diff --git a/part_1/01_main-code/part_1.ipynb b/part_1/01_main-code/part_1.ipynb index d6a1b46..46eb559 100644 --- a/part_1/01_main-code/part_1.ipynb +++ b/part_1/01_main-code/part_1.ipynb @@ -18,10 +18,19 @@ }, { "cell_type": "code", - "execution_count": null, + "execution_count": 1, "id": "4d1305cf-12d5-46fe-a2c9-36fb71c5b3d3", "metadata": {}, - "outputs": [], + "outputs": [ + { + "name": "stdout", + "output_type": "stream", + "text": [ + "torch version: 2.4.0\n", + "tiktoken version: 0.8.0\n" + ] + } + ], "source": [ "from importlib.metadata import version\n", "\n", @@ -116,7 +125,7 @@ "metadata": {}, "source": [ "- Load raw text we want to work with\n", - "- [The Verdict by Edith Wharton](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Verdict) is a public domain short story" + "- [The Wonderful Wizard of Oz](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55/pg55.txt) from Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is a library of over 70,000 free eBooks" ] }, { @@ -130,8 +139,8 @@ "import urllib.request\n", "\n", "if not os.path.exists(\"the-verdict.txt\"):\n", - " url = (\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sangwan70/Building-an-LLM-From-Scratch/refs/heads/main/part_1/01_main-code/the-verdict.txt\")\n", - " file_path = \"the-verdict.txt\"\n", + " url = (\"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sangwan70/Building-an-LLM-From-Scratch/refs/heads/main/part_1/01_main-code/wizard_of_oz.txt\")\n", + " file_path = \"wizard_of_oz.txt\"\n", " urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, file_path)" ] }, @@ -523,7 +532,7 @@ " - `[PAD]` (padding) if we train LLMs with a batch size greater than 1 (we may include multiple texts with different lengths; with the padding token we pad the shorter texts to the longest length so that all texts have an equal length)\n", "- `[UNK]` to represent words that are not included in the vocabulary\n", "\n", - "- Note that GPT-2 does not need any of these tokens mentioned above but only uses an `<|endoftext|>` token to reduce complexity\n", + "- GPT-2 does not need any of these tokens mentioned above but only uses an `<|endoftext|>` token to reduce complexity\n", "- The `<|endoftext|>` is analogous to the `[EOS]` token mentioned above\n", "- GPT also uses the `<|endoftext|>` for padding (since we typically use a mask when training on batched inputs, we would not attend padded tokens anyways, so it does not matter what these tokens are)\n", "- GPT-2 does not use an `` token for out-of-vocabulary words; instead, GPT-2 uses a byte-pair encoding (BPE) tokenizer, which breaks down words into subword units which we will discuss in a later section\n", @@ -712,7 +721,7 @@ "- it allows the model to break down words that aren't in its predefined vocabulary into smaller subword units or even individual characters, enabling it to handle out-of-vocabulary words\n", "- For instance, if GPT-2's vocabulary doesn't have the word \"unfamiliarword,\" it might tokenize it as [\"unfam\", \"iliar\", \"word\"] or some other subword breakdown, depending on its trained BPE merges\n", "- The original BPE tokenizer can be found here: [https://github.com/openai/gpt-2/blob/master/src/encoder.py](https://github.com/openai/gpt-2/blob/master/src/encoder.py)\n", - "- In this chapter, we are using the BPE tokenizer from OpenAI's open-source [tiktoken](https://github.com/openai/tiktoken) library, which implements its core algorithms in Rust to improve computational performance\n", + "- In this lab, we are using the BPE tokenizer from open-source [tiktoken](https://github.com/openai/tiktoken) library, which implements its core algorithms in Rust to improve computational performance\n", "- I created a notebook in the [./bytepair_encoder](../02_bonus_bytepair-encoder) that compares these two implementations side-by-side (tiktoken was about 5x faster on the sample text)" ] }, @@ -825,7 +834,7 @@ "metadata": {}, "outputs": [], "source": [ - "with open(\"the-verdict.txt\", \"r\", encoding=\"utf-8\") as f:\n", + "with open(\"wizard_of_oz.txt\", \"r\", encoding=\"utf-8\") as f:\n", " raw_text = f.read()\n", "\n", "enc_text = tokenizer.encode(raw_text)\n", diff --git a/part_1/01_main-code/wizard_of_oz.txt b/part_1/01_main-code/wizard_of_oz.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..faf8ec8 --- /dev/null +++ b/part_1/01_main-code/wizard_of_oz.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5423 @@ + DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ + + BY + + L. FRANK BAUM + + AUTHOR OF THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE LAND OF OZ, OZMA OF OZ, ETC. + + ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN R. NEILL + + BOOKS OF WONDER WILLIAM MORROW & CO., INC. NEW YORK + + + [Illustration] + + + COPYRIGHT 1908 BY L. FRANK BAUM + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration] + + + DEDICATED TO HARRIET A. B. NEAL. + + + * * * * * + + +To My Readers + + +It's no use; no use at all. The children won't let me stop telling tales +of the Land of Oz. I know lots of other stories, and I hope to tell +them, some time or another; but just now my loving tyrants won't allow +me. They cry: "Oz--Oz! more about Oz, Mr. Baum!" and what can I do but +obey their commands? + +This is Our Book--mine and the children's. For they have flooded me with +thousands of suggestions in regard to it, and I have honestly tried to +adopt as many of these suggestions as could be fitted into one story. + +After the wonderful success of "Ozma of Oz" it is evident that Dorothy +has become a firm fixture in these Oz stories. The little ones all love +Dorothy, and as one of my small friends aptly states: "It isn't a real +Oz story without her." So here she is again, as sweet and gentle and +innocent as ever, I hope, and the heroine of another strange adventure. + +There were many requests from my little correspondents for "more about +the Wizard." It seems the jolly old fellow made hosts of friends in the +first Oz book, in spite of the fact that he frankly acknowledged himself +"a humbug." The children had heard how he mounted into the sky in a +balloon and they were all waiting for him to come down again. So what +could I do but tell "what happened to the Wizard afterward"? You will +find him in these pages, just the same humbug Wizard as before. + +There was one thing the children demanded which I found it impossible to +do in this present book: they bade me introduce Toto, Dorothy's little +black dog, who has many friends among my readers. But you will see, when +you begin to read the story, that Toto was in Kansas while Dorothy was +in California, and so she had to start on her adventure without him. In +this book Dorothy had to take her kitten with her instead of her dog; +but in the next Oz book, if I am permitted to write one, I intend to +tell a good deal about Toto's further history. + +Princess Ozma, whom I love as much as my readers do, is again introduced +in this story, and so are several of our old friends of Oz. You will +also become acquainted with Jim the Cab-Horse, the Nine Tiny Piglets, +and Eureka, the Kitten. I am sorry the kitten was not as well behaved as +she ought to have been; but perhaps she wasn't brought up properly. +Dorothy found her, you see, and who her parents were nobody knows. + +I believe, my dears, that I am the proudest story-teller that ever +lived. Many a time tears of pride and joy have stood in my eyes while I +read the tender, loving, appealing letters that come to me in almost +every mail from my little readers. To have pleased you, to have +interested you, to have won your friendship, and perhaps your love, +through my stories, is to my mind as great an achievement as to become +President of the United States. Indeed, I would much rather be your +story-teller, under these conditions, than to be the President. So you +have helped me to fulfill my life's ambition, and I am more grateful to +you, my dears, than I can express in words. + +I try to answer every letter of my young correspondents; yet sometimes +there are so many letters that a little time must pass before you get +your answer. But be patient, friends, for the answer will surely come, +and by writing to me you more than repay me for the pleasant task of +preparing these books. Besides, I am proud to acknowledge that the books +are partly yours, for your suggestions often guide me in telling the +stories, and I am sure they would not be half so good without your +clever and thoughtful assistance. + + L. FRANK BAUM +CORONADO, 1908. + + + + +LIST OF CHAPTERS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + 1 THE EARTHQUAKE 13 + + 2 THE GLASS CITY 23 + + 3 THE ARRIVAL OF THE WIZARD 41 + + 4 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM 55 + + 5 DOROTHY PICKS THE PRINCESS 64 + + 6 THE MANGABOOS PROVE DANGEROUS 77 + + 7 INTO THE BLACK PIT AND OUT AGAIN 88 + + 8 THE VALLEY OF VOICES 95 + + 9 THEY FIGHT THE INVISIBLE BEARS 106 + + 10 THE BRAIDED MAN OF PYRAMID MT 120 + + 11 THEY MEET THE WOODEN GARGOYLES 131 + + 12 A WONDERFUL ESCAPE 142 + + 13 THE DEN OF THE DRAGONETTES 160 + + 14 OZMA USES THE MAGIC BELT 172 + + 15 OLD FRIENDS ARE REUNITED 187 + + 16 JIM, THE CAB-HORSE 203 + + 17 THE NINE TINY PIGLETS 217 + + 18 THE TRIAL OF EUREKA, THE KITTEN 231 + + 19 THE WIZARD PERFORMS ANOTHER TRICK 240 + + 20 ZEB RETURNS TO THE RANCH 251 + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 1. + +THE EARTHQUAKE + + +The train from 'Frisco was very late. It should have arrived at Hugson's +siding at midnight, but it was already five o'clock and the gray dawn +was breaking in the east when the little train slowly rumbled up to the +open shed that served for the station-house. As it came to a stop the +conductor called out in a loud voice: + +"Hugson's Siding!" + +At once a little girl rose from her seat and walked to the door of the +car, carrying a wicker suit-case in one hand and a round bird-cage +covered up with newspapers in the other, while a parasol was tucked +under her arm. The conductor helped her off the car and then the +engineer started his train again, so that it puffed and groaned and +moved slowly away up the track. The reason he was so late was because +all through the night there were times when the solid earth shook and +trembled under him, and the engineer was afraid that at any moment the +rails might spread apart and an accident happen to his passengers. So he +moved the cars slowly and with caution. + +The little girl stood still to watch until the train had disappeared +around a curve; then she turned to see where she was. + +The shed at Hugson's Siding was bare save for an old wooden bench, and +did not look very inviting. As she peered through the soft gray light +not a house of any sort was visible near the station, nor was any person +in sight; but after a while the child discovered a horse and buggy +standing near a group of trees a short distance away. She walked toward +it and found the horse tied to a tree and standing motionless, with its +head hanging down almost to the ground. It was a big horse, tall and +bony, with long legs and large knees and feet. She could count his ribs +easily where they showed through the skin of his body, and his head was +long and seemed altogether too big for him, as if it did not fit. His +tail was short and scraggly, and his harness had been broken in many +places and fastened together again with cords and bits of wire. The +buggy seemed almost new, for it had a shiny top and side curtains. +Getting around in front, so that she could look inside, the girl saw a +boy curled up on the seat, fast asleep. + +She set down the bird-cage and poked the boy with her parasol. Presently +he woke up, rose to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes briskly. + +"Hello!" he said, seeing her, "are you Dorothy Gale?" + +"Yes," she answered, looking gravely at his tousled hair and blinking +gray eyes. "Have you come to take me to Hugson's Ranch?" + +"Of course," he answered. "Train in?" + +"I couldn't be here if it wasn't," she said. + +He laughed at that, and his laugh was merry and frank. Jumping out of +the buggy he put Dorothy's suit-case under the seat and her bird-cage on +the floor in front. + +"Canary-birds?" he asked. + +"Oh, no; it's just Eureka, my kitten. I thought that was the best way to +carry her." + +The boy nodded. + +"Eureka's a funny name for a cat," he remarked. + +"I named my kitten that because I found it," she explained. "Uncle Henry +says 'Eureka' means 'I have found it.'" + +"All right; hop in." + +She climbed into the buggy and he followed her. Then the boy picked up +the reins, shook them, and said "Gid-dap!" + +The horse did not stir. Dorothy thought he just wiggled one of his +drooping ears, but that was all. + +"Gid-dap!" called the boy, again. + +The horse stood still. + +"Perhaps," said Dorothy, "if you untied him, he would go." + +The boy laughed cheerfully and jumped out. + +"Guess I'm half asleep yet," he said, untying the horse. "But Jim knows +his business all right--don't you, Jim?" patting the long nose of the +animal. + +Then he got into the buggy again and took the reins, and the horse at +once backed away from the tree, turned slowly around, and began to trot +down the sandy road which was just visible in the dim light. + +"Thought that train would never come," observed the boy. "I've waited at +that station for five hours." + +"We had a lot of earthquakes," said Dorothy. "Didn't you feel the ground +shake?" + +"Yes; but we're used to such things in California," he replied. "They +don't scare us much." + +[Illustration: DOROTHY POKED THE BOY WITH HER PARASOL.] + +"The conductor said it was the worst quake he ever knew." + +"Did he? Then it must have happened while I was asleep," he said, +thoughtfully. + +"How is Uncle Henry?" she enquired, after a pause during which the horse +continued to trot with long, regular strides. + +"He's pretty well. He and Uncle Hugson have been having a fine visit." + +"Is Mr. Hugson your uncle?" she asked. + +"Yes. Uncle Bill Hugson married your Uncle Henry's wife's sister; so we +must be second cousins," said the boy, in an amused tone. "I work for +Uncle Bill on his ranch, and he pays me six dollars a month and my +board." + +"Isn't that a great deal?" she asked, doubtfully. + +"Why, it's a great deal for Uncle Hugson, but not for me. I'm a splendid +worker. I work as well as I sleep," he added, with a laugh. + +"What is your name?" asked Dorothy, thinking she liked the boy's manner +and the cheery tone of his voice. + +"Not a very pretty one," he answered, as if a little ashamed. "My whole +name is Zebediah; but folks just call me 'Zeb.' You've been to +Australia, haven't you?" + +"Yes; with Uncle Henry," she answered. "We got to San Francisco a week +ago, and Uncle Henry went right on to Hugson's Ranch for a visit while I +stayed a few days in the city with some friends we had met." + +"How long will you be with us?" he asked. + +"Only a day. Tomorrow Uncle Henry and I must start back for Kansas. +We've been away for a long time, you know, and so we're anxious to get +home again." + +The boy flicked the big, boney horse with his whip and looked +thoughtful. Then he started to say something to his little companion, +but before he could speak the buggy began to sway dangerously from side +to side and the earth seemed to rise up before them. Next minute there +was a roar and a sharp crash, and at her side Dorothy saw the ground +open in a wide crack and then come together again. + +"Goodness!" she cried, grasping the iron rail of the seat. "What was +that?" + +"That was an awful big quake," replied Zeb, with a white face. "It +almost got us that time, Dorothy." + +The horse had stopped short, and stood firm as a rock. Zeb shook the +reins and urged him to go, but Jim was stubborn. Then the boy cracked +his whip and touched the animal's flanks with it, and after a low moan +of protest Jim stepped slowly along the road. + +Neither the boy nor the girl spoke again for some minutes. There was a +breath of danger in the very air, and every few moments the earth would +shake violently. Jim's ears were standing erect upon his head and every +muscle of his big body was tense as he trotted toward home. He was not +going very fast, but on his flanks specks of foam began to appear and at +times he would tremble like a leaf. + +The sky had grown darker again and the wind made queer sobbing sounds as +it swept over the valley. + +Suddenly there was a rending, tearing sound, and the earth split into +another great crack just beneath the spot where the horse was standing. +With a wild neigh of terror the animal fell bodily into the pit, drawing +the buggy and its occupants after him. + +Dorothy grabbed fast hold of the buggy top and the boy did the same. The +sudden rush into space confused them so that they could not think. + +Blackness engulfed them on every side, and in breathless silence they +waited for the fall to end and crush them against jagged rocks or for +the earth to close in on them again and bury them forever in its +dreadful depths. + +The horrible sensation of falling, the darkness and the terrifying +noises, proved more than Dorothy could endure and for a few moments the +little girl lost consciousness. Zeb, being a boy, did not faint, but he +was badly frightened, and clung to the buggy seat with a tight grip, +expecting every moment would be his last. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 2. + +THE GLASS CITY + + +When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so +fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an +umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated +downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to bear. +The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great +crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to +overtake them at any moment. Crash after crash echoed far above their +heads, as the earth came together where it had split, and stones and +chunks of clay rattled around them on every side. These they could not +see, but they could feel them pelting the buggy top, and Jim screamed +almost like a human being when a stone overtook him and struck his +boney body. They did not really hurt the poor horse, because everything +was falling together; only the stones and rubbish fell faster than the +horse and buggy, which were held back by the pressure of the air, so +that the terrified animal was actually more frightened than he was +injured. + +How long this state of things continued Dorothy could not even guess, +she was so greatly bewildered. But bye and bye, as she stared ahead into +the black chasm with a beating heart, she began to dimly see the form of +the horse Jim--his head up in the air, his ears erect and his long legs +sprawling in every direction as he tumbled through space. Also, turning +her head, she found that she could see the boy beside her, who had until +now remained as still and silent as she herself. + +Dorothy sighed and commenced to breathe easier. She began to realize +that death was not in store for her, after all, but that she had merely +started upon another adventure, which promised to be just as queer and +unusual as were those she had before encountered. + +With this thought in mind the girl took heart and leaned her head over +the side of the buggy to see where the strange light was coming from. +Far below her she found six great glowing balls suspended in the air. +The central and largest one was white, and reminded her of the sun. +Around it were arranged, like the five points of a star, the other five +brilliant balls; one being rose colored, one violet, one yellow, one +blue and one orange. This splendid group of colored suns sent rays +darting in every direction, and as the horse and buggy--with Dorothy and +Zeb--sank steadily downward and came nearer to the lights, the rays +began to take on all the delicate tintings of a rainbow, growing more +and more distinct every moment until all the space was brilliantly +illuminated. + +Dorothy was too dazed to say much, but she watched one of Jim's big ears +turn to violet and the other to rose, and wondered that his tail should +be yellow and his body striped with blue and orange like the stripes of +a zebra. Then she looked at Zeb, whose face was blue and whose hair was +pink, and gave a little laugh that sounded a bit nervous. + +"Isn't it funny?" she said. + +The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak +through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came +together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright. + +"I--I don't s-s-see any-thing funny--'bout it!" he stammered. + +[Illustration: HORSE, BUGGY AND ALL FELL SLOWLY.] + +Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the +horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the +boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they +were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll +slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim +struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding +himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of +voice: + +"Well, that's better!" + +Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder. + +"Can your horse talk?" she asked. + +"Never knew him to, before," replied the boy. + +"Those were the first words I ever said," called out the horse, who had +overheard them, "and I can't explain why I happened to speak then. This +is a nice scrape you've got me into, isn't it?" + +"As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves," answered Dorothy, +cheerfully. "But never mind; something will happen pretty soon." + +"Of course," growled the horse; "and then we shall be sorry it +happened." + +Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not +understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid. + +Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close +beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes, +and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded. +There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had +passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing +rays so that the boy and girl could open their eyes again. + +"We've got to come to the bottom some time," remarked Zeb, with a deep +sigh. "We can't keep falling forever, you know." + +"Of course not," said Dorothy. "We are somewhere in the middle of the +earth, and the chances are we'll reach the other side of it before long. +But it's a big hollow, isn't it?" + +"Awful big!" answered the boy. + +"We're coming to something now," announced the horse. + +At this they both put their heads over the side of the buggy and looked +down. Yes; there was land below them; and not so very far away, either. +But they were floating very, very slowly--so slowly that it could no +longer be called a fall--and the children had ample time to take heart +and look about them. + +They saw a landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very +like those upon the earth's surface; but all the scene was splendidly +colored by the variegated lights from the six suns. Here and there were +groups of houses that seemed made of clear glass, because they sparkled +so brightly. + +"I'm sure we are in no danger," said Dorothy, in a sober voice. "We are +falling so slowly that we can't be dashed to pieces when we land, and +this country that we are coming to seems quite pretty." + +"We'll never get home again, though!" declared Zeb, with a groan. + +"Oh, I'm not so sure of that," replied the girl. "But don't let us worry +over such things, Zeb; we can't help ourselves just now, you know, and +I've always been told it's foolish to borrow trouble." + +The boy became silent, having no reply to so sensible a speech, and soon +both were fully occupied in staring at the strange scenes spread out +below them. They seemed to be falling right into the middle of a big +city which had many tall buildings with glass domes and sharp-pointed +spires. These spires were like great spear-points, and if they tumbled +upon one of them they were likely to suffer serious injury. + +Jim the horse had seen these spires, also, and his ears stood straight +up with fear, while Dorothy and Zeb held their breaths in suspense. But +no; they floated gently down upon a broad, flat roof, and came to a stop +at last. + +When Jim felt something firm under his feet the poor beast's legs +trembled so much that he could hardly stand; but Zeb at once leaped out +of the buggy to the roof, and he was so awkward and hasty that he kicked +over Dorothy's birdcage, which rolled out upon the roof so that the +bottom came off. At once a pink kitten crept out of the upset cage, sat +down upon the glass roof, and yawned and blinked its round eyes. + +"Oh," said Dorothy. "There's Eureka." + +"First time I ever saw a pink cat," said Zeb. + +"Eureka isn't pink; she's white. It's this queer light that gives her +that color." + +"Where's my milk?" asked the kitten, looking up into Dorothy's face. +"I'm 'most starved to death." + +"Oh, Eureka! Can you talk?" + +"Talk! Am I talking? Good gracious, I believe I am. Isn't it funny?" +asked the kitten. + +"It's all wrong," said Zeb, gravely. "Animals ought not to talk. But +even old Jim has been saying things since we had our accident." + +"I can't see that it's wrong," remarked Jim, in his gruff tones. "At +least, it isn't as wrong as some other things. What's going to become of +us now?" + +"I don't know," answered the boy, looking around him curiously. + +The houses of the city were all made of glass, so clear and transparent +that one could look through the walls as easily as though a window. +Dorothy saw, underneath the roof on which she stood, several rooms used +for rest chambers, and even thought she could make out a number of queer +forms huddled into the corners of these rooms. + +The roof beside them had a great hole smashed through it, and pieces of +glass were lying scattered in every direction. A near by steeple had +been broken off short and the fragments lay heaped beside it. Other +buildings were cracked in places or had corners chipped off from them; +but they must have been very beautiful before these accidents had +happened to mar their perfection. The rainbow tints from the colored +suns fell upon the glass city softly and gave to the buildings many +delicate, shifting hues which were very pretty to see. + +But not a sound had broken the stillness since the strangers had +arrived, except that of their own voices. They began to wonder if there +were no people to inhabit this magnificent city of the inner world. + +Suddenly a man appeared through a hole in the roof next to the one they +were on and stepped into plain view. He was not a very large man, but +was well formed and had a beautiful face--calm and serene as the face of +a fine portrait. His clothing fitted his form snugly and was gorgeously +colored in brilliant shades of green, which varied as the sunbeams +touched them but was not wholly influenced by the solar rays. + +The man had taken a step or two across the glass roof before he noticed +the presence of the strangers; but then he stopped abruptly. There was +no expression of either fear or surprise upon his tranquil face, yet he +must have been both astonished and afraid; for after his eyes had rested +upon the ungainly form of the horse for a moment he walked rapidly to +the furthest edge of the roof, his head turned back over his shoulder to +gaze at the strange animal. + +"Look out!" cried Dorothy, who noticed that the beautiful man did not +look where he was going; "be careful, or you'll fall off!" + +But he paid no attention to her warning. He reached the edge of the tall +roof, stepped one foot out into the air, and walked into space as calmly +as if he were on firm ground. + +The girl, greatly astonished, ran to lean over the edge of the roof, and +saw the man walking rapidly through the air toward the ground. Soon he +reached the street and disappeared through a glass doorway into one of +the glass buildings. + +"How strange!" she exclaimed, drawing a long breath. + +"Yes; but it's lots of fun, if it _is_ strange," remarked the small +voice of the kitten, and Dorothy turned to find her pet walking in the +air a foot or so away from the edge of the roof. + +"Come back, Eureka!" she called, in distress, "you'll certainly be +killed." + +"I have nine lives," said the kitten, purring softly as it walked around +in a circle and then came back to the roof; "but I can't lose even one +of them by falling in this country, because I really couldn't manage to +fall if I wanted to." + +"Does the air bear up your weight?" asked the girl. + +"Of course; can't you see?" and again the kitten wandered into the air +and back to the edge of the roof. + +"It's wonderful!" said Dorothy. + +"Suppose we let Eureka go down to the street and get some one to help +us," suggested Zeb, who had been even more amazed than Dorothy at these +strange happenings. + +"Perhaps we can walk on the air ourselves," replied the girl. + +Zeb drew back with a shiver. + +"I wouldn't dare try," he said. + +"May be Jim will go," continued Dorothy, looking at the horse. + +"And may be he won't!" answered Jim. "I've tumbled through the air long +enough to make me contented on this roof." + +"But we didn't tumble to the roof," said the girl; "by the time we +reached here we were floating very slowly, and I'm almost sure we could +float down to the street without getting hurt. Eureka walks on the air +all right." + +"Eureka weighs only about half a pound," replied the horse, in a +scornful tone, "while I weigh about half a ton." + +"You don't weigh as much as you ought to, Jim," remarked the girl, +shaking her head as she looked at the animal. "You're dreadfully +skinny." + +"Oh, well; I'm old," said the horse, hanging his head despondently, "and +I've had lots of trouble in my day, little one. For a good many years I +drew a public cab in Chicago, and that's enough to make anyone skinny." + +"He eats enough to get fat, I'm sure," said the boy, gravely. + +"Do I? Can you remember any breakfast that I've had today?" growled Jim, +as if he resented Zeb's speech. + +"None of us has had breakfast," said the boy; "and in a time of danger +like this it's foolish to talk about eating." + +"Nothing is more dangerous than being without food," declared the horse, +with a sniff at the rebuke of his young master; "and just at present no +one can tell whether there are any oats in this queer country or not. If +there are, they are liable to be glass oats!" + +[Illustration: "COME ON, JIM! IT'S ALL RIGHT."] + +"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I can see plenty of nice gardens and +fields down below us, at the edge of this city. But I wish we could find +a way to get to the ground." + +"Why don't you walk down?" asked Eureka. "I'm as hungry as the horse is, +and I want my milk." + +"Will you try it, Zeb" asked the girl, turning to her companion. + +Zeb hesitated. He was still pale and frightened, for this dreadful +adventure had upset him and made him nervous and worried. But he did not +wish the little girl to think him a coward, so he advanced slowly to the +edge of the roof. + +Dorothy stretched out a hand to him and Zeb put one foot out and let it +rest in the air a little over the edge of the roof. It seemed firm +enough to walk upon, so he took courage and put out the other foot. +Dorothy kept hold of his hand and followed him, and soon they were both +walking through the air, with the kitten frisking beside them. + +"Come on, Jim!" called the boy. "It's all right." + +Jim had crept to the edge of the roof to look over, and being a sensible +horse and quite experienced, he made up his mind that he could go where +the others did. So, with a snort and a neigh and a whisk of his short +tail he trotted off the roof into the air and at once began floating +downward to the street. His great weight made him fall faster than the +children walked, and he passed them on the way down; but when he came to +the glass pavement he alighted upon it so softly that he was not even +jarred. + +"Well, well!" said Dorothy, drawing a long breath, "What a strange +country this is." + +People began to come out of the glass doors to look at the new arrivals, +and pretty soon quite a crowd had assembled. There were men and women, +but no children at all, and the folks were all beautifully formed and +attractively dressed and had wonderfully handsome faces. There was not +an ugly person in all the throng, yet Dorothy was not especially pleased +by the appearance of these people because their features had no more +expression than the faces of dolls. They did not smile nor did they +frown, or show either fear or surprise or curiosity or friendliness. +They simply stared at the strangers, paying most attention to Jim and +Eureka, for they had never before seen either a horse or a cat and the +children bore an outward resemblance to themselves. + +Pretty soon a man joined the group who wore a glistening star in the +dark hair just over his forehead. He seemed to be a person of authority, +for the others pressed back to give him room. After turning his composed +eyes first upon the animals and then upon the children he said to Zeb, +who was a little taller than Dorothy: + +"Tell me, intruder, was it you who caused the Rain of Stones?" + +For a moment the boy did not know what he meant by this question. Then, +remembering the stones that had fallen with them and passed them long +before they had reached this place, he answered: + +"No, sir; we didn't cause anything. It was the earthquake." + +The man with the star stood for a time quietly thinking over this +speech. Then he asked: + +"What is an earthquake?" + +"I don't know," said Zeb, who was still confused. But Dorothy, seeing +his perplexity, answered: + +"It's a shaking of the earth. In this quake a big crack opened and we +fell through--horse and buggy, and all--and the stones got loose and +came down with us." + +The man with the star regarded her with his calm, expressionless eyes. + +"The Rain of Stones has done much damage to our city," he said; "and we +shall hold you responsible for it unless you can prove your innocence." + +"How can we do that?" asked the girl. + +"That I am not prepared to say. It is your affair, not mine. You must +go to the House of the Sorcerer, who will soon discover the truth." + +"Where is the House of the Sorcerer?" the girl enquired. + +"I will lead you to it. Come!" + +He turned and walked down the street, and after a moment's hesitation +Dorothy caught Eureka in her arms and climbed into the buggy. The boy +took his seat beside her and said: "Gid-dap, Jim." + +As the horse ambled along, drawing the buggy, the people of the glass +city made way for them and formed a procession in their rear. Slowly +they moved down one street and up another, turning first this way and +then that, until they came to an open square in the center of which was +a big glass palace having a central dome and four tall spires on each +corner. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 3. + +THE ARRIVAL OF THE WIZARD + + +The doorway of the glass palace was quite big enough for the horse and +buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children found +themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people at once +followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious room, +leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy the +center of the hall. + +"Come to us, oh, Gwig!" called the man, in a loud voice. + +Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared and rolled over the floor; then it +slowly spread and ascended into the dome, disclosing a strange personage +seated upon a glass throne just before Jim's nose. He was formed just as +were the other inhabitants of this land and his clothing only differed +from theirs in being bright yellow. But he had no hair at all, and all +over his bald head and face and upon the backs of his hands grew sharp +thorns like those found on the branches of rose-bushes. There was even a +thorn upon the tip of his nose and he looked so funny that Dorothy +laughed when she saw him. + +The Sorcerer, hearing the laugh, looked toward the little girl with +cold, cruel eyes, and his glance made her grow sober in an instant. + +"Why have you dared to intrude your unwelcome persons into the secluded +Land of the Mangaboos?" he asked, sternly. + +"'Cause we couldn't help it," said Dorothy. + +"Why did you wickedly and viciously send the Rain of Stones to crack and +break our houses?" he continued. + +"We didn't," declared the girl. + +"Prove it!" cried the Sorcerer. + +"We don't have to prove it," answered Dorothy, indignantly. "If you had +any sense at all you'd known it was the earthquake." + +"We only know that yesterday came a Rain of Stones upon us, which did +much damage and injured some of our people. Today came another Rain of +Stones, and soon after it you appeared among us." + +"By the way," said the man with the star, looking steadily at the +Sorcerer, "you told us yesterday that there would not be a second Rain +of Stones. Yet one has just occurred that was even worse than the first. +What is your sorcery good for if it cannot tell us the truth?" + +"My sorcery does tell the truth!" declared the thorn-covered man. "I +said there would be but one Rain of Stones. This second one was a Rain +of People-and-Horse-and-Buggy. And some stones came with them." + +"Will there be any more Rains?" asked the man with the star. + +"No, my Prince." + +"Neither stones nor people?" + +"No, my Prince." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Quite sure, my Prince. My sorcery tells me so." + +Just then a man came running into the hall and addressed the Prince +after making a low bow. + +"More wonders in the air, my Lord," said he. + +Immediately the Prince and all of his people flocked out of the hall +into the street, that they might see what was about to happen. Dorothy +and Zeb jumped out of the buggy and ran after them, but the Sorcerer +remained calmly in his throne. + +Far up in the air was an object that looked like a balloon. It was not +so high as the glowing star of the six colored suns, but was descending +slowly through the air--so slowly that at first it scarcely seemed to +move. + +The throng stood still and waited. It was all they could do, for to go +away and leave that strange sight was impossible; nor could they hurry +its fall in any way. The earth children were not noticed, being so near +the average size of the Mangaboos, and the horse had remained in the +House of the Sorcerer, with Eureka curled up asleep on the seat of the +buggy. + +Gradually the balloon grew bigger, which was proof that it was settling +down upon the Land of the Mangaboos. Dorothy was surprised to find how +patient the people were, for her own little heart was beating rapidly +with excitement. A balloon meant to her some other arrival from the +surface of the earth, and she hoped it would be some one able to assist +her and Zeb out of their difficulties. + +In an hour the balloon had come near enough for her to see a basket +suspended below it; in two hours she could see a head looking over the +side of the basket; in three hours the big balloon settled slowly into +the great square in which they stood and came to rest on the glass +pavement. + +Then a little man jumped out of the basket, took off his tall hat, and +bowed very gracefully to the crowd of Mangaboos around him. He was quite +an old little man, and his head was long and entirely bald. + +"Why," cried Dorothy, in amazement, "it's Oz!" + +The little man looked toward her and seemed as much surprised as she +was. But he smiled and bowed as he answered: + +"Yes, my dear; I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Eh? And you are little +Dorothy, from Kansas. I remember you very well." + +"Who did you say it was?" whispered Zeb to the girl. + +"It's the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Haven't you heard of him?" + +Just then the man with the star came and stood before the Wizard. + +"Sir," said he, "why are you here, in the Land of the Mangaboos?" + +"Didn't know what land it was, my son," returned the other, with a +pleasant smile; "and, to be honest, I didn't mean to visit you when I +started out. I live on top of the earth, your honor, which is far better +than living inside it; but yesterday I went up in a balloon, and when I +came down I fell into a big crack in the earth, caused by an earthquake. +I had let so much gas out of my balloon that I could not rise again, +and in a few minutes the earth closed over my head. So I continued to +descend until I reached this place, and if you will show me a way to get +out of it, I'll go with pleasure. Sorry to have troubled you; but it +couldn't be helped." + +The Prince had listened with attention. Said he: + +"This child, who is from the crust of the earth, like yourself, called +you a Wizard. Is not a Wizard something like a Sorcerer?" + +"It's better," replied Oz, promptly. "One Wizard is worth three +Sorcerers." + +"Ah, you shall prove that," said the Prince. "We Mangaboos have, at the +present time, one of the most wonderful Sorcerers that ever was picked +from a bush; but he sometimes makes mistakes. Do you ever make +mistakes?" + +"Never!" declared the Wizard, boldly. + +"Oh, Oz!" said Dorothy; "you made a lot of mistakes when you were in the +marvelous Land of Oz." + +"Nonsense!" said the little man, turning red--although just then a ray +of violet sunlight was on his round face. + +"Come with me," said the Prince to him. "I wish you to meet our +Sorcerer." + +The Wizard did not like this invitation, but he could not refuse to +accept it. So he followed the Prince into the great domed hall, and +Dorothy and Zeb came after them, while the throng of people trooped in +also. + +There sat the thorny Sorcerer in his chair of state, and when the Wizard +saw him he began to laugh, uttering comical little chuckles. + +"What an absurd creature!" he exclaimed. + +"He may look absurd," said the Prince, in his quiet voice; "but he is an +excellent Sorcerer. The only fault I find with him is that he is so +often wrong." + +"I am never wrong," answered the Sorcerer. + +"Only a short time ago you told me there would be no more Rain of Stones +or of People," said the Prince. + +"Well, what then?" + +"Here is another person descended from the air to prove you were wrong." + +"One person cannot be called 'people,'" said the Sorcerer. "If two +should come out of the sky you might with justice say I was wrong; but +unless more than this one appears I will hold that I was right." + +"Very clever," said the Wizard, nodding his head as if pleased. "I am +delighted to find humbugs inside the earth, just the same as on top of +it. Were you ever with a circus, brother?" + +"No," said the Sorcerer. + +"You ought to join one," declared the little man seriously. "I belong to +Bailum & Barney's Great Consolidated Shows--three rings in one tent and +a menagerie on the side. It's a fine aggregation, I assure you." + +"What do you do?" asked the Sorcerer. + +"I go up in a balloon, usually, to draw the crowds to the circus. But +I've just had the bad luck to come out of the sky, skip the solid earth, +and land lower down than I intended. But never mind. It isn't everybody +who gets a chance to see your Land of the Gabazoos." + +"Mangaboos," said the Sorcerer, correcting him. "If you are a Wizard you +ought to be able to call people by their right names." + +"Oh, I'm a Wizard; you may be sure of that. Just as good a Wizard as you +are a Sorcerer." + +"That remains to be seen," said the other. + +"If you are able to prove that you are better," said the Prince to the +little man, "I will make you the Chief Wizard of this domain. +Otherwise--" + +"What will happen otherwise?" asked the Wizard. + +"I will stop you from living, and forbid you to be planted," returned +the Prince. + +"That does not sound especially pleasant," said the little man, looking +at the one with the star uneasily. "But never mind. I'll beat Old +Prickly, all right." + +"My name is Gwig," said the Sorcerer, turning his heartless, cruel eyes +upon his rival. "Let me see you equal the sorcery I am about to +perform." + +He waved a thorny hand and at once the tinkling of bells was heard, +playing sweet music. Yet, look where she would, Dorothy could discover +no bells at all in the great glass hall. + +The Mangaboo people listened, but showed no great interest. It was one +of the things Gwig usually did to prove he was a sorcerer. + +Now was the Wizard's turn, so he smiled upon the assemblage and asked: + +"Will somebody kindly loan me a hat?" + +No one did, because the Mangaboos did not wear hats, and Zeb had lost +his, somehow, in his flight through the air. + +"Ahem!" said the Wizard, "will somebody please loan me a handkerchief?" + +But they had no handkerchiefs, either. + +"Very good," remarked the Wizard. "I'll use my own hat, if you please. +Now, good people, observe me carefully. You see, there is nothing up my +sleeve and nothing concealed about my person. Also, my hat is quite +empty." He took off his hat and held it upside down, shaking it +briskly. + +"Let me see it," said the Sorcerer. + +He took the hat and examined it carefully, returning it afterward to the +Wizard. + +"Now," said the little man, "I will create something out of nothing." + +He placed the hat upon the glass floor, made a pass with his hand, and +then removed the hat, displaying a little white piglet no bigger than a +mouse, which began to run around here and there and to grunt and squeal +in a tiny, shrill voice. + +The people watched it intently, for they had never seen a pig before, +big or little. The Wizard reached out, caught the wee creature in his +hand, and holding its head between one thumb and finger and its tail +between the other thumb and finger he pulled it apart, each of the two +parts becoming a whole and separate piglet in an instant. + +He placed one upon the floor, so that it could run around, and pulled +apart the other, making three piglets in all; and then one of these was +pulled apart, making four piglets. The Wizard continued this surprising +performance until nine tiny piglets were running about at his feet, all +squealing and grunting in a very comical way. + +"Now," said the Wizard of Oz, "having created something from nothing, I +will make something nothing again." + +With this he caught up two of the piglets and pushed them together, so +that the two were one. Then he caught up another piglet and pushed it +into the first, where it disappeared. And so, one by one, the nine tiny +piglets were pushed together until but a single one of the creatures +remained. This the Wizard placed underneath his hat and made a mystic +sign above it. When he removed his hat the last piglet had disappeared +entirely. + +The little man gave a bow to the silent throng that had watched him, and +then the Prince said, in his cold, calm voice: + +"You are indeed a wonderful Wizard, and your powers are greater than +those of my Sorcerer." + +"He will not be a wonderful Wizard long," remarked Gwig. + +"Why not?" enquired the Wizard. + +"Because I am going to stop your breath," was the reply. "I perceive +that you are curiously constructed, and that if you cannot breathe you +cannot keep alive." + +The little man looked troubled. + +"How long will it take you to stop my breath?" he asked. + +"About five minutes. I'm going to begin now. Watch me carefully." + +He began making queer signs and passes toward the Wizard; but the little +man did not watch him long. Instead, he drew a leathern case from his +pocket and took from it several sharp knives, which he joined together, +one after another, until they made a long sword. By the time he had +attached a handle to this sword he was having much trouble to breathe, +as the charm of the Sorcerer was beginning to take effect. + +So the Wizard lost no more time, but leaping forward he raised the sharp +sword, whirled it once or twice around his head, and then gave a mighty +stroke that cut the body of the Sorcerer exactly in two. + +Dorothy screamed and expected to see a terrible sight; but as the two +halves of the Sorcerer fell apart on the floor she saw that he had no +bones or blood inside of him at all, and that the place where he was cut +looked much like a sliced turnip or potato. + +"Why, he's vegetable!" cried the Wizard, astonished. + +"Of course," said the Prince. "We are all vegetable, in this country. +Are you not vegetable, also?" + +"No," answered the Wizard. "People on top of the earth are all meat. +Will your Sorcerer die?" + +"Certainly, sir. He is really dead now, and will wither very quickly. So +we must plant him at once, that other Sorcerers may grow upon his bush," +continued the Prince. + +"What do you mean by that?" asked the little Wizard, greatly puzzled. + +"If you will accompany me to our public gardens," replied the Prince, "I +will explain to you much better than I can here the mysteries of our +Vegetable Kingdom." + +[Illustration: THE WIZARD CUT THE SORCERER EXACTLY IN TWO.] + + + + +CHAPTER 4. + +THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM + + +After the Wizard had wiped the dampness from his sword and taken it +apart and put the pieces into their leathern case again, the man with +the star ordered some of his people to carry the two halves of the +Sorcerer to the public gardens. + +Jim pricked up his ears when he heard they were going to the gardens, +and wanted to join the party, thinking he might find something proper to +eat; so Zeb put down the top of the buggy and invited the Wizard to ride +with them. The seat was amply wide enough for the little man and the two +children, and when Jim started to leave the hall the kitten jumped upon +his back and sat there quite contentedly. + +So the procession moved through the streets, the bearers of the Sorcerer +first, the Prince next, then Jim drawing the buggy with the strangers +inside of it, and last the crowd of vegetable people who had no hearts +and could neither smile nor frown. + +The glass city had several fine streets, for a good many people lived +there; but when the procession had passed through these it came upon a +broad plain covered with gardens and watered by many pretty brooks that +flowed through it. There were paths through these gardens, and over some +of the brooks were ornamental glass bridges. + +Dorothy and Zeb now got out of the buggy and walked beside the Prince, +so that they might see and examine the flowers and plants better. + +"Who built these lovely bridges?" asked the little girl. + +"No one built them," answered the man with the star. "They grow." + +"That's queer," said she. "Did the glass houses in your city grow, too?" + +"Of course," he replied. "But it took a good many years for them to grow +as large and fine as they are now. That is why we are so angry when a +Rain of Stones comes to break our towers and crack our roofs." + +"Can't you mend them?" she enquired. + +"No; but they will grow together again, in time, and we must wait until +they do." + +They first passed through many beautiful gardens of flowers, which grew +nearest the city; but Dorothy could hardly tell what kind of flowers +they were, because the colors were constantly changing under the +shifting lights of the six suns. A flower would be pink one second, +white the next, then blue or yellow; and it was the same way when they +came to the plants, which had broad leaves and grew close to the ground. + +When they passed over a field of grass Jim immediately stretched down +his head and began to nibble. + +"A nice country this is," he grumbled, "where a respectable horse has to +eat pink grass!" + +"It's violet," said the Wizard, who was in the buggy. + +"Now it's blue," complained the horse. "As a matter of fact, I'm eating +rainbow grass." + +"How does it taste?" asked the Wizard. + +"Not bad at all," said Jim. "If they give me plenty of it I'll not +complain about its color." + +By this time the party had reached a freshly plowed field, and the +Prince said to Dorothy: + +"This is our planting-ground." + +Several Mangaboos came forward with glass spades and dug a hole in the +ground. Then they put the two halves of the Sorcerer into it and covered +him up. After that other people brought water from a brook and sprinkled +the earth. + +"He will sprout very soon," said the Prince, "and grow into a large +bush, from which we shall in time be able to pick several very good +sorcerers." + +"Do all your people grow on bushes?" asked the boy. + +"Certainly," was the reply. "Do not all people grow upon bushes where +you came from, on the outside of the earth." + +"Not that I ever heard of." + +"How strange! But if you will come with me to one of our folk gardens I +will show you the way we grow in the Land of the Mangaboos." + +It appeared that these odd people, while they were able to walk through +the air with ease, usually moved upon the ground in the ordinary way. +There were no stairs in their houses, because they did not need them, +but on a level surface they generally walked just as we do. + +The little party of strangers now followed the Prince across a few more +of the glass bridges and along several paths until they came to a garden +enclosed by a high hedge. Jim had refused to leave the field of grass, +where he was engaged in busily eating; so the Wizard got out of the +buggy and joined Zeb and Dorothy, and the kitten followed demurely at +their heels. + +Inside the hedge they came upon row after row of large and handsome +plants with broad leaves gracefully curving until their points nearly +reached the ground. In the center of each plant grew a daintily dressed +Mangaboo, for the clothing of all these creatures grew upon them and was +attached to their bodies. + +The growing Mangaboos were of all sizes, from the blossom that had just +turned into a wee baby to the full-grown and almost ripe man or woman. +On some of the bushes might be seen a bud, a blossom, a baby, a +half-grown person and a ripe one; but even those ready to pluck were +motionless and silent, as if devoid of life. This sight explained to +Dorothy why she had seen no children among the Mangaboos, a thing she +had until now been unable to account for. + +"Our people do not acquire their real life until they leave their +bushes," said the Prince. "You will notice they are all attached to the +plants by the soles of their feet, and when they are quite ripe they are +easily separated from the stems and at once attain the powers of motion +and speech. So while they grow they cannot be said to really live, and +they must be picked before they can become good citizens." + +"How long do you live, after you are picked?" asked Dorothy. + +"That depends upon the care we take of ourselves," he replied. "If we +keep cool and moist, and meet with no accidents, we often live for five +years. I've been picked over six years, but our family is known to be +especially long lived." + +"Do you eat?" asked the boy. + +"Eat! No, indeed. We are quite solid inside our bodies, and have no need +to eat, any more than does a potato." + +"But the potatoes sometimes sprout," said Zeb. + +"And sometimes we do," answered the Prince; "but that is considered a +great misfortune, for then we must be planted at once." + +"Where did you grow?" asked the Wizard. + +"I will show you," was the reply. "Step this way, please." + +He led them within another but smaller circle of hedge, where grew one +large and beautiful bush. + +"This," said he, "is the Royal Bush of the Mangaboos. All of our Princes +and Rulers have grown upon this one bush from time immemorial." + +They stood before it in silent admiration. On the central stalk stood +poised the figure of a girl so exquisitely formed and colored and so +lovely in the expression of her delicate features that Dorothy thought +she had never seen so sweet and adorable a creature in all her life. +The maiden's gown was soft as satin and fell about her in ample folds, +while dainty lace-like traceries trimmed the bodice and sleeves. Her +flesh was fine and smooth as polished ivory, and her poise expressed +both dignity and grace. + +"Who is this?" asked the Wizard, curiously. + +The Prince had been staring hard at the girl on the bush. Now he +answered, with a touch of uneasiness in his cold tones: + +"She is the Ruler destined to be my successor, for she is a Royal +Princess. When she becomes fully ripe I must abandon the sovereignty of +the Mangaboos to her." + +"Isn't she ripe now?" asked Dorothy. + +He hesitated. + +"Not quite," said he, finally. "It will be several days before she needs +to be picked, or at least that is my judgment. I am in no hurry to +resign my office and be planted, you may be sure." + +"Probably not," declared the Wizard, nodding. + +"This is one of the most unpleasant things about our vegetable lives," +continued the Prince, with a sigh, "that while we are in our full prime +we must give way to another, and be covered up in the ground to sprout +and grow and give birth to other people." + +"I'm sure the Princess is ready to be picked," asserted Dorothy, gazing +hard at the beautiful girl on the bush. "She's as perfect as she can +be." + +"Never mind," answered the Prince, hastily, "she will be all right for a +few days longer, and it is best for me to rule until I can dispose of +you strangers, who have come to our land uninvited and must be attended +to at once." + +"What are you going to do with us?" asked Zeb. + +"That is a matter I have not quite decided upon," was the reply. "I +think I shall keep this Wizard until a new Sorcerer is ready to pick, +for he seems quite skillful and may be of use to us. But the rest of you +must be destroyed in some way, and you cannot be planted, because I do +not wish horses and cats and meat people growing all over our country." + +"You needn't worry," said Dorothy. "We wouldn't grow under ground, I'm +sure." + +"But why destroy my friends?" asked the little Wizard. "Why not let them +live?" + +"They do not belong here," returned the Prince. "They have no right to +be inside the earth at all." + +"We didn't ask to come down here; we fell," said Dorothy. + +"That is no excuse," declared the Prince, coldly. + +The children looked at each other in perplexity, and the Wizard sighed. +Eureka rubbed her paw on her face and said in her soft, purring voice: + +"He won't need to destroy _me_, for if I don't get something to eat +pretty soon I shall starve to death, and so save him the trouble." + +"If he planted you, he might grow some cat-tails," suggested the Wizard. + +"Oh, Eureka! perhaps we can find you some milk-weeds to eat," said the +boy. + +"Phoo!" snarled the kitten; "I wouldn't touch the nasty things!" + +"You don't need milk, Eureka," remarked Dorothy; "you are big enough now +to eat any kind of food." + +"If I can get it," added Eureka. + +"I'm hungry myself," said Zeb. "But I noticed some strawberries growing +in one of the gardens, and some melons in another place. These people +don't eat such things, so perhaps on our way back they will let us get +them." + +"Never mind your hunger," interrupted the Prince. "I shall order you +destroyed in a few minutes, so you will have no need to ruin our pretty +melon vines and berry bushes. Follow me, please, to meet your doom." + + + + +CHAPTER 5. + +DOROTHY PICKS THE PRINCESS + + +The words of the cold and moist vegetable Prince were not very +comforting, and as he spoke them he turned away and left the enclosure. +The children, feeling sad and despondent, were about to follow him when +the Wizard touched Dorothy softly on her shoulder. + +"Wait!" he whispered. + +"What for?" asked the girl. + +"Suppose we pick the Royal Princess," said the Wizard. "I'm quite sure +she's ripe, and as soon as she comes to life she will be the Ruler, and +may treat us better than that heartless Prince intends to." + +"All right!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly. "Let's pick her while we have +the chance, before the man with the star comes back." + +So together they leaned over the great bush and each of them seized one +hand of the lovely Princess. + +"Pull!" cried Dorothy, and as they did so the royal lady leaned toward +them and the stems snapped and separated from her feet. She was not at +all heavy, so the Wizard and Dorothy managed to lift her gently to the +ground. + +The beautiful creature passed her hands over her eyes an instant, tucked +in a stray lock of hair that had become disarranged, and after a look +around the garden made those present a gracious bow and said, in a sweet +but even toned voice: + +"I thank you very much." + +"We salute your Royal Highness!" cried the Wizard, kneeling and kissing +her hand. + +Just then the voice of the Prince was heard calling upon them to hasten, +and a moment later he returned to the enclosure, followed by a number of +his people. + +Instantly the Princess turned and faced him, and when he saw that she +was picked the Prince stood still and began to tremble. + +"Sir," said the Royal Lady, with much dignity, "you have wronged me +greatly, and would have wronged me still more had not these strangers +come to my rescue. I have been ready for picking all the past week, but +because you were selfish and desired to continue your unlawful rule, +you left me to stand silent upon my bush." + +"I did not know that you were ripe," answered the Prince, in a low +voice. + +"Give me the Star of Royalty!" she commanded. + +Slowly he took the shining star from his own brow and placed it upon +that of the Princess. Then all the people bowed low to her, and the +Prince turned and walked away alone. What became of him afterward our +friends never knew. + +The people of Mangaboo now formed themselves into a procession and +marched toward the glass city to escort their new ruler to her palace +and to perform those ceremonies proper to the occasion. But while the +people in the procession walked upon the ground the Princess walked in +the air just above their heads, to show that she was a superior being +and more exalted than her subjects. + +No one now seemed to pay any attention to the strangers, so Dorothy and +Zeb and the Wizard let the train pass on and then wandered by themselves +into the vegetable gardens. They did not bother to cross the bridges +over the brooks, but when they came to a stream they stepped high and +walked in the air to the other side. This was a very interesting +experience to them, and Dorothy said: + +"I wonder why it is that we can walk so easily in the air." + +"Perhaps," answered the Wizard, "it is because we are close to the +center of the earth, where the attraction of gravitation is very slight. +But I've noticed that many queer things happen in fairy countries." + +"Is this a fairy country?" asked the boy. + +"Of course it is," returned Dorothy, promptly. "Only a fairy country +could have veg'table people; and only in a fairy country could Eureka +and Jim talk as we do." + +"That's true," said Zeb, thoughtfully. + +In the vegetable gardens they found the strawberries and melons, and +several other unknown but delicious fruits, of which they ate heartily. +But the kitten bothered them constantly by demanding milk or meat, and +called the Wizard names because he could not bring her a dish of milk by +means of his magical arts. + +As they sat upon the grass watching Jim, who was still busily eating, +Eureka said: + +"I don't believe you are a Wizard at all!" + +"No," answered the little man, "you are quite right. In the strict sense +of the word I am not a Wizard, but only a humbug." + +"The Wizard of Oz has always been a humbug," agreed Dorothy. "I've known +him for a long time." + +"If that is so," said the boy, "how could he do that wonderful trick +with the nine tiny piglets?" + +"Don't know," said Dorothy, "but it must have been humbug." + +"Very true," declared the Wizard, nodding at her. "It was necessary to +deceive that ugly Sorcerer and the Prince, as well as their stupid +people; but I don't mind telling you, who are my friends, that the thing +was only a trick." + +"But I saw the little pigs with my own eyes!" exclaimed Zeb. + +"So did I," purred the kitten. + +"To be sure," answered the Wizard. "You saw them because they were +there. They are in my inside pocket now. But the pulling of them apart +and pushing them together again was only a sleight-of-hand trick." + +"Let's see the pigs," said Eureka, eagerly. + +The little man felt carefully in his pocket and pulled out the tiny +piglets, setting them upon the grass one by one, where they ran around +and nibbled the tender blades. + +"They're hungry, too," he said. + +"Oh, what cunning things!" cried Dorothy, catching up one and petting +it. + +"Be careful!" said the piglet, with a squeal, "you're squeezing me!" + +"Dear me!" murmured the Wizard, looking at his pets in astonishment. +"They can actually talk!" + +"May I eat one of them?" asked the kitten, in a pleading voice. "I'm +awfully hungry." + +"Why, Eureka," said Dorothy, reproachfully, "what a cruel question! It +would be dreadful to eat these dear little things." + +"I should say so!" grunted another of the piglets, looking uneasily at +the kitten; "cats are cruel things." + +"I'm not cruel," replied the kitten, yawning. "I'm just hungry." + +"You cannot eat my piglets, even if you are starving," declared the +little man, in a stern voice. "They are the only things I have to prove +I'm a wizard." + +"How did they happen to be so little?" asked Dorothy. "I never saw such +small pigs before." + +"They are from the Island of Teenty-Weent," said the Wizard, "where +everything is small because it's a small island. A sailor brought them +to Los Angeles and I gave him nine tickets to the circus for them." + +"But what am I going to eat?" wailed the kitten, sitting in front of +Dorothy and looking pleadingly into her face. "There are no cows here +to give milk; or any mice, or even grasshoppers. And if I can't eat the +piglets you may as well plant me at once and raise catsup." + +"I have an idea," said the Wizard, "that there are fishes in these +brooks. Do you like fish?" + +"Fish!" cried the kitten. "Do I like fish? Why, they're better than +piglets--or even milk!" + +"Then I'll try to catch you some," said he. + +"But won't they be veg'table, like everything else here?" asked the +kitten. + +"I think not. Fishes are not animals, and they are as cold and moist as +the vegetables themselves. There is no reason, that I can see, why they +may not exist in the waters of this strange country." + +Then the Wizard bent a pin for a hook and took a long piece of string +from his pocket for a fish-line. The only bait he could find was a +bright red blossom from a flower; but he knew fishes are easy to fool if +anything bright attracts their attention, so he decided to try the +blossom. Having thrown the end of his line in the water of a nearby +brook he soon felt a sharp tug that told him a fish had bitten and was +caught on the bent pin; so the little man drew in the string and, sure +enough, the fish came with it and was landed safely on the shore, +where it began to flop around in great excitement. + +[Illustration: IN THE GARDEN OF THE MANGABOOS.] + +The fish was fat and round, and its scales glistened like beautifully +cut jewels set close together; but there was no time to examine it +closely, for Eureka made a jump and caught it between her claws, and in +a few moments it had entirely disappeared. + +"Oh, Eureka!" cried Dorothy, "did you eat the bones?" + +"If it had any bones, I ate them," replied the kitten, composedly, as it +washed its face after the meal. "But I don't think that fish had any +bones, because I didn't feel them scratch my throat." + +"You were very greedy," said the girl. + +"I was very hungry," replied the kitten. + +The little pigs had stood huddled in a group, watching this scene with +frightened eyes. + +"Cats are dreadful creatures!" said one of them. + +"I'm glad we are not fishes!" said another. + +"Don't worry," Dorothy murmured, soothingly, "I'll not let the kitten +hurt you." + +Then she happened to remember that in a corner of her suit-case were one +or two crackers that were left over from her luncheon on the train, and +she went to the buggy and brought them. Eureka stuck up her nose at such +food, but the tiny piglets squealed delightedly at the sight of the +crackers and ate them up in a jiffy. + +"Now let us go back to the city," suggested the Wizard. "That is, if Jim +has had enough of the pink grass." + +The cab-horse, who was browsing near, lifted his head with a sigh. + +"I've tried to eat a lot while I had the chance," said he, "for it's +likely to be a long while between meals in this strange country. But I'm +ready to go, now, at any time you wish." + +So, after the Wizard had put the piglets back into his inside pocket, +where they cuddled up and went to sleep, the three climbed into the +buggy and Jim started back to the town. + +"Where shall we stay?" asked the girl. + +"I think I shall take possession of the House of the Sorcerer," replied +the Wizard; "for the Prince said in the presence of his people that he +would keep me until they picked another Sorcerer, and the new Princess +won't know but that we belong there." + +They agreed to this plan, and when they reached the great square Jim +drew the buggy into the big door of the domed hall. + +"It doesn't look very homelike," said Dorothy, gazing around at the +bare room. "But it's a place to stay, anyhow." + +"What are those holes up there?" enquired the boy, pointing to some +openings that appeared near the top of the dome. + +"They look like doorways," said Dorothy; "only there are no stairs to +get to them." + +"You forget that stairs are unnecessary," observed the Wizard. "Let us +walk up, and see where the doors lead to." + +With this he began walking in the air toward the high openings, and +Dorothy and Zeb followed him. It was the same sort of climb one +experiences when walking up a hill, and they were nearly out of breath +when they came to the row of openings, which they perceived to be +doorways leading into halls in the upper part of the house. Following +these halls they discovered many small rooms opening from them, and some +were furnished with glass benches, tables and chairs. But there were no +beds at all. + +"I wonder if these people never sleep," said the girl. + +"Why, there seems to be no night at all in this country," Zeb replied. +"Those colored suns are exactly in the same place they were when we +came, and if there is no sunset there can be no night." + +"Very true," agreed the Wizard. "But it is a long time since I have had +any sleep, and I'm tired. So I think I shall lie down upon one of these +hard glass benches and take a nap." + +"I will, too," said Dorothy, and chose a little room at the end of the +hall. + +Zeb walked down again to unharness Jim, who, when he found himself free, +rolled over a few times and then settled down to sleep, with Eureka +nestling comfortably beside his big, boney body. Then the boy returned +to one of the upper rooms, and in spite of the hardness of the glass +bench was soon deep in slumberland. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 6. + +THE MANGABOOS PROVE DANGEROUS + + +When the Wizard awoke the six colored suns were shining down upon the +Land of the Mangaboos just as they had done ever since his arrival. The +little man, having had a good sleep, felt rested and refreshed, and +looking through the glass partition of the room he saw Zeb sitting up on +his bench and yawning. So the Wizard went in to him. + +"Zeb," said he, "my balloon is of no further use in this strange +country, so I may as well leave it on the square where it fell. But in +the basket-car are some things I would like to keep with me. I wish you +would go and fetch my satchel, two lanterns, and a can of kerosene oil +that is under the seat. There is nothing else that I care about." + +So the boy went willingly upon the errand, and by the time he had +returned Dorothy was awake. Then the three held a counsel to decide what +they should do next, but could think of no way to better their +condition. + +"I don't like these veg'table people," said the little girl. "They're +cold and flabby, like cabbages, in spite of their prettiness." + +"I agree with you. It is because there is no warm blood in them," +remarked the Wizard. + +"And they have no hearts; so they can't love anyone--not even +themselves," declared the boy. + +"The Princess is lovely to look at," continued Dorothy, thoughtfully; +"but I don't care much for her, after all. If there was any other place +to go, I'd like to go there." + +"But _is_ there any other place?" asked the Wizard. + +"I don't know," she answered. + +Just then they heard the big voice of Jim the cab-horse calling to them, +and going to the doorway leading to the dome they found the Princess and +a throng of her people had entered the House of the Sorcerer. + +So they went down to greet the beautiful vegetable lady, who said to +them: + +"I have been talking with my advisors about you meat people, and we have +decided that you do not belong in the Land of the Mangaboos and must not +remain here." + +"How can we go away?" asked Dorothy. + +"Oh, you cannot go away, of course; so you must be destroyed," was the +answer. + +"In what way?" enquired the Wizard. + +"We shall throw you three people into the Garden of the Twining Vines," +said the Princess, "and they will soon crush you and devour your bodies +to make themselves grow bigger. The animals you have with you we will +drive to the mountains and put into the Black Pit. Then our country will +be rid of all its unwelcome visitors." + +"But you are in need of a Sorcerer," said the Wizard, "and not one of +those growing is yet ripe enough to pick. I am greater than any +thorn-covered sorcerer that ever grew in your garden. Why destroy me?" + +"It is true we need a Sorcerer," acknowledged the Princess, "but I am +informed that one of our own will be ready to pick in a few days, to +take the place of Gwig, whom you cut in two before it was time for him +to be planted. Let us see your arts, and the sorceries you are able to +perform. Then I will decide whether to destroy you with the others or +not." + +At this the Wizard made a bow to the people and repeated his trick of +producing the nine tiny piglets and making them disappear again. He did +it very cleverly, indeed, and the Princess looked at the strange +piglets as if she were as truly astonished as any vegetable person could +be. But afterward she said: + +"I have heard of this wonderful magic. But it accomplishes nothing of +value. What else can you do?" + +The Wizard tried to think. Then he jointed together the blades of his +sword and balanced it very skillfully upon the end of his nose. But even +that did not satisfy the Princess. + +Just then his eye fell upon the lanterns and the can of kerosene oil +which Zeb had brought from the car of his balloon, and he got a clever +idea from those commonplace things. + +"Your Highness," said he, "I will now proceed to prove my magic by +creating two suns that you have never seen before; also I will exhibit a +Destroyer much more dreadful than your Clinging Vines." + +So he placed Dorothy upon one side of him and the boy upon the other and +set a lantern upon each of their heads. + +"Don't laugh," he whispered to them, "or you will spoil the effect of my +magic." + +[Illustration: "NOW, PRINCESS," EXCLAIMED THE WIZARD.] + +Then, with much dignity and a look of vast importance upon his wrinkled +face, the Wizard got out his match-box and lighted the two lanterns. The +glare they made was very small when compared with the radiance of the +six great colored suns; but still they gleamed steadily and clearly. The +Mangaboos were much impressed because they had never before seen any +light that did not come directly from their suns. + +Next the Wizard poured a pool of oil from the can upon the glass floor, +where it covered quite a broad surface. When he lighted the oil a +hundred tongues of flame shot up, and the effect was really imposing. + +"Now, Princess," exclaimed the Wizard, "those of your advisors who +wished to throw us into the Garden of Clinging Vines must step within +this circle of light. If they advised you well, and were in the right, +they will not be injured in any way. But if any advised you wrongly, the +light will wither him." + +The advisors of the Princess did not like this test; but she commanded +them to step into the flame and one by one they did so, and were +scorched so badly that the air was soon filled with an odor like that of +baked potatoes. Some of the Mangaboos fell down and had to be dragged +from the fire, and all were so withered that it would be necessary to +plant them at once. + +"Sir," said the Princess to the Wizard, "you are greater than any +Sorcerer we have ever known. As it is evident that my people have +advised me wrongly, I will not cast you three people into the dreadful +Garden of the Clinging Vines; but your animals must be driven into the +Black Pit in the mountain, for my subjects cannot bear to have them +around." + +The Wizard was so pleased to have saved the two children and himself +that he said nothing against this decree; but when the Princess had gone +both Jim and Eureka protested they did not want to go to the Black Pit, +and Dorothy promised she would do all that she could to save them from +such a fate. + +For two or three days after this--if we call days the periods between +sleep, there being no night to divide the hours into days--our friends +were not disturbed in any way. They were even permitted to occupy the +House of the Sorcerer in peace, as if it had been their own, and to +wander in the gardens in search of food. + +Once they came near to the enclosed Garden of the Clinging Vines, and +walking high into the air looked down upon it with much interest. They +saw a mass of tough green vines all matted together and writhing and +twisting around like a nest of great snakes. Everything the vines +touched they crushed, and our adventurers were indeed thankful to have +escaped being cast among them. + +Whenever the Wizard went to sleep he would take the nine tiny piglets +from his pocket and let them run around on the floor of his room to +amuse themselves and get some exercise; and one time they found his +glass door ajar and wandered into the hall and then into the bottom part +of the great dome, walking through the air as easily as Eureka could. +They knew the kitten, by this time, so they scampered over to where she +lay beside Jim and commenced to frisk and play with her. + +The cab-horse, who never slept long at a time, sat upon his haunches and +watched the tiny piglets and the kitten with much approval. + +"Don't be rough!" he would call out, if Eureka knocked over one of the +round, fat piglets with her paw; but the pigs never minded, and enjoyed +the sport very greatly. + +Suddenly they looked up to find the room filled with the silent, +solemn-eyed Mangaboos. Each of the vegetable folks bore a branch covered +with sharp thorns, which was thrust defiantly toward the horse, the +kitten and the piglets. + +"Here--stop this foolishness!" Jim roared, angrily; but after being +pricked once or twice he got upon his four legs and kept out of the way +of the thorns. + +The Mangaboos surrounded them in solid ranks, but left an opening to the +doorway of the hall; so the animals slowly retreated until they were +driven from the room and out upon the street. Here were more of the +vegetable people with thorns, and silently they urged the now frightened +creatures down the street. Jim had to be careful not to step upon the +tiny piglets, who scampered under his feet grunting and squealing, while +Eureka, snarling and biting at the thorns pushed toward her, also tried +to protect the pretty little things from injury. Slowly but steadily the +heartless Mangaboos drove them on, until they had passed through the +city and the gardens and come to the broad plains leading to the +mountain. + +"What does all this mean, anyhow?" asked the horse, jumping to escape a +thorn. + +"Why, they are driving us toward the Black Pit, into which they +threatened to cast us," replied the kitten. "If I were as big as you +are, Jim, I'd fight these miserable turnip-roots!" + +"What would you do?" enquired Jim. + +"I'd kick out with those long legs and iron-shod hoofs." + +"All right," said the horse; "I'll do it." + +An instant later he suddenly backed toward the crowd of Mangaboos and +kicked out his hind legs as hard as he could. A dozen of them smashed +together and tumbled to the ground, and seeing his success Jim kicked +again and again, charging into the vegetable crowd, knocking them in +all directions and sending the others scattering to escape his iron +heels. Eureka helped him by flying into the faces of the enemy and +scratching and biting furiously, and the kitten ruined so many vegetable +complexions that the Mangaboos feared her as much as they did the horse. + +But the foes were too many to be repulsed for long. They tired Jim and +Eureka out, and although the field of battle was thickly covered with +mashed and disabled Mangaboos, our animal friends had to give up at last +and allow themselves to be driven to the mountain. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 7. + +INTO THE BLACK PIT AND OUT AGAIN + + +When they came to the mountain it proved to be a rugged, towering chunk +of deep green glass, and looked dismal and forbidding in the extreme. +Half way up the steep was a yawning cave, black as night beyond the +point where the rainbow rays of the colored suns reached into it. + +The Mangaboos drove the horse and the kitten and the piglets into this +dark hole and then, having pushed the buggy in after them--for it seemed +some of them had dragged it all the way from the domed hall--they began +to pile big glass rocks within the entrance, so that the prisoners could +not get out again. + +"This is dreadful!" groaned Jim. "It will be about the end of our +adventures, I guess." + +"If the Wizard was here," said one of the piglets, sobbing bitterly, "he +would not see us suffer so." + +"We ought to have called him and Dorothy when we were first attacked," +added Eureka. "But never mind; be brave, my friends, and I will go and +tell our masters where you are, and get them to come to your rescue." + +The mouth of the hole was nearly filled up now, but the kitten gave a +leap through the remaining opening and at once scampered up into the +air. The Mangaboos saw her escape, and several of them caught up their +thorns and gave chase, mounting through the air after her. Eureka, +however, was lighter than the Mangaboos, and while they could mount only +about a hundred feet above the earth the kitten found she could go +nearly two hundred feet. So she ran along over their heads until she had +left them far behind and below and had come to the city and the House of +the Sorcerer. There she entered in at Dorothy's window in the dome and +aroused her from her sleep. + +As soon as the little girl knew what had happened she awakened the +Wizard and Zeb, and at once preparations were made to go to the rescue +of Jim and the piglets. The Wizard carried his satchel, which was quite +heavy, and Zeb carried the two lanterns and the oil can. Dorothy's +wicker suit-case was still under the seat of the buggy, and by good +fortune the boy had also placed the harness in the buggy when he had +taken it off from Jim to let the horse lie down and rest. So there was +nothing for the girl to carry but the kitten, which she held close to +her bosom and tried to comfort, for its little heart was still beating +rapidly. + +Some of the Mangaboos discovered them as soon as they left the House of +the Sorcerer; but when they started toward the mountain the vegetable +people allowed them to proceed without interference, yet followed in a +crowd behind them so that they could not go back again. + +Before long they neared the Black Pit, where a busy swarm of Mangaboos, +headed by their Princess, was engaged in piling up glass rocks before +the entrance. + +"Stop, I command you!" cried the Wizard, in an angry tone, and at once +began pulling down the rocks to liberate Jim and the piglets. Instead of +opposing him in this they stood back in silence until he had made a +good-sized hole in the barrier, when by order of the Princess they all +sprang forward and thrust out their sharp thorns. + +[Illustration: THROUGH THE BLACK PIT.] + +Dorothy hopped inside the opening to escape being pricked, and Zeb and +the Wizard, after enduring a few stabs from the thorns, were glad to +follow her. At once the Mangaboos began piling up the rocks of glass +again, and as the little man realized that they were all about to be +entombed in the mountain he said to the children: + +"My dears, what shall we do? Jump out and fight?" + +"What's the use?" replied Dorothy. "I'd as soon die here as live much +longer among those cruel and heartless people." + +"That's the way I feel about it," remarked Zeb, rubbing his wounds. +"I've had enough of the Mangaboos." + +"All right," said the Wizard; "I'm with you, whatever you decide. But we +can't live long in this cavern, that's certain." + +Noticing that the light was growing dim he picked up his nine piglets, +patted each one lovingly on its fat little head, and placed them +carefully in his inside pocket. + +Zeb struck a match and lighted one of the lanterns. The rays of the +colored suns were now shut out from them forever, for the last chinks +had been filled up in the wall that separated their prison from the Land +of the Mangaboos. + +"How big is this hole?" asked Dorothy. + +"I'll explore it and see," replied the boy. + +So he carried the lantern back for quite a distance, while Dorothy and +the Wizard followed at his side. The cavern did not come to an end, as +they had expected it would, but slanted upward through the great glass +mountain, running in a direction that promised to lead them to the side +opposite the Mangaboo country. + +"It isn't a bad road," observed the Wizard, "and if we followed it it +might lead us to some place that is more comfortable than this black +pocket we are now in. I suppose the vegetable folk were always afraid to +enter this cavern because it is dark; but we have our lanterns to light +the way, so I propose that we start out and discover where this tunnel +in the mountain leads to." + +The others agreed readily to this sensible suggestion, and at once the +boy began to harness Jim to the buggy. When all was in readiness the +three took their seats in the buggy and Jim started cautiously along the +way, Zeb driving while the Wizard and Dorothy each held a lighted +lantern so the horse could see where to go. + +Sometimes the tunnel was so narrow that the wheels of the buggy grazed +the sides; then it would broaden out as wide as a street; but the floor +was usually smooth, and for a long time they travelled on without any +accident. Jim stopped sometimes to rest, for the climb was rather steep +and tiresome. + +"We must be nearly as high as the six colored suns, by this time," said +Dorothy. "I didn't know this mountain was so tall." + +"We are certainly a good distance away from the Land of the Mangaboos," +added Zeb; "for we have slanted away from it ever since we started." + +But they kept steadily moving, and just as Jim was about tired out with +his long journey the way suddenly grew lighter, and Zeb put out the +lanterns to save the oil. + +To their joy they found it was a white light that now greeted them, for +all were weary of the colored rainbow lights which, after a time, had +made their eyes ache with their constantly shifting rays. The sides of +the tunnel showed before them like the inside of a long spy-glass, and +the floor became more level. Jim hastened his lagging steps at this +assurance of a quick relief from the dark passage, and in a few moments +more they had emerged from the mountain and found themselves face to +face with a new and charming country. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 8. + +THE VALLEY OF VOICES + + +By journeying through the glass mountain they had reached a delightful +valley that was shaped like the hollow of a great cup, with another +rugged mountain showing on the other side of it, and soft and pretty +green hills at the ends. It was all laid out into lovely lawns and +gardens, with pebble paths leading through them and groves of beautiful +and stately trees dotting the landscape here and there. There were +orchards, too, bearing luscious fruits that are all unknown in our +world. Alluring brooks of crystal water flowed sparkling between their +flower-strewn banks, while scattered over the valley were dozens of the +quaintest and most picturesque cottages our travelers had ever beheld. +None of them were in clusters, such as villages or towns, but each had +ample grounds of its own, with orchards and gardens surrounding it. + +As the new arrivals gazed upon this exquisite scene they were enraptured +by its beauties and the fragrance that permeated the soft air, which +they breathed so gratefully after the confined atmosphere of the tunnel. +Several minutes were consumed in silent admiration before they noticed +two very singular and unusual facts about this valley. One was that it +was lighted from some unseen source; for no sun or moon was in the +arched blue sky, although every object was flooded with a clear and +perfect light. The second and even more singular fact was the absence of +any inhabitant of this splendid place. From their elevated position they +could overlook the entire valley, but not a single moving object could +they see. All appeared mysteriously deserted. + +The mountain on this side was not glass, but made of a stone similar to +granite. With some difficulty and danger Jim drew the buggy over the +loose rocks until he reached the green lawns below, where the paths and +orchards and gardens began. The nearest cottage was still some distance +away. + +"Isn't it fine?" cried Dorothy, in a joyous voice, as she sprang out of +the buggy and let Eureka run frolicking over the velvety grass. + +"Yes, indeed!" answered Zeb. "We were lucky to get away from those +dreadful vegetable people." + +"It wouldn't be so bad," remarked the Wizard, gazing around him, "if we +were obliged to live here always. We couldn't find a prettier place, I'm +sure." + +He took the piglets from his pocket and let them run on the grass, and +Jim tasted a mouthful of the green blades and declared he was very +contented in his new surroundings. + +"We can't walk in the air here, though," called Eureka, who had tried it +and failed; but the others were satisfied to walk on the ground, and the +Wizard said they must be nearer the surface of the earth than they had +been in the Mangaboo country, for everything was more homelike and +natural. + +"But where are the people?" asked Dorothy. + +The little man shook his bald head. + +"Can't imagine, my dear," he replied. + +They heard the sudden twittering of a bird, but could not find the +creature anywhere. Slowly they walked along the path toward the nearest +cottage, the piglets racing and gambolling beside them and Jim pausing +at every step for another mouthful of grass. + +Presently they came to a low plant which had broad, spreading leaves, in +the center of which grew a single fruit about as large as a peach. The +fruit was so daintily colored and so fragrant, and looked so appetizing +and delicious that Dorothy stopped and exclaimed: + +"What is it, do you s'pose?" + +The piglets had smelled the fruit quickly, and before the girl could +reach out her hand to pluck it every one of the nine tiny ones had +rushed in and commenced to devour it with great eagerness. + +"It's good, anyway," said Zeb, "or those little rascals wouldn't have +gobbled it up so greedily." + +"Where are they?" asked Dorothy, in astonishment. + +They all looked around, but the piglets had disappeared. + +"Dear me!" cried the Wizard; "they must have run away. But I didn't see +them go; did you?" + +"No!" replied the boy and the girl, together. + +"Here,--piggy, piggy, piggy!" called their master, anxiously. + +Several squeals and grunts were instantly heard at his feet, but the +Wizard could not discover a single piglet. + +"Where are you?" he asked. + +"Why, right beside you," spoke a tiny voice. "Can't you see us?" + +[Illustration: "ARE THERE REALLY PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM?"] + +"No," answered the little man, in a puzzled tone. + +"We can see you," said another of the piglets. + +The Wizard stooped down and put out his hand, and at once felt the small +fat body of one of his pets. He picked it up, but could not see what he +held. + +"It is very strange," said he, soberly. "The piglets have become +invisible, in some curious way." + +"I'll bet it's because they ate that peach!" cried the kitten. + +"It wasn't a peach, Eureka," said Dorothy. "I only hope it wasn't +poison." + +"It was fine, Dorothy," called one of the piglets. + +"We'll eat all we can find of them," said another. + +"But _we_ mus'n't eat them," the Wizard warned the children, "or we too +may become invisible, and lose each other. If we come across another of +the strange fruit we must avoid it." + +Calling the piglets to him he picked them all up, one by one, and put +them away in his pocket; for although he could not see them he could +feel them, and when he had buttoned his coat he knew they were safe for +the present. + +The travellers now resumed their walk toward the cottage, which they +presently reached. It was a pretty place, with vines growing thickly +over the broad front porch. The door stood open and a table was set in +the front room, with four chairs drawn up to it. On the table were +plates, knives and forks, and dishes of bread, meat and fruits. The meat +was smoking hot and the knives and forks were performing strange antics +and jumping here and there in quite a puzzling way. But not a single +person appeared to be in the room. + +"How funny!" exclaimed Dorothy, who with Zeb and the Wizard now stood in +the doorway. + +A peal of merry laughter answered her, and the knives and forks fell to +the plates with a clatter. One of the chairs pushed back from the table, +and this was so astonishing and mysterious that Dorothy was almost +tempted to run away in fright. + +"Here are strangers, mama!" cried the shrill and childish voice of some +unseen person. + +"So I see, my dear," answered another voice, soft and womanly. + +"What do you want?" demanded a third voice, in a stern, gruff accent. + +"Well, well!" said the Wizard; "are there really people in this room?" + +"Of course," replied the man's voice. + +"And--pardon me for the foolish question--but, are you all invisible?" + +"Surely," the woman answered, repeating her low, rippling laughter. +"Are you surprised that you are unable to see the people of Voe?" + +"Why, yes," stammered the Wizard. "All the people I have ever met before +were very plain to see." + +"Where do you come from, then?" asked the woman, in a curious tone. + +"We belong upon the face of the earth," explained the Wizard, "but +recently, during an earthquake, we fell down a crack and landed in the +Country of the Mangaboos." + +"Dreadful creatures!" exclaimed the woman's voice. "I've heard of them." + +"They walled us up in a mountain," continued the Wizard; "but we found +there was a tunnel through to this side, so we came here. It is a +beautiful place. What do you call it?" + +"It is the Valley of Voe." + +"Thank you. We have seen no people since we arrived, so we came to this +house to enquire our way." + +"Are you hungry?" asked the woman's voice. + +"I could eat something," said Dorothy. + +"So could I," added Zeb. + +"But we do not wish to intrude, I assure you," the Wizard hastened to +say. + +"That's all right," returned the man's voice, more pleasantly than +before. "You are welcome to what we have." + +As he spoke the voice came so near to Zeb that he jumped back in alarm. +Two childish voices laughed merrily at this action, and Dorothy was sure +they were in no danger among such light-hearted folks, even if those +folks couldn't be seen. + +"What curious animal is that which is eating the grass on my lawn?" +enquired the man's voice. + +"That's Jim," said the girl. "He's a horse." + +"What is he good for?" was the next question. + +"He draws the buggy you see fastened to him, and we ride in the buggy +instead of walking," she explained. + +"Can he fight?" asked the man's voice. + +"No! he can kick pretty hard with his heels, and bite a little; but Jim +can't 'zactly fight," she replied. + +"Then the bears will get him," said one of the children's voices. + +"Bears!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Are these bears here?" + +"That is the one evil of our country," answered the invisible man. "Many +large and fierce bears roam in the Valley of Voe, and when they can +catch any of us they eat us up; but as they cannot see us, we seldom get +caught." + +"Are the bears invis'ble, too?" asked the girl. + +"Yes; for they eat of the dama-fruit, as we all do, and that keeps them +from being seen by any eye, whether human or animal." + +"Does the dama-fruit grow on a low bush, and look something like a +peach?" asked the Wizard. + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"If it makes you invis'ble, why do you eat it?" Dorothy enquired. + +"For two reasons, my dear," the woman's voice answered. "The dama-fruit +is the most delicious thing that grows, and when it makes us invisible +the bears cannot find us to eat us up. But now, good wanderers, your +luncheon is on the table, so please sit down and eat as much as you +like." + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 9. + +THEY FIGHT THE INVISIBLE BEARS + + +The strangers took their seats at the table willingly enough, for they +were all hungry and the platters were now heaped with good things to +eat. In front of each place was a plate bearing one of the delicious +dama-fruit, and the perfume that rose from these was so enticing and +sweet that they were sorely tempted to eat of them and become invisible. + +But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her companions +did likewise, resisting the temptation. + +"Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice. + +"We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl. + +"But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour you," said +a girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the children. "We who +live here much prefer to be invisible; for we can still hug and kiss one +another, and are quite safe from the bears." + +"And we do not have to be so particular about our dress," remarked the +man. + +"And mama can't tell whether my face is dirty or not!" added the other +childish voice, gleefully. + +"But I make you wash it, every time I think of it," said the mother; +"for it stands to reason your face is dirty, Ianu, whether I can see it +or not." + +Dorothy laughed and stretched out her hands. + +"Come here, please--Ianu and your sister--and let me feel of you," she +requested. + +They came to her willingly, and Dorothy passed her hands over their +faces and forms and decided one was a girl of about her own age and the +other a boy somewhat smaller. The girl's hair was soft and fluffy and +her skin as smooth as satin. When Dorothy gently touched her nose and +ears and lips they seemed to be well and delicately formed. + +"If I could see you I am sure you would be beautiful," she declared. + +The girl laughed, and her mother said: + +"We are not vain in the Valley of Voe, because we can not display our +beauty, and good actions and pleasant ways are what make us lovely to +our companions. Yet we can see and appreciate the beauties of nature, +the dainty flowers and trees, the green fields and the clear blue of the +sky." + +"How about the birds and beasts and fishes?" asked Zeb. + +"The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas as much +as we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them. Neither can we +see the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit. But the fishes that +swim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch them to eat." + +"It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even while +invisible," remarked the Wizard. "Nevertheless, we prefer to remain +visible while we are in your valley." + +Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering outside +with Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she cried out: + +"Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I'm half starved." + +The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the small +animal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured them by +explaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if she wished +to. Then, as the others had by this time moved away from the table, the +kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the cloth to see what +there was to eat. To her surprise an unseen hand clutched her and held +her suspended in the air. Eureka was frantic with terror, and tried to +scratch and bite, so the next moment she was dropped to the floor. + +"Did you see that, Dorothy?" she gasped. + +"Yes, dear," her mistress replied; "there are people living in this +house, although we cannot see them. And you must have better manners, +Eureka, or something worse will happen to you." + +She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate greedily. + +"Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table," she begged, when +she had cleaned the plate. + +"Those are damas," said Dorothy, "and you must never even taste them, +Eureka, or you'll get invis'ble, and then we can't see you at all." + +The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit. + +"Does it hurt to be invis'ble?" she asked. + +"I don't know," Dorothy answered; "but it would hurt me dre'fully to +lose you." + +"Very well, I won't touch it," decided the kitten; "but you must keep it +away from me, for the smell is very tempting." + +"Can you tell us, sir or ma'am," said the Wizard, addressing the air +because he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, "if there +is any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top of the +Earth again." + +"Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough," answered the man's voice; +"but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country. As for +reaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is possible to +do that, and if you succeeded in getting there you would probably fall +off." + +"Oh, no," said Dorothy, "we've been there, and we know." + +"The Valley of Voe is certainly a charming place," resumed the Wizard; +"but we cannot be contented in any other land than our own, for long. +Even if we should come to unpleasant places on our way it is necessary, +in order to reach the earth's surface, to keep moving on toward it." + +"In that case," said the man, "it will be best for you to cross our +Valley and mount the spiral staircase inside the Pyramid Mountain. The +top of that mountain is lost in the clouds, and when you reach it you +will be in the awful Land of Naught, where the Gargoyles live." + +"What are Gargoyles?" asked Zeb. + +"I do not know, young sir. Our greatest Champion, Overman-Anu, once +climbed the spiral stairway and fought nine days with the Gargoyles +before he could escape them and come back; but he could never be induced +to describe the dreadful creatures, and soon afterward a bear caught +him and ate him up." + +The wanderers were rather discouraged by this gloomy report, but Dorothy +said with a sigh: + +"If the only way to get home is to meet the Gurgles, then we've got to +meet 'em. They can't be worse than the Wicked Witch or the Nome King." + +"But you must remember you had the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman to help +you conquer those enemies," suggested the Wizard. "Just now, my dear, +there is not a single warrior in your company." + +"Oh, I guess Zeb could fight if he had to. Couldn't you, Zeb?" asked the +little girl. + +"Perhaps; if I had to," answered Zeb, doubtfully. + +"And you have the jointed sword that you chopped the veg'table Sorcerer +in two with," the girl said to the little man. + +"True," he replied; "and in my satchel are other useful things to fight +with." + +"What the Gargoyles most dread is a noise," said the man's voice. "Our +Champion told me that when he shouted his battle-cry the creatures +shuddered and drew back, hesitating to continue the combat. But they +were in great numbers, and the Champion could not shout much because he +had to save his breath for fighting." + +"Very good," said the Wizard; "we can all yell better than we can fight, +so we ought to defeat the Gargoyles." + +"But tell me," said Dorothy, "how did such a brave Champion happen to +let the bears eat him? And if he was invis'ble, and the bears invis'ble, +who knows that they really ate him up?" + +"The Champion had killed eleven bears in his time," returned the unseen +man; "and we know this is true because when any creature is dead the +invisible charm of the dama-fruit ceases to be active, and the slain one +can be plainly seen by all eyes. When the Champion killed a bear +everyone could see it; and when the bears killed the Champion we all saw +several pieces of him scattered about, which of course disappeared again +when the bears devoured them." + +They now bade farewell to the kind but unseen people of the cottage, and +after the man had called their attention to a high, pyramid-shaped +mountain on the opposite side of the Valley, and told them how to travel +in order to reach it, they again started upon their journey. + +They followed the course of a broad stream and passed several more +pretty cottages; but of course they saw no one, nor did any one speak to +them. Fruits and flowers grew plentifully all about, and there were many +of the delicious damas that the people of Voe were so fond of. + +About noon they stopped to allow Jim to rest in the shade of a pretty +orchard, and while they plucked and ate some of the cherries and plums +that grew there a soft voice suddenly said to them: + +"There are bears near by. Be careful." + +The Wizard got out his sword at once, and Zeb grabbed the horse-whip. +Dorothy climbed into the buggy, although Jim had been unharnessed from +it and was grazing some distance away. + +The owner of the unseen voice laughed lightly and said: + +"You cannot escape the bears that way." + +"How _can_ we 'scape?" asked Dorothy, nervously, for an unseen danger is +always the hardest to face. + +"You must take to the river," was the reply. "The bears will not venture +upon the water." + +"But we would be drowned!" exclaimed the girl. + +"Oh, there is no need of that," said the voice, which from its gentle +tones seemed to belong to a young girl. "You are strangers in the Valley +of Voe, and do not seem to know our ways; so I will try to save you." + +The next moment a broad-leaved plant was jerked from the ground where it +grew and held suspended in the air before the Wizard. + +[Illustration: ESCAPING THE INVISIBLE BEARS.] + +"Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles of +all your feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water without +sinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not know, and we +people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we travel, and so escape +our enemies." + +"Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a leaf upon +the soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The girl took a leaf +and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest of the plant was +handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own feet, carefully rubbed +it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon the tires of the +buggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task when a low growling +was suddenly heard and the horse began to jump around and kick viciously +with his heels. + +"Quick! To the water, or you are lost!" cried their unseen friend, and +without hesitation the Wizard drew the buggy down the bank and out upon +the broad river, for Dorothy was still seated in it with Eureka in her +arms. They did not sink at all, owing to the virtues of the strange +plant they had used, and when the buggy was in the middle of the stream +the Wizard returned to the bank to assist Zeb and Jim. + +The horse was plunging madly about, and two or three deep gashes +appeared upon its flanks, from which the blood flowed freely. + +"Run for the river!" shouted the Wizard, and Jim quickly freed himself +from his unseen tormenters by a few vicious kicks and then obeyed. As +soon as he trotted out upon the surface of the river he found himself +safe from pursuit, and Zeb was already running across the water toward +Dorothy. + +As the little Wizard turned to follow them he felt a hot breath against +his cheek and heard a low, fierce growl. At once he began stabbing at +the air with his sword, and he knew that he had struck some substance +because when he drew back the blade it was dripping with blood. The +third time that he thrust out the weapon there was a loud roar and a +fall, and suddenly at his feet appeared the form of a great red bear, +which was nearly as big as the horse and much stronger and fiercer. The +beast was quite dead from the sword thrusts, and after a glance at its +terrible claws and sharp teeth the little man turned in a panic and +rushed out upon the water, for other menacing growls told him more bears +were near. + +On the river, however, the adventurers seemed to be perfectly safe. +Dorothy and the buggy had floated slowly down stream with the current of +the water, and the others made haste to join her. The Wizard opened his +satchel and got out some sticking-plaster with which he mended the cuts +Jim had received from the claws of the bears. + +"I think we'd better stick to the river, after this," said Dorothy. "If +our unknown friend hadn't warned us, and told us what to do, we would +all be dead by this time." + +"That is true," agreed the Wizard, "and as the river seems to be flowing +in the direction of the Pyramid Mountain it will be the easiest way for +us to travel." + +Zeb hitched Jim to the buggy again, and the horse trotted along and drew +them rapidly over the smooth water. The kitten was at first dreadfully +afraid of getting wet, but Dorothy let her down and soon Eureka was +frisking along beside the buggy without being scared a bit. Once a +little fish swam too near the surface, and the kitten grabbed it in her +mouth and ate it up as quick as a wink; but Dorothy cautioned her to be +careful what she ate in this valley of enchantments, and no more fishes +were careless enough to swim within reach. + +After a journey of several hours they came to a point where the river +curved, and they found they must cross a mile or so of the Valley before +they came to the Pyramid Mountain. There were few houses in this part, +and few orchards or flowers; so our friends feared they might encounter +more of the savage bears, which they had learned to dread with all their +hearts. + +"You'll have to make a dash, Jim," said the Wizard, "and run as fast as +you can go." + +"All right," answered the horse; "I'll do my best. But you must remember +I'm old, and my dashing days are past and gone." + +All three got into the buggy and Zeb picked up the reins, though Jim +needed no guidance of any sort. The horse was still smarting from the +sharp claws of the invisible bears, and as soon as he was on land and +headed toward the mountain the thought that more of those fearsome +creatures might be near acted as a spur and sent him galloping along in +a way that made Dorothy catch her breath. + +Then Zeb, in a spirit of mischief, uttered a growl like that of the +bears, and Jim pricked up his ears and fairly flew. His boney legs moved +so fast they could scarcely be seen, and the Wizard clung fast to the +seat and yelled "Whoa!" at the top of his voice. + +"I--I'm 'fraid he's--he's running away!" gasped Dorothy. + +"I _know_ he is," said Zeb; "but no bear can catch him if he keeps up +that gait--and the harness or the buggy don't break." + +Jim did not make a mile a minute; but almost before they were aware of +it he drew up at the foot of the mountain, so suddenly that the Wizard +and Zeb both sailed over the dashboard and landed in the soft +grass--where they rolled over several times before they stopped. +Dorothy nearly went with them, but she was holding fast to the iron rail +of the seat, and that saved her. She squeezed the kitten, though, until +it screeched; and then the old cab-horse made several curious sounds +that led the little girl to suspect he was laughing at them all. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 10. + +THE BRAIDED MAN OF PYRAMID MOUNTAIN + + +The mountain before them was shaped like a cone and was so tall that its +point was lost in the clouds. Directly facing the place where Jim had +stopped was an arched opening leading to a broad stairway. The stairs +were cut in the rock inside the mountain, and they were broad and not +very steep, because they circled around like a cork-screw, and at the +arched opening where the flight began the circle was quite big. At the +foot of the stairs was a sign reading: + + WARNING. + These steps lead to the + Land of the Gargoyles. + DANGER! KEEP OUT. + +"I wonder how Jim is ever going to draw the buggy up so many stairs," +said Dorothy, gravely. + +"No trouble at all," declared the horse, with a contemptuous neigh. +"Still, I don't care to drag any passengers. You'll all have to walk." + +"Suppose the stairs get steeper?" suggested Zeb, doubtfully. + +"Then you'll have to boost the buggy-wheels, that's all," answered Jim. + +"We'll try it, anyway," said the Wizard. "It's the only way to get out +of the Valley of Voe." + +So they began to ascend the stairs, Dorothy and the Wizard first, Jim +next, drawing the buggy, and then Zeb to watch that nothing happened to +the harness. + +The light was dim, and soon they mounted into total darkness, so that +the Wizard was obliged to get out his lanterns to light the way. But +this enabled them to proceed steadily until they came to a landing where +there was a rift in the side of the mountain that let in both light and +air. Looking through this opening they could see the Valley of Voe lying +far below them, the cottages seeming like toy houses from that distance. + +After resting a few moments they resumed their climb, and still the +stairs were broad and low enough for Jim to draw the buggy easily after +him. The old horse panted a little, and had to stop often to get his +breath. At such times they were all glad to wait for him, for +continually climbing up stairs is sure to make one's legs ache. + +They wound about, always going upward, for some time. The lights from +the lanterns dimly showed the way, but it was a gloomy journey, and they +were pleased when a broad streak of light ahead assured them they were +coming to a second landing. + +Here one side of the mountain had a great hole in it, like the mouth of +a cavern, and the stairs stopped at the near edge of the floor and +commenced ascending again at the opposite edge. + +The opening in the mountain was on the side opposite to the Valley of +Voe, and our travellers looked out upon a strange scene. Below them was +a vast space, at the bottom of which was a black sea with rolling +billows, through which little tongues of flame constantly shot up. Just +above them, and almost on a level with their platform, were banks of +rolling clouds which constantly shifted position and changed color. The +blues and greys were very beautiful, and Dorothy noticed that on the +cloud banks sat or reclined fleecy, shadowy forms of beautiful beings +who must have been the Cloud Fairies. Mortals who stand upon the earth +and look up at the sky cannot often distinguish these forms, but our +friends were now so near to the clouds that they observed the dainty +fairies very clearly. + +"Are they real?" asked Zeb, in an awed voice. + +"Of course," replied Dorothy, softly. "They are the Cloud Fairies." + +"They seem like open-work," remarked the boy, gazing intently. "If I +should squeeze one, there wouldn't be anything left of it." + +In the open space between the clouds and the black, bubbling sea far +beneath, could be seen an occasional strange bird winging its way +swiftly through the air. These birds were of enormous size, and reminded +Zeb of the rocs he had read about in the Arabian Nights. They had fierce +eyes and sharp talons and beaks, and the children hoped none of them +would venture into the cavern. + +"Well, I declare!" suddenly exclaimed the little Wizard. "What in the +world is this?" + +They turned around and found a man standing on the floor in the center +of the cave, who bowed very politely when he saw he had attracted their +attention. He was a very old man, bent nearly double; but the queerest +thing about him was his white hair and beard. These were so long that +they reached to his feet, and both the hair and the beard were +carefully plaited into many braids, and the end of each braid fastened +with a bow of colored ribbon. + +"Where did you come from?" asked Dorothy, wonderingly. + +"No place at all," answered the man with the braids; "that is, not +recently. Once I lived on top the earth, but for many years I have had +my factory in this spot--half way up Pyramid Mountain." + +"Are we only half way up?" enquired the boy, in a discouraged tone. + +"I believe so, my lad," replied the braided man. "But as I have never +been in either direction, down or up, since I arrived, I cannot be +positive whether it is exactly half way or not." + +"Have you a factory in this place?" asked the Wizard, who had been +examining the strange personage carefully. + +"To be sure," said the other. "I am a great inventor, you must know, and +I manufacture my products in this lonely spot." + +"What are your products?" enquired the Wizard. + +"Well, I make Assorted Flutters for flags and bunting, and a superior +grade of Rustles for ladies' silk gowns." + +"I thought so," said the Wizard, with a sigh. "May we examine some of +these articles?" + +[Illustration: THE CLOUD FAIRIES.] + +[Illustration: THE BRAIDED MAN.] + +"Yes, indeed; come into my shop, please," and the braided man turned and +led the way into a smaller cave, where he evidently lived. Here, on a +broad shelf, were several card-board boxes of various sizes, each tied +with cotton cord. + +"This," said the man, taking up a box and handling it gently, "contains +twelve dozen rustles--enough to last any lady a year. Will you buy it, +my dear?" he asked, addressing Dorothy. + +"My gown isn't silk," she said, smiling. + +"Never mind. When you open the box the rustles will escape, whether you +are wearing a silk dress or not," said the man, seriously. Then he +picked up another box. "In this," he continued, "are many assorted +flutters. They are invaluable to make flags flutter on a still day, when +there is no wind. You, sir," turning to the Wizard, "ought to have this +assortment. Once you have tried my goods I am sure you will never be +without them." + +"I have no money with me," said the Wizard, evasively. + +"I do not want money," returned the braided man, "for I could not spend +it in this deserted place if I had it. But I would like very much a blue +hair-ribbon. You will notice my braids are tied with yellow, pink, +brown, red, green, white and black; but I have no blue ribbons." + +"I'll get you one!" cried Dorothy, who was sorry for the poor man; so +she ran back to the buggy and took from her suit-case a pretty blue +ribbon. It did her good to see how the braided man's eyes sparkled when +he received this treasure. + +"You have made me very, very happy, my dear!" he exclaimed; and then he +insisted on the Wizard taking the box of flutters and the little girl +accepting the box of rustles. + +"You may need them, some time," he said, "and there is really no use in +my manufacturing these things unless somebody uses them." + +"Why did you leave the surface of the earth?" enquired the Wizard. + +"I could not help it. It is a sad story, but if you will try to restrain +your tears I will tell you about it. On earth I was a manufacturer of +Imported Holes for American Swiss Cheese, and I will acknowledge that I +supplied a superior article, which was in great demand. Also I made +pores for porous plasters and high-grade holes for doughnuts and +buttons. Finally I invented a new Adjustable Post-hole, which I thought +would make my fortune. I manufactured a large quantity of these +post-holes, and having no room in which to store them I set them all end +to end and put the top one in the ground. That made an extraordinary +long hole, as you may imagine, and reached far down into the earth; and, +as I leaned over it to try to see to the bottom, I lost my balance and +tumbled in. Unfortunately, the hole led directly into the vast space you +see outside this mountain; but I managed to catch a point of rock that +projected from this cavern, and so saved myself from tumbling headlong +into the black waves beneath, where the tongues of flame that dart out +would certainly have consumed me. Here, then, I made my home; and +although it is a lonely place I amuse myself making rustles and +flutters, and so get along very nicely." + +When the braided man had completed this strange tale Dorothy nearly +laughed, because it was all so absurd; but the Wizard tapped his +forehead significantly, to indicate that he thought the poor man was +crazy. So they politely bade him good day, and went back to the outer +cavern to resume their journey. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 11. + +THEY MEET THE WOODEN GARGOYLES + + +Another breathless climb brought our adventurers to a third landing +where there was a rift in the mountain. On peering out all they could +see was rolling banks of clouds, so thick that they obscured all else. + +But the travellers were obliged to rest, and while they were sitting on +the rocky floor the Wizard felt in his pocket and brought out the nine +tiny piglets. To his delight they were now plainly visible, which proved +that they had passed beyond the influence of the magical Valley of Voe. + +"Why, we can see each other again!" cried one, joyfully. + +"Yes," sighed Eureka; "and I also can see you again, and the sight +makes me dreadfully hungry. Please, Mr. Wizard, may I eat just one of +the fat little piglets? You'd never miss _one_ of them, I'm sure!" + +"What a horrid, savage beast!" exclaimed a piglet; "and after we've been +such good friends, too, and played with one another!" + +"When I'm not hungry, I love to play with you all," said the kitten, +demurely; "but when my stomach is empty it seems that nothing would fill +it so nicely as a fat piglet." + +"And we trusted you so!" said another of the nine, reproachfully. + +"And thought you were respectable!" said another. + +"It seems we were mistaken," declared a third, looking at the kitten +timorously, "no one with such murderous desires should belong to our +party, I'm sure." + +"You see, Eureka," remarked Dorothy, reprovingly, "you are making +yourself disliked. There are certain things proper for a kitten to eat; +but I never heard of a kitten eating a pig, under _any_ cir'stances." + +"Did you ever see such little pigs before?" asked the kitten. "They are +no bigger than mice, and I'm sure mice are proper for me to eat." + +"It isn't the bigness, dear; its the variety," replied the girl. "These +are Mr. Wizard's pets, just as you are my pet, and it wouldn't be any +more proper for you to eat them than it would be for Jim to eat you." + +"And that's just what I shall do if you don't let those little balls of +pork alone," said Jim, glaring at the kitten with his round, big eyes. +"If you injure any one of them I'll chew you up instantly." + +The kitten looked at the horse thoughtfully, as if trying to decide +whether he meant it or not. + +"In that case," she said, "I'll leave them alone. You haven't many teeth +left, Jim, but the few you have are sharp enough to make me shudder. So +the piglets will be perfectly safe, hereafter, as far as I am +concerned." + +"That is right, Eureka," remarked the Wizard, earnestly. "Let us all be +a happy family and love one another." + +Eureka yawned and stretched herself. + +"I've always loved the piglets," she said; "but they don't love me." + +"No one can love a person he's afraid of," asserted Dorothy. "If you +behave, and don't scare the little pigs, I'm sure they'll grow very fond +of you." + +The Wizard now put the nine tiny ones back into his pocket and the +journey was resumed. + +"We must be pretty near the top, now," said the boy, as they climbed +wearily up the dark, winding stairway. + +"The Country of the Gurgles can't be far from the top of the earth," +remarked Dorothy. "It isn't very nice down here. I'd like to get home +again, I'm sure." + +No one replied to this, because they found they needed all their breath +for the climb. The stairs had become narrower and Zeb and the Wizard +often had to help Jim pull the buggy from one step to another, or keep +it from jamming against the rocky walls. + +At last, however, a dim light appeared ahead of them, which grew clearer +and stronger as they advanced. + +"Thank goodness we're nearly there!" panted the little Wizard. + +Jim, who was in advance, saw the last stair before him and stuck his +head above the rocky sides of the stairway. Then he halted, ducked down +and began to back up, so that he nearly fell with the buggy onto the +others. + +"Let's go down again!" he said, in his hoarse voice. + +"Nonsense!" snapped the tired Wizard. "What's the matter with you, old +man?" + +"Everything," grumbled the horse. "I've taken a look at this place, and +it's no fit country for real creatures to go to. Everything's dead, up +there--no flesh or blood or growing thing anywhere." + +"Never mind; we can't turn back," said Dorothy; "and we don't intend to +stay there, anyhow." + +"It's dangerous," growled Jim, in a stubborn tone. + +"See here, my good steed," broke in the Wizard, "little Dorothy and I +have been in many queer countries in our travels, and always escaped +without harm. We've even been to the marvelous Land of Oz--haven't we, +Dorothy?--so we don't much care what the Country of the Gargoyles is +like. Go ahead, Jim, and whatever happens we'll make the best of it." + +"All right," answered the horse; "this is your excursion, and not mine; +so if you get into trouble don't blame me." + +With this speech he bent forward and dragged the buggy up the remaining +steps. The others followed and soon they were all standing upon a broad +platform and gazing at the most curious and startling sight their eyes +had ever beheld. + +"The Country of the Gargoyles is all wooden!" exclaimed Zeb; and so it +was. The ground was sawdust and the pebbles scattered around were hard +knots from trees, worn smooth in course of time. There were odd wooden +houses, with carved wooden flowers in the front yards. The tree-trunks +were of coarse wood, but the leaves of the trees were shavings. The +patches of grass were splinters of wood, and where neither grass nor +sawdust showed was a solid wooden flooring. Wooden birds fluttered +among the trees and wooden cows were browsing upon the wooden grass; but +the most amazing things of all were the wooden people--the creatures +known as Gargoyles. + +These were very numerous, for the palace was thickly inhabited, and a +large group of the queer people clustered near, gazing sharply upon the +strangers who had emerged from the long spiral stairway. + +The Gargoyles were very small of stature, being less than three feet in +height. Their bodies were round, their legs short and thick and their +arms extraordinarily long and stout. Their heads were too big for their +bodies and their faces were decidedly ugly to look upon. Some had long, +curved noses and chins, small eyes and wide, grinning mouths. Others had +flat noses, protruding eyes, and ears that were shaped like those of an +elephant. There were many types, indeed, scarcely two being alike; but +all were equally disagreeable in appearance. The tops of their heads had +no hair, but were carved into a variety of fantastic shapes, some having +a row of points or balls around the top, other designs resembling +flowers or vegetables, and still others having squares that looked like +waffles cut criss-cross on their heads. They all wore short wooden wings +which were fastened to their wooden bodies by means of wooden hinges +with wooden screws, and with these wings they flew swiftly and +noiselessly here and there, their legs being of little use to them. + +This noiseless motion was one of the most peculiar things about the +Gargoyles. They made no sounds at all, either in flying or trying to +speak, and they conversed mainly by means of quick signals made with +their wooden fingers or lips. Neither was there any sound to be heard +anywhere throughout the wooden country. The birds did not sing, nor did +the cows moo; yet there was more than ordinary activity everywhere. + +The group of these queer creatures which was discovered clustered near +the stairs at first remained staring and motionless, glaring with evil +eyes at the intruders who had so suddenly appeared in their land. In +turn the Wizard and the children, the horse and the kitten, examined the +Gargoyles with the same silent attention. + +"There's going to be trouble, I'm sure," remarked the horse. "Unhitch +those tugs, Zeb, and set me free from the buggy, so I can fight +comfortably." + +"Jim's right," sighed the Wizard. "There's going to be trouble, and my +sword isn't stout enough to cut up those wooden bodies--so I shall have +to get out my revolvers." + +He got his satchel from the buggy and, opening it, took out two deadly +looking revolvers that made the children shrink back in alarm just to +look at. + +"What harm can the Gurgles do?" asked Dorothy. "They have no weapons to +hurt us with." + +"Each of their arms is a wooden club," answered the little man, "and I'm +sure the creatures mean mischief, by the looks of their eyes. Even these +revolvers can merely succeed in damaging a few of their wooden bodies, +and after that we will be at their mercy." + +"But why fight at all, in that case?" asked the girl. + +"So I may die with a clear conscience," returned the Wizard, gravely. +"It's every man's duty to do the best he knows how; and I'm going to do +it." + +"Wish I had an axe," said Zeb, who by now had unhitched the horse. + +"If we had known we were coming we might have brought along several +other useful things," responded the Wizard. "But we dropped into this +adventure rather unexpectedly." + +The Gargoyles had backed away a distance when they heard the sound of +talking, for although our friends had spoken in low tones their words +seemed loud in the silence surrounding them. But as soon as the +conversation ceased the grinning, ugly creatures arose in a flock and +flew swiftly toward the strangers, their long arms stretched out before +them like the bowsprits of a fleet of sail-boats. The horse had +especially attracted their notice, because it was the biggest and +strangest creature they had ever seen; so it became the center of their +first attack. + +But Jim was ready for them, and when he saw them coming he turned his +heels toward them and began kicking out as hard as he could. Crack! +crash! bang! went his iron-shod hoofs against the wooden bodies of the +Gargoyles, and they were battered right and left with such force that +they scattered like straws in the wind. But the noise and clatter seemed +as dreadful to them as Jim's heels, for all who were able swiftly turned +and flew away to a great distance. The others picked themselves up from +the ground one by one and quickly rejoined their fellows, so for a +moment the horse thought he had won the fight with ease. + +But the Wizard was not so confident. + +"Those wooden things are impossible to hurt," he said, "and all the +damage Jim has done to them is to knock a few splinters from their noses +and ears. That cannot make them look any uglier, I'm sure, and it is my +opinion they will soon renew the attack." + +"What made them fly away?" asked Dorothy. + +"The noise, of course. Don't you remember how the Champion escaped them +by shouting his battle-cry?" + +"Suppose we escape down the stairs, too," suggested the boy. "We have +time, just now, and I'd rather face the invis'ble bears than those +wooden imps." + +"No," returned Dorothy, stoutly, "it won't do to go back, for then we +would never get home. Let's fight it out." + +"That is what I advise," said the Wizard. "They haven't defeated us yet, +and Jim is worth a whole army." + +But the Gargoyles were clever enough not to attack the horse the next +time. They advanced in a great swarm, having been joined by many more of +their kind, and they flew straight over Jim's head to where the others +were standing. + +The Wizard raised one of his revolvers and fired into the throng of his +enemies, and the shot resounded like a clap of thunder in that silent +place. + +Some of the wooden beings fell flat upon the ground, where they quivered +and trembled in every limb; but most of them managed to wheel and escape +again to a distance. + +Zeb ran and picked up one of the Gargoyles that lay nearest to him. The +top of its head was carved into a crown and the Wizard's bullet had +struck it exactly in the left eye, which was a hard wooden knot. Half of +the bullet stuck in the wood and half stuck out, so it had been the jar +and the sudden noise that had knocked the creature down, more than the +fact that it was really hurt. Before this crowned Gargoyle had recovered +himself Zeb had wound a strap several times around its body, confining +its wings and arms so that it could not move. Then, having tied the +wooden creature securely, the boy buckled the strap and tossed his +prisoner into the buggy. By that time the others had all retired. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 12. + +A WONDERFUL ESCAPE + + +For a while the enemy hesitated to renew the attack. Then a few of them +advanced until another shot from the Wizard's revolver made them +retreat. + +"That's fine," said Zeb. "We've got 'em on the run now, sure enough." + +"But only for a time," replied the Wizard, shaking his head gloomily. +"These revolvers are good for six shots each, but when those are gone we +shall be helpless." + +The Gargoyles seemed to realize this, for they sent a few of their band +time after time to attack the strangers and draw the fire from the +little man's revolvers. In this way none of them was shocked by the +dreadful report more than once, for the main band kept far away and +each time a new company was sent into the battle. When the Wizard had +fired all of his twelve bullets he had caused no damage to the enemy +except to stun a few by the noise, and so he was no nearer to victory +than in the beginning of the fray. + +[Illustration: THE WIZARD FIRED INTO THE THRONG.] + +"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy, anxiously. + +"Let's yell--all together," said Zeb. + +"And fight at the same time," added the Wizard. "We will get near Jim, +so that he can help us, and each one must take some weapon and do the +best he can. I'll use my sword, although it isn't much account in this +affair. Dorothy must take her parasol and open it suddenly when the +wooden folks attack her. I haven't anything for you, Zeb." + +"I'll use the king," said the boy, and pulled his prisoner out of the +buggy. The bound Gargoyle's arms extended far out beyond its head, so by +grasping its wrists Zeb found the king made a very good club. The boy +was strong for one of his years, having always worked upon a farm; so he +was likely to prove more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard. + +When the next company of Gargoyles advanced, our adventurers began +yelling as if they had gone mad. Even the kitten gave a dreadfully +shrill scream and at the same time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly. +This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of +breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more of +the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced in +a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them. + +Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly +covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade +snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the +wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a club +until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they clustered +so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to swing his +arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even Eureka +assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched and bit +at them like a wild-cat. + +But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things wound +their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast. Dorothy +was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles clung to +Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was helpless. +Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along the ground +like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and grabbed her +before she had gone very far. + +All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their +surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them +far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a +wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square and +six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the best of +them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and substantial. + +To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only one +broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were brought by +their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the opening, where +there was a platform, and then flew away and left them. As they had no +wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they jumped down from +such a height they would surely be killed. The creatures had sense +enough to reason that way, and the only mistake they made was in +supposing the earth people were unable to overcome such ordinary +difficulties. + +Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles +to carry the big beast through the air and land him on the high +platform, and the buggy was thrust in after him because it belonged to +the party and the wooden folks had no idea what it was used for or +whether it was alive or not. When Eureka's captor had thrown the kitten +after the others the last Gargoyle silently disappeared, leaving our +friends to breathe freely once more. + +"What an awful fight!" said Dorothy, catching her breath in little +gasps. + +"Oh, I don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her +paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and nobody managed to hurt us." + +"Thank goodness we are together again, even if we are prisoners," sighed +the little girl. + +"I wonder why they didn't kill us on the spot," remarked Zeb, who had +lost his king in the struggle. + +"They are probably keeping us for some ceremony," the Wizard answered, +reflectively; "but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as +possible in a short time." + +"As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy. + +"Yes, my dear. But we have no need to worry about that just now. Let us +examine our prison and see what it is like." + +The space underneath the roof, where they stood, permitted them to see +on all sides of the tall building, and they looked with much curiosity +at the city spread out beneath them. Everything visible was made of +wood, and the scene seemed stiff and extremely unnatural. + +From their platform a stair descended into the house, and the children +and the Wizard explored it after lighting a lantern to show them the +way. Several stories of empty rooms rewarded their search, but nothing +more; so after a time they came back to the platform again. Had there +been any doors or windows in the lower rooms, or had not the boards of +the house been so thick and stout, escape would have been easy; but to +remain down below was like being in a cellar or the hold of a ship, and +they did not like the darkness or the damp smell. + +In this country, as in all others they had visited underneath the +earth's surface, there was no night, a constant and strong light coming +from some unknown source. Looking out, they could see into some of the +houses near them, where there were open windows in abundance, and were +able to mark the forms of the wooden Gargoyles moving about in their +dwellings. + +"This seems to be their time of rest," observed the Wizard. "All people +need rest, even if they are made of wood, and as there is no night here +they select a certain time of the day in which to sleep or doze." + +"I feel sleepy myself," remarked Zeb, yawning. + +"Why, where's Eureka?" cried Dorothy, suddenly. + +They all looked around, but the kitten was no place to be seen. + +"She's gone out for a walk," said Jim, gruffly. + +"Where? On the roof?" asked the girl. + +"No; she just dug her claws into the wood and climbed down the sides of +this house to the ground." + +"She couldn't climb _down_, Jim," said Dorothy. "To climb means to go +up." + +"Who said so?" demanded the horse. + +"My school-teacher said so; and she knows a lot, Jim." + +"To 'climb down' is sometimes used as a figure of speech," remarked the +Wizard. + +"Well, this was a figure of a cat," said Jim, "and she _went_ down, +anyhow, whether she climbed or crept." + +"Dear me! how careless Eureka is," exclaimed the girl, much distressed. +"The Gurgles will get her, sure!" + +"Ha, ha!" chuckled the old cab-horse; "they're not 'Gurgles,' little +maid; they're Gargoyles." + +"Never mind; they'll get Eureka, whatever they're called." + +"No they won't," said the voice of the kitten, and Eureka herself +crawled over the edge of the platform and sat down quietly upon the +floor. + +"Wherever have you been, Eureka?" asked Dorothy, sternly. + +"Watching the wooden folks. They're too funny for anything, Dorothy. +Just now they are all going to bed, and--what do you think?--they unhook +the hinges of their wings and put them in a corner until they wake up +again." + +"What, the hinges?" + +"No; the wings." + +"That," said Zeb, "explains why this house is used by them for a prison. +If any of the Gargoyles act badly, and have to be put in jail, they are +brought here and their wings unhooked and taken away from them until +they promise to be good." + +The Wizard had listened intently to what Eureka had said. + +"I wish we had some of those loose wings," he said. + +"Could we fly with them?" asked Dorothy. + +"I think so. If the Gargoyles can unhook the wings then the power to fly +lies in the wings themselves, and not in the wooden bodies of the people +who wear them. So, if we had the wings, we could probably fly as well as +they do--at least while we are in their country and under the spell of +its magic." + +"But how would it help us to be able to fly?" questioned the girl. + +"Come here," said the little man, and took her to one of the corners of +the building. "Do you see that big rock standing on the hillside +yonder?" he continued, pointing with his finger. + +"Yes; it's a good way off, but I can see it," she replied. + +"Well, inside that rock, which reaches up into the clouds, is an archway +very much like the one we entered when we climbed the spiral stairway +from the Valley of Voe. I'll get my spy-glass, and then you can see it +more plainly." + +He fetched a small but powerful telescope, which had been in his +satchel, and by its aid the little girl clearly saw the opening. + +"Where does it lead to?" she asked. + +"That I cannot tell," said the Wizard; "but we cannot now be far below +the earth's surface, and that entrance may lead to another stairway that +will bring us on top of our world again, where we belong. So, if we had +the wings, and could escape the Gargoyles, we might fly to that rock and +be saved." + +"I'll get you the wings," said Zeb, who had thoughtfully listened to all +this. "That is, if the kitten will show me where they are." + +"But how can you get down?" enquired the girl, wonderingly. + +For answer Zeb began to unfasten Jim's harness, strap by strap, and +to buckle one piece to another until he had made a long leather strip +that would reach to the ground. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT WITH THE GARGOYLES.] + +"I can climb down that, all right," he said. + +"No you can't," remarked Jim, with a twinkle in his round eyes. "You may +_go_ down, but you can only _climb_ up." + +"Well, I'll climb up when I get back, then," said the boy, with a laugh. +"Now, Eureka, you'll have to show me the way to those wings." + +"You must be very quiet," warned the kitten; "for if you make the least +noise the Gargoyles will wake up. They can hear a pin drop." + +"I'm not going to drop a pin," said Zeb. + +He had fastened one end of the strap to a wheel of the buggy, and now he +let the line dangle over the side of the house. + +"Be careful," cautioned Dorothy, earnestly. + +"I will," said the boy, and let himself slide over the edge. + +The girl and the Wizard leaned over and watched Zeb work his way +carefully downward, hand over hand, until he stood upon the ground +below. Eureka clung with her claws to the wooden side of the house and +let herself down easily. Then together they crept away to enter the low +doorway of a neighboring dwelling. + +The watchers waited in breathless suspense until the boy again appeared, +his arms now full of the wooden wings. + +When he came to where the strap was hanging he tied the wings all in a +bunch to the end of the line, and the Wizard drew them up. Then the line +was let down again for Zeb to climb up by. Eureka quickly followed him, +and soon they were all standing together upon the platform, with eight +of the much prized wooden wings beside them. + +The boy was no longer sleepy, but full of energy and excitement. He put +the harness together again and hitched Jim to the buggy. Then, with the +Wizard's help, he tried to fasten some of the wings to the old +cab-horse. + +This was no easy task, because half of each one of the hinges of the +wings was missing, it being still fastened to the body of the Gargoyle +who had used it. However, the Wizard went once more to his +satchel--which seemed to contain a surprising variety of odds and +ends--and brought out a spool of strong wire, by means of which they +managed to fasten four of the wings to Jim's harness, two near his head +and two near his tail. They were a bit wiggley, but secure enough if +only the harness held together. + +The other four wings were then fastened to the buggy, two on each side, +for the buggy must bear the weight of the children and the Wizard as it +flew through the air. + +[Illustration: JIM FLUTTERED AND FLOUNDERED THROUGH THE AIR.] + +These preparations had not consumed a great deal of time, but the +sleeping Gargoyles were beginning to wake up and move around, and soon +some of them would be hunting for their missing wings. So the prisoners +resolved to leave their prison at once. + +They mounted into the buggy, Dorothy holding Eureka safe in her lap. The +girl sat in the middle of the seat, with Zeb and the Wizard on each side +of her. When all was ready the boy shook the reins and said: + +"Fly away, Jim!" + +"Which wings must I flop first?" asked the cab-horse, undecidedly. + +"Flop them all together," suggested the Wizard. + +"Some of them are crooked," objected the horse. + +"Never mind; we will steer with the wings on the buggy," said Zeb. "Just +you light out and make for that rock, Jim; and don't waste any time +about it, either." + +So the horse gave a groan, flopped its four wings all together, and flew +away from the platform. Dorothy was a little anxious about the success +of their trip, for the way Jim arched his long neck and spread out his +bony legs as he fluttered and floundered through the air was enough to +make anybody nervous. He groaned, too, as if frightened, and the wings +creaked dreadfully because the Wizard had forgotten to oil them; but +they kept fairly good time with the wings of the buggy, so that they +made excellent progress from the start. The only thing that anyone could +complain of with justice was the fact that they wobbled first up and +then down, as if the road were rocky instead of being as smooth as the +air could make it. + +The main point, however, was that they flew, and flew swiftly, if a bit +unevenly, toward the rock for which they had headed. + +Some of the Gargoyles saw them, presently, and lost no time in +collecting a band to pursue the escaping prisoners; so that when Dorothy +happened to look back she saw them coming in a great cloud that almost +darkened the sky. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 13. + +THE DEN OF THE DRAGONETTES + + +Our friends had a good start and were able to maintain it, for with +their eight wings they could go just as fast as could the Gargoyles. All +the way to the great rock the wooden people followed them, and when Jim +finally alighted at the mouth of the cavern the pursuers were still some +distance away. + +"But, I'm afraid they'll catch us yet," said Dorothy, greatly excited. + +"No; we must stop them," declared the Wizard. "Quick Zeb, help me pull +off these wooden wings!" + +They tore off the wings, for which they had no further use, and the +Wizard piled them in a heap just outside the entrance to the cavern. +Then he poured over them all the kerosene oil that was left in his +oil-can, and lighting a match set fire to the pile. + +The flames leaped up at once and the bonfire began to smoke and roar and +crackle just as the great army of wooden Gargoyles arrived. The +creatures drew back at once, being filled with fear and horror; for such +a dreadful thing as a fire they had never before known in all the +history of their wooden land. + +Inside the archway were several doors, leading to different rooms built +into the mountain, and Zeb and the Wizard lifted these wooden doors from +their hinges and tossed them all on the flames. + +"That will prove a barrier for some time to come," said the little man, +smiling pleasantly all over his wrinkled face at the success of their +stratagem. "Perhaps the flames will set fire to all that miserable +wooden country, and if it does the loss will be very small and the +Gargoyles never will be missed. But come, my children; let us explore +the mountain and discover which way we must go in order to escape from +this cavern, which is getting to be almost as hot as a bake-oven." + +To their disappointment there was within this mountain no regular flight +of steps by means of which they could mount to the earth's surface. A +sort of inclined tunnel led upward for a way, and they found the floor +of it both rough and steep. Then a sudden turn brought them to a narrow +gallery where the buggy could not pass. This delayed and bothered them +for a while, because they did not wish to leave the buggy behind them. +It carried their baggage and was useful to ride in wherever there were +good roads, and since it had accompanied them so far in their travels +they felt it their duty to preserve it. So Zeb and the Wizard set to +work and took off the wheels and the top, and then they put the buggy +edgewise, so it would take up the smallest space. In this position they +managed, with the aid of the patient cab-horse, to drag the vehicle +through the narrow part of the passage. It was not a great distance, +fortunately, and when the path grew broader they put the buggy together +again and proceeded more comfortably. But the road was nothing more than +a series of rifts or cracks in the mountain, and it went zig-zag in +every direction, slanting first up and then down until they were puzzled +as to whether they were any nearer to the top of the earth than when +they had started, hours before. + +"Anyhow," said Dorothy, "we've 'scaped those awful Gurgles, and that's +_one_ comfort!" + +[Illustration: "WHY IT'S A DRAGON!"] + +"Probably the Gargoyles are still busy trying to put out the fire," +returned the Wizard. "But even if they succeeded in doing that it +would be very difficult for them to fly amongst these rocks; so I am +sure we need fear them no longer." + +Once in a while they would come to a deep crack in the floor, which made +the way quite dangerous; but there was still enough oil in the lanterns +to give them light, and the cracks were not so wide but that they were +able to jump over them. Sometimes they had to climb over heaps of loose +rock, where Jim could scarcely drag the buggy. At such times Dorothy, +Zeb and the Wizard all pushed behind, and lifted the wheels over the +roughest places; so they managed, by dint of hard work, to keep going. +But the little party was both weary and discouraged when at last, on +turning a sharp corner, the wanderers found themselves in a vast cave +arching high over their heads and having a smooth, level floor. + +The cave was circular in shape, and all around its edge, near to the +ground, appeared groups of dull yellow lights, two of them being always +side by side. These were motionless at first, but soon began to flicker +more brightly and to sway slowly from side to side and then up and down. + +"What sort of a place is this?" asked the boy, trying to see more +clearly through the gloom. + +"I cannot imagine, I'm sure," answered the Wizard, also peering about. + +"Woogh!" snarled Eureka, arching her back until her hair stood straight +on end; "it's a den of alligators, or crocodiles, or some other dreadful +creatures! Don't you see their terrible eyes?" + +"Eureka sees better in the dark than we can," whispered Dorothy. "Tell +us, dear, what do the creatures look like?" she asked, addressing her +pet. + +"I simply can't describe 'em," answered the kitten, shuddering. "Their +eyes are like pie-plates and their mouths like coal-scuttles. But their +bodies don't seem very big." + +"Where are they?" enquired the girl. + +"They are in little pockets all around the edge of this cavern. Oh, +Dorothy--you can't imagine what horrid things they are! They're uglier +than the Gargoyles." + +"Tut-tut! be careful how you criticise your neighbors," spoke a rasping +voice near by. "As a matter of fact you are rather ugly-looking +creatures yourselves, and I'm sure mother has often told us we were the +loveliest and prettiest things in all the world." + +Hearing these words our friends turned in the direction of the sound, +and the Wizard held his lanterns so that their light would flood one of +the little pockets in the rock. + +"Why, it's a dragon!" he exclaimed. + +"No," answered the owner of the big yellow eyes which were blinking at +them so steadily; "you are wrong about that. We hope to grow to be +dragons some day, but just now we're only dragonettes." + +"What's that?" asked Dorothy, gazing fearfully at the great scaley head, +the yawning mouth and the big eyes. + +"Young dragons, of course; but we are not allowed to call ourselves real +dragons until we get our full growth," was the reply. "The big dragons +are very proud, and don't think children amount to much; but mother says +that some day we will all be very powerful and important." + +"Where is your mother?" asked the Wizard, anxiously looking around. + +"She has gone up to the top of the earth to hunt for our dinner. If she +has good luck she will bring us an elephant, or a brace of rhinoceri, or +perhaps a few dozen people to stay our hunger." + +"Oh; are you hungry?" enquired Dorothy, drawing back. + +"Very," said the dragonette, snapping its jaws. + +"And--and--do you eat people?" + +"To be sure, when we can get them. But they've been very scarce for a +few years and we usually have to be content with elephants or +buffaloes," answered the creature, in a regretful tone. + +"How old are you?" enquired Zeb, who stared at the yellow eyes as if +fascinated. + +"Quite young, I grieve to say; and all of my brothers and sisters that +you see here are practically my own age. If I remember rightly, we were +sixty-six years old the day before yesterday." + +"But that isn't young!" cried Dorothy, in amazement. + +"No?" drawled the dragonette; "it seems to me very babyish." + +"How old is your mother?" asked the girl. + +"Mother's about two thousand years old; but she carelessly lost track of +her age a few centuries ago and skipped several hundreds. She's a little +fussy, you know, and afraid of growing old, being a widow and still in +her prime." + +"I should think she would be," agreed Dorothy. Then, after a moment's +thought, she asked: "Are we friends or enemies? I mean, will you be good +to us, or do you intend to eat us?" + +"As for that, we dragonettes would love to eat you, my child; but +unfortunately mother has tied all our tails around the rocks at the back +of our individual caves, so that we can not crawl out to get you. If you +choose to come nearer we will make a mouthful of you in a wink; but +unless you do you will remain quite safe." + +There was a regretful accent in the creature's voice, and at the words +all the other dragonettes sighed dismally. + +Dorothy felt relieved. Presently she asked: + +"Why did your mother tie your tails?" + +"Oh, she is sometimes gone for several weeks on her hunting trips, and +if we were not tied we would crawl all over the mountain and fight with +each other and get into a lot of mischief. Mother usually knows what she +is about, but she made a mistake this time; for you are sure to escape +us unless you come too near, and you probably won't do that." + +"No, indeed!" said the little girl. "We don't wish to be eaten by such +awful beasts." + +"Permit me to say," returned the dragonette, "that you are rather +impolite to call us names, knowing that we cannot resent your insults. +We consider ourselves very beautiful in appearance, for mother has told +us so, and she knows. And we are of an excellent family and have a +pedigree that I challenge any humans to equal, as it extends back about +twenty thousand years, to the time of the famous Green Dragon of +Atlantis, who lived in a time when humans had not yet been created. Can +you match that pedigree, little girl?" + +"Well," said Dorothy, "I was born on a farm in Kansas, and I guess +that's being just as 'spectable and haughty as living in a cave with +your tail tied to a rock. If it isn't I'll have to stand it, that's +all." + +"Tastes differ," murmured the dragonette, slowly drooping its scaley +eyelids over its yellow eyes, until they looked like half-moons. + +Being reassured by the fact that the creatures could not crawl out of +their rock-pockets, the children and the Wizard now took time to examine +them more closely. The heads of the dragonettes were as big as barrels +and covered with hard, greenish scales that glittered brightly under the +light of the lanterns. Their front legs, which grew just back of their +heads, were also strong and big; but their bodies were smaller around +than their heads, and dwindled away in a long line until their tails +were slim as a shoe-string. Dorothy thought, if it had taken them +sixty-six years to grow to this size, that it would be fully a hundred +years more before they could hope to call themselves dragons, and that +seemed like a good while to wait to grow up. + +"It occurs to me," said the Wizard, "that we ought to get out of this +place before the mother dragon comes back." + +"Don't hurry," called one of the dragonettes; "mother will be glad to +meet you, I'm sure." + +"You may be right," replied the Wizard, "but we're a little particular +about associating with strangers. Will you kindly tell us which way your +mother went to get on top the earth?" + +"That is not a fair question to ask us," declared another dragonette. +"For, if we told you truly, you might escape us altogether; and if we +told you an untruth we would be naughty and deserve to be punished." + +"Then," decided Dorothy, "we must find our way out the best we can." + +They circled all around the cavern, keeping a good distance away from +the blinking yellow eyes of the dragonettes, and presently discovered +that there were two paths leading from the wall opposite to the place +where they had entered. They selected one of these at a venture and +hurried along it as fast as they could go, for they had no idea when the +mother dragon would be back and were very anxious not to make her +acquaintance. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Chapter 14. + +OZMA USES THE MAGIC BELT + + +For a considerable distance the way led straight upward in a gentle +incline, and the wanderers made such good progress that they grew +hopeful and eager, thinking they might see sunshine at any minute. But +at length they came unexpectedly upon a huge rock that shut off the +passage and blocked them from proceeding a single step farther. + +This rock was separate from the rest of the mountain and was in motion, +turning slowly around and around as if upon a pivot. When first they +came to it there was a solid wall before them; but presently it revolved +until there was exposed a wide, smooth path across it to the other side. +This appeared so unexpectedly that they were unprepared to take +advantage of it at first, and allowed the rocky wall to swing around +again before they had decided to pass over. But they knew now that there +was a means of escape and so waited patiently until the path appeared +for the second time. + +The children and the Wizard rushed across the moving rock and sprang +into the passage beyond, landing safely though a little out of breath. +Jim the cab-horse came last, and the rocky wall almost caught him; for +just as he leaped to the floor of the further passage the wall swung +across it and a loose stone that the buggy wheels knocked against fell +into the narrow crack where the rock turned, and became wedged there. + +They heard a crunching, grinding sound, a loud snap, and the turn-table +came to a stop with its broadest surface shutting off the path from +which they had come. + +"Never mind," said Zeb, "we don't want to get back, anyhow." + +"I'm not so sure of that," returned Dorothy. "The mother dragon may come +down and catch us here." + +"It is possible," agreed the Wizard, "if this proves to be the path she +usually takes. But I have been examining this tunnel, and I do not see +any signs of so large a beast having passed through it." + +"Then we're all right," said the girl, "for if the dragon went the other +way she can't poss'bly get to us now." + +"Of course not, my dear. But there is another thing to consider. The +mother dragon probably knows the road to the earth's surface, and if she +went the other way then we have come the wrong way," said the Wizard, +thoughtfully. + +"Dear me!" cried Dorothy. "That would be unlucky, wouldn't it?" + +"Very. Unless this passage also leads to the top of the earth," said +Zeb. "For my part, if we manage to get out of here I'll be glad it isn't +the way the dragon goes." + +"So will I," returned Dorothy. "It's enough to have your pedigree flung +in your face by those saucy dragonettes. No one knows what the mother +might do." + +They now moved on again, creeping slowly up another steep incline. The +lanterns were beginning to grow dim, and the Wizard poured the remaining +oil from one into the other, so that the one light would last longer. +But their journey was almost over, for in a short time they reached a +small cave from which there was no further outlet. + +They did not realize their ill fortune at first, for their hearts were +gladdened by the sight of a ray of sunshine coming through a small crack +in the roof of the cave, far overhead. That meant that their world--the +real world--was not very far away, and that the succession of perilous +adventures they had encountered had at last brought them near the +earth's surface, which meant home to them. But when the adventurers +looked more carefully around them they discovered that they were in a +strong prison from which there was no hope of escape. + +"But we're _almost_ on earth again," cried Dorothy, "for there is the +sun--the most _beau'ful_ sun that shines!" and she pointed eagerly at +the crack in the distant roof. + +"Almost on earth isn't being there," said the kitten, in a discontented +tone. "It wouldn't be possible for even me to get up to that crack--or +through it if I got there." + +"It appears that the path ends here," announced the Wizard, gloomily. + +"And there is no way to go back," added Zeb, with a low whistle of +perplexity. + +"I was sure it would come to this, in the end," remarked the old +cab-horse. "Folks don't fall into the middle of the earth and then get +back again to tell of their adventures--not in real life. And the whole +thing has been unnatural because that cat and I are both able to talk +your language, and to understand the words you say." + +"And so can the nine tiny piglets," added Eureka. "Don't forget them, +for I may have to eat them, after all." + +"I've heard animals talk before," said Dorothy, "and no harm came of +it." + +"Were you ever before shut up in a cave, far under the earth, with no +way of getting out?" enquired the horse, seriously. + +"No," answered Dorothy. "But don't you lose heart, Jim, for I'm sure +this isn't the end of our story, by any means." + +The reference to the piglets reminded the Wizard that his pets had not +enjoyed much exercise lately, and must be tired of their prison in his +pocket. So he sat down upon the floor of the cave, brought the piglets +out one by one, and allowed them to run around as much as they pleased. + +"My dears," he said to them, "I'm afraid I've got you into a lot of +trouble, and that you will never again be able to leave this gloomy +cave." + +"What's wrong?" asked a piglet. "We've been in the dark quite a while, +and you may as well explain what has happened." + +The Wizard told them of the misfortune that had overtaken the wanderers. + +"Well," said another piglet, "you are a wizard, are you not?" + +"I am," replied the little man. + +"Then you can do a few wizzes and get us out of this hole," declared the +tiny one, with much confidence. + +"I could if I happened to be a real wizard," returned the master sadly. +"But I'm not, my piggy-wees; I'm a humbug wizard." + +"Nonsense!" cried several of the piglets, together. + +"You can ask Dorothy," said the little man, in an injured tone. + +"It's true enough," returned the girl, earnestly. "Our friend Oz is +merely a humbug wizard, for he once proved it to me. He can do several +very wonderful things--if he knows how. But he can't wiz a single thing +if he hasn't the tools and machinery to work with." + +"Thank you, my dear, for doing me justice," responded the Wizard, +gratefully. "To be accused of being a real wizard, when I'm not, is a +slander I will not tamely submit to. But I am one of the greatest humbug +wizards that ever lived, and you will realize this when we have all +starved together and our bones are scattered over the floor of this +lonely cave." + +"I don't believe we'll realize anything, when it comes to that," +remarked Dorothy, who had been deep in thought. "But I'm not going to +scatter my bones just yet, because I need them, and you prob'ly need +yours, too." + +"We are helpless to escape," sighed the Wizard. + +"_We_ may be helpless," answered Dorothy, smiling at him, "but there are +others who can do more than we can. Cheer up, friends. I'm sure Ozma +will help us." + +"Ozma!" exclaimed the Wizard. "Who is Ozma?" + +"The girl that rules the marvelous Land of Oz," was the reply. "She's a +friend of mine, for I met her in the Land of Ev, not long ago, and went +to Oz with her." + +"For the second time?" asked the Wizard, with great interest. + +"Yes. The first time I went to Oz I found you there, ruling the Emerald +City. After you went up in a balloon, and escaped us, I got back to +Kansas by means of a pair of magical silver shoes." + +"I remember those shoes," said the little man, nodding. "They once +belonged to the Wicked Witch. Have you them here with you?" + +"No; I lost them somewhere in the air," explained the child. "But the +second time I went to the Land of Oz I owned the Nome King's Magic Belt, +which is much more powerful than were the Silver Shoes." + +"Where is that Magic Belt?" enquired the Wizard, who had listened with +great interest. + +"Ozma has it; for its powers won't work in a common, ordinary country +like the United States. Anyone in a fairy country like the Land of Oz +can do anything with it; so I left it with my friend the Princess Ozma, +who used it to wish me in Australia with Uncle Henry." + +"And were you?" asked Zeb, astonished at what he heard. + +"Of course; in just a jiffy. And Ozma has an enchanted picture hanging +in her room that shows her the exact scene where any of her friends may +be, at any time she chooses. All she has to do is to say: 'I wonder what +So-and-so is doing,' and at once the picture shows where her friend is +and what the friend is doing. That's _real_ magic, Mr. Wizard; isn't it? +Well, every day at four o'clock Ozma has promised to look at me in that +picture, and if I am in need of help I am to make her a certain sign and +she will put on the Nome King's Magic Belt and wish me to be with her in +Oz." + +"Do you mean that Princess Ozma will see this cave in her enchanted +picture, and see all of us here, and what we are doing?" demanded Zeb. + +"Of course; when it is four o'clock," she replied, with a laugh at his +startled expression. + +"And when you make a sign she will bring you to her in the Land of Oz?" +continued the boy. + +"That's it, exactly; by means of the Magic Belt." + +"Then," said the Wizard, "you will be saved, little Dorothy; and I am +very glad of it. The rest of us will die much more cheerfully when we +know you have escaped our sad fate." + +"_I_ won't die cheerfully!" protested the kitten. "There's nothing +cheerful about dying that I could ever see, although they say a cat has +nine lives, and so must die nine times." + +"Have you ever died yet?" enquired the boy. + +"No, and I'm not anxious to begin," said Eureka. + +"Don't worry, dear," Dorothy exclaimed, "I'll hold you in my arms, and +take you with me." + +"Take us, too!" cried the nine tiny piglets, all in one breath. + +"Perhaps I can," answered Dorothy. "I'll try." + +"Couldn't you manage to hold me in your arms?" asked the cab-horse. + +Dorothy laughed. + +"I'll do better than that," she promised, "for I can easily save you +all, once I am myself in the Land of Oz." + +"How?" they asked. + +"By using the Magic Belt. All I need do is to wish you with me, and +there you'll be--safe in the royal palace!" + +"Good!" cried Zeb. + +"I built that palace, and the Emerald City, too," remarked the Wizard, +in a thoughtful tone, "and I'd like to see them again, for I was very +happy among the Munchkins and Winkies and Quadlings and Gillikins." + +"Who are they?" asked the boy. + +"The four nations that inhabit the Land of Oz," was the reply. "I wonder +if they would treat me nicely if I went there again." + +"Of course they would!" declared Dorothy. "They are still proud of their +former Wizard, and often speak of you kindly." + +"Do you happen to know whatever became of the Tin Woodman and the +Scarecrow?" he enquired. + +"They live in Oz yet," said the girl, "and are very important people." + +"And the Cowardly Lion?" + +"Oh, he lives there too, with his friend the Hungry Tiger; and Billina +is there, because she liked the place better than Kansas, and wouldn't +go with me to Australia." + +"I'm afraid I don't know the Hungry Tiger and Billina," said the Wizard, +shaking his head. "Is Billina a girl?" + +"No; she's a yellow hen, and a great friend of mine. You're sure to like +Billina, when you know her," asserted Dorothy. + +"Your friends sound like a menagerie," remarked Zeb, uneasily. +"Couldn't you wish me in some safer place than Oz." + +"Don't worry," replied the girl. "You'll just love the folks in Oz, when +you get acquainted. What time is it, Mr. Wizard?" + +The little man looked at his watch--a big silver one that he carried in +his vest pocket. + +"Half-past three," he said. + +"Then we must wait for half an hour," she continued; "but it won't take +long, after that, to carry us all to the Emerald City." + +They sat silently thinking for a time. Then Jim suddenly asked: + +"Are there any horses in Oz?" + +"Only one," replied Dorothy, "and he's a sawhorse." + +"A what?" + +"A sawhorse. Princess Ozma once brought him to life with a witch-powder, +when she was a boy." + +"Was Ozma once a boy?" asked Zeb, wonderingly. + +"Yes; a wicked witch enchanted her, so she could not rule her kingdom. +But she's a girl now, and the sweetest, loveliest girl in all the +world." + +"A sawhorse is a thing they saw boards on," remarked Jim, with a sniff. + +"It is when it's not alive," acknowledged the girl. "But this sawhorse +can trot as fast as you can, Jim; and he's very wise, too." + +"Pah! I'll race the miserable wooden donkey any day in the week!" cried +the cab-horse. + +Dorothy did not reply to that. She felt that Jim would know more about +the Saw-Horse later on. + +The time dragged wearily enough to the eager watchers, but finally the +Wizard announced that four o'clock had arrived, and Dorothy caught up +the kitten and began to make the signal that had been agreed upon to the +far-away, invisible Ozma. + +"Nothing seems to happen," said Zeb, doubtfully. + +"Oh, we must give Ozma time to put on the Magic Belt," replied the girl. + +She had scarcely spoken the words when she suddenly disappeared from the +cave, and with her went the kitten. There had been no sound of any kind +and no warning. One moment Dorothy sat beside them with the kitten in +her lap, and a moment later the horse, the piglets, the Wizard and the +boy were all that remained in the underground prison. + +[Illustration: DOROTHY MADE THE SIGNAL.] + +"I believe we will soon follow her," announced the Wizard, in a tone of +great relief; "for I know something about the magic of the fairyland +that is called the Land of Oz. Let us be ready, for we may be sent for +any minute." + +He put the piglets safely away in his pocket again and then he and Zeb +got into the buggy and sat expectantly upon the seat. + +"Will it hurt?" asked the boy, in a voice that trembled a little. + +"Not at all," replied the Wizard. "It will all happen as quick as a +wink." + +And that was the way it did happen. + +The cab-horse gave a nervous start and Zeb began to rub his eyes to make +sure he was not asleep. For they were in the streets of a beautiful +emerald-green city, bathed in a grateful green light that was especially +pleasing to their eyes, and surrounded by merry faced people in gorgeous +green-and-gold costumes of many extraordinary designs. + +Before them were the jewel-studded gates of a magnificent palace, and +now the gates opened slowly as if inviting them to enter the courtyard, +where splendid flowers were blooming and pretty fountains shot their +silvery sprays into the air. + +Zeb shook the reins to rouse the cab-horse from his stupor of amazement, +for the people were beginning to gather around and stare at the +strangers. + +"Gid-dap!" cried the boy, and at the word Jim slowly trotted into the +courtyard and drew the buggy along the jewelled driveway to the great +entrance of the royal palace. + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER 15. + +OLD FRIENDS ARE REUNITED + + +Many servants dressed in handsome uniforms stood ready to welcome the +new arrivals, and when the Wizard got out of the buggy a pretty girl in +a green gown cried out in surprise: + +"Why, it's Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, come back again!" + +The little man looked at her closely and then took both the maiden's +hands in his and shook them cordially. + +"On my word," he exclaimed, "it's little Jellia Jamb--as pert and pretty +as ever!" + +"Why not, Mr. Wizard?" asked Jellia, bowing low. "But I'm afraid you +cannot rule the Emerald City, as you used to, because we now have a +beautiful Princess whom everyone loves dearly." + +"And the people will not willingly part with her," added a tall soldier +in a Captain-General's uniform. + +The Wizard turned to look at him. + +"Did you not wear green whiskers at one time?" he asked. + +"Yes," said the soldier; "but I shaved them off long ago, and since then +I have risen from a private to be the Chief General of the Royal +Armies." + +"That's nice," said the little man. "But I assure you, my good people, +that I do not wish to rule the Emerald City," he added, earnestly. + +"In that case you are very welcome!" cried all the servants, and it +pleased the Wizard to note the respect with which the royal retainers +bowed before him. His fame had not been forgotten in the Land of Oz, by +any means. + +"Where is Dorothy?" enquired Zeb, anxiously, as he left the buggy and +stood beside his friend the little Wizard. + +"She is with the Princess Ozma, in the private rooms of the palace," +replied Jellia Jamb. "But she has ordered me to make you welcome and to +show you to your apartments." + +The boy looked around him with wondering eyes. Such magnificence and +wealth as was displayed in this palace was more than he had ever dreamed +of, and he could scarcely believe that all the gorgeous glitter was real +and not tinsel. + +"What's to become of me?" asked the horse, uneasily. He had seen +considerable of life in the cities in his younger days, and knew that +this regal palace was no place for him. + +It perplexed even Jellia Jamb, for a time, to know what to do with the +animal. The green maiden was much astonished at the sight of so unusual +a creature, for horses were unknown in this Land; but those who lived in +the Emerald City were apt to be astonished by queer sights, so after +inspecting the cab-horse and noting the mild look in his big eyes the +girl decided not to be afraid of him. + +"There are no stables here," said the Wizard, "unless some have been +built since I went away." + +"We have never needed them before," answered Jellia; "for the Sawhorse +lives in a room of the palace, being much smaller and more natural in +appearance than this great beast you have brought with you." + +"Do you mean that I'm a freak?" asked Jim, angrily. + +"Oh, no," she hastened to say, "there may be many more like you in the +place you came from, but in Oz any horse but a Sawhorse is unusual." + +This mollified Jim a little, and after some thought the green maiden +decided to give the cab-horse a room in the palace, such a big building +having many rooms that were seldom in use. + +So Zeb unharnessed Jim, and several of the servants then led the horse +around to the rear, where they selected a nice large apartment that he +could have all to himself. + +Then Jellia said to the Wizard: + +"Your own room--which was back of the great Throne Room--has been vacant +ever since you left us. Would you like it again?" + +"Yes, indeed!" returned the little man. "It will seem like being at home +again, for I lived in that room for many, many years." + +He knew the way to it, and a servant followed him, carrying his satchel. +Zeb was also escorted to a room--so grand and beautiful that he almost +feared to sit in the chairs or lie upon the bed, lest he might dim their +splendor. In the closets he discovered many fancy costumes of rich +velvets and brocades, and one of the attendants told him to dress +himself in any of the clothes that pleased him and to be prepared to +dine with the Princess and Dorothy in an hour's time. + +Opening from the chamber was a fine bath-room having a marble tub with +perfumed water; so the boy, still dazed by the novelty of his +surroundings, indulged in a good bath and then selected a maroon velvet +costume with silver buttons to replace his own soiled and much worn +clothing. There were silk stockings and soft leather slippers with +diamond buckles to accompany his new costume, and when he was fully +dressed Zeb looked much more dignified and imposing than ever before in +his life. + +He was all ready when an attendant came to escort him to the presence of +the Princess; he followed bashfully and was ushered into a room more +dainty and attractive than it was splendid. Here he found Dorothy seated +beside a young girl so marvelously beautiful that the boy stopped +suddenly with a gasp of admiration. + +But Dorothy sprang up and ran to seize her friend's hand, drawing him +impulsively toward the lovely Princess, who smiled most graciously upon +her guest. Then the Wizard entered, and his presence relieved the boy's +embarrassment. The little man was clothed in black velvet, with many +sparkling emerald ornaments decorating his breast; but his bald head and +wrinkled features made him appear more amusing than impressive. + +Ozma had been quite curious to meet the famous man who had built the +Emerald City and united the Munchkins, Gillikins, Quadlings and Winkies +into one people; so when they were all four seated at the dinner table +the Princess said: + +"Please tell me, Mr. Wizard, whether you called yourself Oz after this +great country, or whether you believe my country is called Oz after you. +It is a matter that I have long wished to enquire about, because you are +of a strange race and my own name is Ozma. No one, I am sure, is better +able to explain this mystery than you." + +"That is true," answered the little Wizard; "therefore it will give me +pleasure to explain my connection with your country. In the first place, +I must tell you that I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a +politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle +Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could +think of no more to go before it. Taken altogether, it was a dreadfully +long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest +lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I +just called myself O. Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; +and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence." + +"Surely no one could blame you for cutting your name short," said Ozma, +sympathetically. "But didn't you cut it almost too short?" + +"Perhaps so," replied the Wizard. "When a young man I ran away from home +and joined a circus. I used to call myself a Wizard, and do tricks of +ventriloquism." + +"What does that mean?" asked the Princess. + +"Throwing my voice into any object I pleased, to make it appear that the +object was speaking instead of me. Also I began to make balloon +ascensions. On my balloon and on all the other articles I used in the +circus I painted the two initials: 'O. Z.', to show that those things +belonged to me. + +"One day my balloon ran away with me and brought me across the deserts +to this beautiful country. When the people saw me come from the sky they +naturally thought me some superior creature, and bowed down before me. I +told them I was a Wizard, and showed them some easy tricks that amazed +them; and when they saw the initials painted on the balloon they called +me Oz." + +"Now I begin to understand," said the Princess, smiling. + +"At that time," continued the Wizard, busily eating his soup while +talking, "there were four separate countries in this Land, each one of +the four being ruled by a Witch. But the people thought my power was +greater than that of the Witches; and perhaps the Witches thought so +too, for they never dared oppose me. I ordered the Emerald City to be +built just where the four countries cornered together, and when it was +completed I announced myself the Ruler of the Land of Oz, which included +all the four countries of the Munchkins, the Gillikins, the Winkies and +the Quadlings. Over this Land I ruled in peace for many years, until I +grew old and longed to see my native city once again. So when Dorothy +was first blown to this place by a cyclone I arranged to go away with +her in a balloon; but the balloon escaped too soon and carried me back +alone. After many adventures I reached Omaha, only to find that all my +old friends were dead or had moved away. So, having nothing else to do, +I joined a circus again, and made my balloon ascensions until the +earthquake caught me." + +"That is quite a history," said Ozma; "but there is a little more +history about the Land of Oz that you do not seem to understand--perhaps +for the reason that no one ever told it you. Many years before you came +here this Land was united under one Ruler, as it is now, and the Ruler's +name was always 'Oz', which means in our language 'Great and Good'; or, +if the Ruler happened to be a woman, her name was always 'Ozma.' But +once upon a time four Witches leagued together to depose the king and +rule the four parts of the kingdom themselves; so when the Ruler, my +grandfather, was hunting one day, one Wicked Witch named Mombi stole him +and carried him away, keeping him a close prisoner. Then the Witches +divided up the kingdom, and ruled the four parts of it until you came +here. That was why the people were so glad to see you, and why they +thought from your initials that you were their rightful ruler." + +"But, at that time," said the Wizard, thoughtfully, "there were two Good +Witches and two Wicked Witches ruling in the land." + +"Yes," replied Ozma, "because a good Witch had conquered Mombi in the +North and Glinda the Good had conquered the evil Witch in the South. But +Mombi was still my grandfather's jailor, and afterward my father's +jailor. When I was born she transformed me into a boy, hoping that no +one would ever recognize me and know that I was the rightful Princess of +the Land of Oz. But I escaped from her and am now the Ruler of my +people." + +"I am very glad of that," said the Wizard, "and hope you will consider +me one of your most faithful and devoted subjects." + +"We owe a great deal to the Wonderful Wizard," continued the Princess, +"for it was you who built this splendid Emerald City." + +"Your people built it," he answered. "I only bossed the job, as we say +in Omaha." + +"But you ruled it wisely and well for many years," said she, "and made +the people proud of your magical art. So, as you are now too old to +wander abroad and work in a circus, I offer you a home here as long as +you live. You shall be the Official Wizard of my kingdom, and be treated +with every respect and consideration." + +"I accept your kind offer with gratitude, gracious Princess," the little +man said, in a soft voice, and they could all see that tear-drops were +standing in his keen old eyes. It meant a good deal to him to secure a +home like this. + +"He's only a humbug Wizard, though," said Dorothy, smiling at him. + +"And that is the safest kind of a Wizard to have," replied Ozma, +promptly. + +"Oz can do some good tricks, humbug or no humbug," announced Zeb, who +was now feeling more at ease. + +"He shall amuse us with his tricks tomorrow," said the Princess. "I have +sent messengers to summon all of Dorothy's old friends to meet her and +give her welcome, and they ought to arrive very soon, now." + +Indeed, the dinner was no sooner finished than in rushed the Scarecrow, +to hug Dorothy in his padded arms and tell her how glad he was to see +her again. The Wizard was also most heartily welcomed by the straw man, +who was an important personage in the Land of Oz. + +"How are your brains?" enquired the little humbug, as he grasped the +soft, stuffed hands of his old friend. + +"Working finely," answered the Scarecrow. "I'm very certain, Oz, that +you gave me the best brains in the world, for I can think with them day +and night, when all other brains are fast asleep." + +[Illustration: DOROTHY AND OZMA.] + +"How long did you rule the Emerald City, after I left here?" was the +next question. + +"Quite awhile, until I was conquered by a girl named General Jinjur. But +Ozma soon conquered her, with the help of Glinda the Good, and after +that I went to live with Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman." + +Just then a loud cackling was heard outside; and, when a servant threw +open the door with a low bow, a yellow hen strutted in. Dorothy sprang +forward and caught the fluffy fowl in her arms, uttering at the same +time a glad cry. + +"Oh, Billina!" she said; "how fat and sleek you've grown." + +"Why shouldn't I?" asked the hen, in a sharp, clear voice. "I live on +the fat of the land--don't I, Ozma?" + +"You have everything you wish for," said the Princess. + +Around Billina's neck was a string of beautiful pearls, and on her legs +were bracelets of emeralds. She nestled herself comfortably in Dorothy's +lap until the kitten gave a snarl of jealous anger and leaped up with a +sharp claw fiercely bared to strike Billina a blow. But the little girl +gave the angry kitten such a severe cuff that it jumped down again +without daring to scratch. + +"How horrid of you, Eureka!" cried Dorothy. "Is that the way to treat my +friends?" + +"You have queer friends, seems to me," replied the kitten, in a surly +tone. + +"Seems to me the same way," said Billina, scornfully, "if that beastly +cat is one of them." + +"Look here!" said Dorothy, sternly. "I won't have any quarrelling in the +Land of Oz, I can tell you! Everybody lives in peace here, and loves +everybody else; and unless you two, Billina and Eureka, make up and be +friends, I'll take my Magic Belt and wish you both home again, +_immejitly_. So, there!" + +They were both much frightened at the threat, and promised meekly to be +good. But it was never noticed that they became very warm friends, for +all of that. + +And now the Tin Woodman arrived, his body most beautifully +nickle-plated, so that it shone splendidly in the brilliant light of the +room. The Tin Woodman loved Dorothy most tenderly, and welcomed with joy +the return of the little old Wizard. + +"Sir," said he to the latter, "I never can thank you enough for the +excellent heart you once gave me. It has made me many friends, I assure +you, and it beats as kindly and lovingly today as it ever did." + +"I'm glad to hear that," said the Wizard. "I was afraid it would get +moldy in that tin body of yours." + +"Not at all," returned Nick Chopper. "It keeps finely, being preserved +in my air-tight chest." + +Zeb was a little shy when first introduced to these queer people; but +they were so friendly and sincere that he soon grew to admire them very +much, even finding some good qualities in the yellow hen. But he became +nervous again when the next visitor was announced. + +"This," said Princess Ozma, "is my friend Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E., +who assisted me one time when I was in great distress, and is now the +Dean of the Royal College of Athletic Science." + +"Ah," said the Wizard; "I'm pleased to meet so distinguished a +personage." + +"H. M.," said the Woggle-Bug, pompously, "means Highly Magnified; and T. +E. means Thoroughly Educated. I am, in reality, a very big bug, and +doubtless the most intelligent being in all this broad domain." + +"How well you disguise it," said the Wizard. "But I don't doubt your +word in the least." + +"Nobody doubts it, sir," replied the Woggle-Bug, and drawing a book from +its pocket the strange insect turned its back on the company and sat +down in a corner to read. + +Nobody minded this rudeness, which might have seemed more impolite in +one less thoroughly educated; so they straightway forgot him and joined +in a merry conversation that kept them well amused until bed-time +arrived. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 16. + +JIM, THE CAB-HORSE + + +Jim the Cab-horse found himself in possession of a large room with a +green marble floor and carved marble wainscoting, which was so stately +in its appearance that it would have awed anyone else. Jim accepted it +as a mere detail, and at his command the attendants gave his coat a good +rubbing, combed his mane and tail, and washed his hoofs and fetlocks. +Then they told him dinner would be served directly and he replied that +they could not serve it too quickly to suit his convenience. First they +brought him a steaming bowl of soup, which the horse eyed in dismay. + +"Take that stuff away!" he commanded. "Do you take me for a +salamander?" + +They obeyed at once, and next served a fine large turbot on a silver +platter, with drawn gravey poured over it. + +"Fish!" cried Jim, with a sniff. "Do you take me for a tom-cat? Away +with it!" + +The servants were a little discouraged, but soon they brought in a great +tray containing two dozen nicely roasted quail on toast. + +"Well, well!" said the horse, now thoroughly provoked. "Do you take me +for a weasel? How stupid and ignorant you are, in the Land of Oz, and +what dreadful things you feed upon! Is there nothing that is decent to +eat in this palace?" + +The trembling servants sent for the Royal Steward, who came in haste and +said: + +"What would your Highness like for dinner?" + +"Highness!" repeated Jim, who was unused to such titles. + +"You are at least six feet high, and that is higher than any other +animal in this country," said the Steward. + +"Well, my Highness would like some oats," declared the horse. + +"Oats? We have no whole oats," the Steward replied, with much +defference. "But there is any quantity of oatmeal, which we often cook +for breakfast. Oatmeal is a breakfast dish," added the Steward, humbly. + +"I'll make it a dinner dish," said Jim. "Fetch it on, but don't cook it, +as you value your life." + +You see, the respect shown the worn-out old cab-horse made him a little +arrogant, and he forgot he was a guest, never having been treated +otherwise than as a servant since the day he was born, until his arrival +in the Land of Oz. But the royal attendants did not heed the animal's +ill temper. They soon mixed a tub of oatmeal with a little water, and +Jim ate it with much relish. + +Then the servants heaped a lot of rugs upon the floor and the old horse +slept on the softest bed he had ever known in his life. + +In the morning, as soon as it was daylight, he resolved to take a walk +and try to find some grass for breakfast; so he ambled calmly through +the handsome arch of the doorway, turned the corner of the palace, +wherein all seemed asleep, and came face to face with the Sawhorse. + +Jim stopped abruptly, being startled and amazed. The Sawhorse stopped at +the same time and stared at the other with its queer protruding eyes, +which were mere knots in the log that formed its body. The legs of the +Sawhorse were four sticks driven into holes bored in the log; its tail +was a small branch that had been left by accident and its mouth a place +chopped in one end of the body which projected a little and served as +a head. The ends of the wooden legs were shod with plates of solid gold, +and the saddle of the Princess Ozma, which was of red leather set with +sparkling diamonds, was strapped to the clumsy body. + +[Illustration: "FOR GOODNESS SAKE, WHAT SORT OF A BEING ARE YOU?"] + +Jim's eyes stuck out as much as those of the Sawhorse, and he stared at +the creature with his ears erect and his long head drawn back until it +rested against his arched neck. + +In this comical position the two horses circled slowly around each other +for a while, each being unable to realize what the singular thing might +be which it now beheld for the first time. Then Jim exclaimed: + +"For goodness sake, what sort of a being are you?" + +"I'm a Sawhorse," replied the other. + +"Oh; I believe I've heard of you," said the cab-horse; "but you are +unlike anything that I expected to see." + +"I do not doubt it," the Sawhorse observed, with a tone of pride. "I am +considered quite unusual." + +"You are, indeed. But a rickety wooden thing like you has no right to be +alive." + +"I couldn't help it," returned the other, rather crestfallen. "Ozma +sprinkled me with a magic powder, and I just had to live. I know I'm not +much account; but I'm the only horse in all the Land of Oz, so they +treat me with great respect." + +"You, a horse!" + +"Oh, not a real one, of course. There are no real horses here at all. +But I'm a splendid imitation of one." + +Jim gave an indignant neigh. + +"Look at me!" he cried. "Behold a real horse!" + +The wooden animal gave a start, and then examined the other intently. + +"Is it possible that you are a Real Horse?" he murmured. + +"Not only possible, but true," replied Jim, who was gratified by the +impression he had created. "It is proved by my fine points. For example, +look at the long hairs on my tail, with which I can whisk away the +flies." + +"The flies never trouble me," said the Saw-Horse. + +"And notice my great strong teeth, with which I nibble the grass." + +"It is not necessary for me to eat," observed the Saw-horse. + +"Also examine my broad chest, which enables me to draw deep, full +breaths," said Jim, proudly. + +"I have no need to breathe," returned the other. + +"No; you miss many pleasures," remarked the cab-horse, pityingly. "You +do not know the relief of brushing away a fly that has bitten you, nor +the delight of eating delicious food, nor the satisfaction of drawing a +long breath of fresh, pure air. You may be an imitation of a horse, but +you're a mighty poor one." + +"Oh, I cannot hope ever to be like you," sighed the Sawhorse. "But I am +glad to meet at last a Real Horse. You are certainly the most beautiful +creature I ever beheld." + +This praise won Jim completely. To be called beautiful was a novelty in +his experience. Said he: + +"Your chief fault, my friend, is in being made of wood, and that I +suppose you cannot help. Real horses, like myself, are made of flesh and +blood and bones." + +"I can see the bones all right," replied the Sawhorse, "and they are +admirable and distinct. Also I can see the flesh. But the blood, I +suppose, is tucked away inside." + +"Exactly," said Jim. + +"What good is it?" asked the Sawhorse. + +Jim did not know, but he would not tell the Sawhorse that. + +"If anything cuts me," he replied, "the blood runs out to show where I +am cut. You, poor thing! cannot even bleed when you are hurt." + +"But I am never hurt," said the Sawhorse. "Once in a while I get broken +up some, but I am easily repaired and put in good order again. And I +never feel a break or a splinter in the least." + +Jim was almost tempted to envy the wooden horse for being unable to feel +pain; but the creature was so absurdly unnatural that he decided he +would not change places with it under any circumstances. + +"How did you happen to be shod with gold?" he asked. + +"Princess Ozma did that," was the reply; "and it saves my legs from +wearing out. We've had a good many adventures together, Ozma and I, and +she likes me." + +The cab-horse was about to reply when suddenly he gave a start and a +neigh of terror and stood trembling like a leaf. For around the corner +had come two enormous savage beasts, treading so lightly that they were +upon him before he was aware of their presence. Jim was in the act of +plunging down the path to escape when the Sawhorse cried out: + +"Stop, my brother! Stop, Real Horse! These are friends, and will do you +no harm." + +Jim hesitated, eyeing the beasts fearfully. One was an enormous Lion +with clear, intelligent eyes, a tawney mane bushy and well kept, and a +body like yellow plush. The other was a great Tiger with purple stripes +around his lithe body, powerful limbs, and eyes that showed through the +half closed lids like coals of fire. The huge forms of these monarchs of +the forest and jungle were enough to strike terror to the stoutest +heart, and it is no wonder Jim was afraid to face them. + +But the Sawhorse introduced the stranger in a calm tone, saying, + +"This, noble Horse, is my friend the Cowardly Lion, who is the valiant +King of the Forest, but at the same time a faithful vassal of Princess +Ozma. And this is the Hungry Tiger, the terror of the jungle, who longs +to devour fat babies but is prevented by his conscience from doing so. +These royal beasts are both warm friends of little Dorothy and have come +to the Emerald City this morning to welcome her to our fairyland." + +Hearing these words Jim resolved to conquer his alarm. He bowed his head +with as much dignity as he could muster toward the savage looking +beasts, who in return nodded in a friendly way. + +"Is not the Real Horse a beautiful animal?" asked the Sawhorse +admiringly. + +"That is doubtless a matter of taste," returned the Lion. "In the forest +he would be thought ungainly, because his face is stretched out and his +neck is uselessly long. His joints, I notice, are swollen and overgrown, +and he lacks flesh and is old in years." + +"And dreadfully tough," added the Hungry Tiger, in a sad voice. "My +conscience would never permit me to eat so tough a morsel as the Real +Horse." + +"I'm glad of that," said Jim; "for I, also, have a conscience, and it +tells me not to crush in your skull with a blow of my powerful hoof." + +If he thought to frighten the striped beast by such language he was +mistaken. The Tiger seemed to smile, and winked one eye slowly. + +"You have a good conscience, friend Horse," it said, "and if you attend +to its teachings it will do much to protect you from harm. Some day I +will let you try to crush in my skull, and afterward you will know more +about tigers than you do now." + +"Any friend of Dorothy," remarked the Cowardly Lion, "must be our +friend, as well. So let us cease this talk of skull crushing and +converse upon more pleasant subjects. Have you breakfasted, Sir Horse?" + +"Not yet," replied Jim. "But here is plenty of excellent clover, so if +you will excuse me I will eat now." + +"He's a vegetarian," remarked the Tiger, as the horse began to munch the +clover. "If I could eat grass I would not need a conscience, for nothing +could then tempt me to devour babies and lambs." + +Just then Dorothy, who had risen early and heard the voices of the +animals, ran out to greet her old friends. She hugged both the Lion and +the Tiger with eager delight, but seemed to love the King of Beasts a +little better than she did his hungry friend, having known him longer. + +By the time they had indulged in a good talk and Dorothy had told them +all about the awful earthquake and her recent adventures, the breakfast +bell rang from the palace and the little girl went inside to join her +human comrades. As she entered the great hall a voice called out, in a +rather harsh tone: + +"What! are _you_ here again?" + +"Yes, I am," she answered, looking all around to see where the voice +came from. + +"What brought you back?" was the next question, and Dorothy's eye rested +on an antlered head hanging on the wall just over the fireplace, and +caught its lips in the act of moving. + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were stuffed." + +"So I am," replied the head. "But once on a time I was part of the Gump, +which Ozma sprinkled with the Powder of Life. I was then for a time the +Head of the finest Flying Machine that was ever known to exist, and we +did many wonderful things. Afterward the Gump was taken apart and I was +put back on this wall; but I can still talk when I feel in the mood, +which is not often." + +"It's very strange," said the girl. "What were you when you were first +alive?" + +"That I have forgotten," replied the Gump's Head, "and I do not think it +is of much importance. But here comes Ozma; so I'd better hush up, for +the Princess doesn't like me to chatter since she changed her name from +Tip to Ozma." + +Just then the girlish Ruler of Oz opened the door and greeted Dorothy +with a good-morning kiss. The little Princess seemed fresh and rosy and +in good spirits. + +"Breakfast is served, dear," she said, "and I am hungry. So don't let us +keep it waiting a single minute." + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: JIM STOOD TREMBLING LIKE A LEAF.] + + + + +CHAPTER 17. + +THE NINE TINY PIGLETS + + +After breakfast Ozma announced that she had ordered a holiday to be +observed throughout the Emerald City, in honor of her visitors. The +people had learned that their old Wizard had returned to them and all +were anxious to see him again, for he had always been a rare favorite. +So first there was to be a grand procession through the streets, after +which the little old man was requested to perform some of his wizardries +in the great Throne Room of the palace. In the afternoon there were to +be games and races. + +The procession was very imposing. First came the Imperial Cornet Band of +Oz, dressed in emerald velvet uniforms with slashes of pea-green satin +and buttons of immense cut emeralds. They played the National air +called "The Oz Spangled Banner," and behind them were the standard +bearers with the Royal flag. This flag was divided into four quarters, +one being colored sky-blue, another pink, a third lavender and a fourth +white. In the center was a large emerald-green star, and all over the +four quarters were sewn spangles that glittered beautifully in the +sunshine. The colors represented the four countries of Oz, and the green +star the Emerald City. + +Just behind the royal standard-bearers came the Princess Ozma in her +royal chariot, which was of gold encrusted with emeralds and diamonds +set in exquisite designs. The chariot was drawn on this occasion by the +Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, who were decorated with immense pink +and blue bows. In the chariot rode Ozma and Dorothy, the former in +splendid raiment and wearing her royal coronet, while the little Kansas +girl wore around her waist the Magic Belt she had once captured from the +Nome King. + +Following the chariot came the Scarecrow mounted on the Sawhorse, and +the people cheered him almost as loudly as they did their lovely Ruler. +Behind him stalked with regular, jerky steps, the famous machine-man +called Tik-tok, who had been wound up by Dorothy for the occasion. +Tik-tok moved by clockwork, and was made all of burnished copper. He +really belonged to the Kansas girl, who had much respect for his +thoughts after they had been properly wound and set going; but as the +copper man would be useless in any place but a fairy country Dorothy had +left him in charge of Ozma, who saw that he was suitably cared for. + +There followed another band after this, which was called the Royal Court +Band, because the members all lived in the palace. They wore white +uniforms with real diamond buttons and played "What is Oz without Ozma" +very sweetly. + +Then came Professor Woggle-Bug, with a group of students from the Royal +College of Scientific Athletics. The boys wore long hair and striped +sweaters and yelled their college yell every other step they took, to +the great satisfaction of the populace, which was glad to have this +evidence that their lungs were in good condition. + +The brilliantly polished Tin Woodman marched next, at the head of the +Royal Army of Oz which consisted of twenty-eight officers, from Generals +down to Captains. There were no privates in the army because all were so +courageous and skillful that they had been promoted one by one until +there were no privates left. Jim and the buggy followed, the old +cab-horse being driven by Zeb while the Wizard stood up on the seat and +bowed his bald head right and left in answer to the cheers of the +people, who crowded thick about him. + +Taken altogether the procession was a grand success, and when it had +returned to the palace the citizens crowded into the great Throne Room +to see the Wizard perform his tricks. + +The first thing the little humbug did was to produce a tiny white piglet +from underneath his hat and pretend to pull it apart, making two. This +act he repeated until all of the nine tiny piglets were visible, and +they were so glad to get out of his pocket that they ran around in a +very lively manner. The pretty little creatures would have been a +novelty anywhere, so the people were as amazed and delighted at their +appearance as even the Wizard could have desired. When he had made them +all disappear again Ozma declared she was sorry they were gone, for she +wanted one of them to pet and play with. So the Wizard pretended to take +one of the piglets out of the hair of the Princess (while really he +slyly took it from his inside pocket) and Ozma smiled joyously as the +creature nestled in her arms, and she promised to have an emerald collar +made for its fat neck and to keep the little squealer always at hand to +amuse her. + +Afterward it was noticed that the Wizard always performed his famous +trick with eight piglets, but it seemed to please the people just as +well as if there had been nine of them. + +In his little room back of the Throne Room the Wizard had found a lot of +things he had left behind him when he went away in the balloon, for no +one had occupied the apartment in his absence. There was enough material +there to enable him to prepare several new tricks which he had learned +from some of the jugglers in the circus, and he had passed part of the +night in getting them ready. So he followed the trick of the nine tiny +piglets with several other wonderful feats that greatly delighted his +audience and the people did not seem to care a bit whether the little +man was a humbug Wizard or not, so long as he succeeded in amusing them. +They applauded all his tricks and at the end of the performance begged +him earnestly not to go away again and leave them. + +"In that case," said the little man, gravely, "I will cancel all of my +engagements before the crowned heads of Europe and America and devote +myself to the people of Oz, for I love you all so well that I can deny +you nothing." + +After the people had been dismissed with this promise our friends joined +Princess Ozma at an elaborate luncheon in the palace, where even the +Tiger and the Lion were sumptuously fed and Jim the Cab-horse ate his +oatmeal out of a golden bowl with seven rows of rubies, sapphires and +diamonds set around the rim of it. + +In the afternoon they all went to a great field outside the city gates +where the games were to be held. There was a beautiful canopy for Ozma +and her guests to sit under and watch the people run races and jump and +wrestle. You may be sure the folks of Oz did their best with such a +distinguished company watching them, and finally Zeb offered to wrestle +with a little Munchkin who seemed to be the champion. In appearance he +was twice as old as Zeb, for he had long pointed whiskers and wore a +peaked hat with little bells all around the brim of it, which tinkled +gaily as he moved. But although the Munchkin was hardly tall enough to +come to Zeb's shoulder he was so strong and clever that he laid the boy +three times on his back with apparent ease. + +Zeb was greatly astonished at his defeat, and when the pretty Princess +joined her people in laughing at him he proposed a boxing-match with the +Munchkin, to which the little Ozite readily agreed. But the first time +that Zeb managed to give him a sharp box on the ears the Munchkin sat +down upon the ground and cried until the tears ran down his whiskers, +because he had been hurt. This made Zeb laugh, in turn, and the boy +felt comforted to find that Ozma laughed as merrily at her weeping +subject as she had at him. + +Just then the Scarecrow proposed a race between the Sawhorse and the +Cab-horse; and although all the others were delighted at the suggestion +the Sawhorse drew back, saying: + +"Such a race would not be fair." + +"Of course not," added Jim, with a touch of scorn; "those little wooden +legs of yours are not half as long as my own." + +"It isn't that," said the Sawhorse, modestly; "but I never tire, and you +do." + +"Bah!" cried Jim, looking with great disdain at the other; "do you +imagine for an instant that such a shabby imitation of a horse as you +are can run as fast as I?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure," replied the Sawhorse. + +"That is what we are trying to find out," remarked the Scarecrow. "The +object of a race is to see who can win it--or at least that is what my +excellent brains think." + +"Once, when I was young," said Jim, "I was a race horse, and defeated +all who dared run against me. I was born in Kentucky, you know, where +all the best and most aristocratic horses come from." + +"But you're old, now, Jim," suggested Zeb. + +"Old! Why, I feel like a colt today," replied Jim. "I only wish there +was a real horse here for me to race with. I'd show the people a fine +sight, I can tell you." + +"Then why not race with the Sawhorse?" enquired the Scarecrow. + +"He's afraid," said Jim. + +"Oh, no," answered the Sawhorse. "I merely said it wasn't fair. But if +my friend the Real Horse is willing to undertake the race I am quite +ready." + +So they unharnessed Jim and took the saddle off the Sawhorse, and the +two queerly matched animals were stood side by side for the start. + +"When I say 'Go!'" Zeb called to them, "you must dig out and race until +you reach those three trees you see over yonder. Then circle 'round them +and come back again. The first one that passes the place where the +Princess sits shall be named the winner. Are you ready?" + +"I suppose I ought to give the wooden dummy a good start of me," growled +Jim. + +"Never mind that," said the Sawhorse. "I'll do the best I can." + +"Go!" cried Zeb; and at the word the two horses leaped forward and the +race was begun. + +[Illustration: THE WIZARD TOOK A PIGLET FROM OZMA'S HAIR.] + +Jim's big hoofs pounded away at a great rate, and although he did not +look very graceful he ran in a way to do credit to his Kentucky +breeding. But the Sawhorse was swifter than the wind. Its wooden legs +moved so fast that their twinkling could scarcely be seen, and +although so much smaller than the cab-horse it covered the ground much +faster. Before they had reached the trees the Sawhorse was far ahead, +and the wooden animal returned to the starting place and was being +lustily cheered by the Ozites before Jim came panting up to the canopy +where the Princess and her friends were seated. + +[Illustration: THE HUNGRY TIGER TEACHES JIM A LESSON.] + +I am sorry to record the fact that Jim was not only ashamed of his +defeat but for a moment lost control of his temper. As he looked at the +comical face of the Sawhorse he imagined that the creature was laughing +at him; so in a fit of unreasonable anger he turned around and made a +vicious kick that sent his rival tumbling head over heels upon the +ground, and broke off one of its legs and its left ear. + +An instant later the Tiger crouched and launched its huge body through +the air swift and resistless as a ball from a cannon. The beast struck +Jim full on his shoulder and sent the astonished cab-horse rolling over +and over, amid shouts of delight from the spectators, who had been +horrified by the ungracious act he had been guilty of. + +When Jim came to himself and sat upon his haunches he found the Cowardly +Lion crouched on one side of him and the Hungry Tiger on the other, and +their eyes were glowing like balls of fire. + +"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Jim, meekly. "I was wrong to kick +the Sawhorse, and I am sorry I became angry at him. He has won the race, +and won it fairly; but what can a horse of flesh do against a tireless +beast of wood?" + +Hearing this apology the Tiger and the Lion stopped lashing their tails +and retreated with dignified steps to the side of the Princess. + +"No one must injure one of our friends in our presence," growled the +Lion; and Zeb ran to Jim and whispered that unless he controlled his +temper in the future he would probably be torn to pieces. + +Then the Tin Woodman cut a straight and strong limb from a tree with his +gleaming axe and made a new leg and a new ear for the Sawhorse; and when +they had been securely fastened in place Princess Ozma took the coronet +from her own head and placed it upon that of the winner of the race. +Said she: + +"My friend, I reward you for your swiftness by proclaiming you Prince of +Horses, whether of wood or of flesh; and hereafter all other horses--in +the Land of Oz, at least--must be considered imitations, and you the +real Champion of your race." + +There was more applause at this, and then Ozma had the jewelled saddle +replaced upon the Sawhorse and herself rode the victor back to the city +at the head of the grand procession. + +"I ought to be a fairy," grumbled Jim, as he slowly drew the buggy home; +"for to be just an ordinary horse in a fairy country is to be of no +account whatever. It's no place for us, Zeb." + +"It's lucky we got here, though," said the boy; and Jim thought of the +dark cave, and agreed with him. + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER 18. + +THE TRIAL OF EUREKA THE KITTEN + + +Several days of festivity and merry-making followed, for such old +friends did not often meet and there was much to be told and talked over +between them, and many amusements to be enjoyed in this delightful +country. + +Ozma was happy to have Dorothy beside her, for girls of her own age with +whom it was proper for the Princess to associate were very few, and +often the youthful Ruler of Oz was lonely for lack of companionship. + +It was the third morning after Dorothy's arrival, and she was sitting +with Ozma and their friends in a reception room, talking over old times, +when the Princess said to her maid: + +"Please go to my boudoir, Jellia, and get the white piglet I left on the +dressing-table. I want to play with it." + +Jellia at once departed on the errand, and she was gone so long that +they had almost forgotten her mission when the green robed maiden +returned with a troubled face. + +"The piglet is not there, your Highness," said she. + +"Not there!" exclaimed Ozma. "Are you sure?" + +"I have hunted in every part of the room," the maid replied. + +"Was not the door closed?" asked the Princess. + +"Yes, your Highness; I am sure it was; for when I opened it Dorothy's +white kitten crept out and ran up the stairs." + +Hearing this, Dorothy and the Wizard exchanged startled glances, for +they remembered how often Eureka had longed to eat a piglet. The little +girl jumped up at once. + +"Come, Ozma," she said, anxiously; "let us go ourselves to search for +the piglet." + +So the two went to the dressing-room of the Princess and searched +carefully in every corner and among the vases and baskets and ornaments +that stood about the pretty boudoir. But not a trace could they find of +the tiny creature they sought. + +Dorothy was nearly weeping, by this time, while Ozma was angry and +indignant. When they returned to the others the Princess said: + +"There is little doubt that my pretty piglet has been eaten by that +horrid kitten, and if that is true the offender must be punished." + +"I don't b'lieve Eureka would do such a dreadful thing!" cried Dorothy, +much distressed. "Go and get my kitten, please, Jellia, and we'll hear +what she has to say about it." + +The green maiden hastened away, but presently returned and said: + +"The kitten will not come. She threatened to scratch my eyes out if I +touched her." + +"Where is she?" asked Dorothy. + +"Under the bed in your own room," was the reply. + +So Dorothy ran to her room and found the kitten under the bed. + +"Come here, Eureka!" she said. + +"I won't," answered the kitten, in a surly voice. + +"Oh, Eureka! Why are you so bad?" + +The kitten did not reply. + +"If you don't come to me, right away," continued Dorothy, getting +provoked, "I'll take my Magic Belt and wish you in the Country of the +Gurgles." + +"Why do you want me?" asked Eureka, disturbed by this threat. + +"You must go to Princess Ozma. She wants to talk to you." + +"All right," returned the kitten, creeping out. "I'm not afraid of +Ozma--or anyone else." + +Dorothy carried her in her arms back to where the others sat in grieved +and thoughtful silence. + +"Tell me, Eureka," said the Princess, gently: "did you eat my pretty +piglet?" + +"I won't answer such a foolish question," asserted Eureka, with a snarl. + +"Oh, yes you will, dear," Dorothy declared. "The piglet is gone, and you +ran out of the room when Jellia opened the door. So, if you are +innocent, Eureka, you must tell the Princess how you came to be in her +room, and what has become of the piglet." + +"Who accuses me?" asked the kitten, defiantly. + +"No one," answered Ozma. "Your actions alone accuse you. The fact is +that I left my little pet in my dressing-room lying asleep upon the +table; and you must hove stolen in without my knowing it. When next the +door was opened you ran out and hid yourself--and the piglet was gone." + +"That's none of my business," growled the kitten. + +"Don't be impudent, Eureka," admonished Dorothy. + +"It is you who are impudent," said Eureka, "for accusing me of such a +crime when you can't prove it except by guessing." + +Ozma was now greatly incensed by the kitten's conduct. She summoned her +Captain-General, and when the long, lean officer appeared she said: + +"Carry this cat away to prison, and keep her in safe confinement until +she is tried by law for the crime of murder." + +So the Captain-General took Eureka from the arms of the now weeping +Dorothy and in spite of the kitten's snarls and scratches carried it +away to prison. + +"What shall we do now?" asked the Scarecrow, with a sigh, for such a +crime had cast a gloom over all the company. + +"I will summon the Court to meet in the Throne Room at three o'clock," +replied Ozma. "I myself will be the judge, and the kitten shall have a +fair trial." + +"What will happen if she is guilty?" asked Dorothy. + +"She must die," answered the Princess. + +"Nine times?" enquired the Scarecrow. + +"As many times as is necessary," was the reply. "I will ask the Tin +Woodman to defend the prisoner, because he has such a kind heart I am +sure he will do his best to save her. And the Woggle-Bug shall be the +Public Accuser, because he is so learned that no one can deceive him." + +"Who will be the jury?" asked the Tin Woodman. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF THE WIZARD OF OZ.] + +"There ought to be several animals on the jury," said Ozma, "because +animals understand each other better than we people understand them. +So the jury shall consist of the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, Jim +the Cab-horse, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Wizard, Tik-tok the +Machine Man, the Sawhorse and Zeb of Hugson's Ranch. That makes the nine +which the law requires, and all my people shall be admitted to hear the +testimony." + +They now separated to prepare for the sad ceremony; for whenever an +appeal is made to law sorrow is almost certain to follow--even in a +fairyland like Oz. But it must be stated that the people of that Land +were generally so well-behaved that there was not a single lawyer +amongst them, and it had been years since any Ruler had sat in judgment +upon an offender of the law. The crime of murder being the most dreadful +crime of all, tremendous excitement prevailed in the Emerald City when +the news of Eureka's arrest and trial became known. + +The Wizard, when he returned to his own room, was exceedingly +thoughtful. He had no doubt Eureka had eaten his piglet, but he realized +that a kitten cannot be depended upon at all times to act properly, +since its nature is to destroy small animals and even birds for food, +and the tame cat that we keep in our houses today is descended from the +wild cat of the jungle--a very ferocious creature, indeed. The Wizard +knew that if Dorothy's pet was found guilty and condemned to death the +little girl would be made very unhappy; so, although he grieved over the +piglet's sad fate as much as any of them, he resolved to save Eureka's +life. + +Sending for the Tin Woodman the Wizard took him into a corner and +whispered: + +"My friend, it is your duty to defend the white kitten and try to save +her, but I fear you will fail because Eureka has long wished to eat a +piglet, to my certain knowledge, and my opinion is that she has been +unable to resist the temptation. Yet her disgrace and death would not +bring back the piglet, but only serve to make Dorothy unhappy. So I +intend to prove the kitten's innocence by a trick." + +He drew from his inside pocket one of the eight tiny piglets that were +remaining and continued: + +"This creature you must hide in some safe place, and if the jury decides +that Eureka is guilty you may then produce this piglet and claim it is +the one that was lost. All the piglets are exactly alike, so no one can +dispute your word. This deception will save Eureka's life, and then we +may all be happy again." + +"I do not like to deceive my friends," replied the Tin Woodman; "still, +my kind heart urges me to save Eureka's life, and I can usually trust my +heart to do the right thing. So I will do as you say, friend Wizard." + +After some thought he placed the little pig inside his funnel-shaped +hat, and then put the hat upon his head and went back to his room to +think over his speech to the jury. + + + + +CHAPTER 19. + +THE WIZARD PERFORMS ANOTHER TRICK + + +At three o'clock the Throne Room was crowded with citizens, men, women +and children being eager to witness the great trial. + +Princess Ozma, dressed in her most splendid robes of state, sat in the +magnificent emerald throne, with her jewelled sceptre in her hand and +her sparkling coronet upon her fair brow. Behind her throne stood the +twenty-eight officers of her army and many officials of the royal +household. At her right sat the queerly assorted Jury--animals, animated +dummies and people--all gravely prepared to listen to what was said. The +kitten had been placed in a large cage just before the throne, where she +sat upon her haunches and gazed through the bars at the crowds around +her, with seeming unconcern. + +And now, at a signal from Ozma, the Woggle-Bug arose and addressed the +jury. His tone was pompous and he strutted up and down in an absurd +attempt to appear dignified. + +"Your Royal Highness and Fellow Citizens," he began; "the small cat you +see a prisoner before you is accused of the crime of first murdering and +then eating our esteemed Ruler's fat piglet--or else first eating and +then murdering it. In either case a grave crime has been committed which +deserves a grave punishment." + +"Do you mean my kitten must be put in a grave?" asked Dorothy. + +"Don't interrupt, little girl," said the Woggle-Bug. "When I get my +thoughts arranged in good order I do not like to have anything upset +them or throw them into confusion." + +"If your thoughts were any good they wouldn't become confused," remarked +the Scarecrow, earnestly. "My thoughts are always----" + +"Is this a trial of thoughts, or of kittens?" demanded the Woggle-Bug. + +"It's a trial of one kitten," replied the Scarecrow; "but your manner is +a trial to us all." + +"Let the Public Accuser continue," called Ozma from her throne, "and I +pray you do not interrupt him." + +"The criminal who now sits before the court licking her paws," resumed +the Woggle-Bug, "has long desired to unlawfully eat the fat piglet, +which was no bigger than a mouse. And finally she made a wicked plan to +satisfy her depraved appetite for pork. I can see her, in my mind's +eye----" + +"What's that?" asked the Scarecrow. + +"I say I can see her in my mind's eye----" + +"The mind has no eye," declared the Scarecrow. "It's blind." + +"Your Highness," cried the Woggle-Bug, appealing to Ozma, "have I a +mind's eye, or haven't I?" + +"If you have, it is invisible," said the Princess. + +"Very true," returned the Woggle-Bug, bowing. "I say I see the criminal, +in my mind's eye, creeping stealthily into the room of our Ozma and +secreting herself, when no one was looking, until the Princess had gone +away and the door was closed. Then the murderer was alone with her +helpless victim, the fat piglet, and I see her pounce upon the innocent +creature and eat it up----" + +"Are you still seeing with your mind's eye?" enquired the Scarecrow. + +"Of course; how else could I see it? And we know the thing is true, +because since the time of that interview there is no piglet to be found +anywhere." + +[Illustration: EUREKA IN COURT.] + +"I suppose, if the cat had been gone, instead of the piglet, your mind's +eye would see the piglet eating the cat," suggested the Scarecrow. + +"Very likely," acknowledged the Woggle-Bug. "And now, Fellow Citizens +and Creatures of the Jury, I assert that so awful a crime deserves +death, and in the case of the ferocious criminal before you--who is now +washing her face--the death penalty should be inflicted nine times." + +There was great applause when the speaker sat down. Then the Princess +spoke in a stern voice: + +"Prisoner, what have you to say for yourself? Are you guilty, or not +guilty?" + +"Why, that's for you to find out," replied Eureka. "If you can prove I'm +guilty, I'll be willing to die nine times, but a mind's eye is no proof, +because the Woggle-Bug has no mind to see with." + +"Never mind, dear," said Dorothy. + +Then the Tin Woodman arose and said: + +"Respected Jury and dearly beloved Ozma, I pray you not to judge this +feline prisoner unfeelingly. I do not think the innocent kitten can be +guilty, and surely it is unkind to accuse a luncheon of being a murder. +Eureka is the sweet pet of a lovely little girl whom we all admire, and +gentleness and innocence are her chief virtues. Look at the kitten's +intelligent eyes;" (here Eureka closed her eyes sleepily) "gaze at her +smiling countenance!" (here Eureka snarled and showed her teeth) "mark +the tender pose of her soft, padded little hands!" (Here Eureka bared +her sharp claws and scratched at the bars of the cage.) "Would such a +gentle animal be guilty of eating a fellow creature? No; a thousand +times, no!" + +"Oh, cut it short," said Eureka; "you've talked long enough." + +"I'm trying to defend you," remonstrated the Tin Woodman. + +"Then say something sensible," retorted the kitten. "Tell them it would +be foolish for me to eat the piglet, because I had sense enough to know +it would raise a row if I did. But don't try to make out I'm too +innocent to eat a fat piglet if I could do it and not be found out. I +imagine it would taste mighty good." + +"Perhaps it would, to those who eat," remarked the Tin Woodman. "I +myself, not being built to eat, have no personal experience in such +matters. But I remember that our great poet once said: + + "'To eat is sweet + When hunger's seat + Demands a treat + Of savory meat.' + +"Take this into consideration, friends of the Jury, and you will readily +decide that the kitten is wrongfully accused and should be set at +liberty." + +When the Tin Woodman sat down no one applauded him, for his arguments +had not been very convincing and few believed that he had proved +Eureka's innocence. As for the Jury, the members whispered to each other +for a few minutes and then they appointed the Hungry Tiger their +spokesman. The huge beast slowly arose and said: + +"Kittens have no consciences, so they eat whatever pleases them. The +jury believes the white kitten known as Eureka is guilty of having eaten +the piglet owned by Princess Ozma, and recommends that she be put to +death in punishment of the crime." + +The judgment of the jury was received with great applause, although +Dorothy was sobbing miserably at the fate of her pet. The Princess was +just about to order Eureka's head chopped off with the Tin Woodman's axe +when that brilliant personage once more arose and addressed her. + +"Your Highness," said he, "see how easy it is for a jury to be mistaken. +The kitten could not have eaten your piglet--for here it is!" + +He took off his funnel hat and from beneath it produced a tiny white +piglet, which he held aloft that all might see it clearly. + +Ozma was delighted and exclaimed, eagerly: + +"Give me my pet, Nick Chopper!" + +And all the people cheered and clapped their hands, rejoicing that the +prisoner had escaped death and been proved to be innocent. + +As the Princess held the white piglet in her arms and stroked its soft +hair she said: "Let Eureka out of the cage, for she is no longer a +prisoner, but our good friend. Where did you find my missing pet, Nick +Chopper?" + +"In a room of the palace," he answered. + +"Justice," remarked the Scarecrow, with a sigh, "is a dangerous thing to +meddle with. If you hadn't happened to find the piglet, Eureka would +surely have been executed." + +"But justice prevailed at the last," said Ozma, "for here is my pet, and +Eureka is once more free." + +"I refuse to be free," cried the kitten, in a sharp voice, "unless the +Wizard can do his trick with eight piglets. If he can produce but seven, +then this it not the piglet that was lost, but another one." + +"Hush, Eureka!" warned the Wizard. + +"Don't be foolish," advised the Tin Woodman, "or you may be sorry for +it." + +"The piglet that belonged to the Princess wore an emerald collar," said +Eureka, loudly enough for all to hear. + +"So it did!" exclaimed Ozma. "This cannot be the one the Wizard gave +me." + +"Of course not; he had nine of them, altogether," declared Eureka; "and +I must say it was very stingy of him not to let me eat just a few. But +now that this foolish trial is ended, I will tell you what really became +of your pet piglet." + +At this everyone in the Throne Room suddenly became quiet, and the +kitten continued, in a calm, mocking tone of voice: + +"I will confess that I intended to eat the little pig for my breakfast; +so I crept into the room where it was kept while the Princess was +dressing and hid myself under a chair. When Ozma went away she closed +the door and left her pet on the table. At once I jumped up and told the +piglet not to make a fuss, for he would be inside of me in half a +second; but no one can teach one of these creatures to be reasonable. +Instead of keeping still, so I could eat him comfortably, he trembled so +with fear that he fell off the table into a big vase that was standing +on the floor. The vase had a very small neck, and spread out at the top +like a bowl. At first the piglet stuck in the neck of the vase and I +thought I should get him, after all, but he wriggled himself through and +fell down into the deep bottom part--and I suppose he's there yet." + +All were astonished at this confession, and Ozma at once sent an officer +to her room to fetch the vase. When he returned the Princess looked down +the narrow neck of the big ornament and discovered her lost piglet, just +as Eureka had said she would. + +There was no way to get the creature out without breaking the vase, so +the Tin Woodman smashed it with his axe and set the little prisoner +free. + +Then the crowd cheered lustily and Dorothy hugged the kitten in her arms +and told her how delighted she was to know that she was innocent. + +"But why didn't you tell us at first?" she asked. + +"It would have spoiled the fun," replied the kitten, yawning. + +Ozma gave the Wizard back the piglet he had so kindly allowed Nick +Chopper to substitute for the lost one, and then she carried her own +into the apartments of the palace where she lived. And now, the trial +being over, the good citizens of the Emerald City scattered to their +homes, well content with the day's amusement. + + + + +CHAPTER 20. + +ZEB RETURNS TO THE RANCH + + +Eureka was much surprised to find herself in disgrace; but she was, in +spite of the fact that she had not eaten the piglet. For the folks of Oz +knew the kitten had tried to commit the crime, and that only an accident +had prevented her from doing so; therefore even the Hungry Tiger +preferred not to associate with her. Eureka was forbidden to wander +around the palace and was made to stay in confinement in Dorothy's room; +so she began to beg her mistress to send her to some other place where +she could enjoy herself better. + +Dorothy was herself anxious to get home, so she promised Eureka they +would not stay in the Land of Oz much longer. + +The next evening after the trial the little girl begged Ozma to allow +her to look in the enchanted picture, and the Princess readily +consented. She took the child to her room and said: "Make your wish, +dear, and the picture will show the scene you desire to behold." + +Then Dorothy found, with the aid of the enchanted picture, that Uncle +Henry had returned to the farm in Kansas, and she also saw that both he +and Aunt Em were dressed in mourning, because they thought their little +niece had been killed by the earthquake. + +"Really," said the girl, anxiously, "I must get back as soon as poss'ble +to my own folks." + +Zeb also wanted to see his home, and although he did not find anyone +mourning for him, the sight of Hugson's Ranch in the picture made him +long to get back there. + +"This is a fine country, and I like all the people that live in it," he +told Dorothy. "But the fact is, Jim and I don't seem to fit into a +fairyland, and the old horse has been begging me to go home again ever +since he lost the race. So, if you can find a way to fix it, we'll be +much obliged to you." + +"Ozma can do it, easily," replied Dorothy. "Tomorrow morning I'll go to +Kansas and you can go to Californy." + +[Illustration: "I'M MUCH OBLIGED FOR ALL YOUR KINDNESS."] + +That last evening was so delightful that the boy will never forget it as +long as he lives. They were all together (except Eureka) in the +pretty rooms of the Princess, and the Wizard did some new tricks, and +the Scarecrow told stories, and the Tin Woodman sang a love song in a +sonorous, metallic voice, and everybody laughed and had a good time. +Then Dorothy wound up Tik-tok and he danced a jig to amuse the company, +after which the Yellow Hen related some of her adventures with the Nome +King in the Land of Ev. + +The Princess served delicious refreshments to those who were in the +habit of eating, and when Dorothy's bed time arrived the company +separated after exchanging many friendly sentiments. + +Next morning they all assembled for the final parting, and many of the +officials and courtiers came to look upon the impressive ceremonies. + +Dorothy held Eureka in her arms and bade her friends a fond good-bye. + +"You must come again, some time," said the little Wizard; and she +promised she would if she found it possible to do so. + +"But Uncle Henry and Aunt Em need me to help them," she added, "so I +can't ever be very long away from the farm in Kansas." + +Ozma wore the Magic Belt; and, when she had kissed Dorothy farewell and +had made her wish, the little girl and her kitten disappeared in a +twinkling. + +"Where is she?" asked Zeb, rather bewildered by the suddenness of it. + +"Greeting her uncle and aunt in Kansas, by this time," returned Ozma, +with a smile. + +Then Zeb brought out Jim, all harnessed to the buggy, and took his seat. + +"I'm much obliged for all your kindness," said the boy, "and very +grateful to you for saving my life and sending me home again after all +the good times I've had. I think this is the loveliest country in the +world; but not being fairies Jim and I feel we ought to be where we +belong--and that's at the ranch. Good-bye, everybody!" + +He gave a start and rubbed his eyes. Jim was trotting along the +well-known road, shaking his ears and whisking his tail with a contented +motion. Just ahead of them were the gates of Hugson's Ranch, and Uncle +Hugson now came out and stood with uplifted arms and wide open mouth, +staring in amazement. + +"Goodness gracious! It's Zeb--and Jim, too!" he exclaimed. "Where in the +world have you been, my lad?" + +"Why, in the world, Uncle," answered Zeb, with a laugh. + +The End \ No newline at end of file