cause it's getting toward evening +and we'll have to find a place to sleep." + +The Ork had not been gone more than a few minutes when they saw him +appear on the edge of the top which was nearest them. + +"Come on up!" he called. + +So Trot and Cap'n Bill began to ascend the steep slope and it did not +take them long to reach the place where the Ork awaited them. + +Their first view of the mountain top pleased them very much. It was a +level space of wider extent than they had guessed and upon it grew +grass of a brilliant green color. In the very center stood a house +built of stone and very neatly constructed. No one was in sight, but +smoke was coming from the chimney, so with one accord all three began +walking toward the house. + +"I wonder," said Trot, "in what country we are, and if it's very far +from my home in California." + +"Can't say as to that, partner," answered Cap'n Bill, "but I'm mighty +certain we've come a long way since we struck that whirlpool." + +"Yes," she agreed, with a sigh, "it must be miles and miles!" + +"Distance means nothing," said the Ork. "I have flown pretty much all +over the world, trying to find my home, and it is astonishing how many +little countries there are, hidden away in the cracks and corners of +this big globe of Earth. If one travels, he may find some new country +at every turn, and a good many of them have never yet been put upon the +maps." + +"P'raps this is one of them," suggested Trot. + +They reached the house after a brisk walk and Cap'n Bill knocked upon +the door. It was at once opened by a rugged looking man who had "bumps +all over him," as Trot afterward declared. There were bumps on his +head, bumps on his body and bumps on his arms and legs and hands. Even +his fingers had bumps on the ends of them. For dress he wore an old +gray suit of fantastic design, which fitted him very badly because of +the bumps it covered but could not conceal. + +But the Bumpy Man's eyes were kind and twinkling in expression and as +soon as he saw his visitors he bowed low and said in a rather bumpy +voice: + +"Happy day! Come in and shut the door, for it grows cool when the sun +goes down. Winter is now upon us." + +"Why, it isn't cold a bit, outside," said Trot, "so it can't be winter +yet." + +"You will change your mind about that in a little while," declared the +Bumpy Man. "My bumps always tell me the state of the weather, and they +feel just now as if a snowstorm was coming this way. But make +yourselves at home, strangers. Supper is nearly ready and there is food +enough for all." + +Inside the house there was but one large room, simply but comfortably +furnished. It had benches, a table and a fireplace, all made of stone. +On the hearth a pot was bubbling and steaming, and Trot thought it had +a rather nice smell. The visitors seated themselves upon the +benches--except the Ork. which squatted by the fireplace--and the Bumpy +Man began stirring the kettle briskly. + +"May I ask what country this is, sir?" inquired Cap'n Bill. + +"Goodness me--fruit-cake and apple-sauce!--don't you know where you +are?" asked the Bumpy Man, as he stopped stirring and looked at the +speaker in surprise. + +"No," admitted Cap'n Bill. "We've just arrived." + +"Lost your way?" questioned the Bumpy Man. + +"Not exactly," said Cap'n Bill. "We didn't have any way to lose." + +"Ah!" said the Bumpy Man, nodding his bumpy head. "This," he announced, +in a solemn, impressive voice, "is the famous Land of Mo." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the sailor and the girl, both in one breath. But, never +having heard of the Land of Mo, they were no wiser than before. + +"I thought that would startle you," remarked the Bumpy Man, well +pleased, as he resumed his stirring. The Ork watched him a while in +silence and then asked: + +"Who may you be?" + +"Me?" answered the Bumpy Man. "Haven't you heard of me? Gingerbread and +lemon-juice! I'm known, far and wide, as the Mountain Ear." + +They all received this information in silence at first, for they were +trying to think what he could mean. Finally Trot mustered up courage to +ask: + +"What is a Mountain Ear, please?" + +For answer the man turned around and faced them, waving the spoon with +which he had been stirring the kettle, as he recited the following +verses in a singsong tone of voice: + + "Here's a mountain, hard of hearing, + That's sad-hearted and needs cheering, + So my duty is to listen to all sounds that Nature makes, + So the hill won't get uneasy-- + Get to coughing, or get sneezy-- + For this monster bump, when frightened, is quite liable to quakes. + + "You can hear a bell that's ringing; + I can feel some people's singing; + But a mountain isn't sensible of what goes on, and so + When I hear a blizzard blowing + Or it's raining hard, or snowing, + I tell it to the mountain and the mountain seems to know. + + "Thus I benefit all people + While I'm living on this steeple, + For I keep the mountain steady so my neighbors all may thrive. + With my list'ning and my shouting + I prevent this mount from spouting, + And that makes me so important that I'm glad that I'm alive." + + +When he had finished these lines of verse the Bumpy Man turned again to +resume his stirring. The Ork laughed softly and Cap'n Bill whistled to +himself and Trot made up her mind that the Mountain Ear must be a +little crazy. But the Bumpy Man seemed satisfied that he had explained +his position fully and presently he placed four stone plates upon the +table and then lifted the kettle from the fire and poured some of its +contents on each of the plates. Cap'n Bill and Trot at once approached +the table, for they were hungry, but when she examined her plate the +little girl exclaimed: + +"Why, it's molasses candy!" + +"To be sure," returned the Bumpy Man, with a pleasant smile. "Eat it +quick, while it's hot, for it cools very quickly this winter weather." + +With this he seized a stone spoon and began putting the hot molasses +candy into his mouth, while the others watched him in astonishment. + +"Doesn't it burn you?" asked the girl. + +"No indeed," said he. "Why don't you eat? Aren't you hungry?" + +"Yes," she replied, "I am hungry. But we usually eat our candy when it +is cold and hard. We always pull molasses candy before we eat it." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the Mountain Ear. "What a funny idea! Where in +the world did you come from?" + +"California," she said. + +"California! Pooh! there isn't any such place. I've heard of every +place in the Land of Mo, but I never before heard of California." + +"It isn't in the Land of Mo," she explained. + +"Then it isn't worth talking about," declared the Bumpy Man, helping +himself again from the steaming kettle, for he had been eating all the +time he talked. + +"For my part," sighed Cap'n Bill, "I'd like a decent square meal, once +more, just by way of variety. In the last place there was nothing but +fruit to eat, and here it's worse, for there's nothing but candy." + +"Molasses candy isn't so bad," said Trot. "Mine's nearly cool enough to +pull, already. Wait a bit, Cap'n, and you can eat it." + +A little later she was able to gather the candy from the stone plate +and begin to work it back and forth with her hands. The Mountain Ear +was greatly amazed at this and watched her closely. It was really good +candy and pulled beautifully, so that Trot was soon ready to cut it +into chunks for eating. + +Cap'n Bill condescended to eat one or two pieces and the Ork ate +several, but the Bumpy Man refused to try it. Trot finished the plate +of candy herself and then asked for a drink of water. + +"Water?" said the Mountain Ear wonderingly. "What is that?" + +"Something to drink. Don't you have water in Mo?" + +"None that ever I heard of," said he. "But I can give you some fresh +lemonade. I caught it in a jar the last time it rained, which was only +day before yesterday." + +"Oh, does it rain lemonade here?" she inquired. + +"Always; and it is very refreshing and healthful." + +With this he brought from a cupboard a stone jar and a dipper, and the +girl found it very nice lemonade, indeed. Cap'n Bill liked it, too; but +the Ork would not touch it. + +"If there is no water in this country, I cannot stay here for long," +the creature declared. "Water means life to man and beast and bird." + +"There must be water in lemonade," said Trot. + +"Yes," answered the Ork, "I suppose so; but there are other things in +it, too, and they spoil the good water." + +The day's adventures had made our wanderers tired, so the Bumpy Man +brought them some blankets in which they rolled themselves and then lay +down before the fire, which their host kept alive with fuel all through +the night. Trot wakened several times and found the Mountain Ear always +alert and listening intently for the slightest sound. But the little +girl could hear no sound at all except the snores of Cap'n Bill. + + + + +Chapter Eight + +Button-Bright is Lost and Found Again + + +"Wake up--wake up!" called the voice of the Bumpy Man. "Didn't I tell +you winter was coming? I could hear it coming with my left ear, and the +proof is that it is now snowing hard outside." + +"Is it?" said Trot, rubbing her eyes and creeping out of her blanket. +"Where I live, in California, I have never seen snow, except far away +on the tops of high mountains." + +"Well, this is the top of a high mountain," returned the bumpy one, +"and for that reason we get our heaviest snowfalls right here." + +The little girl went to the window and looked out. The air was filled +with falling white flakes, so large in size and so queer in form that +she was puzzled. + +"Are you certain this is snow?" she asked. + +"To be sure. I must get my snow-shovel and turn out to shovel a path. +Would you like to come with me?" + +"Yes," she said, and followed the Bumpy Man out when he opened the +door. Then she exclaimed: "Why, it isn't cold a bit!" + +"Of course not," replied the man. "It was cold last night, before the +snowstorm; but snow, when it falls, is always crisp and warm." + +Trot gathered a handful of it. + +"Why, it's popcorn?" she cried. + +"Certainly; all snow is popcorn. What did you expect it to be?" + +"Popcorn is not snow in my country." + +"Well, it is the only snow we have in the Land of Mo, so you may as +well make the best of it," said he, a little impatiently. "I'm not +responsible for the absurd things that happen in your country, and when +you're in Mo you must do as the Momen do. Eat some of our snow, and you +will find it is good. The only fault I find with our snow is that we +get too much of it at times." + +With this the Bumpy Man set to work shoveling a path and he was so +quick and industrious that he piled up the popcorn in great banks on +either side of the trail that led to the mountain-top from the plains +below. While he worked, Trot ate popcorn and found it crisp and +slightly warm, as well as nicely salted and buttered. Presently Cap'n +Bill came out of the house and joined her. + +"What's this?" he asked. + +"Mo snow," said she. "But it isn't real snow, although it falls from +the sky. It's popcorn." + +Cap'n Bill tasted it; then he sat down in the path and began to eat. +The Ork came out and pecked away with its bill as fast as it could. +They all liked popcorn and they all were hungry this morning. + +Meantime the flakes of "Mo snow" came down so fast that the number of +them almost darkened the air. The Bumpy Man was now shoveling quite a +distance down the mountain-side, while the path behind him rapidly +filled up with fresh-fallen popcorn. Suddenly Trot heard him call out: + +"Goodness gracious--mince pie and pancakes!--here is some one buried in +the snow." + +She ran toward him at once and the others followed, wading through the +corn and crunching it underneath their feet. The Mo snow was pretty +deep where the Bumpy Man was shoveling and from beneath a great bank of +it he had uncovered a pair of feet. + +"Dear me! Someone has been lost in the storm," said Cap'n Bill. "I +hope he is still alive. Let's pull him out and see." + +He took hold of one foot and the Bumpy Man took hold of the other. Then +they both pulled and out from the heap of popcorn came a little boy. He +was dressed in a brown velvet jacket and knickerbockers, with brown +stockings, buckled shoes and a blue shirt-waist that had frills down +its front. When drawn from the heap the boy was chewing a mouthful of +popcorn and both his hands were full of it. So at first he couldn't +speak to his rescuers but lay quite still and eyed them calmly until he +had swallowed his mouthful. Then he said: + +"Get my cap," and stuffed more popcorn into his mouth. + +While the Bumpy Man began shoveling into the corn-bank to find the +boy's cap, Trot was laughing joyfully and Cap'n Bill had a broad grin +on his face. The Ork looked from one to another and asked: + +"Who is this stranger?" + +"Why, it's Button-Bright, of course," answered Trot. "If anyone ever +finds a lost boy, he can make up his mind it's Button-Bright. But how +he ever came to be lost in this far-away country is more'n I can make +out." + +"Where does he belong?" inquired the Ork. + +"His home used to be in Philadelphia, I think; but I'm quite sure +Button-Bright doesn't belong anywhere." + +"That's right," said the boy, nodding his head as he swallowed the +second mouthful. + +"Everyone belongs somewhere," remarked the Ork. + +"Not me," insisted Button-Bright. "I'm half way round the world from +Philadelphia, and I've lost my Magic Umbrella, that used to carry me +anywhere. Stands to reason that if I can't get back I haven't any home. +But I don't care much. This is a pretty good country, Trot. I've had +lots of fun here." + +By this time the Mountain Ear had secured the boy's cap and was +listening to the conversation with much interest. + +"It seems you know this poor, snow-covered cast-away," he said. + +"Yes, indeed," answered Trot. "We made a journey together to Sky +Island, once, and were good friends." + +"Well, then I'm glad I saved his life," said the Bumpy Man. + +"Much obliged, Mr. Knobs," said Button-Bright, sitting up and staring +at him, "but I don't believe you've saved anything except some popcorn +that I might have eaten had you not disturbed me. It was nice and warm +in that bank of popcorn, and there was plenty to eat. What made you dig +me out? And what makes you so bumpy everywhere?" + +"As for the bumps," replied the man, looking at himself with much +pride, "I was born with them and I suspect they were a gift from the +fairies. They make me look rugged and big, like the mountain I serve." + +"All right," said Button-Bright and began eating popcorn again. + +It had stopped snowing, now, and great flocks of birds were gathering +around the mountain-side, eating the popcorn with much eagerness and +scarcely noticing the people at all. There were birds of every size and +color, most of them having gorgeous feathers and plumes. + +"Just look at them!" exclaimed the Ork scornfully. "Aren't they +dreadful creatures, all covered with feathers?" + +"I think they're beautiful," said Trot, and this made the Ork so +indignant that he went back into the house and sulked. + +Button-Bright reached out his hand and caught a big bird by the leg. At +once it rose into the air and it was so strong that it nearly carried +the little boy with it. He let go the leg in a hurry and the bird flew +down again and began to eat of the popcorn, not being frightened in the +least. + +This gave Cap'n Bill an idea. He felt in his pocket and drew out +several pieces of stout string. Moving very quietly, so as to not alarm +the birds, he crept up to several of the biggest ones and tied cords +around their legs, thus making them prisoners. The birds were so +intent on their eating that they did not notice what had happened to +them, and when about twenty had been captured in this manner Cap'n Bill +tied the ends of all the strings together and fastened them to a huge +stone, so they could not escape. + +The Bumpy Man watched the old sailor's actions with much curiosity. + +"The birds will be quiet until they've eaten up all the snow," he said, +"but then they will want to fly away to their homes. Tell me, sir, what +will the poor things do when they find they can't fly?" + +"It may worry 'em a little," replied Cap'n Bill, "but they're not going +to be hurt if they take it easy and behave themselves." + +Our friends had all made a good breakfast of the delicious popcorn and +now they walked toward the house again. Button-Bright walked beside +Trot and held her hand in his, because they were old friends and he +liked the little girl very much. The boy was not so old as Trot, and +small as she was he was half a head shorter in height. The most +remarkable thing about Button-Bright was that he was always quiet and +composed, whatever happened, and nothing was ever able to astonish him. +Trot liked him because he was not rude and never tried to plague her. +Cap'n Bill liked him because he had found the boy cheerful and brave at +all times, and willing to do anything he was asked to do. + +When they came to the house Trot sniffed the air and asked "Don't I +smell perfume?" + +"I think you do," said the Bumpy Man. "You smell violets, and that +proves there is a breeze springing up from the south. All our winds and +breezes are perfumed and for that reason we are glad to have them blow +in our direction. The south breeze always has a violet odor; the north +breeze has the fragrance of wild roses; the east breeze is perfumed +with lilies-of-the-valley and the west wind with lilac blossoms. So we +need no weathervane to tell us which way the wind is blowing. We have +only to smell the perfume and it informs us at once." + +Inside the house they found the Ork, and Button-Bright regarded the +strange, birdlike creature with curious interest. After examining it +closely for a time he asked: + +"Which way does your tail whirl?" + +"Either way," said the Ork. + +Button-Bright put out his hand and tried to spin it. + +"Don't do that!" exclaimed the Ork. + +"Why not?" inquired the boy. + +"Because it happens to be my tail, and I reserve the right to whirl it +myself," explained the Ork. + +"Let's go out and fly somewhere," proposed Button-Bright. "I want to +see how the tail works." + +"Not now," said the Ork. "I appreciate your interest in me, which I +fully deserve; but I only fly when I am going somewhere, and if I got +started I might not stop." + +"That reminds me," remarked Cap'n Bill, "to ask you, friend Ork, how we +are going to get away from here?" + +"Get away!" exclaimed the Bumpy Man. "Why don't you stay here? You +won't find any nicer place than Mo." + +"Have you been anywhere else, sir?" + +"No; I can't say that I have," admitted the Mountain Ear. + +"Then permit me to say you're no judge," declared Cap'n Bill. "But you +haven't answered my question, friend Ork. How are we to get away from +this mountain?" + +The Ork reflected a while before he answered. + +"I might carry one of you--the boy or the girl--upon my back," said he, +"but three big people are more than I can manage, although I have +carried two of you for a short distance. You ought not to have eaten +those purple berries so soon." + +"P'r'aps we did make a mistake," Cap'n Bill acknowledged. + +"Or we might have brought some of those lavender berries with us, +instead of so many purple ones," suggested Trot regretfully. + +Cap'n Bill made no reply to this statement, which showed he did not +fully agree with the little girl; but he fell into deep thought, with +wrinkled brows, and finally he said: + +"If those purple berries would make anything grow bigger, whether it'd +eaten the lavender ones or not, I could find a way out of our troubles." + +They did not understand this speech and looked at the old sailor as if +expecting him to explain what he meant. But just then a chorus of +shrill cries rose from outside. + +"Here! Let me go--let me go!" the voices seemed to say. "Why are we +insulted in this way? Mountain Ear, come and help us!" + +Trot ran to the window and looked out. + +"It's the birds you caught, Cap'n," she said. "I didn't know they could +talk." + +"Oh, yes; all the birds in Mo are educated to talk," said the Bumpy +Man. Then he looked at Cap'n Bill uneasily and added: "Won't you let +the poor things go?" + +"I'll see," replied the sailor, and walked out to where the birds were +fluttering and complaining because the strings would not allow them to +fly away. + +"Listen to me!" he cried, and at once they became still. "We three +people who are strangers in your land want to go to some other country, +and we want three of you birds to carry us there. We know we are asking +a great favor, but it's the only way we can think of--excep' walkin', +an' I'm not much good at that because I've a wooden leg. Besides, Trot +an' Button-Bright are too small to undertake a long and tiresome +journey. Now, tell me: Which three of you birds will consent to carry +us?" + +The birds looked at one another as if greatly astonished. Then one of +them replied: "You must be crazy, old man. Not one of us is big enough +to fly with even the smallest of your party." + +"I'll fix the matter of size," promised Cap'n Bill. "If three of you +will agree to carry us, I'll make you big an' strong enough to do it, +so it won't worry you a bit." + +The birds considered this gravely. Living in a magic country, they had +no doubt but that the strange one-legged man could do what he said. +After a little, one of them asked: + +"If you make us big, would we stay big always?" + +"I think so," replied Cap'n Bill. + +They chattered a while among themselves and then the bird that had +first spoken said: "I'll go, for one." + +"So will I," said another; and after a pause a third said: "I'll go, +too." + +Perhaps more would have volunteered, for it seemed that for some reason +they all longed to be bigger than they were; but three were enough for +Cap'n Bill's purpose and so he promptly released all the others, who +immediately flew away. + +The three that remained were cousins, and all were of the same +brilliant plumage and in size about as large as eagles. When Trot +questioned them she found they were quite young, having only abandoned +their nests a few weeks before. They were strong young birds, with +clear, brave eyes, and the little girl decided they were the most +beautiful of all the feathered creatures she had ever seen. + +Cap'n Bill now took from his pocket the wooden box with the sliding +cover and removed the three purple berries, which were still in good +condition. + +"Eat these," he said, and gave one to each of the birds. They obeyed, +finding the fruit very pleasant to taste. In a few seconds they began +to grow in size and grew so fast that Trot feared they would never +stop. But they finally did stop growing, and then they were much larger +than the Ork, and nearly the size of full-grown ostriches. + +Cap'n Bill was much pleased by this result. + +"You can carry us now, all right," said he. + +The birds strutted around with pride, highly pleased with their immense +size. + +"I don't see, though," said Trot doubtfully, "how we're going to ride +on their backs without falling off." + +"We're not going to ride on their backs," answered Cap'n Bill. "I'm +going to make swings for us to ride in." + +He then asked the Bumpy Man for some rope, but the man had no rope. He +had, however, an old suit of gray clothes which he gladly presented to +Cap'n Bill, who cut the cloth into strips and twisted it so that it was +almost as strong as rope. With this material he attached to each bird a +swing that dangled below its feet, and Button-Bright made a trial +flight in one of them to prove that it was safe and comfortable. When +all this had been arranged one of the birds asked: + +"Where do you wish us to take you?" + +"Why, just follow the Ork," said Cap'n Bill. "He will be our leader, +and wherever the Ork flies you are to fly, and wherever the Ork lands +you are to land. Is that satisfactory?" + +The birds declared it was quite satisfactory, so Cap'n Bill took +counsel with the Ork. + +"On our way here," said that peculiar creature, "I noticed a broad, +sandy desert at the left of me, on which was no living thing." + +"Then we'd better keep away from it," replied the sailor. + +"Not so," insisted the Ork. "I have found, on my travels, that the most +pleasant countries often lie in the midst of deserts; so I think it +would be wise for us to fly over this desert and discover what lies +beyond it. For in the direction we came from lies the ocean, as we well +know, and beyond here is this strange Land of Mo, which we do not care +to explore. On one side, as we can see from this mountain, is a broad +expanse of plain, and on the other the desert. For my part, I vote for +the desert." + +"What do you say, Trot?" inquired Cap'n Bill. + +"It's all the same to me," she replied. + +No one thought of asking Button-Bright's opinion, so it was decided to +fly over the desert. They bade good-bye to the Bumpy Man and thanked +him for his kindness and hospitality. Then they seated themselves in +the swings--one for each bird--and told the Ork to start away and they +would follow. + +The whirl of the Ork's tail astonished the birds at first, but after he +had gone a short distance they rose in the air, carrying their +passengers easily, and flew with strong, regular strokes of their great +wings in the wake of their leader. + + + + +Chapter Nine + +The Kingdom of Jinxland + + +Trot rode with more comfort than she had expected, although the swing +swayed so much that she had to hold on tight with both hands. Cap'n +Bill's bird followed the Ork, and Trot came next, with Button-Bright +trailing behind her. It was quite an imposing procession, but +unfortunately there was no one to see it, for the Ork had headed +straight for the great sandy desert and in a few minutes after starting +they were flying high over the broad waste, where no living thing could +exist. + +The little girl thought this would be a bad place for the birds to lose +strength, or for the cloth ropes to give way; but although she could +not help feeling a trifle nervous and fidgety she had confidence in the +huge and brilliantly plumaged bird that bore her, as well as in Cap'n +Bill's knowledge of how to twist and fasten a rope so it would hold. + +That was a remarkably big desert. There was nothing to relieve the +monotony of view and every minute seemed an hour and every hour a day. +Disagreeable fumes and gases rose from the sands, which would have been +deadly to the travelers had they not been so high in the air. As it +was, Trot was beginning to feel sick, when a breath of fresher air +filled her nostrils and on looking ahead she saw a great cloud of +pink-tinted mist. Even while she wondered what it could be, the Ork +plunged boldly into the mist and the other birds followed. She could +see nothing for a time, nor could the bird which carried her see where +the Ork had gone, but it kept flying as sturdily as ever and in a few +moments the mist was passed and the girl saw a most beautiful landscape +spread out below her, extending as far as her eye could reach. + +She saw bits of forest, verdure clothed hills, fields of waving grain, +fountains, rivers and lakes; and throughout the scene were scattered +groups of pretty houses and a few grand castles and palaces. + +Over all this delightful landscape--which from Trot's high perch seemed +like a magnificent painted picture--was a rosy glow such as we +sometimes see in the west at sunset. In this case, however, it was not +in the west only, but everywhere. + +No wonder the Ork paused to circle slowly over this lovely country. The +other birds followed his action, all eyeing the place with equal +delight. Then, as with one accord, the four formed a group and slowly +sailed downward. This brought them to that part of the newly-discovered +land which bordered on the desert's edge; but it was just as pretty +here as anywhere, so the Ork and the birds alighted and the three +passengers at once got out of their swings. + +"Oh, Cap'n Bill, isn't this fine an' dandy?" exclaimed Trot +rapturously. "How lucky we were to discover this beautiful country!" + +"The country seems rather high class, I'll admit, Trot," replied the +old sailor-man, looking around him, "but we don't know, as yet, what +its people are like." + +"No one could live in such a country without being happy and good--I'm +sure of that," she said earnestly. "Don't you think so, Button-Bright?" + +"I'm not thinking, just now," answered the little boy. "It tires me to +think, and I never seem to gain anything by it. When we see the people +who live here we will know what they are like, and no 'mount of +thinking will make them any different." + +"That's true enough," said the Ork. "But now I want to make a proposal. +While you are getting acquainted with this new country, which looks as +if it contains everything to make one happy, I would like to fly +along--all by myself--and see if I can find my home on the other side +of the great desert. If I do, I will stay there, of course. But if I +fail to find Orkland I will return to you in a week, to see if I can do +anything more to assist you." + +They were sorry to lose their queer companion, but could offer no +objection to the plan; so the Ork bade them good-bye and rising swiftly +in the air, he flew over the country and was soon lost to view in the +distance. + +The three birds which had carried our friends now begged permission to +return by the way they had come, to their own homes, saying they were +anxious to show their families how big they had become. So Cap'n Bill +and Trot and Button-Bright all thanked them gratefully for their +assistance and soon the birds began their long flight toward the Land +of Mo. Being now left to themselves in this strange land, the three +comrades selected a pretty pathway and began walking along it. They +believed this path would lead them to a splendid castle which they +espied in the distance, the turrets of which towered far above the tops +of the trees which surrounded it. It did not seem very far away, so +they sauntered on slowly, admiring the beautiful ferns and flowers that +lined the pathway and listening to the singing of the birds and the +soft chirping of the grasshoppers. + +Presently the path wound over a little hill. In a valley that lay +beyond the hill was a tiny cottage surrounded by flower beds and fruit +trees. On the shady porch of the cottage they saw, as they approached, +a pleasant faced woman sitting amidst a group of children, to whom she +was telling stories. The children quickly discovered the strangers and +ran toward them with exclamations of astonishment, so that Trot and her +friends became the center of a curious group, all chattering excitedly. +Cap'n Bill's wooden leg seemed to arouse the wonder of the children, as +they could not understand why he had not two meat legs. This attention +seemed to please the old sailor, who patted the heads of the children +kindly and then, raising his hat to the woman, he inquired: + +"Can you tell us, madam, just what country this is?" + +She stared hard at all three of the strangers as she replied briefly: +"Jinxland." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill, with a puzzled look. "And where is +Jinxland, please?" + +"In the Quadling Country," said she. + +"What!" cried Trot, in sudden excitement. "Do you mean to say this is +the Quadling Country of the Land of Oz?" + +"To be sure I do," the woman answered. "Every bit of land that is +surrounded by the great desert is the Land of Oz, as you ought to know +as well as I do; but I'm sorry to say that Jinxland is separated from +the rest of the Quadling Country by that row of high mountains you see +yonder, which have such steep sides that no one can cross them. So we +live here all by ourselves, and are ruled by our own King, instead of +by Ozma of Oz." + +"I've been to the Land of Oz before," said Button-Bright, "but I've +never been here." + +"Did you ever hear of Jinxland before?" asked Trot. + +"No," said Button-Bright. + +"It is on the Map of Oz, though," asserted the woman, "and it's a fine +country, I assure you. If only," she added, and then paused to look +around her with a frightened expression. "If only--" here she stopped +again, as if not daring to go on with her speech. + +"If only what, ma'am?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +The woman sent the children into the house. Then she came closer to the +strangers and whispered: "If only we had a different King, we would be +very happy and contented." + +"What's the matter with your King?" asked Trot, curiously. But the +woman seemed frightened to have said so much. She retreated to her +porch, merely saying: + +"The King punishes severely any treason on the part of his subjects." + +"What's treason?" asked Button-Bright. + +"In this case," replied Cap'n Bill, "treason seems to consist of +knockin' the King; but I guess we know his disposition now as well as +if the lady had said more." + +"I wonder," said Trot, going up to the woman, "if you could spare us +something to eat. We haven't had anything but popcorn and lemonade for +a long time." + +"Bless your heart! Of course I can spare you some food," the woman +answered, and entering her cottage she soon returned with a tray loaded +with sandwiches, cakes and cheese. One of the children drew a bucket of +clear, cold water from a spring and the three wanderers ate heartily +and enjoyed the good things immensely. + +When Button-Bright could eat no more he filled the pockets of his +jacket with cakes and cheese, and not even the children objected to +this. Indeed they all seemed pleased to see the strangers eat, so Cap'n +Bill decided that no matter what the King of Jinxland was like, the +people would prove friendly and hospitable. + +"Whose castle is that, yonder, ma'am?" he asked, waving his hand toward +the towers that rose above the trees. + +"It belongs to his Majesty, King Krewl." she said. + +"Oh, indeed; and does he live there?" + +"When he is not out hunting with his fierce courtiers and war +captains," she replied. + +"Is he hunting now?" Trot inquired. + +"I do not know, my dear. The less we know about the King's actions the +safer we are." + +It was evident the woman did not like to talk about King Krewl and so, +having finished their meal, they said good-bye and continued along the +pathway. + +"Don't you think we'd better keep away from that King's castle, Cap'n?" +asked Trot. + +"Well," said he, "King Krewl would find out, sooner or later, that we +are in his country, so we may as well face the music now. Perhaps he +isn't quite so bad as that woman thinks he is. Kings aren't always +popular with their people, you know, even if they do the best they know +how." + +"Ozma is pop'lar," said Button-Bright. + +"Ozma is diff'rent from any other Ruler, from all I've heard," remarked +Trot musingly, as she walked beside the boy. "And, after all, we are +really in the Land of Oz, where Ozma rules ev'ry King and ev'rybody +else. I never heard of anybody getting hurt in her dominions, did you, +Button-Bright?" + +"Not when she knows about it," he replied. "But those birds landed us +in just the wrong place, seems to me. They might have carried us right +on, over that row of mountains, to the Em'rald City." + +"True enough," said Cap'n Bill; "but they didn't, an' so we must make +the best of Jinxland. Let's try not to be afraid." + +"Oh, I'm not very scared," said Button-Bright, pausing to look at a +pink rabbit that popped its head out of a hole in the field near by. + +"Nor am I," added Trot. "Really, Cap'n, I'm so glad to be anywhere at +all in the wonderful fairyland of Oz that I think I'm the luckiest girl +in all the world. Dorothy lives in the Em'rald City, you know, and so +does the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and Tik-Tok and the Shaggy +Man--and all the rest of 'em that we've heard so much about--not to +mention Ozma, who must be the sweetest and loveliest girl in all the +world!" + +"Take your time, Trot," advised Button-Bright. "You don't have to say +it all in one breath, you know. And you haven't mentioned half of the +curious people in the Em'rald City." + +"That 'ere Em'rald City," said Cap'n Bill impressively, "happens to be +on the other side o' those mountains, that we're told no one is able to +cross. I don't want to discourage of you, Trot, but we're a'most as +much separated from your Ozma an' Dorothy as we were when we lived in +Californy." + +There was so much truth in this statement that they all walked on in +silence for some time. Finally they reached the grove of stately trees +that bordered the grounds of the King's castle. They had gone halfway +through it when the sound of sobbing, as of someone in bitter distress, +reached their ears and caused them to halt abruptly. + + + + +Chapter Ten + +Pon, the Gardener's Boy + + +It was Button-Bright who first discovered, lying on his face beneath a +broad spreading tree near the pathway, a young man whose body shook +with the force of his sobs. He was dressed in a long brown smock and +had sandals on his feet, betokening one in humble life. His head was +bare and showed a shock of brown, curly hair. Button-Bright looked down +on the young man and said: + +"Who cares, anyhow?" + +"I do!" cried the young man, interrupting his sobs to roll over, face +upward, that he might see who had spoken. "I care, for my heart is +broken!" + +"Can't you get another one?" asked the little boy. + +"I don't want another!" wailed the young man. + +By this time Trot and Cap'n Bill arrived at the spot and the girl +leaned over and said in a sympathetic voice: + +"Tell us your troubles and perhaps we may help you." + +The youth sat up, then, and bowed politely. Afterward he got upon his +feet, but still kept wringing his hands as he tried to choke down his +sobs. Trot thought he was very brave to control such awful agony so +well. + +"My name is Pon," he began. "I'm the gardener's boy." + +"Then the gardener of the King is your father, I suppose," said Trot. + +"Not my father, but my master," was the reply + +"I do the work and the gardener gives the orders. And it was not my +fault, in the least, that the Princess Gloria fell in love with me." + +"Did she, really?" asked the little girl. + +"I don't see why," remarked Button-Bright, staring at the youth. + +"And who may the Princess Gloria be?" inquired Cap'n Bill. + +"She is the niece of King Krewl, who is her guardian. The Princess +lives in the castle and is the loveliest and sweetest maiden in all +Jinxland. She is fond of flowers and used to walk in the gardens with +her attendants. At such times, if I was working at my tasks, I used to +cast down my eyes as Gloria passed me; but one day I glanced up and +found her gazing at me with a very tender look in her eyes. The next +day she dismissed her attendants and, coming to my side, began to talk +with me. She said I had touched her heart as no other young man had +ever done. I kissed her hand. Just then the King came around a bend in +the walk. He struck me with his fist and kicked me with his foot. Then +he seized the arm of the Princess and rudely dragged her into the +castle." + +"Wasn't he awful!" gasped Trot indignantly. + +"He is a very abrupt King," said Pon, "so it was the least I could +expect. Up to that time I had not thought of loving Princess Gloria, +but realizing it would be impolite not to return her love, I did so. We +met at evening, now and then, and she told me the King wanted her to +marry a rich courtier named Googly-Goo, who is old enough to be +Gloria's father. She has refused Googly-Goo thirty-nine times, but he +still persists and has brought many rich presents to bribe the King. On +that account King Krewl has commanded his niece to marry the old man, +but the Princess has assured me, time and again, that she will wed only +me. This morning we happened to meet in the grape arbor and as I was +respectfully saluting the cheek of the Princess, two of the King's +guards seized me and beat me terribly before the very eyes of Gloria, +whom the King himself held back so she could not interfere." + +"Why, this King must be a monster!" cried Trot. + +"He is far worse than that," said Pon, mournfully. + +"But, see here," interrupted Cap'n Bill, who had listened carefully to +Pon. "This King may not be so much to blame, after all. Kings are proud +folks, because they're so high an' mighty, an' it isn't reasonable for +a royal Princess to marry a common gardener's boy." + +"It isn't right," declared Button-Bright. "A Princess should marry a +Prince." + +"I'm not a common gardener's boy," protested Pon. "If I had my rights I +would be the King instead of Krewl. As it is, I'm a Prince, and as +royal as any man in Jinxland." + +"How does that come?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +"My father used to be the King and Krewl was his Prime Minister. But +one day while out hunting, King Phearse--that was my father's name--had +a quarrel with Krewl and tapped him gently on the nose with the +knuckles of his closed hand. This so provoked the wicked Krewl that he +tripped my father backward, so that he fell into a deep pond. At once +Krewl threw in a mass of heavy stones, which so weighted down my poor +father that his body could not rise again to the surface. It is +impossible to kill anyone in this land, as perhaps you know, but when +my father was pressed down into the mud at the bottom of the deep pool +and the stones held him so he could never escape, he was of no more use +to himself or the world than if he had died. Knowing this, Krewl +proclaimed himself King, taking possession of the royal castle and +driving all my father's people out. I was a small boy, then, but when I +grew up I became a gardener. I have served King Krewl without his +knowing that I am the son of the same King Phearse whom he so cruelly +made away with." + +"My, but that's a terr'bly exciting story!" said Trot, drawing a long +breath. "But tell us, Pon, who was Gloria's father?" + +"Oh, he was the King before my father," replied Pon. "Father was Prime +Minister for King Kynd, who was Gloria's father. She was only a baby +when King Kynd fell into the Great Gulf that lies just this side of the +mountains--the same mountains that separate Jinxland from the rest of +the Land of Oz. It is said the Great Gulf has no bottom; but, however +that may be, King Kynd has never been seen again and my father became +King in his place." + +"Seems to me," said Trot, "that if Gloria had her rights she would be +Queen of Jinxland." + +"Well, her father was a King," admitted Pon, "and so was my father; so +we are of equal rank, although she's a great lady and I'm a humble +gardener's boy. I can't see why we should not marry if we want to +except that King Krewl won't let us." + +"It's a sort of mixed-up mess, taken altogether," remarked Cap'n Bill. +"But we are on our way to visit King Krewl, and if we get a chance, +young man, we'll put in a good word for you." + +"Do, please!" begged Pon. + +"Was it the flogging you got that broke your heart?" inquired +Button-Bright. + +"Why, it helped to break it, of course," said Pon. + +"I'd get it fixed up, if I were you," advised the boy, tossing a pebble +at a chipmunk in a tree. "You ought to give Gloria just as good a heart +as she gives you." + +"That's common sense," agreed Cap'n Bill. So they left the gardener's +boy standing beside the path, and resumed their journey toward the +castle. + + + + +Chapter Eleven + +The Wicked King and Googly-Goo + + +When our friends approached the great doorway of the castle they found +it guarded by several soldiers dressed in splendid uniforms. They were +armed with swords and lances. Cap'n Bill walked straight up to them and +asked: + +"Does the King happen to be at home?" + +"His Magnificent and Glorious Majesty, King Krewl, is at present +inhabiting his Royal Castle," was the stiff reply. + +"Then I guess we'll go in an' say how-d'ye-do," continued Cap'n Bill, +attempting to enter the doorway. But a soldier barred his way with a +lance. + +"Who are you, what are your names, and where do you come from?" +demanded the soldier. + +"You wouldn't know if we told you," returned the sailor, "seein' as +we're strangers in a strange land." + +"Oh, if you are strangers you will be permitted to enter," said the +soldier, lowering his lance. "His Majesty is very fond of strangers." + +"Do many strangers come here?" asked Trot. + +"You are the first that ever came to our country," said the man. "But +his Majesty has often said that if strangers ever arrived in Jinxland +he would see that they had a very exciting time." + +Cap'n Bill scratched his chin thoughtfully. He wasn't very favorably +impressed by this last remark. But he decided that as there was no way +of escape from Jinxland it would be wise to confront the King boldly +and try to win his favor. So they entered the castle, escorted by one +of the soldiers. + +It was certainly a fine castle, with many large rooms, all beautifully +furnished. The passages were winding and handsomely decorated, and +after following several of these the soldier led them into an open +court that occupied the very center of the huge building. It was +surrounded on every side by high turreted walls, and contained beds of +flowers, fountains and walks of many colored marbles which were matched +together in quaint designs. In an open space near the middle of the +court they saw a group of courtiers and their ladies, who surrounded a +lean man who wore upon his head a jeweled crown. His face was hard and +sullen and through the slits of his half-closed eyelids the eyes glowed +like coals of fire. He was dressed in brilliant satins and velvets and +was seated in a golden throne-chair. + +This personage was King Krewl, and as soon as Cap'n Bill saw him the +old sailor knew at once that he was not going to like the King of +Jinxland. + +"Hello! who's here?" said his Majesty, with a deep scowl. + +"Strangers, Sire," answered the soldier, bowing so low that his +forehead touched the marble tiles. + +"Strangers, eh? Well, well; what an unexpected visit! Advance, +strangers, and give an account of yourselves." + +The King's voice was as harsh as his features. Trot shuddered a little +but Cap'n Bill calmly replied: + +"There ain't much for us to say, 'cept as we've arrived to look over +your country an' see how we like it. Judgin' from the way you speak, +you don't know who we are, or you'd be jumpin' up to shake hands an' +offer us seats. Kings usually treat us pretty well, in the great big +Outside World where we come from, but in this little kingdom--which +don't amount to much, anyhow--folks don't seem to 'a' got much +culchure." + +The King listened with amazement to this bold speech, first with a +frown and then gazing at the two children and the old sailor with +evident curiosity. The courtiers were dumb with fear, for no one had +ever dared speak in such a manner to their self-willed, cruel King +before. His Majesty, however, was somewhat frightened, for cruel people +are always cowards, and he feared these mysterious strangers might +possess magic powers that would destroy him unless he treated them +well. So he commanded his people to give the new arrivals seats, and +they obeyed with trembling haste. + +After being seated, Cap'n Bill lighted his pipe and began puffing smoke +from it, a sight so strange to them that it filled them all with +wonder. Presently the King asked: + +"How did you penetrate to this hidden country? Did you cross the desert +or the mountains?" + +"Desert," answered Cap'n Bill, as if the task were too easy to be worth +talking about. + +"Indeed! No one has ever been able to do that before," said the King. + +"Well, it's easy enough, if you know how," asserted Cap'n Bill, so +carelessly that it greatly impressed his hearers. The King shifted in +his throne uneasily. He was more afraid of these strangers than before. + +"Do you intend to stay long in Jinxland?" was his next anxious question. + +"Depends on how we like it," said Cap'n Bill. "Just now I might suggest +to your Majesty to order some rooms got ready for us in your dinky +little castle here. And a royal banquet, with some fried onions an' +pickled tripe, would set easy on our stomicks an' make us a bit happier +than we are now." + +"Your wishes shall be attended to," said King Krewl, but his eyes +flashed from between their slits in a wicked way that made Trot hope +the food wouldn't be poisoned. At the King's command several of his +attendants hastened away to give the proper orders to the castle +servants and no sooner were they gone than a skinny old man entered the +courtyard and bowed before the King. + +This disagreeable person was dressed in rich velvets, with many +furbelows and laces. He was covered with golden chains, finely wrought +rings and jeweled ornaments. He walked with mincing steps and glared at +all the courtiers as if he considered himself far superior to any or +all of them. + +"Well, well, your Majesty; what news--what news?" he demanded, in a +shrill, cracked voice. + +The King gave him a surly look. + +"No news, Lord Googly-Goo, except that strangers have arrived," he said. + +Googly-Goo cast a contemptuous glance at Cap'n Bill and a disdainful +one at Trot and Button-Bright. Then he said: + +"Strangers do not interest me, your Majesty. But the Princess Gloria is +very interesting--very interesting, indeed! What does she say, Sire? +Will she marry me?" + +"Ask her," retorted the King. + +"I have, many times; and every time she has refused." + +"Well?" said the King harshly. + +"Well," said Googly-Goo in a jaunty tone, "a bird that can sing, and +won't sing, must be made to sing." + +"Huh!" sneered the King. "That's easy, with a bird; but a girl is +harder to manage." + +"Still," persisted Googly-Goo, "we must overcome difficulties. The +chief trouble is that Gloria fancies she loves that miserable +gardener's boy, Pon. Suppose we throw Pon into the Great Gulf, your +Majesty?" + +"It would do you no good," returned the King. "She would still love +him." + +"Too bad, too bad!" sighed Googly-Goo. "I have laid aside more than a +bushel of precious gems--each worth a king's ransom--to present to your +Majesty on the day I wed Gloria." + +The King's eyes sparkled, for he loved wealth above everything; but the +next moment he frowned deeply again. + +"It won't help us to kill Pon," he muttered. "What we must do is kill +Gloria's love for Pon." + +"That is better, if you can find a way to do it," agreed Googly-Goo. +"Everything would come right if you could kill Gloria's love for that +gardener's boy. Really, Sire, now that I come to think of it, there +must be fully a bushel and a half of those jewels!" + +Just then a messenger entered the court to say that the banquet was +prepared for the strangers. So Cap'n Bill, Trot and Button-Bright +entered the castle and were taken to a room where a fine feast was +spread upon the table. + +"I don't like that Lord Googly-Goo," remarked Trot as she was busily +eating. + +"Nor I," said Cap'n Bill. "But from the talk we heard I guess the +gardener's boy won't get the Princess." + +"Perhaps not," returned the girl; "but I hope old Googly doesn't get +her, either." + +"The King means to sell her for all those jewels," observed +Button-Bright, his mouth half full of cake and jam. + +"Poor Princess!" sighed Trot. "I'm sorry for her, although I've never +seen her. But if she says no to Googly-Goo, and means it, what can they +do?" + +"Don't let us worry about a strange Princess," advised Cap'n Bill. +"I've a notion we're not too safe, ourselves, with this cruel King." + +The two children felt the same way and all three were rather solemn +during the remainder of the meal. + +When they had eaten, the servants escorted them to their rooms. Cap'n +Bill's room was way to one end of the castle, very high up, and Trot's +room was at the opposite end, rather low down. As for Button-Bright, +they placed him in the middle, so that all were as far apart as they +could possibly be. They didn't like this arrangement very well, but all +the rooms were handsomely furnished and being guests of the King they +dared not complain. + +After the strangers had left the courtyard the King and Googly-Goo had +a long talk together, and the King said: + +"I cannot force Gloria to marry you just now, because those strangers +may interfere. I suspect that the wooden-legged man possesses great +magical powers, or he would never have been able to carry himself and +those children across the deadly desert." + +"I don't like him; he looks dangerous," answered Googly-Goo. "But +perhaps you are mistaken about his being a wizard. Why don't you test +his powers?" + +"How?" asked the King. + +"Send for the Wicked Witch. She will tell you in a moment whether that +wooden-legged person is a common man or a magician." + +"Ha! that's a good idea," cried the King. "Why didn't I think of the +Wicked Witch before? But the woman demands rich rewards for her +services." + +"Never mind; I will pay her," promised the wealthy Googly-Goo. + +So a servant was dispatched to summon the Wicked Witch, who lived but a +few leagues from King Krewl's castle. While they awaited her, the +withered old courtier proposed that they pay a visit to Princess Gloria +and see if she was not now in a more complaisant mood. So the two +started away together and searched the castle over without finding +Gloria. + +At last Googly-Goo suggested she might be in the rear garden, which was +a large park filled with bushes and trees and surrounded by a high +wall. And what was their anger, when they turned a corner of the path, +to find in a quiet nook the beautiful Princess, and kneeling before +her, Pon, the gardener's boy! With a roar of rage the King dashed +forward; but Pon had scaled the wall by means of a ladder, which still +stood in its place, and when he saw the King coming he ran up the +ladder and made good his escape. But this left Gloria confronted by her +angry guardian, the King, and by old Googly-Goo, who was trembling with +a fury he could not express in words. + +Seizing the Princess by her arm the King dragged her back to the +castle. Pushing her into a room on the lower floor he locked the door +upon the unhappy girl. And at that moment the arrival of the Wicked +Witch was announced. + +Hearing this, the King smiled, as a tiger smiles, showing his teeth. +And Googly-Goo smiled, as a serpent smiles, for he had no teeth except +a couple of fangs. And having frightened each other with these smiles +the two dreadful men went away to the Royal Council Chamber to meet the +Wicked Witch. + + + + +Chapter Twelve + +The Wooden-Legged Grass-Hopper + + +Now it so happened that Trot, from the window of her room, had +witnessed the meeting of the lovers in the garden and had seen the King +come and drag Gloria away. The little girl's heart went out in sympathy +for the poor Princess, who seemed to her to be one of the sweetest and +loveliest young ladies she had ever seen, so she crept along the +passages and from a hidden niche saw Gloria locked in her room. + +The key was still in the lock, so when the King had gone away, followed +by Googly-Goo, Trot stole up to the door, turned the key and entered. +The Princess lay prone upon a couch, sobbing bitterly. Trot went up to +her and smoothed her hair and tried to comfort her. + +"Don't cry," she said. "I've unlocked the door, so you can go away any +time you want to." + +"It isn't that," sobbed the Princess. "I am unhappy because they will +not let me love Pon, the gardener's boy!" + +"Well, never mind; Pon isn't any great shakes, anyhow, seems to me," +said Trot soothingly. "There are lots of other people you can love." + +Gloria rolled over on the couch and looked at the little girl +reproachfully. + +"Pon has won my heart, and I can't help loving him," she explained. +Then with sudden indignation she added: "But I'll never love +Googly-Goo--never, as long as I live!" + +"I should say not!" replied Trot. "Pon may not be much good, but old +Googly is very, very bad. Hunt around, and I'm sure you'll find someone +worth your love. You're very pretty, you know, and almost anyone ought +to love you." + +"You don't understand, my dear," said Gloria, as she wiped the tears +from her eyes with a dainty lace handkerchief bordered with pearls. +"When you are older you will realize that a young lady cannot decide +whom she will love, or choose the most worthy. Her heart alone decides +for her, and whomsoever her heart selects, she must love, whether he +amounts to much or not." + +Trot was a little puzzled by this speech, which seemed to her +unreasonable; but she made no reply and presently Gloria's grief +softened and she began to question the little girl about herself and +her adventures. Trot told her how they had happened to come to +Jinxland, and all about Cap'n Bill and the Ork and Pessim and the Bumpy +Man. + +While they were thus conversing together, getting more and more +friendly as they became better acquainted, in the Council Chamber the +King and Googly-Goo were talking with the Wicked Witch. + +This evil creature was old and ugly. She had lost one eye and wore a +black patch over it, so the people of Jinxland had named her "Blinkie." +Of course witches are forbidden to exist in the Land of Oz, but +Jinxland was so far removed from the center of Ozma's dominions, and so +absolutely cut off from it by the steep mountains and the bottomless +gulf, that the laws of Oz were not obeyed very well in that country. So +there were several witches in Jinxland who were the terror of the +people, but King Krewl favored them and permitted them to exercise +their evil sorcery. + +Blinkie was the leader of all the other witches and therefore the most +hated and feared. The King used her witchcraft at times to assist him +in carrying out his cruelties and revenge, but he was always obliged to +pay Blinkie large sums of money or heaps of precious jewels before she +would undertake an enchantment. This made him hate the old woman almost +as much as his subjects did, but to-day Lord Googly-Goo had agreed to +pay the witch's price, so the King greeted her with gracious favor. + +"Can you destroy the love of Princess Gloria for the gardener's boy?" +inquired his Majesty. + +The Wicked Witch thought about it before she replied: + +"That's a hard question to answer. I can do lots of clever magic, but +love is a stubborn thing to conquer. When you think you've killed it, +it's liable to bob up again as strong as ever. I believe love and cats +have nine lives. In other words, killing love is a hard job, even for a +skillful witch, but I believe I can do something that will answer your +purpose just as well." + +"What is that?" asked the King. + +"I can freeze the girl's heart. I've got a special incantation for +that, and when Gloria's heart is thoroughly frozen she can no longer +love Pon." + +"Just the thing!" exclaimed Googly-Goo, and the King was likewise much +pleased. + +They bargained a long time as to the price, but finally the old +courtier agreed to pay the Wicked Witch's demands. It was arranged that +they should take Gloria to Blinkie's house the next day, to have her +heart frozen. + +Then King Krewl mentioned to the old hag the strangers who had that day +arrived in Jinxland, and said to her: + +"I think the two children--the boy and the girl--are unable to harm me, +but I have a suspicion that the wooden-legged man is a powerful wizard." + +The witch's face wore a troubled look when she heard this. + +"If you are right," she said, "this wizard might spoil my incantation +and interfere with me in other ways. So it will be best for me to meet +this stranger at once and match my magic against his, to decide which +is the stronger." + +"All right," said the King. "Come with me and I will lead you to the +man's room." + +Googly-Goo did not accompany them, as he was obliged to go home to get +the money and jewels he had promised to pay old Blinkie, so the other +two climbed several flights of stairs and went through many passages +until they came to the room occupied by Cap'n Bill. + +The sailor-man, finding his bed soft and inviting, and being tired with +the adventures he had experienced, had decided to take a nap. When the +Wicked Witch and the King softly opened his door and entered, Cap'n +Bill was snoring with such vigor that he did not hear them at all. + +Blinkie approached the bed and with her one eye anxiously stared at the +sleeping stranger. + +"Ah," she said in a soft whisper, "I believe you are right, King Krewl. +The man looks to me like a very powerful wizard. But by good luck I +have caught him asleep, so I shall transform him before he wakes up, +giving him such a form that he will be unable to oppose me." + +"Careful!" cautioned the King, also speaking low. "If he discovers what +you are doing he may destroy you, and that would annoy me because I +need you to attend to Gloria." + +But the Wicked Witch realized as well as he did that she must be +careful. She carried over her arm a black bag, from which she now drew +several packets carefully wrapped in paper. Three of these she +selected, replacing the others in the bag. Two of the packets she mixed +together, and then she cautiously opened the third. + +"Better stand back, your Majesty," she advised, "for if this powder +falls on you you might be transformed yourself." + +The King hastily retreated to the end of the room. As Blinkie mixed the +third powder with the others she waved her hands over it, mumbled a few +words, and then backed away as quickly as she could. + +Cap'n Bill was slumbering peacefully, all unconscious of what was going +on. Puff! A great cloud of smoke rolled over the bed and completely hid +him from view. When the smoke rolled away, both Blinkie and the King +saw that the body of the stranger had quite disappeared, while in his +place, crouching in the middle of the bed, was a little gray +grasshopper. + +One curious thing about this grasshopper was that the last joint of its +left leg was made of wood. Another curious thing--considering it was a +grasshopper--was that it began talking, crying out in a tiny but sharp +voice: + +"Here--you people! What do you mean by treating me so? Put me back +where I belong, at once, or you'll be sorry!" + +The cruel King turned pale at hearing the grasshopper's threats, but +the Wicked Witch merely laughed in derision. Then she raised her stick +and aimed a vicious blow at the grasshopper, but before the stick +struck the bed the tiny hopper made a marvelous jump--marvelous, +indeed, when we consider that it had a wooden leg. It rose in the air +and sailed across the room and passed right through the open window, +where it disappeared from their view. + +"Good!" shouted the King. "We are well rid of this desperate wizard." +And then they both laughed heartily at the success of the incantation, +and went away to complete their horrid plans. + +After Trot had visited a time with Princess Gloria, the little girl +went to Button-Bright's room but did not find him there. Then she went +to Cap'n Bill's room, but he was not there because the witch and the +King had been there before her. So she made her way downstairs and +questioned the servants. They said they had seen the little boy go out +into the garden, some time ago, but the old man with the wooden leg +they had not seen at all. + +Therefore Trot, not knowing what else to do, rambled through the great +gardens, seeking for Button-Bright or Cap'n Bill and not finding either +of them. This part of the garden, which lay before the castle, was not +walled in, but extended to the roadway, and the paths were open to the +edge of the forest; so, after two hours of vain search for her friends, +the little girl returned to the castle. + +But at the doorway a soldier stopped her. + +"I live here," said Trot, "so it's all right to let me in. The King has +given me a room." + +"Well, he has taken it back again," was the soldier's reply. "His +Majesty's orders are to turn you away if you attempt to enter. I am +also ordered to forbid the boy, your companion, to again enter the +King's castle." + +"How 'bout Cap'n Bill?" she inquired. + +"Why, it seems he has mysteriously disappeared," replied the soldier, +shaking his head ominously. "Where he has gone to, I can't make out, +but I can assure you he is no longer in this castle. I'm sorry, little +girl, to disappoint you. Don't blame me; I must obey my master's +orders." + +Now, all her life Trot had been accustomed to depend on Cap'n Bill, so +when this good friend was suddenly taken from her she felt very +miserable and forlorn indeed. She was brave enough not to cry before +the soldier, or even to let him see her grief and anxiety, but after +she was turned away from the castle she sought a quiet bench in the +garden and for a time sobbed as if her heart would break. + +It was Button-Bright who found her, at last, just as the sun had set +and the shades of evening were falling. He also had been turned away +from the King's castle, when he tried to enter it, and in the park he +came across Trot. + +"Never mind," said the boy. "We can find a place to sleep." + +"I want Cap'n Bill," wailed the girl. + +"Well, so do I," was the reply. "But we haven't got him. Where do you +s'pose he is, Trot? + +"I don't s'pose anything. He's gone, an' that's all I know 'bout it." + +Button-Bright sat on the bench beside her and thrust his hands in the +pockets of his knickerbockers. Then he reflected somewhat gravely for +him. + +"Cap'n Bill isn't around here," he said, letting his eyes wander over +the dim garden, "so we must go somewhere else if we want to find him. +Besides, it's fast getting dark, and if we want to find a place to +sleep we must get busy while we can see where to go." + +He rose from the bench as he said this and Trot also jumped up, drying +her eyes on her apron. Then she walked beside him out of the grounds of +the King's castle. They did not go by the main path, but passed through +an opening in a hedge and found themselves in a small but well-worn +roadway. Following this for some distance, along a winding way, they +came upon no house or building that would afford them refuge for the +night. It became so dark that they could scarcely see their way, and +finally Trot stopped and suggested that they camp under a tree. + +"All right," said Button-Bright, "I've often found that leaves make a +good warm blanket. But--look there, Trot!--isn't that a light flashing +over yonder?" + +"It certainly is, Button-Bright. Let's go over and see if it's a house. +Whoever lives there couldn't treat us worse than the King did." + +To reach the light they had to leave the road, so they stumbled over +hillocks and brushwood, hand in hand, keeping the tiny speck of light +always in sight. + +They were rather forlorn little waifs, outcasts in a strange country +and forsaken by their only friend and guardian, Cap'n Bill. So they +were very glad when finally they reached a small cottage and, looking +in through its one window, saw Pon, the gardener's boy, sitting by a +fire of twigs. + +As Trot opened the door and walked boldly in, Pon sprang up to greet +them. They told him of Cap'n Bill's disappearance and how they had been +turned out of the King's castle. As they finished the story Pon shook +his head sadly. + +"King Krewl is plotting mischief, I fear," said he, "for to-day he sent +for old Blinkie, the Wicked Witch, and with my own eyes I saw her come +from the castle and hobble away toward her hut. She had been with the +King and Googly-Goo, and I was afraid they were going to work some +enchantment on Gloria so she would no longer love me. But perhaps the +witch was only called to the castle to enchant your friend, Cap'n Bill." + +"Could she do that?" asked Trot, horrified by the suggestion. + +"I suppose so, for old Blinkie can do a lot of wicked magical things." + +"What sort of an enchantment could she put on Cap'n Bill?" + +"I don't know. But he has disappeared, so I'm pretty certain she has +done something dreadful to him. But don't worry. If it has happened, it +can't be helped, and if it hasn't happened we may be able to find him +in the morning." + +With this Pon went to the cupboard and brought food for them. Trot was +far too worried to eat, but Button-Bright made a good supper from the +simple food and then lay down before the fire and went to sleep. The +little girl and the gardener's boy, however, sat for a long time +staring into the fire, busy with their thoughts. But at last Trot, too, +became sleepy and Pon gently covered her with the one blanket he +possessed. Then he threw more wood on the fire and laid himself down +before it, next to Button-Bright. Soon all three were fast asleep. They +were in a good deal of trouble; but they were young, and sleep was good +to them because for a time it made them forget. + + + + +Chapter Thirteen + +Glinda the Good and the Scarecrow of Oz + + +That country south of the Emerald City, in the Land of Oz, is known as +the Quadling Country, and in the very southernmost part of it stands a +splendid palace in which lives Glinda the Good. + +Glinda is the Royal Sorceress of Oz. She has wonderful magical powers +and uses them only to benefit the subjects of Ozma's kingdom. Even the +famous Wizard of Oz pays tribute to her, for Glinda taught him all the +real magic he knows, and she is his superior in all sorts of sorcery +Everyone loves Glinda, from the dainty and exquisite Ruler, Ozma, down +to the humblest inhabitant of Oz, for she is always kindly and helpful +and willing to listen to their troubles, however busy she may be. No +one knows her age, but all can see how beautiful and stately she is. +Her hair is like red gold and finer than the finest silken strands. Her +eyes are blue as the sky and always frank and smiling. Her cheeks are +the envy of peach-blows and her mouth is enticing as a rosebud. Glinda +is tall and wears splendid gowns that trail behind her as she walks. +She wears no jewels, for her beauty would shame them. + +For attendants Glinda has half a hundred of the loveliest girls in Oz. +They are gathered from all over Oz, from among the Winkies, the +Munchkins, the Gillikins and the Quadlings, as well as from Ozma's +magnificent Emerald City, and it is considered a great favor to be +allowed to serve the Royal Sorceress. + +Among the many wonderful things in Glinda's palace is the Great Book of +Records. In this book is inscribed everything that takes place in all +the world, just the instant it happens; so that by referring to its +pages Glinda knows what is taking place far and near, in every country +that exists. In this way she learns when and where she can help any in +distress or danger, and although her duties are confined to assisting +those who inhabit the Land of Oz, she is always interested in what +takes place in the unprotected outside world. + +So it was that on a certain evening Glinda sat in her library, +surrounded by a bevy of her maids, who were engaged in spinning, +weaving and embroidery, when an attendant announced the arrival at the +palace of the Scarecrow. + +This personage was one of the most famous and popular in all the Land +of Oz. His body was merely a suit of Munchkin clothes stuffed with +straw, but his head was a round sack filled with bran, with which the +Wizard of Oz had mixed some magic brains of a very superior sort. The +eyes, nose and mouth of the Scarecrow were painted upon the front of +the sack, as were his ears, and since this quaint being had been +endowed with life, the expression of his face was very interesting, if +somewhat comical. + +The Scarecrow was good all through, even to his brains, and while he +was naturally awkward in his movements and lacked the neat symmetry of +other people, his disposition was so kind and considerate and he was so +obliging and honest, that all who knew him loved him, and there were +few people in Oz who had not met our Scarecrow and made his +acquaintance. He lived part of the time in Ozma's palace at the Emerald +City, part of the time in his own corncob castle in the Winkie Country, +and part of the time he traveled over all Oz, visiting with the people +and playing with the children, whom he dearly loved. + +It was on one of his wandering journeys that the Scarecrow had arrived +at Glinda's palace, and the Sorceress at once made him welcome. As he +sat beside her, talking of his adventures, he asked: + +"What's new in the way of news?" + +Glinda opened her Great Book of Records and read some of the last pages. + +"Here is an item quite curious and interesting," she announced, an +accent of surprise in her voice. "Three people from the big Outside +World have arrived in Jinxland." + +"Where is Jinxland?" inquired the Scarecrow. + +"Very near here, a little to the east of us," she said. "In fact, +Jinxland is a little slice taken off the Quadling Country, but +separated from it by a range of high mountains, at the foot of which +lies a wide, deep gulf that is supposed to be impassable." + +"Then Jinxland is really a part of the Land of Oz," said he. + +"Yes," returned Glinda, "but Oz people know nothing of it, except what +is recorded here in my book." + +"What does the Book say about it?" asked the Scarecrow. + +"It is ruled by a wicked man called King Krewl, although he has no +right to the title. Most of the people are good, but they are very +timid and live in constant fear of their fierce ruler. There are also +several Wicked Witches who keep the inhabitants of Jinxland in a state +of terror." + +"Do those witches have any magical powers?" inquired the Scarecrow. + +"Yes, they seem to understand witchcraft in its most evil form, for one +of them has just transformed a respectable and honest old sailor--one +of the strangers who arrived there--into a grasshopper. This same +witch, Blinkie by name, is also planning to freeze the heart of a +beautiful Jinxland girl named Princess Gloria." + +"Why, that's a dreadful thing to do!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. + +Glinda's face was very grave. She read in her book how Trot and +Button-Bright were turned out of the King's castle, and how they found +refuge in the hut of Pon, the gardener's boy. + +"I'm afraid those helpless earth people will endure much suffering in +Jinxland, even if the wicked King and the witches permit them to live," +said the good Sorceress, thoughtfully. "I wish I might help them." + +"Can I do anything?" asked the Scarecrow, anxiously. "If so, tell me +what to do, and I'll do it." + +For a few moments Glinda did not reply, but sat musing over the +records. Then she said: "I am going to send you to Jinxland, to protect +Trot and Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill." + +"All right," answered the Scarecrow in a cheerful voice. "I know +Button-Bright already, for he has been in the Land of Oz before. You +remember he went away from the Land of Oz in one of our Wizard's big +bubbles." + +"Yes," said Glinda, "I remember that." Then she carefully instructed +the Scarecrow what to do and gave him certain magical things which he +placed in the pockets of his ragged Munchkin coat. + +"As you have no need to sleep," said she, "you may as well start at +once." + +"The night is the same as day to me," he replied, "except that I cannot +see my way so well in the dark." + +"I will furnish a light to guide you," promised the Sorceress. + +So the Scarecrow bade her good-bye and at once started on his journey. +By morning he had reached the mountains that separated the Quadling +Country from Jinxland. The sides of these mountains were too steep to +climb, but the Scarecrow took a small rope from his pocket and tossed +one end upward, into the air. The rope unwound itself for hundreds of +feet, until it caught upon a peak of rock at the very top of a +mountain, for it was a magic rope furnished him by Glinda. The +Scarecrow climbed the rope and, after pulling it up, let it down on the +other side of the mountain range. When he descended the rope on this +side he found himself in Jinxland, but at his feet yawned the Great +Gulf, which must be crossed before he could proceed any farther. + +The Scarecrow knelt down and examined the ground carefully, and in a +moment he discovered a fuzzy brown spider that had rolled itself into a +ball. So he took two tiny pills from his pocket and laid them beside +the spider, which unrolled itself and quickly ate up the pills. Then +the Scarecrow said in a voice of command: + +"Spin!" and the spider obeyed instantly. + +In a few moments the little creature had spun two slender but strong +strands that reached way across the gulf, one being five or six feet +above the other. When these were completed the Scarecrow started across +the tiny bridge, walking upon one strand as a person walks upon a rope, +and holding to the upper strand with his hands to prevent him from +losing his balance and toppling over into the gulf. The tiny threads +held him safely, thanks to the strength given them by the magic pills. + +Presently he was safe across and standing on the plains of Jinxland. +Far away he could see the towers of the King's castle and toward this +he at once began to walk. + + + + +Chapter Fourteen + +The Frozen Heart + + +In the hut of Pon, the gardener's boy, Button-Bright was the first to +waken in the morning. Leaving his companions still asleep, he went out +into the fresh morning air and saw some blackberries growing on bushes +in a field not far away. Going to the bushes he found the berries ripe +and sweet, so he began eating them. More bushes were scattered over the +fields, so the boy wandered on, from bush to bush, without paying any +heed to where he was wandering. Then a butterfly fluttered by. He gave +chase to it and followed it a long way. When finally he paused to look +around him, Button-Bright could see no sign of Pon's house, nor had he +the slightest idea in which direction it lay. + +"Well, I'm lost again," he remarked to himself. "But never mind; I've +been lost lots of times. Someone is sure to find me." + +Trot was a little worried about Button-Bright when she awoke and found +him gone. Knowing how careless he was, she believed that he had strayed +away, but felt that he would come back in time, because he had a habit +of not staying lost. Pon got the little girl some food for her +breakfast and then together they went out of the hut and stood in the +sunshine. + +Pon's house was some distance off the road, but they could see it from +where they stood and both gave a start of surprise when they discovered +two soldiers walking along the roadway and escorting Princess Gloria +between them. The poor girl had her hands bound together, to prevent +her from struggling, and the soldiers rudely dragged her forward when +her steps seemed to lag. + +Behind this group came King Krewl, wearing his jeweled crown and +swinging in his hand a slender golden staff with a ball of clustered +gems at one end. + +"Where are they going?" asked Trot. "To the house of the Wicked Witch, +I fear," Pon replied. "Come, let us follow them, for I am sure they +intend to harm my dear Gloria." + +"Won't they see us?" she asked timidly. + +"We won't let them. I know a short cut through the trees to Blinkie's +house," said he. + +So they hurried away through the trees and reached the house of the +witch ahead of the King and his soldiers. Hiding themselves in the +shrubbery, they watched the approach of poor Gloria and her escort, all +of whom passed so near to them that Pon could have put out a hand and +touched his sweetheart, had he dared to. + +Blinkie's house had eight sides, with a door and a window in each side. +Smoke was coming out of the chimney and as the guards brought Gloria to +one of the doors it was opened by the old witch in person. She chuckled +with evil glee and rubbed her skinny hands together to show the delight +with which she greeted her victim, for Blinkie was pleased to be able +to perform her wicked rites on one so fair and sweet as the Princess. + +Gloria struggled to resist when they bade her enter the house, so the +soldiers forced her through the doorway and even the King gave her a +shove as he followed close behind. Pon was so incensed at the cruelty +shown Gloria that he forgot all caution and rushed forward to enter the +house also; but one of the soldiers prevented him, pushing the +gardener's boy away with violence and slamming the door in his face. + +"Never mind," said Trot soothingly, as Pon rose from where he had +fallen. "You couldn't do much to help the poor Princess if you were +inside. How unfortunate it is that you are in love with her!" + +"True," he answered sadly, "it is indeed my misfortune. If I did not +love her, it would be none of my business what the King did to his +niece Gloria; but the unlucky circumstance of my loving her makes it my +duty to defend her." + +"I don't see how you can, duty or no duty," observed Trot. + +"No; I am powerless, for they are stronger than I. But we might peek in +through the window and see what they are doing." + +Trot was somewhat curious, too, so they crept up to one of the windows +and looked in, and it so happened that those inside the witch's house +were so busy they did not notice that Pon and Trot were watching them. + +Gloria had been tied to a stout post in the center of the room and the +King was giving the Wicked Witch a quantity of money and jewels, which +Googly-Goo had provided in payment. When this had been done the King +said to her: + +"Are you perfectly sure you can freeze this maiden's heart, so that she +will no longer love that low gardener's boy?" + +"Sure as witchcraft, your Majesty," the creature replied. + +"Then get to work," said the King. "There may be some unpleasant +features about the ceremony that would annoy me, so I'll bid you good +day and leave you to carry out your contract. One word, however: If you +fail, I shall burn you at the stake!" Then he beckoned to his soldiers +to follow him, and throwing wide the door of the house walked out. + +This action was so sudden that King Krewl almost caught Trot and Pon +eavesdropping, but they managed to run around the house before he saw +them. Away he marched, up the road, followed by his men, heartlessly +leaving Gloria to the mercies of old Blinkie. + +When they again crept up to the window, Trot and Pon saw Blinkie +gloating over her victim. Although nearly fainting from fear, the proud +Princess gazed with haughty defiance into the face of the wicked +creature; but she was bound so tightly to the post that she could do no +more to express her loathing. + +Pretty soon Blinkie went to a kettle that was swinging by a chain over +the fire and tossed into it several magical compounds. The kettle gave +three flashes, and at every flash another witch appeared in the room. + +These hags were very ugly but when one-eyed Blinkie whispered her +orders to them they grinned with joy as they began dancing around +Gloria. First one and then another cast something into the kettle, when +to the astonishment of the watchers at the window all three of the old +women were instantly transformed into maidens of exquisite beauty, +dressed in the daintiest costumes imaginable. Only their eyes could not +be disguised, and an evil glare still shone in their depths. But if the +eyes were cast down or hidden, one could not help but admire these +beautiful creatures, even with the knowledge that they were mere +illusions of witchcraft. + +Trot certainly admired them, for she had never seen anything so dainty +and bewitching, but her attention was quickly drawn to their deeds +instead of their persons, and then horror replaced admiration. Into the +kettle old Blinkie poured another mess from a big brass bottle she took +from a chest, and this made the kettle begin to bubble and smoke +violently. One by one the beautiful witches approached to stir the +contents of the kettle and to mutter a magic charm. Their movements +were graceful and rhythmic and the Wicked Witch who had called them to +her aid watched them with an evil grin upon her wrinkled face. + +Finally the incantation was complete. The kettle ceased bubbling and +together the witches lifted it from the fire. Then Blinkie brought a +wooden ladle and filled it from the contents of the kettle. Going with +the spoon to Princess Gloria she cried: + +"Love no more! Magic art Now will freeze your mortal heart!" + +With this she dashed the contents of the ladle full upon Gloria's +breast. + +Trot saw the body of the Princess become transparent, so that her +beating heart showed plainly. But now the heart turned from a vivid red +to gray, and then to white. A layer of frost formed about it and tiny +icicles clung to its surface. Then slowly the body of the girl became +visible again and the heart was hidden from view. Gloria seemed to have +fainted, but now she recovered and, opening her beautiful eyes, stared +coldly and without emotion at the group of witches confronting her. + +Blinkie and the others knew by that one cold look that their charm had +been successful. They burst into a chorus of wild laughter and the +three beautiful ones began dancing again, while Blinkie unbound the +Princess and set her free. + +Trot rubbed her eyes to prove that she was wide awake and seeing +clearly, for her astonishment was great when the three lovely maidens +turned into ugly, crooked hags again, leaning on broomsticks and canes. +They jeered at Gloria, but the Princess regarded them with cold +disdain. Being now free, she walked to a door, opened it and passed +out. And the witches let her go. + +Trot and Pon had been so intent upon this scene that in their eagerness +they had pressed quite hard against the window. Just as Gloria went out +of the house the window-sash broke loose from its fastenings and fell +with a crash into the room. The witches uttered a chorus of screams and +then, seeing that their magical incantation had been observed, they +rushed for the open window with uplifted broomsticks and canes. But Pon +was off like the wind, and Trot followed at his heels. Fear lent them +strength to run, to leap across ditches, to speed up the hills and to +vault the low fences as a deer would. + +The band of witches had dashed through the window in pursuit; but +Blinkie was so old, and the others so crooked and awkward, that they +soon realized they would be unable to overtake the fugitives. So the +three who had been summoned by the Wicked Witch put their canes or +broomsticks between their legs and flew away through the air, quickly +disappearing against the blue sky. Blinkie, however, was so enraged at +Pon and Trot that she hobbled on in the direction they had taken, fully +determined to catch them, in time, and to punish them terribly for +spying upon her witchcraft. + +When Pon and Trot had run so far that they were confident they had made +good their escape, they sat down near the edge of a forest to get their +breath again, for both were panting hard from their exertions. Trot was +the first to recover speech, and she said to her companion: + +"My! wasn't it terr'ble?" + +"The most terrible thing I ever saw," Pon agreed. + +"And they froze Gloria's heart; so now she can't love you any more." + +"Well, they froze her heart, to be sure," admitted Pon, "but I'm in +hopes I can melt it with my love." + +"Where do you s'pose Gloria is?" asked the girl, after a pause. + +"She left the witch's house just before we did. Perhaps she has gone +back to the King's castle," he said. + +"I'm pretty sure she started off in a diff'rent direction," declared +Trot. "I looked over my shoulder, as I ran, to see how close the +witches were, and I'm sure I saw Gloria walking slowly away toward the +north." + +"Then let us circle around that way," proposed Pon, "and perhaps we +shall meet her." + +Trot agreed to this and they left the grove and began to circle around +toward the north, thus drawing nearer and nearer to old Blinkie's house +again. The Wicked Witch did not suspect this change of direction, so +when she came to the grove she passed through it and continued on. + +Pon and Trot had reached a place less than half a mile from the witch's +house when they saw Gloria walking toward them. The Princess moved with +great dignity and with no show of haste whatever, holding her head high +and looking neither to right nor left. + +Pon rushed forward, holding out his arms as if to embrace her and +calling her sweet names. But Gloria gazed upon him coldly and repelled +him with a haughty gesture. At this the poor gardener's boy sank upon +his knees and hid his face in his arms, weeping bitter tears; but the +Princess was not at all moved by his distress. Passing him by, she drew +her skirts aside, as if unwilling they should touch him, and then she +walked up the path a way and hesitated, as if uncertain where to go +next. + +Trot was grieved by Pon's sobs and indignant because Gloria treated him +so badly. But she remembered why. + +"I guess your heart is frozen, all right," she said to the Princess. +Gloria nodded gravely, in reply, and then turned her back upon the +little girl. "Can't you like even me?" asked Trot, half pleadingly. + +"No," said Gloria. + +"Your voice sounds like a refrig'rator," sighed the little girl. "I'm +awful sorry for you, 'cause you were sweet an' nice to me before this +happened. You can't help it, of course; but it's a dreadful thing, jus' +the same." + +"My heart is frozen to all mortal loves," announced Gloria, calmly. "I +do not love even myself." + +"That's too bad," said Trot, "for, if you can't love anybody, you can't +expect anybody to love you." + +"I do!" cried Pon. "I shall always love her." + +"Well, you're just a gardener's boy," replied Trot, "and I didn't think +you 'mounted to much, from the first. I can love the old Princess +Gloria, with a warm heart an' nice manners, but this one gives me the +shivers." + +"It's her icy heart, that's all," said Pon. + +"That's enough," insisted Trot. "Seeing her heart isn't big enough to +skate on, I can't see that she's of any use to anyone. For my part, I'm +goin' to try to find Button-Bright an' Cap'n Bill." + +"I will go with you," decided Pon. "It is evident that Gloria no longer +loves me and that her heart is frozen too stiff for me to melt it with +my own love; therefore I may as well help you to find your friends." + +As Trot started off, Pon cast one more imploring look at the Princess, +who returned it with a chilly stare. So he followed after the little +girl. + +As for the Princess, she hesitated a moment and then turned in the same +direction the others had taken, but going far more slowly. Soon she +heard footsteps pattering behind her, and up came Googly-Goo, a little +out of breath with running. + +"Stop, Gloria!" he cried. "I have come to take you back to my mansion, +where we are to be married." + +She looked at him wonderingly a moment, then tossed her head +disdainfully and walked on. But Googly-Goo kept beside her. + +"What does this mean?" he demanded. "Haven't you discovered that you no +longer love that gardener's boy, who stood in my way?" + +"Yes; I have discovered it," she replied. "My heart is frozen to all +mortal loves. I cannot love you, or Pon, or the cruel King my uncle, or +even myself. Go your way, Googly-Goo, for I will wed no one at all." + +He stopped in dismay when he heard this, but in another minute he +exclaimed angrily: + +"You must wed me, Princess Gloria, whether you want to or not! I paid +to have your heart frozen; I also paid the King to permit our marriage. +If you now refuse me it will mean that I have been +robbed--robbed--robbed of my precious money and jewels!" + +He almost wept with despair, but she laughed a cold, bitter laugh and +passed on. Googly-Goo caught at her arm, as if to restrain her, but she +whirled and dealt him a blow that sent him reeling into a ditch beside +the path. Here he lay for a long time, half covered by muddy water, +dazed with surprise. + +Finally the old courtier arose, dripping, and climbed from the ditch. +The Princess had gone; so, muttering threats of vengeance upon her, +upon the King and upon Blinkie, old Googly-Goo hobbled back to his +mansion to have the mud removed from his costly velvet clothes. + + + + +Chapter Fifteen + +Trot Meets the Scarecrow + + +Trot and Pon covered many leagues of ground, searching through forests, +in fields and in many of the little villages of Jinxland, but could +find no trace of either Cap'n Bill or Button-Bright. Finally they +paused beside a cornfield and sat upon a stile to rest. Pon took some +apples from his pocket and gave one to Trot. Then he began eating +another himself, for this was their time for luncheon. When his apple +was finished Pon tossed the core into the field. + +"Tchuk-tchuk!" said a strange voice. "What do you mean by hitting me in +the eye with an apple-core?" + +Then rose up the form of the Scarecrow, who had hidden himself in the +cornfield while he examined Pon and Trot and decided whether they were +worthy to be helped. + +"Excuse me," said Pon. "I didn't know you were there." + +"How did you happen to be there, anyhow?" asked Trot. + +The Scarecrow came forward with awkward steps and stood beside them. + +"Ah, you are the gardener's boy," he said to Pon. Then he turned to +Trot. "And you are the little girl who came to Jinxland riding on a big +bird, and who has had the misfortune to lose her friend, Cap'n Bill, +and her chum, Button-Bright." + +"Why, how did you know all that?" she inquired. + +"I know a lot of things," replied the Scarecrow, winking at her +comically. "My brains are the Carefully-Assorted, Double-Distilled, +High-Efficiency sort that the Wizard of Oz makes. He admits, himself, +that my brains are the best he ever manufactured." + +"I think I've heard of you," said Trot slowly, as she looked the +Scarecrow over with much interest; "but you used to live in the Land of +Oz." + +"Oh, I do now," he replied cheerfully. "I've just come over the +mountains from the Quadling Country to see if I can be of any help to +you." + +"Who, me?" asked Pon. + +"No, the strangers from the big world. It seems they need looking +after." + +"I'm doing that myself," said Pon, a little ungraciously. "If you will +pardon me for saying so, I don't see how a Scarecrow with painted eyes +can look after anyone." + +"If you don't see that, you are more blind than the Scarecrow," +asserted Trot. "He's a fairy man, Pon, and comes from the fairyland of +Oz, so he can do 'most anything. I hope," she added, turning to the +Scarecrow, "you can find Cap'n Bill for me." + +"I will try, anyhow," he promised. "But who is that old woman who is +running toward us and shaking her stick at us?" + +Trot and Pon turned around and both uttered an exclamation of fear. The +next instant they took to their heels and ran fast up the path. For it +was old Blinkie, the Wicked Witch, who had at last traced them to this +place. Her anger was so great that she was determined not to abandon +the chase of Pon and Trot until she had caught and punished them. The +Scarecrow understood at once that the old woman meant harm to his new +friends, so as she drew near he stepped before her. His appearance was +so sudden and unexpected that Blinkie ran into him and toppled him +over, but she tripped on his straw body and went rolling in the path +beside him. + +The Scarecrow sat up and said: "I beg your pardon!" but she whacked him +with her stick and knocked him flat again. Then, furious with rage, the +old witch sprang upon her victim and began pulling the straw out of his +body. The poor Scarecrow was helpless to resist and in a few moments +all that was left of him was an empty suit of clothes and a heap of +straw beside it. Fortunately, Blinkie did not harm his head, for it +rolled into a little hollow and escaped her notice. Fearing that Pon +and Trot would escape her, she quickly resumed the chase and +disappeared over the brow of a hill, following the direction in which +she had seen them go. + +Only a short time elapsed before a gray grasshopper with a wooden leg +came hopping along and lit directly on the upturned face of the +Scarecrow's head. + +"Pardon me, but you are resting yourself upon my nose," remarked the +Scarecrow. + +"Oh! are you alive?" asked the grasshopper. + +"That is a question I have never been able to decide," said the +Scarecrow's head. "When my body is properly stuffed I have animation +and can move around as well as any live person. The brains in the head +you are now occupying as a throne, are of very superior quality and do +a lot of very clever thinking. But whether that is being alive, or not, +I cannot prove to you; for one who lives is liable to death, while I am +only liable to destruction." + +"Seems to me," said the grasshopper, rubbing his nose with his front +legs, "that in your case it doesn't matter--unless you're destroyed +already." + +"I am not; all I need is re-stuffing," declared the Scarecrow; "and if +Pon and Trot escape the witch, and come back here, I am sure they will +do me that favor." + +"Tell me! Are Trot and Pon around here?" inquired the grasshopper, its +small voice trembling with excitement. + +The Scarecrow did not answer at once, for both his eyes were staring +straight upward at a beautiful face that was slightly bent over his +head. It was, indeed, Princess Gloria, who had wandered to this spot, +very much surprised when she heard the Scarecrow's head talk and the +tiny gray grasshopper answer it. + +"This," said the Scarecrow, still staring at her, "must be the Princess +who loves Pon, the gardener's boy." + +"Oh, indeed!" exclaimed the grasshopper--who of course was Cap'n +Bill--as he examined the young lady curiously. + +"No," said Gloria frigidly, "I do not love Pon, or anyone else, for the +Wicked Witch has frozen my heart." + +"What a shame!" cried the Scarecrow. "One so lovely should be able to +love. But would you mind, my dear, stuffing that straw into my body +again?" + +The dainty Princess glanced at the straw and at the well-worn blue +Munchkin clothes and shrank back in disdain. But she was spared from +refusing the Scarecrow's request by the appearance of Trot and Pon, who +had hidden in some bushes just over the brow of the hill and waited +until old Blinkie had passed them by. Their hiding place was on the +same side as the witch's blind eye, and she rushed on in the chase of +the girl and the youth without being aware that they had tricked her. + +Trot was shocked at the Scarecrow's sad condition and at once began +putting the straw back into his body. Pon, at sight of Gloria, again +appealed to her to take pity on him, but the frozen-hearted Princess +turned coldly away and with a sigh the gardener's boy began to assist +Trot. + +Neither of them at first noticed the small grasshopper, which at their +appearance had skipped off the Scarecrow's nose and was now clinging to +a wisp of grass beside the path, where he was not likely to be stepped +upon. Not until the Scarecrow had been neatly restuffed and set upon +his feet again--when he bowed to his restorers and expressed his +thanks--did the grasshopper move from his perch. Then he leaped lightly +into the path and called out: + +"Trot--Trot! Look at me. I'm Cap'n Bill! See what the Wicked Witch has +done to me." + +The voice was small, to be sure, but it reached Trot's ears and +startled her greatly. She looked intently at the grasshopper, her eyes +wide with fear at first; then she knelt down and, noticing the wooden +leg, she began to weep sorrowfully. + +"Oh, Cap'n Bill--dear Cap'n Bill! What a cruel thing to do!" she sobbed. + +"Don't cry, Trot," begged the grasshopper. "It didn't hurt any, and it +doesn't hurt now. But it's mighty inconvenient an' humiliatin', to say +the least." + +"I wish," said the girl indignantly, while trying hard to restrain her +tears, "that I was big 'nough an' strong 'nough to give that horrid +witch a good beating. She ought to be turned into a toad for doing this +to you, Cap'n Bill!" + +"Never mind," urged the Scarecrow, in a comforting voice, "such a +transformation doesn't last always, and as a general thing there's some +way to break the enchantment. I'm sure Glinda could do it, in a jiffy." + +"Who is Glinda?" inquired Cap'n Bill. + +Then the Scarecrow told them all about Glinda, not forgetting to +mention her beauty and goodness and her wonderful powers of magic. He +also explained how the Royal Sorceress had sent him to Jinxland +especially to help the strangers, whom she knew to be in danger because +of the wiles of the cruel King and the Wicked Witch. + + + + +Chapter Sixteen + +Pon Summons the King to Surrender + + +Gloria had drawn near to the group to listen to their talk, and it +seemed to interest her in spite of her frigid manner. They knew, of +course, that the poor Princess could not help being cold and reserved, +so they tried not to blame her. + +"I ought to have come here a little sooner," said the Scarecrow, +regretfully; "but Glinda sent me as soon as she discovered you were +here and were likely to get into trouble. And now that we are all +together--except Button-Bright, over whom it is useless to worry--I +propose we hold a council of war, to decide what is best to be done." + +That seemed a wise thing to do, so they all sat down upon the grass, +including Gloria, and the grasshopper perched upon Trot's shoulder and +allowed her to stroke him gently with her hand. + +"In the first place," began the Scarecrow, "this King Krewl is a +usurper and has no right to rule this Kingdom of Jinxland." + +"That is true," said Pon, eagerly. "My father was King before him, and +I--" + +"You are a gardener's boy," interrupted the Scarecrow. "Your father had +no right to rule, either, for the rightful King of this land was the +father of Princess Gloria, and only she is entitled to sit upon the +throne of Jinxland." + +"Good!" exclaimed Trot. "But what'll we do with King Krewl? I s'pose he +won't give up the throne unless he has to." + +"No, of course not," said the Scarecrow. "Therefore it will be our duty +to make him give up the throne." + +"How?" asked Trot. + +"Give me time to think," was the reply. "That's what my brains are for. +I don't know whether you people ever think, or not, but my brains are +the best that the Wizard of Oz ever turned out, and if I give them +plenty of time to work, the result usually surprises me." + +"Take your time, then," suggested Trot. "There's no hurry." + +"Thank you," said the straw man, and sat perfectly still for half an +hour. During this interval the grasshopper whispered in Trot's ear, to +which he was very close, and Trot whispered back to the grasshopper +sitting upon her shoulder. Pon cast loving glances at Gloria, who paid +not the slightest heed to them. + +Finally the Scarecrow laughed aloud. + +"Brains working?" inquired Trot. + +"Yes. They seem in fine order to-day. We will conquer King Krewl and +put Gloria upon his throne as Queen of Jinxland." + +"Fine!" cried the little girl, clapping her hands together gleefully. +"But how?" + +"Leave the how to me," said the Scarecrow proudly. "As a conqueror I'm +a wonder. We will, first of all, write a message to send to King Krewl, +asking him to surrender. If he refuses, then we will make him +surrender." + +"Why ask him, when we know he'll refuse?" inquired Pon. + +"Why, we must be polite, whatever we do," explained the Scarecrow. "It +would be very rude to conquer a King without proper notice." + +They found it difficult to write a message without paper, pen and ink, +none of which was at hand; so it was decided to send Pon as a +messenger, with instructions to ask the King, politely but firmly, to +surrender. + +Pon was not anxious to be the messenger. Indeed, he hinted that it +might prove a dangerous mission. But the Scarecrow was now the +acknowledged head of the Army of Conquest, and he would listen to no +refusal. So off Pon started for the King's castle, and the others +accompanied him as far as his hut, where they had decided to await the +gardener's boy's return. + +I think it was because Pon had known the Scarecrow such a short time +that he lacked confidence in the straw man's wisdom. It was easy to +say: "We will conquer King Krewl," but when Pon drew near to the great +castle he began to doubt the ability of a straw-stuffed man, a girl, a +grasshopper and a frozen-hearted Princess to do it. As for himself, he +had never thought of defying the King before. + +That was why the gardener's boy was not very bold when he entered the +castle and passed through to the enclosed court where the King was just +then seated, with his favorite courtiers around him. None prevented +Pon's entrance, because he was known to be the gardener's boy, but when +the King saw him he began to frown fiercely. He considered Pon to be to +blame for all his trouble with Princess Gloria, who since her heart had +been frozen had escaped to some unknown place, instead of returning to +the castle to wed Googly-Goo, as she had been expected to do. So the +King bared his teeth angrily as he demanded: + +"What have you done with Princess Gloria?" + +"Nothing, your Majesty! I have done nothing at all," answered Pon in a +faltering voice. "She does not love me any more and even refuses to +speak to me." + +"Then why are you here, you rascal?" roared the King. + +Pon looked first one way and then another, but saw no means of escape; +so he plucked up courage. + +"I am here to summon your Majesty to surrender." + +"What!" shouted the King. "Surrender? Surrender to whom?" + +Pon's heart sank to his boots. + +"To the Scarecrow," he replied. + +Some of the courtiers began to titter, but King Krewl was greatly +annoyed. He sprang up and began to beat poor Pon with the golden staff +he carried. Pon howled lustily and would have run away had not two of +the soldiers held him until his Majesty was exhausted with punishing +the boy. Then they let him go and he left the castle and returned along +the road, sobbing at every step because his body was so sore and aching. + +"Well," said the Scarecrow, "did the King surrender?" + +"No; but he gave me a good drubbing!" sobbed poor Pon. + +Trot was very sorry for Pon, but Gloria did not seem affected in any +way by her lover's anguish. The grasshopper leaped to the Scarecrow's +shoulder and asked him what he was going to do next. + +"Conquer," was the reply. "But I will go alone, this time, for beatings +cannot hurt me at all; nor can lance thrusts--or sword cuts--or arrow +pricks." + +"Why is that?" inquired Trot. + +"Because I have no nerves, such as you meat people possess. Even +grasshoppers have nerves, but straw doesn't; so whatever they +do--except just one thing--they cannot injure me. Therefore I expect to +conquer King Krewl with ease." + +"What is that one thing you excepted?" asked Trot. + +"They will never think of it, so never mind. And now, if you will +kindly excuse me for a time, I'll go over to the castle and do my +conquering." + +"You have no weapons," Pon reminded him. + +"True," said the Scarecrow. "But if I carried weapons I might injure +someone--perhaps seriously--and that would make me unhappy. I will just +borrow that riding-whip, which I see in the corner of your hut, if you +don't mind. It isn't exactly proper to walk with a riding-whip, but I +trust you will excuse the inconsistency." + +Pon handed him the whip and the Scarecrow bowed to all the party and +left the hut, proceeding leisurely along the way to the King's castle. + + + + +Chapter Seventeen + +The Ork Rescues Button-Bright + + +I must now tell you what had become of Button-Bright since he wandered +away in the morning and got lost. This small boy, as perhaps you have +discovered, was almost as destitute of nerves as the Scarecrow. Nothing +ever astonished him much; nothing ever worried him or made him unhappy. +Good fortune or bad fortune he accepted with a quiet smile, never +complaining, whatever happened. This was one reason why Button-Bright +was a favorite with all who knew him--and perhaps it was the reason why +he so often got into difficulties, or found himself lost. + +To-day, as he wandered here and there, over hill and down dale, he +missed Trot and Cap'n Bill, of whom he was fond, but nevertheless he +was not unhappy. The birds sang merrily and the wildflowers were +beautiful and the breeze had a fragrance of new-mown hay. + +"The only bad thing about this country is its King," he reflected; "but +the country isn't to blame for that." + +A prairie-dog stuck its round head out of a mound of earth and looked +at the boy with bright eyes. + +"Walk around my house, please," it said, "and then you won't harm it or +disturb the babies." + +"All right," answered Button-Bright, and took care not to step on the +mound. He went on, whistling merrily, until a petulant voice cried: + +"Oh, stop it! Please stop that noise. It gets on my nerves." + +Button-Bright saw an old gray owl sitting in the crotch of a tree, and +he replied with a laugh: "All right, old Fussy," and stopped whistling +until he had passed out of the owl's hearing. At noon he came to a +farmhouse where an aged couple lived. They gave him a good dinner and +treated him kindly, but the man was deaf and the woman was dumb, so +they could answer no questions to guide him on the way to Pon's house. +When he left them he was just as much lost as he had been before. + +Every grove of trees he saw from a distance he visited, for he +remembered that the King's castle was near a grove of trees and Pon's +hut was near the King's castle; but always he met with disappointment. +Finally, passing through one of these groves, he came out into the open +and found himself face to face with the Ork. + +"Hello!" said Button-Bright. "Where did you come from?" + +"From Orkland," was the reply. "I've found my own country, at last, and +it is not far from here, either. I would have come back to you sooner, +to see how you are getting along, had not my family and friends +welcomed my return so royally that a great celebration was held in my +honor. So I couldn't very well leave Orkland again until the excitement +was over." + +"Can you find your way back home again?" asked the boy. + +"Yes, easily; for now I know exactly where it is. But where are Trot +and Cap'n Bill?" + +Button-Bright related to the Ork their adventures since it had left +them in Jinxland, telling of Trot's fear that the King had done +something wicked to Cap'n Bill, and of Pon's love for Gloria, and how +Trot and Button-Bright had been turned out of the King's castle. That +was all the news that the boy had, but it made the Ork anxious for the +safety of his friends. + +"We must go to them at once, for they may need us," he said. + +"I don't know where to go," confessed Button-Bright. "I'm lost." + +"Well, I can take you back to the hut of the gardener's boy," promised +the Ork, "for when I fly high in the air I can look down and easily spy +the King's castle. That was how I happened to spy you, just entering +the grove; so I flew down and waited until you came out." + +"How can you carry me?" asked the boy. + +"You'll have to sit straddle my shoulders and put your arms around my +neck. Do you think you can keep from falling off?" + +"I'll try," said Button-Bright. So the Ork squatted down and the boy +took his seat and held on tight. Then the skinny creature's tail began +whirling and up they went, far above all the tree-tops. + +After the Ork had circled around once or twice, its sharp eyes located +the towers of the castle and away it flew, straight toward the place. +As it hovered in the air, near by the castle, Button-Bright pointed out +Pon's hut, so they landed just before it and Trot came running out to +greet them. + +Gloria was introduced to the Ork, who was surprised to find Cap'n Bill +transformed into a grasshopper. + +"How do you like it?" asked the creature. + +"Why, it worries me good deal," answered Cap'n Bill, perched upon +Trot's shoulder. "I'm always afraid o' bein' stepped on, and I don't +like the flavor of grass an' can't seem to get used to it. It's my +nature to eat grass, you know, but I begin to suspect it's an acquired +taste." + +"Can you give molasses?" asked the Ork. + +"I guess I'm not that kind of a grasshopper," replied Cap'n Bill. "But +I can't say what I might do if I was squeezed--which I hope I won't be." + +"Well," said the Ork, "it's a great pity, and I'd like to meet that +cruel King and his Wicked Witch and punish them both severely. You're +awfully small, Cap'n Bill, but I think I would recognize you anywhere +by your wooden leg." + +Then the Ork and Button-Bright were told all about Gloria's frozen +heart and how the Scarecrow had come from the Land of Oz to help them. +The Ork seemed rather disturbed when it learned that the Scarecrow had +gone alone to conquer King Krewl. + +"I'm afraid he'll make a fizzle of it," said the skinny creature, "and +there's no telling what that terrible King might do to the poor +Scarecrow, who seems like a very interesting person. So I believe I'll +take a hand in this conquest myself." + +"How?" asked Trot. + +"Wait and see," was the reply. "But, first of all, I must fly home +again--back to my own country--so if you'll forgive my leaving you so +soon, I'll be off at once. Stand away from my tail, please, so that the +wind from it, when it revolves, won't knock you over." + +They gave the creature plenty of room and away it went like a flash and +soon disappeared in the sky. + +"I wonder," said Button-Bright, looking solemnly after the Ork, +"whether he'll ever come back again." + +"Of course he will!" returned Trot. "The Ork's a pretty good fellow, +and we can depend on him. An' mark my words, Button-Bright, whenever +our Ork does come back, there's one cruel King in Jinxland that'll wish +he hadn't." + + + + +Chapter Eighteen + +The Scarecrow Meets an Enemy + + +The Scarecrow was not a bit afraid of King Krewl. Indeed, he rather +enjoyed the prospect of conquering the evil King and putting Gloria on +the throne of Jinxland in his place. So he advanced boldly to the royal +castle and demanded admittance. + +Seeing that he was a stranger, the soldiers allowed him to enter. He +made his way straight to the throne room, where at that time his +Majesty was settling the disputes among his subjects. + +"Who are you?" demanded the King. + +"I'm the Scarecrow of Oz, and I command you to surrender yourself my +prisoner." + +"Why should I do that?" inquired the King, much astonished at the straw +man's audacity. + +"Because I've decided you are too cruel a King to rule so beautiful a +country. You must remember that Jinxland is a part of Oz, and therefore +you owe allegiance to Ozma of Oz, whose friend and servant I am." + +Now, when he heard this, King Krewl was much disturbed in mind, for he +knew the Scarecrow spoke the truth. But no one had ever before come to +Jinxland from the Land of Oz and the King did not intend to be put out +of his throne if he could help it. Therefore he gave a harsh, wicked +laugh of derision and said: + +"I'm busy, now. Stand out of my way, Scarecrow, and I'll talk with you +by and by." + +But the Scarecrow turned to the assembled courtiers and people and +called in a loud voice: + +"I hereby declare, in the name of Ozma of Oz, that this man is no +longer ruler of Jinxland. From this moment Princess Gloria is your +rightful Queen, and I ask all of you to be loyal to her and to obey her +commands." + +The people looked fearfully at the King, whom they all hated in their +hearts, but likewise feared. Krewl was now in a terrible rage and he +raised his golden sceptre and struck the Scarecrow so heavy a blow that +he fell to the floor. + +But he was up again, in an instant, and with Pon's riding-whip he +switched the King so hard that the wicked monarch roared with pain as +much as with rage, calling on his soldiers to capture the Scarecrow. + +They tried to do that, and thrust their lances and swords into the +straw body, but without doing any damage except to make holes in the +Scarecrow's clothes. However, they were many against one and finally +old Googly-Goo brought a rope which he wound around the Scarecrow, +binding his legs together and his arms to his sides, and after that the +fight was over. + +The King stormed and danced around in a dreadful fury, for he had never +been so switched since he was a boy--and perhaps not then. He ordered +the Scarecrow thrust into the castle prison, which was no task at all +because one man could carry him easily, bound as he was. + +Even after the prisoner was removed the King could not control his +anger. He tried to figure out some way to be revenged upon the straw +man, but could think of nothing that could hurt him. At last, when the +terrified people and the frightened courtiers had all slunk away, old +Googly-Goo approached the king with a malicious grin upon his face. + +"I'll tell you what to do," said he. "Build a big bonfire and burn the +Scarecrow up, and that will be the end of him." + +The King was so delighted with this suggestion that he hugged old +Googly-Goo in his joy. + +"Of course!" he cried. "The very thing. Why did I not think of it +myself?" + +So he summoned his soldiers and retainers and bade them prepare a great +bonfire in an open space in the castle park. Also he sent word to all +his people to assemble and witness the destruction of the Scarecrow who +had dared to defy his power. Before long a vast throng gathered in the +park and the servants had heaped up enough fuel to make a fire that +might be seen for miles away--even in the daytime. + +When all was prepared, the King had his throne brought out for him to +sit upon and enjoy the spectacle, and then he sent his soldiers to +fetch the Scarecrow. + +Now the one thing in all the world that the straw man really feared was +fire. He knew he would burn very easily and that his ashes wouldn't +amount to much afterward. It wouldn't hurt him to be destroyed in such +a manner, but he realized that many people in the Land of Oz, and +especially Dorothy and the Royal Ozma, would feel sad if they learned +that their old friend the Scarecrow was no longer in existence. + +In spite of this, the straw man was brave and faced his fiery fate like +a hero. When they marched him out before the concourse of people he +turned to the King with great calmness and said: + +"This wicked deed will cost you your throne, as well as much suffering, +for my friends will avenge my destruction." + +"Your friends are not here, nor will they know what I have done to you, +when you are gone and can-not tell them," answered the King in a +scornful voice. + +Then he ordered the Scarecrow bound to a stout stake that he had had +driven into the ground, and the materials for the fire were heaped all +around him. When this had been done, the King's brass band struck up a +lively tune and old Googly-Goo came forward with a lighted match and +set fire to the pile. + +At once the flames shot up and crept closer and closer toward the +Scarecrow. The King and all his people were so intent upon this +terrible spectacle that none of them noticed how the sky grew suddenly +dark. Perhaps they thought that the loud buzzing sound--like the noise +of a dozen moving railway trains--came from the blazing fagots; that +the rush of wind was merely a breeze. But suddenly down swept a flock +of Orks, half a hundred of them at the least, and the powerful currents +of air caused by their revolving tails sent the bonfire scattering in +every direction, so that not one burning brand ever touched the +Scarecrow. + +But that was not the only effect of this sudden tornado. King Krewl was +blown out of his throne and went tumbling heels over head until he +landed with a bump against the stone wall of his own castle, and before +he could rise a big Ork sat upon him and held him pressed flat to the +ground. Old Googly-Goo shot up into the air like a rocket and landed on +a tree, where he hung by the middle on a high limb, kicking the air +with his feet and clawing the air with his hands, and howling for mercy +like the coward he was. + +The people pressed back until they were jammed close together, while +all the soldiers were knocked over and sent sprawling to the earth. The +excitement was great for a few minutes, and every frightened inhabitant +of Jinxland looked with awe and amazement at the great Orks whose +descent had served to rescue the Scarecrow and conquer King Krewl at +one and the same time. + +The Ork, who was the leader of the band, soon had the Scarecrow free of +his bonds. Then he said: "Well, we were just in time to save you, which +is better than being a minute too late. You are now the master here, +and we are determined to see your orders obeyed." + +With this the Ork picked up Krewl's golden crown, which had fallen off +his head, and placed it upon the head of the Scarecrow, who in his +awkward way then shuffled over to the throne and sat down in it. + +Seeing this, a rousing cheer broke from the crowd of people, who tossed +their hats and waved their handkerchiefs and hailed the Scarecrow as +their King. The soldiers joined the people in the cheering, for now +they fully realized that their hated master was conquered and it would +be wise to show their good will to the conqueror. Some of them bound +Krewl with ropes and dragged him forward, dumping his body on the +ground before the Scarecrow's throne. Googly-Goo struggled until he +finally slid off the limb of the tree and came tumbling to the ground. +He then tried to sneak away and escape, but the soldiers seized and +bound him beside Krewl. + +"The tables are turned," said the Scarecrow, swelling out his chest +until the straw within it crackled pleasantly, for he was highly +pleased; "but it was you and your people who did it, friend Ork, and +from this time you may count me your humble servant." + + + + +Chapter Nineteen + +The Conquest of the Witch + + +Now as soon as the conquest of King Krewl had taken place, one of the +Orks had been dispatched to Pon's house with the joyful news. At once +Gloria and Pon and Trot and Button-Bright hastened toward the castle. +They were somewhat surprised by the sight that met their eyes, for +there was the Scarecrow, crowned King, and all the people kneeling +humbly before him. So they likewise bowed low to the new ruler and then +stood beside the throne. Cap'n Bill, as the gray grasshopper, was still +perched upon Trot's shoulder, but now he hopped to the shoulder of the +Scarecrow and whispered into the painted ear: + +"I thought Gloria was to be Queen of Jinxland." + +The Scarecrow shook his head. + +"Not yet," he answered. "No Queen with a frozen heart is fit to rule +any country." Then he turned to his new friend, the Ork, who was +strutting about, very proud of what he had done, and said: "Do you +suppose you, or your followers, could find old Blinkie the Witch?" + +"Where is she?" asked the Ork. + +"Somewhere in Jinxland, I'm sure." + +"Then," said the Ork, "we shall certainly be able to find her." + +"It will give me great pleasure," declared the Scarecrow. "When you +have found her, bring her here to me, and I will then decide what to do +with her." + +The Ork called his followers together and spoke a few words to them in +a low tone. A moment after they rose into the air--so suddenly that the +Scarecrow, who was very light in weight, was blown quite out of his +throne and into the arms of Pon, who replaced him carefully upon his +seat. There was an eddy of dust and ashes, too, and the grasshopper +only saved himself from being whirled into the crowd of people by +jumping into a tree, from where a series of hops soon brought him back +to Trot's shoulder again. The Orks were quite out of sight by this +time, so the Scarecrow made a speech to the people and presented Gloria +to them, whom they knew well already and were fond of. But not all of +them knew of her frozen heart, and when the Scarecrow related the story +of the Wicked Witch's misdeeds, which had been encouraged and paid for +by Krewl and Googly-Goo, the people were very indignant. + +Meantime the fifty Orks had scattered all over Jinx land, which is not +a very big country, and their sharp eyes were peering into every valley +and grove and gully. Finally one of them spied a pair of heels sticking +out from underneath some bushes, and with a shrill whistle to warn his +comrades that the witch was found the Ork flew down and dragged old +Blinkie from her hiding-place. Then two or three of the Orks seized the +clothing of the wicked woman in their strong claws and, lifting her +high in the air, where she struggled and screamed to no avail, they +flew with her straight to the royal castle and set her down before the +throne of the Scarecrow. + +"Good!" exclaimed the straw man, nodding his stuffed head with +satisfaction. "Now we can proceed to business. Mistress Witch, I am +obliged to request, gently but firmly, that you undo all the wrongs you +have done by means of your witchcraft." + +"Pah!" cried old Blinkie in a scornful voice. "I defy you all! By my +magic powers I can turn you all into pigs, rooting in the mud, and I'll +do it if you are not careful." + +"I think you are mistaken about that," said the Scarecrow, and rising +from his throne he walked with wobbling steps to the side of the Wicked +Witch. "Before I left the Land of Oz, Glinda the Royal Sorceress gave +me a box, which I was not to open except in an emergency. But I feel +pretty sure that this occasion is an emergency; don't you, Trot?" he +asked, turning toward the little girl. + +"Why, we've got to do something," replied Trot seriously. "Things seem +in an awful muddle here, jus' now, and they'll be worse if we don't +stop this witch from doing more harm to people." + +"That is my idea, exactly," said the Scarecrow, and taking a small box +from his pocket he opened the cover and tossed the contents toward +Blinkie. + +The old woman shrank back, pale and trembling, as a fine white dust +settled all about her. Under its influence she seemed to the eyes of +all observers to shrivel and grow smaller. + +"Oh, dear--oh, dear!" she wailed, wringing her hands in fear. "Haven't +you the antidote, Scarecrow? Didn't the great Sorceress give you +another box?" + +"She did," answered the Scarecrow. + +"Then give it me--quick!" pleaded the witch. "Give it me--and I'll do +anything you ask me to!" + +"You will do what I ask first," declared the Scarecrow, firmly. + +The witch was shriveling and growing smaller every moment. + +"Be quick, then!" she cried. "Tell me what I must do and let me do it, +or it will be too late." + +"You made Trot's friend, Cap'n Bill, a grasshopper. I command you to +give him back his proper form again," said the Scarecrow. + +"Where is he? Where's the grasshopper? Quick--quick!" she screamed. + +Cap'n Bill, who had been deeply interested in this conversation, gave a +great leap from Trot's shoulder and landed on that of the Scarecrow. +Blinkie saw him alight and at once began to make magic passes and to +mumble magic incantations. She was in a desperate hurry, knowing that +she had no time to waste, and the grasshopper was so suddenly +transformed into the old sailor-man, Cap'n Bill, that he had no +opportunity to jump off the Scarecrow's shoulder; so his great weight +bore the stuffed Scarecrow to the ground. No harm was done, however, +and the straw man got up and brushed the dust from his clothes while +Trot delightedly embraced Cap'n Bill. + +"The other box! Quick! Give me the other box," begged Blinkie, who had +now shrunk to half her former size. + +"Not yet," said the Scarecrow. "You must first melt Princess Gloria's +frozen heart." + +"I can't; it's an awful job to do that! I can't," asserted the witch, +in an agony of fear--for still she was growing smaller. + +"You must!" declared the Scarecrow, firmly. + +The witch cast a shrewd look at him and saw that he meant it; so she +began dancing around Gloria in a frantic manner. The Princess looked +coldly on, as if not at all interested in the proceedings, while +Blinkie tore a handful of hair from her own head and ripped a strip of +cloth from the bottom of her gown. Then the witch sank upon her knees, +took a purple powder from her black bag and sprinkled it over the hair +and cloth. + +"I hate to do it--I hate to do it!" she wailed, "for there is no more +of this magic compound in all the world. But I must sacrifice it to +save my own life. A match! Give me a match, quick!" and panting from +lack of breath she gazed imploringly from one to another. + +Cap'n Bill was the only one who had a match, but he lost no time in +handing it to Blinkie, who quickly set fire to the hair and the cloth +and the purple powder. At once a purple cloud enveloped Gloria, and +this gradually turned to a rosy pink color--brilliant and quite +transparent. Through the rosy cloud they could all see the beautiful +Princess, standing proud and erect. Then her heart became visible, at +first frosted with ice but slowly growing brighter and warmer until all +the frost had disappeared and it was beating as softly and regularly as +any other heart. And now the cloud dispersed and disclosed Gloria, her +face suffused with joy, smiling tenderly upon the friends who were +grouped about her. + +Poor Pon stepped forward--timidly, fearing a repulse, but with pleading +eyes and arms fondly outstretched toward his former sweetheart--and the +Princess saw him and her sweet face lighted with a radiant smile. +Without an instant's hesitation she threw herself into Pon's arms and +this reunion of two loving hearts was so affecting that the people +turned away and lowered their eyes so as not to mar the sacred joy of +the faithful lovers. + +But Blinkie's small voice was shouting to the Scarecrow for help. + +"The antidote!" she screamed. "Give me the other box--quick!" + +The Scarecrow looked at the witch with his quaint, painted eyes and saw +that she was now no taller than his knee. So he took from his pocket +the second box and scattered its contents on Blinkie. She ceased to +grow any smaller, but she could never regain her former size, and this +the wicked old woman well knew. + +She did not know, however, that the second powder had destroyed all her +power to work magic, and seeking to be revenged upon the Scarecrow and +his friends she at once began to mumble a charm so terrible in its +effect that it would have destroyed half the population of +Jinxland--had it worked. But it did not work at all, to the amazement +of old Blinkie. And by this time the Scarecrow noticed what the little +witch was trying to do, and said to her: + +"Go home, Blinkie, and behave yourself. You are no longer a witch, but +an ordinary old woman, and since you are powerless to do more evil I +advise you to try to do some good in the world. Believe me, it is more +fun to accomplish a good act than an evil one, as you will discover +when once you have tried it." + +But Blinkie was at that moment filled with grief and chagrin at losing +her magic powers. She started away toward her home, sobbing and +bewailing her fate, and not one who saw her go was at all sorry for her. + + + + +Chapter Twenty + +Queen Gloria + + +Next morning the Scarecrow called upon all the courtiers and the people +to assemble in the throne room of the castle, where there was room +enough for all that were able to attend. They found the straw man +seated upon the velvet cushions of the throne, with the King's +glittering crown still upon his stuffed head. On one side of the +throne, in a lower chair, sat Gloria, looking radiantly beautiful and +fresh as a new-blown rose. On the other side sat Pon, the gardener's +boy, still dressed in his old smock frock and looking sad and solemn; +for Pon could not make himself believe that so splendid a Princess +would condescend to love him when she had come to her own and was +seated upon a throne. Trot and Cap'n Bill sat at the feet of the +Scarecrow and were much interested in the proceedings. Button-Bright +had lost himself before breakfast, but came into the throne room before +the ceremonies were over. Back of the throne stood a row of the great +Orks, with their leader in the center, and the entrance to the palace +was guarded by more Orks, who were regarded with wonder and awe. + +When all were assembled, the Scarecrow stood up and made a speech. He +told how Gloria's father, the good King Kynd, who had once ruled them +and been loved by everyone, had been destroyed by King Phearce, the +father of Pon, and how King Phearce had been destroyed by King Krewl. +This last King had been a bad ruler, as they knew very well, and the +Scarecrow declared that the only one in all Jinxland who had the right +to sit upon the throne was Princess Gloria, the daughter of King Kynd. + +"But," he added, "it is not for me, a stranger, to say who shall rule +you. You must decide for yourselves, or you will not be content. So +choose now who shall be your future ruler." + +And they all shouted: "The Scarecrow! The Scarecrow shall rule us!" + +Which proved that the stuffed man had made himself very popular by his +conquest of King Krewl, and the people thought they would like him for +their King. But the Scarecrow shook his head so vigorously that it +became loose, and Trot had to pin it firmly to his body again. + +"No," said he, "I belong in the Land of Oz, where I am the humble +servant of the lovely girl who rules us all--the royal Ozma. You must +choose one of your own inhabitants to rule over Jinxland. Who shall it +be?" + +They hesitated for a moment, and some few cried: "Pon!" but many more +shouted: "Gloria!" + +So the Scarecrow took Gloria's hand and led her to the throne, where he +first seated her and then took the glittering crown off his own head +and placed it upon that of the young lady, where it nestled prettily +amongst her soft curls. The people cheered and shouted then, kneeling +before their new Queen; but Gloria leaned down and took Pon's hand in +both her own and raised him to the seat beside her. + +"You shall have both a King and a Queen to care for you and to protect +you, my dear subjects," she said in a sweet voice, while her face +glowed with happiness; "for Pon was a King's son before he became a +gardener's boy, and because I love him he is to be my Royal Consort." + +That pleased them all, especially Pon, who realized that this was the +most important moment of his life. Trot and Button-Bright and Cap'n +Will all congratulated him on winning the beautiful Gloria; but the Ork +sneezed twice and said that in his opinion the young lady might have +done better. + +Then the Scarecrow ordered the guards to bring in the wicked Krewl, +King no longer, and when he appeared, loaded with chains and dressed in +fustian, the people hissed him and drew back as he passed so their +garments would not touch him. + +Krewl was not haughty or overbearing any more; on the contrary he +seemed very meek and in great fear of the fate his conquerors had in +store for him. But Gloria and Pon were too happy to be revengeful and +so they offered to appoint Krewl to the position of gardener's boy at +the castle, Pon having resigned to become King. But they said he must +promise to reform his wicked ways and to do his duty faithfully, and he +must change his name from Krewl to Grewl. All this the man eagerly +promised to do, and so when Pon retired to a room in the castle to put +on princely raiment, the old brown smock he had formerly worn was given +to Grewl, who then went out into the garden to water the roses. + +The remainder of that famous day, which was long remembered in +Jinxland, was given over to feasting and merrymaking. In the evening +there was a grand dance in the courtyard, where the brass band played a +new piece of music called the "Ork Trot" which was dedicated to "Our +Glorious Gloria, the Queen." + +While the Queen and Pon were leading this dance, and all the Jinxland +people were having a good time, the strangers were gathered in a group +in the park outside the castle. Cap'n Bill, Trot, Button-Bright and the +Scarecrow were there, and so was their old friend the Ork; but of all +the great flock of Orks which had assisted in the conquest but three +remained in Jinxland, besides their leader, the others having returned +to their own country as soon as Gloria was crowned Queen. To the young +Ork who had accompanied them in their adventures Cap'n Bill said: + +"You've surely been a friend in need, and we're mighty grateful to you +for helping us. I might have been a grasshopper yet if it hadn't been +for you, an' I might remark that bein' a grasshopper isn't much fun." + +"If it hadn't been for you, friend Ork," said the Scarecrow, "I fear I +could not have conquered King Krewl." + +"No," agreed Trot, "you'd have been just a heap of ashes by this time." + +"And I might have been lost yet," added Button-Bright. "Much obliged, +Mr. Ork." + +"Oh, that's all right," replied the Ork. "Friends must stand together, +you know, or they wouldn't be friends. But now I must leave you and be +off to my own country, where there's going to be a surprise party on my +uncle, and I've promised to attend it." + +"Dear me," said the Scarecrow, regretfully. "That is very unfortunate." + +"Why so?" asked the Ork. + +"I hoped you would consent to carry us over those mountains, into the +Land of Oz. My mission here is now finished and I want to get back to +the Emerald City." + +"How did you cross the mountains before?" inquired the Ork. + +"I scaled the cliffs by means of a rope, and crossed the Great Gulf on +a strand of spider web. Of course I can return in the same manner, but +it would be a hard journey--and perhaps an impossible one--for Trot and +Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill. So I thought that if you had the time you +and your people would carry us over the mountains and land us all +safely on the other side, in the Land of Oz." + +The Ork thoughtfully considered the matter for a while. Then he said: + +"I mustn't break my promise to be present at the surprise party; but, +tell me, could you go to Oz to-night?" + +"What, now?" exclaimed Trot. + +"It is a fine moonlight night," said the Ork, "and I've found in my +experience that there's no time so good as right away. The fact is," he +explained, "it's a long journey to Orkland and I and my cousins here +are all rather tired by our day's work. But if you will start now, and +be content to allow us to carry you over the mountains and dump you on +the other side, just say the word and--off we go!" + +Cap'n Bill and Trot looked at one another questioningly. The little +girl was eager to visit the famous fairyland of Oz and the old sailor +had endured such hardships in Jinxland that he would be glad to be out +of it. + +"It's rather impolite of us not to say good-bye to the new King and +Queen," remarked the Scarecrow, "but I'm sure they're too happy to miss +us, and I assure you it will be much easier to fly on the backs of the +Orks over those steep mountains than to climb them as I did." + +"All right; let's go!" Trot decided. "But where's Button-Bright?" + +Just at this important moment Button-Bright was lost again, and they +all scattered in search of him. He had been standing beside them just a +few minutes before, but his friends had an exciting hunt for him before +they finally discovered the boy seated among the members of the band, +beating the end of the bass drum with the bone of a turkey-leg that he +had taken from the table in the banquet room. + +"Hello, Trot," he said, looking up at the little girl when she found +him. "This is the first chance I ever had to pound a drum with a +reg'lar drum stick. And I ate all the meat off the bone myself." + +"Come quick. We're going to the Land of Oz." + +"Oh, what's the hurry?" said Button-Bright; but she seized his arm and +dragged him away to the park, where the others were waiting. + +Trot climbed upon the back of her old friend, the Ork leader, and the +others took their seats on the backs of his three cousins. As soon as +all were placed and clinging to the skinny necks of the creatures, the +revolving tails began to whirl and up rose the four monster Orks and +sailed away toward the mountains. They were so high in the air that +when they passed the crest of the highest peak it seemed far below +them. No sooner were they well across the barrier than the Orks swooped +downward and landed their passengers upon the ground. + +"Here we are, safe in the Land of Oz!" cried the Scarecrow joyfully. + +"Oh, are we?" asked Trot, looking around her curiously. + +She could see the shadows of stately trees and the outlines of rolling +hills; beneath her feet was soft turf, but otherwise the subdued light +of the moon disclosed nothing clearly. + +"Seems jus' like any other country," was Cap'n Bill's comment. + +"But it isn't," the Scarecrow assured him. "You are now within the +borders of the most glorious fairyland in all the world. This part of +it is just a corner of the Quadling Country, and the least interesting +portion of it. It's not very thickly settled, around here, I'll admit, +but--" + +He was interrupted by a sudden whir and a rush of air as the four Orks +mounted into the sky. + +"Good night!" called the shrill voices of the strange creatures, and +although Trot shouted "Good night!" as loudly as she could, the little +girl was almost ready to cry because the Orks had not waited to be +properly thanked for all their kindness to her and to Cap'n Bill. + +But the Orks were gone, and thanks for good deeds do not amount to much +except to prove one's politeness. + +"Well, friends," said the Scarecrow, "we mustn't stay here in the +meadows all night, so let us find a pleasant place to sleep. Not that +it matters to me, in the least, for I never sleep; but I know that meat +people like to shut their eyes and lie still during the dark hours." + +"I'm pretty tired," admitted Trot, yawning as she followed the straw +man along a tiny path, "so, if you don't find a house handy, Cap'n Bill +and I will sleep under the trees, or even on this soft grass." + +But a house was not very far off, although when the Scarecrow stumbled +upon it there was no light in it whatever. Cap'n Bill knocked on the +door several times, and there being no response the Scarecrow boldly +lifted the latch and walked in, followed by the others. And no sooner +had they entered than a soft light filled the room. Trot couldn't tell +where it came from, for no lamp of any sort was visible, but she did +not waste much time on this problem, because directly in the center of +the room stood a table set for three, with lots of good food on it and +several of the dishes smoking hot. + +The little girl and Button-Bright both uttered exclamations of +pleasure, but they looked in vain for any cook stove or fireplace, or +for any person who might have prepared for them this delicious feast. + +"It's fairyland," muttered the boy, tossing his cap in a corner and +seating himself at the table. "This supper smells 'most as good as that +turkey-leg I had in Jinxland. Please pass the muffins, Cap'n Bill." + +Trot thought it was strange that no people but themselves were in the +house, but on the wall opposite the door was a gold frame bearing in +big letters the word: + +"WELCOME." + +So she had no further hesitation in eating of the food so mysteriously +prepared for them. + +"But there are only places for three!" she exclaimed. + +"Three are quite enough," said the Scarecrow. "I never eat, because I +am stuffed full already, and I like my nice clean straw better than I +do food." + +Trot and the sailor-man were hungry and made a hearty meal, for not +since they had left home had they tasted such good food. It was +surprising that Button-Bright could eat so soon after his feast in +Jinxland, but the boy always ate whenever there was an opportunity. "If +I don't eat now," he said, "the next time I'm hungry I'll wish I had." + +"Really, Cap'n," remarked Trot, when she found a dish of ice-cream +appear beside her plate, "I b'lieve this is fairyland, sure enough." + +"There's no doubt of it, Trot," he answered gravely + +"I've been here before," said Button-Bright, "so I know." + +After supper they discovered three tiny bedrooms adjoining the big +living room of the house, and in each room was a comfortable white bed +with downy pillows. You may be sure that the tired mortals were not +long in bidding the Scarecrow good night and creeping into their beds, +where they slept soundly until morning. + +For the first time since they set eyes on the terrible whirlpool, Trot +and Cap'n Bill were free from anxiety and care. Button-Bright never +worried about anything. The Scarecrow, not being able to sleep, looked +out of the window and tried to count the stars. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-One + +Dorothy, Betsy and Ozma + + +I suppose many of my readers have read descriptions of the beautiful +and magnificent Emerald City of Oz, so I need not describe it here, +except to state that never has any city in any fairyland ever equalled +this one in stately splendor. It lies almost exactly in the center of +the Land of Oz, and in the center of the Emerald City rises the wall of +glistening emeralds that surrounds the palace of Ozma. The palace is +almost a city in itself and is inhabited by many of the Ruler's +especial friends and those who have won her confidence and favor. As +for Ozma herself, there are no words in any dictionary I can find that +are fitted to describe this young girl's beauty of mind and person. +Merely to see her is to love her for her charming face and manners; to +know her is to love her for her tender sympathy, her generous nature, +her truth and honor. Born of a long line of Fairy Queens, Ozma is as +nearly perfect as any fairy may be, and she is noted for her wisdom as +well as for her other qualities. Her happy subjects adore their girl +Ruler and each one considers her a comrade and protector. + +At the time of which I write, Ozma's best friend and most constant +companion was a little Kansas girl named Dorothy, a mortal who had come +to the Land of Oz in a very curious manner and had been offered a home +in Ozma's palace. Furthermore, Dorothy had been made a Princess of Oz, +and was as much at home in the royal palace as was the gentle Ruler. +She knew almost every part of the great country and almost all of its +numerous inhabitants. Next to Ozma she was loved better than anyone in +all Oz, for Dorothy was simple and sweet, seldom became angry and had +such a friendly, chummy way that she made friends where-ever she +wandered. It was she who first brought the Scarecrow and the Tin +Woodman and the Cowardly Lion to the Emerald City. Dorothy had also +introduced to Ozma the Shaggy Man and the Hungry Tiger, as well as +Billina the Yellow Hen, Eureka the Pink Kitten, and many other +delightful characters and creatures. Coming as she did from our world, +Dorothy was much like many other girls we know; so there were times +when she was not so wise as she might have been, and other times when +she was obstinate and got herself into trouble. But life in a +fairy-land had taught the little girl to accept all sorts of surprising +things as matters-of-course, for while Dorothy was no fairy--but just +as mortal as we are--she had seen more wonders than most mortals ever +do. + +Another little girl from our outside world also lived in Ozma's palace. +This was Betsy Bobbin, whose strange adventures had brought her to the +Emerald City, where Ozma had cordially welcomed her. Betsy was a shy +little thing and could never get used to the marvels that surrounded +her, but she and Dorothy were firm friends and thought themselves very +fortunate in being together in this delightful country. + +One day Dorothy and Betsy were visiting Ozma in the girl Ruler's +private apartment, and among the things that especially interested them +was Ozma's Magic Picture, set in a handsome frame and hung upon the +wall of the room. This picture was a magic one because it constantly +changed its scenes and showed events and adventures happening in all +parts of the world. Thus it was really a "moving picture" of life, and +if the one who stood before it wished to know what any absent person +was doing, the picture instantly showed that person, with his or her +surroundings. + +The two girls were not wishing to see anyone in particular, on this +occasion, but merely enjoyed watching the shifting scenes, some of +which were exceedingly curious and remarkable. Suddenly Dorothy +exclaimed: "Why, there's Button-Bright!" and this drew Ozma also to +look at the picture, for she and Dorothy knew the boy well. + +"Who is Button-Bright?" asked Betsy, who had never met him. + +"Why, he's the little boy who is just getting off the back of that +strange flying creature," exclaimed Dorothy. Then she turned to Ozma +and asked: "What is that thing, Ozma? A bird? I've never seen anything +like it before." + +"It is an Ork," answered Ozma, for they were watching the scene where +the Ork and the three big birds were first landing their passengers in +Jinxland after the long flight across the desert. "I wonder," added the +girl Ruler, musingly, "why those strangers dare venture into that +unfortunate country, which is ruled by a wicked King." + +"That girl, and the one-legged man, seem to be mortals from the outside +world," said Dorothy. + +"The man isn't one-legged," corrected Betsy; "he has one wooden leg." + +"It's almost as bad," declared Dorothy, watching Cap'n Bill stump +around. + +"They are three mortal adventurers," said Ozma, "and they seem worthy +and honest. But I fear they will be treated badly in Jinxland, and if +they meet with any misfortune there it will reflect upon me, for +Jinxland is a part of my dominions." + +"Can't we help them in any way?" inquired Dorothy. "That seems like a +nice little girl. I'd be sorry if anything happened to her." + +"Let us watch the picture for awhile," suggested Ozma, and so they all +drew chairs before the Magic Picture and followed the adventures of +Trot and Cap'n Bill and Button-Bright. Presently the scene shifted and +showed their friend the Scarecrow crossing the mountains into Jinxland, +and that somewhat relieved Ozma's anxiety, for she knew at once that +Glinda the Good had sent the Scarecrow to protect the strangers. + +The adventures in Jinxland proved very interesting to the three girls +in Ozma's palace, who during the succeeding days spent much of their +time in watching the picture. It was like a story to them. + +"That girl's a reg'lar trump!" exclaimed Dorothy, referring to Trot, +and Ozma answered: + +"She's a dear little thing, and I'm sure nothing very bad will happen +to her. The old sailor is a fine character, too, for he has never once +grumbled over being a grasshopper, as so many would have done." + +When the Scarecrow was so nearly burned up the girls all shivered a +little, and they clapped their hands in joy when the flock of Orks came +and saved him. + +So it was that when all the exciting adventures in Jinxland were over +and the four Orks had begun their flight across the mountains to carry +the mortals into the Land of Oz, Ozma called the Wizard to her and +asked him to prepare a place for the strangers to sleep. + +The famous Wizard of Oz was a quaint little man who inhabited the royal +palace and attended to all the magical things that Ozma wanted done. He +was not as powerful as Glinda, to be sure, but he could do a great many +wonderful things. He proved this by placing a house in the uninhabited +part of the Quadling Country where the Orks landed Cap'n Bill and Trot +and Button-Bright, and fitting it with all the comforts I have +described in the last chapter. + +Next morning Dorothy said to Ozma: + +"Oughtn't we to go meet the strangers, so we can show them the way to +the Emerald City? I'm sure that little girl will feel shy in this +beautiful land, and I know if 'twas me I'd like somebody to give me a +welcome." + +Ozma smiled at her little friend and answered: + +"You and Betsy may go to meet them, if you wish, but I can not leave my +palace just now, as I am to have a conference with Jack Pumpkinhead and +Professor Wogglebug on important matters. You may take the Sawhorse and +the Red Wagon, and if you start soon you will be able to meet the +Scarecrow and the strangers at Glinda's palace." + +"Oh, thank you!" cried Dorothy, and went away to tell Betsy and to make +preparations for the journey. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Two + +The Waterfall + + +Glinda's castle was a long way from the mountains, but the Scarecrow +began the journey cheerfully, since time was of no great importance in +the Land of Oz and he had recently made the trip and knew the way. It +never mattered much to Button-Bright where he was or what he was doing; +the boy was content in being alive and having good companions to share +his wanderings. As for Trot and Cap'n Bill, they now found themselves +so comfortable and free from danger, in this fine fairyland, and they +were so awed and amazed by the adventures they were encountering, that +the journey to Glinda's castle was more like a pleasure trip than a +hardship, so many wonderful things were there to see. + +Button-Bright had been in Oz before, but never in this part of it, so +the Scarecrow was the only one who knew the paths and could lead them. +They had eaten a hearty breakfast, which they found already prepared +for them and awaiting them on the table when they arose from their +refreshing sleep, so they left the magic house in a contented mood and +with hearts lighter and more happy than they had known for many a day. +As they marched along through the fields, the sun shone brightly and +the breeze was laden with delicious fragrance, for it carried with it +the breath of millions of wildflowers. + +At noon, when they stopped to rest by the bank of a pretty river, Trot +said with a long-drawn breath that was much like a sigh: + +"I wish we'd brought with us some of the food that was left from our +breakfast, for I'm getting hungry again." + +Scarcely had she spoken when a table rose up before them, as if from +the ground itself, and it was loaded with fruits and nuts and cakes and +many other good things to eat. The little girl's eyes opened wide at +this display of magic, and Cap'n Bill was not sure that the things were +actually there and fit to eat until he had taken them in his hand and +tasted them. But the Scarecrow said with a laugh: + +"Someone is looking after your welfare, that is certain, and from the +looks of this table I suspect my friend the Wizard has taken us in his +charge. I've known him to do things like this before, and if we are in +the Wizard's care you need not worry about your future." + +"Who's worrying?" inquired Button-Bright, already at the table and +busily eating. + +The Scarecrow looked around the place while the others were feasting, +and finding many things unfamiliar to him he shook his head and +remarked: + +"I must have taken the wrong path, back in that last valley, for on my +way to Jinxland I remember that I passed around the foot of this river, +where there was a great waterfall." + +"Did the river make a bend, after the waterfall?" asked Cap'n Bill. + +"No, the river disappeared. Only a pool of whirling water showed what +had become of the river; but I suppose it is under ground, somewhere, +and will come to the surface again in another part of the country." + +"Well," suggested Trot, as she finished her luncheon, "as there is no +way to cross this river, I s'pose we'll have to find that waterfall, +and go around it." + +"Exactly," replied the Scarecrow; so they soon renewed their journey, +following the river for a long time until the roar of the waterfall +sounded in their ears. By and by they came to the waterfall itself, a +sheet of silver dropping far, far down into a tiny lake which seemed to +have no outlet. From the top of the fall, where they stood, the banks +gradually sloped away, so that the descent by land was quite easy, +while the river could do nothing but glide over an edge of rock and +tumble straight down to the depths below. + +"You see," said the Scarecrow, leaning over the brink, "this is called +by our Oz people the Great Waterfall, because it is certainly the +highest one in all the land; but I think--Help!" + +He had lost his balance and pitched headforemost into the river. They +saw a flash of straw and blue clothes, and the painted face looking +upward in surprise. The next moment the Scarecrow was swept over the +waterfall and plunged into the basin below. + +The accident had happened so suddenly that for a moment they were all +too horrified to speak or move. + +"Quick! We must go to help him or he will be drowned," Trot exclaimed. + +Even while speaking she began to descend the bank to the pool below, +and Cap'n Bill followed as swiftly as his wooden leg would let him. +Button-Bright came more slowly, calling to the girl: + +"He can't drown, Trot; he's a Scarecrow." + +But she wasn't sure a Scarecrow couldn't drown and never relaxed her +speed until she stood on the edge of the pool, with the spray dashing +in her face. Cap'n Bill, puffing and panting, had just voice enough to +ask, as he reached her side: + +"See him, Trot?" + +"Not a speck of him. Oh, Cap'n, what do you s'pose has become of him?" + +"I s'pose," replied the sailor, "that he's in that water, more or less +far down, and I'm 'fraid it'll make his straw pretty soggy. But as fer +his bein' drowned, I agree with Button-Bright that it can't be done." + +There was small comfort in this assurance and Trot stood for some time +searching with her eyes the bubbling water, in the hope that the +Scarecrow would finally come to the surface. Presently she heard +Button-Bright calling: "Come here, Trot!" and looking around she saw +that the boy had crept over the wet rocks to the edge of the waterfall +and seemed to be peering behind it. Making her way toward him, she +asked: + +"What do you see?" + +"A cave," he answered. "Let's go in. P'r'aps we'll find the Scarecrow +there." + +She was a little doubtful of that, but the cave interested her, and so +did it Cap'n Bill. There was just space enough at the edge of the sheet +of water for them to crowd in behind it, but after that dangerous +entrance they found room enough to walk upright and after a time they +came to an opening in the wall of rock. Approaching this opening, they +gazed within it and found a series of steps, cut so that they might +easily descend into the cavern. + +Trot turned to look inquiringly at her companions. The falling water +made such din and roaring that her voice could not be heard. Cap'n Bill +nodded his head, but before he could enter the cave, Button-Bright was +before him, clambering down the steps without a particle of fear. So +the others followed the boy. + +The first steps were wet with spray, and slippery, but the remainder +were quite dry. A rosy light seemed to come from the interior of the +cave, and this lighted their way. After the steps there was a short +tunnel, high enough for them to walk erect in, and then they reached +the cave itself and paused in wonder and admiration. + +They stood on the edge of a vast cavern, the walls and domed roof of +which were lined with countless rubies, exquisitely cut and flashing +sparkling rays from one to another. This caused a radiant light that +permitted the entire cavern to be distinctly seen, and the effect was +so marvelous that Trot drew in her breath with a sort of a gasp, and +stood quite still in wonder. + +But the walls and roof of the cavern were merely a setting for a more +wonderful scene. In the center was a bubbling caldron of water, for +here the river rose again, splashing and dashing till its spray rose +high in the air, where it took the ruby color of the jewels and seemed +like a seething mass of flame. And while they gazed into the tumbling, +tossing water, the body of the Scarecrow suddenly rose in the center, +struggling and kicking, and the next instant wholly disappeared from +view. + +"My, but he's wet!" exclaimed Button-Bright; but none of the others +heard him. + +Trot and Cap'n Bill discovered that a broad ledge--covered, like the +walls, with glittering rubies--ran all around the cavern; so they +followed this gorgeous path to the rear and found where the water made +its final dive underground, before it disappeared entirely. Where it +plunged into this dim abyss the river was black and dreary looking, and +they stood gazing in awe until just beside them the body of the +Scarecrow again popped up from the water. + + + + +Chapter Twenty Three + +The Land of Oz + + +The straw man's appearance on the water was so sudden that it startled +Trot, but Cap'n Bill had the presence of mind to stick his wooden leg +out over the water and the Scarecrow made a desperate clutch and +grabbed the leg with both hands. He managed to hold on until Trot and +Button-Bright knelt down and seized his clothing, but the children +would have been powerless to drag the soaked Scarecrow ashore had not +Cap'n Bill now assisted them. When they laid him on the ledge of rubies +he was the most useless looking Scarecrow you can imagine--his straw +sodden and dripping with water, his clothing wet and crumpled, while +even the sack upon which his face was painted had become so wrinkled +that the old jolly expression of their stuffed friend's features was +entirely gone. But he could still speak, and when Trot bent down her +ear she heard him say: + +"Get me out of here as soon as you can." + +That seemed a wise thing to do, so Cap'n Bill lifted his head and +shoulders, and Trot and Button-Bright each took a leg; among them they +partly carried and partly dragged the damp Scarecrow out of the Ruby +Cavern, along the tunnel, and up the flight of rock steps. It was +somewhat difficult to get him past the edge of the waterfall, but they +succeeded, after much effort, and a few minutes later laid their poor +comrade on a grassy bank where the sun shone upon him freely and he was +beyond the reach of the spray. + +Cap'n Bill now knelt down and examined the straw that the Scarecrow was +stuffed with. + +"I don't believe it'll be of much use to him, any more," said he, "for +it's full of polliwogs an' fish eggs, an' the water has took all the +crinkle out o' the straw an ruined it. I guess, Trot, that the best +thing for us to do is to empty out all his body an' carry his head an' +clothes along the road till we come to a field or a house where we can +get some fresh straw." + +"Yes, Cap'n," she agreed, "there's nothing else to be done. But how +shall we ever find the road to Glinda's palace, without the Scarecrow +to guide us?" + +"That's easy," said the Scarecrow, speaking in a rather feeble but +distinct voice. "If Cap'n Bill will carry my head on his shoulders, +eyes front, I can tell him which way to go." + +So they followed that plan and emptied all the old, wet straw out of +the Scarecrow's body. Then the sailor-man wrung out the clothes and +laid them in the sun till they were quite dry. Trot took charge of the +head and pressed the wrinkles out of the face as it dried, so that +after a while the Scarecrow's expression became natural again, and as +jolly as before. + +This work consumed some time, but when it was completed they again +started upon their journey, Button-Bright carrying the boots and hat, +Trot the bundle of clothes, and Cap'n Bill the head. The Scarecrow, +having regained his composure and being now in a good humor, despite +his recent mishaps, beguiled their way with stories of the Land of Oz. + +It was not until the next morning, however, that they found straw with +which to restuff the Scarecrow. That evening they came to the same +little house they had slept in before, only now it was magically +transferred to a new place. The same bountiful supper as before was +found smoking hot upon the table and the same cosy beds were ready for +them to sleep in. + +They rose early and after breakfast went out of doors, and there, lying +just beside the house, was a heap of clean, crisp straw. Ozma had +noticed the Scarecrow's accident in her Magic Picture and had notified +the Wizard to provide the straw, for she knew the adventurers were not +likely to find straw in the country through which they were now +traveling. + +They lost no time in stuffing the Scarecrow anew, and he was greatly +delighted at being able to walk around again and to assume the +leadership of the little party. + +"Really," said Trot, "I think you're better than you were before, for +you are fresh and sweet all through and rustle beautifully when you +move." + +"Thank you, my dear," he replied gratefully. "I always feel like a new +man when I'm freshly stuffed. No one likes to get musty, you know, and +even good straw may be spoiled by age." + +"It was water that spoiled you, the last time," remarked Button-Bright, +"which proves that too much bathing is as bad as too little. But, after +all, Scarecrow, water is not as dangerous for you as fire." + +"All things are good in moderation," declared the Scarecrow. "But now, +let us hurry on, or we shall not reach Glinda's palace by nightfall." + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Four + +The Royal Reception + + +At about four o'clock of that same day the Red Wagon drew up at the +entrance to Glinda's palace and Dorothy and Betsy jumped out. Ozma's +Red Wagon was almost a chariot, being inlaid with rubies and pearls, +and it was drawn by Ozma's favorite steed, the wooden Sawhorse. + +"Shall I unharness you," asked Dorothy, "so you can come in and visit?" + +"No," replied the Sawhorse. "I'll just stand here and think. Take your +time. Thinking doesn't seem to bore me at all." + +"What will you think of?" inquired Betsy. + +"Of the acorn that grew the tree from which I was made." + +So they left the wooden animal and went in to see Glinda, who welcomed +the little girls in her most cordial manner. + +"I knew you were on your way," said the good Sorceress when they were +seated in her library, "for I learned from my Record Book that you +intended to meet Trot and Button-Bright on their arrival here." + +"Is the strange little girl named Trot?" asked Dorothy. + +"Yes; and her companion, the old sailor, is named Cap'n Bill. I think +we shall like them very much, for they are just the kind of people to +enjoy and appreciate our fairyland and I do not see any way, at +present, for them to return again to the outside world." + +"Well, there's room enough here for them, I'm sure," said Dorothy. +"Betsy and I are already eager to welcome Trot. It will keep us busy +for a year, at least, showing her all the wonderful things in Oz." + +Glinda smiled. + +"I have lived here many years," said she, "and I have not seen all the +wonders of Oz yet." + +Meantime the travelers were drawing near to the palace, and when they +first caught sight of its towers Trot realized that it was far more +grand and imposing than was the King's castle in Jinxland. The nearer +they came, the more beautiful the palace appeared, and when finally the +Scarecrow led them up the great marble steps, even Button-Bright was +filled with awe. + +"I don't see any soldiers to guard the place," said the little girl. + +"There is no need to guard Glinda's palace," replied the Scarecrow. "We +have no wicked people in Oz, that we know of, and even if there were +any, Glinda's magic would be powerful enough to protect her." + +Button-Bright was now standing on the top steps of the entrance, and he +suddenly exclaimed: + +"Why, there's the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon! Hip, hooray!" and next +moment he was rushing down to throw his arms around the neck of the +wooden horse, which good-naturedly permitted this familiarity when it +recognized in the boy an old friend. + +Button-Bright's shout had been heard inside the palace, so now Dorothy +and Betsy came running out to embrace their beloved friend, the +Scarecrow, and to welcome Trot and Cap'n Bill to the Land of Oz. + +"We've been watching you for a long time, in Ozma's Magic Picture," +said Dorothy, "and Ozma has sent us to invite you to her own palace in +the Em'rald City. I don't know if you realize how lucky you are to get +that invitation, but you'll understand it better after you've seen the +royal palace and the Em'rald City." + +Glinda now appeared in person to lead all the party into her Azure +Reception Room. Trot was a little afraid of the stately Sorceress, but +gained courage by holding fast to the hands of Betsy and Dorothy. Cap'n +Bill had no one to help him feel at ease, so the old sailor sat stiffly +on the edge of his chair and said: + +"Yes, ma'am," or "No, ma'am," when he was spoken to, and was greatly +embarrassed by so much splendor. + +The Scarecrow had lived so much in palaces that he felt quite at home, +and he chatted to Glinda and the Oz girls in a merry, light-hearted +way. He told all about his adventures in Jinxland, and at the Great +Waterfall, and on the journey hither--most of which his hearers knew +already--and then he asked Dorothy and Betsy what had happened in the +Emerald City since he had left there. + +They all passed the evening and the night at Glinda's palace, and the +Sorceress was so gracious to Cap'n Bill that the old man by degrees +regained his self-possession and began to enjoy himself. Trot had +already come to the conclusion that in Dorothy and Betsy she had found +two delightful comrades, and Button-Bright was just as much at home +here as he had been in the fields of Jinxland or when he was buried in +the popcorn snow of the Land of Mo. + +The next morning they arose bright and early and after breakfast bade +good-bye to the kind Sorceress, whom Trot and Cap'n Bill thanked +earnestly for sending the Scarecrow to Jinxland to rescue them. Then +they all climbed into the Red Wagon. + +There was room for all on the broad seats, and when all had taken their +places--Dorothy, Trot and Betsy on the rear seat and Cap'n Bill, +Button-Bright and the Scarecrow in front--they called "Gid-dap!" to the +Sawhorse and the wooden steed moved briskly away, pulling the Red Wagon +with ease. + +It was now that the strangers began to perceive the real beauties of +the Land of Oz, for they were passing through a more thickly settled +part of the country and the population grew more dense as they drew +nearer to the Emerald City. Everyone they met had a cheery word or a +smile for the Scarecrow, Dorothy and Betsy Bobbin, and some of them +remembered Button-Bright and welcomed him back to their country. + +It was a happy party, indeed, that journeyed in the Red Wagon to the +Emerald City, and Trot already began to hope that Ozma would permit her +and Cap'n Bill to live always in the Land of Oz. + +When they reached the great city they were more amazed than ever, both +by the concourse of people in their quaint and picturesque costumes, +and by the splendor of the city itself. But the magnificence of the +Royal Palace quite took their breath away, until Ozma received them in +her own pretty apartment and by her charming manners and assuring +smiles made them feel they were no longer strangers. + +Trot was given a lovely little room next to that of Dorothy, while +Cap'n Bill had the cosiest sort of a room next to Trot's and +overlooking the gardens. And that evening Ozma gave a grand banquet and +reception in honor of the new arrivals. While Trot had read of many of +the people she then met, Cap'n Bill was less familiar with them and +many of the unusual characters introduced to him that evening caused +the old sailor to open his eyes wide in astonishment. + +He had thought the live Scarecrow about as curious as anyone could be, +but now he met the Tin Woodman, who was all made of tin, even to his +heart, and carried a gleaming axe over his shoulder wherever he went. +Then there was Jack Pumpkinhead, whose head was a real pumpkin with the +face carved upon it; and Professor Wogglebug, who had the shape of an +enormous bug but was dressed in neat fitting garments. The Professor +was an interesting talker and had very polite manners, but his face was +so comical that it made Cap'n Bill smile to look at it. A great friend +of Dorothy and Ozma seemed to be a machine man called Tik-Tok, who ran +down several times during the evening and had to be wound up again by +someone before he could move or speak. + +At the reception appeared the Shaggy Man and his brother, both very +popular in Oz, as well as Dorothy's Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, two happy +old people who lived in a pretty cottage near the palace. + +But what perhaps seemed most surprising to both Trot and Cap'n Bill was +the number of peculiar animals admitted into Ozma's parlors, where they +not only conducted themselves quite properly but were able to talk as +well as anyone. + +There was the Cowardly Lion, an immense beast with a beautiful mane; +and the Hungry Tiger, who smiled continually; and Eureka the Pink +Kitten, who lay curled upon a cushion and had rather supercilious +manners; and the wooden Sawhorse; and nine tiny piglets that belonged +to the Wizard; and a mule named Hank, who belonged to Betsy Bobbin. A +fuzzy little terrier dog, named Toto, lay at Dorothy's feet but seldom +took part in the conversation, although he listened to every word that +was said. But the most wonderful of all to Trot was a square beast with +a winning smile, that squatted in a corner of the room and wagged his +square head at everyone in quite a jolly way. Betsy told Trot that this +unique beast was called the Woozy, and there was no other like him in +all the world. + +Cap'n Bill and Trot had both looked around expectantly for the Wizard +of Oz, but the evening was far advanced before the famous little man +entered the room. But he went up to the strangers at once and said: + +"I know you, but you don't know me; so let's get acquainted." + +And they did get acquainted, in a very short time, and before the +evening was over Trot felt that she knew every person and animal +present at the reception, and that they were all her good friends. + +Suddenly they looked around for Button-Bright, but he was nowhere to be +found. + +"Dear me!" cried Trot. "He's lost again." + +"Never mind, my dear," said Ozma, with her charming smile, "no one can +go far astray in the Land of Oz, and if Button-Bright isn't lost +occasionally, he isn't happy." + + + + + +The Wonderful Oz Books by L. Frank Baum + + THE WIZARD OF OZ + THE LAND OF OZ + OZMA OF OZ + DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ + THE ROAD TO OZ + THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ + THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ + TIK-TOK OF OZ + THE SCARECROW OF OZ + RINKITINK IN OZ + THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ + THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ + THE MAGIC OF OZ + GLINDA OF OZ + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Scarecrow of Oz, by L. Frank Baum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCARECROW OF OZ *** + +***** This file should be named 957.txt or 957.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/5/957/ + +Produced by Anthony Matonac. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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