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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +THE SCARECROW of OZ + +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 + + + + +THE SCARECROW of OZ +by 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 - Daylight at Last: + 4 - The Little Old Man of the Island + 5 - The Flight of the Midgets + 6 - The Dumpy Man + 7 - Button-Bright is Lost, and Found Again + 8 - The Kingdom of Jinxland + 9 - Pan, the Gardener's Boy +10 - The Wicked King and Googly-Goo +11 - The Wooden-Legged Grasshopper +12 - Glinda the Good and the Scarecrow of Oz +13 - The Frozen Heart +14 - Trot Meets the Scarecrow +15 - Pon Summons the King to Surrender +16 - The Ork Rescues Button-Bright +17 - The Scarecrow Meets an Enemy +18 - The Conquest of the Witch +19 - Queen Gloria +20 - Dorothy, Betsy and Ozma +21 - The Waterfall +22 - The Land of Oz +23 - 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 Goqgly-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 Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Scarecrow of Oz by Baum + |