L. Frank Baum - Oz 40

by Merry Go Round In Oz

  The others put on a desperate burst of speed too, and Merry,

  for one, was already gaily jumping over Roundheads. But the Roundheads were now swarming everywhere, shouting, snatching at bridles, trying to turn the party away from the bridge.

  “Stand back, or you’ll get hurt!” yelled Prince Gules, drawing his sword and brandishing it in a whistling arc over a hastily ducked head. “Start kicking, Fred! Everybody fight!”

  “Try roaring,” Dorothy gasped to the Lion.

  “Can’t do it unless I’m standing still!” he panted. He managed a few fierce snarls, however, and snapped savagely at several coat-tails. The Unicorn lowered her head and ran with her horn leveled at Roundheads who stepped into her path; Fred kicked at them, Merry leaped over them, and Flitter did his best by flying into their faces and beating at them with his wings.

  But there were too many. Despite all their efforts, and though they were now tantalizingly close to the bridge, the travelers found themselves obstructed, herded together, and slowed almost to a standstill. At that moment they saw a figure streak out of a nearby building and race for the gatehouse. It was Roundelay, who had evidently been waked from a sound sleep by the clamor, for he wore a flapping nightshirt.

  “Oh, hurry, hurry,” Robin cried. “He’ll draw in the bridge.”

  The Cowardly Lion, instead of hurrying, stopped dead and roared as loudly as he could. He was awfully short on breath but the effect was still impressive, and though the Roundheads did not run shrieking as the Children and Nannies had done, they did fall back a little. That little was enough. Fred spotted

  a passage through the crowd and dashed for it, with the others at his heels. In another moment they had covered the remaining few yards to the open wrought-iron gates. They arrived just in time to see the bridge begin slowly to rumble backwards into its sheath beneath the Sphere, and to hear a burst of mocking laughter from the gatehouse.

  “Too late!” gulped the Lion, planting his feet and coming to a shivering halt on the ramp leading down to the bridge.

  “Could we jump for it?” Fred panted.

  “No! We’d have to have wings!” exclaimed the Unicorn, staring at the far end of the bridge. There was already a wide gap between it and the hill opposite, and it was now backing gradually across the spinning road.

  “That rogue of a Roundelay!” Prince Gules stormed. “Come down here, you miserable coward, you thieving scoundrel, you-”

  Suddenly Merry spoke up. “Who cares about the bridge?” she whinnied cheerfully. “Come on-we’ll ride the road! It’s no worse than a merry-go-round, just a little faster, is all.”

  The Lion gave a terrified roar, and there was a chorus of protests from the others, but Merry was already pushing past them and starting down the ramp, with Robin, rather white-faced, tugging helplessly at her reins.

  “You won’t get dizzy,” Merry insisted to the other animals. “Arch your neck and bound-that’s the trick of riding a merry-go-round. Come on, I’ll show you!”

  With that she trotted right onto the retracting bridge, and when she reached its end, leaped without hesitation onto the road below.

  Chapter 19

  GREAT j-jumping gyrons!” Fess gulped. For one horrified instant, the others stared, transfixed, at the end of the bridge where Merry had disappeared. Then, as she came into view below it, bounding gaily, and apparently safely, along the whirling road, Fred seized his bit in his teeth. “If she can to it, I can,” he muttered, and charged out onto the bridge.

  There was not much left of the bridge by now; in another moment it would disappear entirely beneath the Sphere, and the great iron gates would clang shut. Moreover, the Roundheads, who had dropped their pursuit the instant the bridge began to move, were now realizing their prisoners were not trapped after all, and surged forward again just as Fred, too, leaped down onto the road.

  “Oh, well,” the Cowardly Lion groaned resignedly to the Unicorn, “who wants to stay in one piece all his life? Come on,

  Uni old girl, let’s go!”

  One bound took him to the end of the bridge; another onto the road. Dorothy, with her eyes shut, her teeth set, her arms clamped around the Egg-basket and her fists full of mane, felt for a few wild moments as if she were being tossed in a blanket.

  Then the motion steadied to a rhythmic leaping marred only by the Lion’s convulsive trembling. Cautiously she opened her eyes, peered around in dawning amusement, and suddenly began to

  giggle.

  “Is something funny?” the Lion snarled through his teeth. He sounded so outraged that Dorothy refrained from answering, but privately she thought it was very funny to see the whole party circling ‘round and ‘round the Sphere-city like an animated merry-go-round, with even the Lion desperately arching his neck and bounding in proper merry-go-round style. The little wooden mare, of course, looked quite gay and natural, but it was obvious that Fred’s sense of dignity was suffering as much as the Lion’s, and the Unicorn wore the affronted expression of a duchess being forced to dance a jig. However, they were all bounding very well, and Dorothy, who was frankly beginning to enjoy herself, had to stifle another fit of giggles as she decided that any of them could get a job on a merry-go-round tomorrow.

  She was almost sorry when, after several spirited circuits of; the city, Merry spotted a good level strip of ground at the base of the hillside and leaped nimbly off the road. It was high time; Roundelay had started the bridge extending again, and the frustrated Roundheads were jumping up and down in their impatience to cross it and cut off their quarry’s escape. Fred, the Lion and the Unicorn hastily followed Merry’s example, and, thankfully resuming their own gaits, took off the hills without a backward

  glance.

  They did not stop until they were safe beyond the barren lands surrounding Roundabout. Then, having no desire to be trapped again in the Blue Forest, Prince Gules ordered a halt beside a sparkling little stream.

  “Whew!” Fess puffed, sliding thankfully off the Unicorn and collapsing onto the grass. Is that what merry-go-rounds are like? If so, I don’t think I’d ever get really fond of riding them-not if I had anything else to do.”

  “Well, they’re not quite that fast, usually,” Merry explained.

  “Not anywhere near that fast!” Robin declared. “Don’t you have any merry-go-rounds in Halidom?”

  “There aren’t any in Oz at all, as far as I know,” Dorothy

  told him.

  “Then let’s not get any,” Flitter suggested earnestly as he struggled out of Fess’s collar. The little creature was looking rather damp and crumpled, and had to fan his wings up and down a while in the sunshine before they would work properly.

  “Well, anyway, we’re out of Roundabout, and we’ve got another Circlet, even if we did have to ride a merry-go-round to do it,” Fred said with satisfaction. “The question is, what next?”

  He glanced automatically at Prince Gules as he asked the question, and so did the others. The Prince himself had climbed to a little knoll to look thoughtfully in all directions; he now walked back toward them.

  “I’m not certain. I want to think about it. Loosen his cinch,

  Fess, we’ll rest for a little while.”

  Fess hastened to make Fred comfortable, easing the cinch and unsnapping his bit as well. Then he plucked a handful of leaves and rubbed the dust of the barren hills off both him and the Unicorn. Since neither of them had cared much for their doughnut breakfast, they soon strolled off to graze, and Flitter darted away in search of gnats. The others, after drinking gratefully of the cold, clear water of the little brook, were content to lounge on the grass in the early morning sunlight, compare notes on their wild merry-go-round ride, and leave it to the Prince to decide on their next move.

  Prince Gules was by this time accepted by everyone as the leader of the expedition. With two of the Circlets in his possession, he had become both strong and wise-a real Prince, Dorothy reflected approvingly, worthy of his kingdom.

&nbs
p; Now, as a real Prince should, he had begun to worry about that kingdom. He could not forget Roundelay’s curious refer-

  cnce to Sir Greves yesterday, and the more he thought about it the more uneasy he became. He was sure Roundelay was the thief who had stolen Circlet Two from the Wyver. The old peddler had been in Pax-on-Argent at just the right time; the Prince himself had seen him on the day before the theft was discovered-seen him coming out of Sir Greves’s house! Then Sir Greves must have had something to do with the crime-but what?

  Try as he would, Prince Gules could not picture the mild-mannered, chubby little knight doing anything more criminal than fibbing his way out of a tourney with Sir Gauntlet. But the fact remained that Roundelay had said, “Ask Sir Greves.”

  Puzzling about this, Prince Gules became more and more preoccupied, until Robin, who was bursting to ask him questions about jousting and knighthood and castles, hit on a way to draw him back into the conversation. Producing from his pocket the map he had taken off Roundelay’s office wall early that morning, he offered it rather shyly to the Prince.

  “A map! Where did you find it?” the Prince said in surprise

  Robin explained, adding apologetically, “It only shows the route between Roundabout and Halidom, so I suppose it’s no good for finding that other Circlet. But I thought it might come in handy sometime.”

  “It might come in handy this moment!” Gules exclaimed. He studied the map eagerly, then announced, “This settles it.” With a courteous glance at Dorothy and the Lion, Robin and Merry, he added, “It settles nothing for you, of course. But my companions and I will start for Halidom at once.”

  “For Halidom?” the others chorused, and Dorothy added, “You mean you’re going to give up trying to find the other Circlet?”

  “Of course not!” Prince Gules said proudly. “But I must postpone it until I find out what’s happening at home.” He explained his suspicions about Sir Greves, adding, “For all I know, he might

  have seized my father’s throne, or done some other treacherous thing while I’ve been away.

  Fess said, “He did act funny that morning. Why, when I told him the Circlet was gone, he fainted! And he sneaked out of the Throne Room later, as if-But it’s awfully hard to imagine that nice little man doing anything wicked!”

  “I know it,” the Prince admitted. “But wicked people don’t always look wicked. And if he helped Roundelay steal that Circlet, he’s a traitor! I must deal with him first, then I can set out again to find the other Circlet.”

  “Well,” the Cowardly Lion said uncertainly, “We’re supposed to be heading for the Emerald City, so I guess…”

  “Oh!” exclaimed the Unicorn in a pained voice, trotting anxiously up to them. “Isn’t Dorothy going with us?”

  “Is it very far?” Dorothy asked the Prince. By this time she was terribly curious to see Halidom, and could hardly bear the thought of not hearing how the mystery of Sir Greves came out.

  “If we leave now, we could be in Pax-on-Argent by tea-time,” Prince Gules said temptingly. He showed them Roundelay’s map, which traced a plain and direct route from Roundabout to Halidom, avoiding the Blue Forest and coming nowhere near Good Children’s Land, Sign-Here, or any other territory they had passed through on their circuitous wanderings. “You see? By this route it isn’t far at all.”

  “Then let’s go too!” Dorothy begged the Cowardly Lion

  “We don’t know the way to the Emerald City anyhow, so we might as well go to Halidom instead!”

  The Cowardly Lion blinked a little at this reasoning, but he had grown as fond of the Halidomians as Dorothy, and he affably agreed. “If the Prince’s father won’t mind his bringing a ferocious lioncel into the country,” he added with a chuckle.

  “A lioncel and a little gel,” Flitter chanted happily from Fess’s shoulder. “Why, he’ll just love having you, won’t he, Your Highness? And can Robin and Merry come too, please?”

  “Of course! They’re on their way to the Emerald City with us,” Dorothy said firmly.

  The Cowardly Lion gave another rumble of laughter, but Robin and Merry were overjoyed. From what Robin had heard about life in Halidom, it sounded exactly like life in King Arthur’s court, only much more fun, and he had 3,487 questions he wanted to ask about it. As for Fess and Flitter, they were overjoyed just to be going home, and even the Unicorn’s golden eyes brightened at the thought of her own comfortable private garden, and the prospect of crisp quatrefoils for dinner. As for the Prince, he was so anxious about his parents and his kingdom that he barely waited for Fess to tighten Fred’s girth before he was in the saddle and on his way.

  Thanks to the map, it was a pleasant and uneventful journey. Fred set a good pace, for he was strong and tireless now. Behind him, the Cowardly Lion swung into the long, easy stride he could keep up by the hour when he wanted to cover distance. Merry,

  capering along beside the Unicorn, brought up the rear of the procession, and Robin began at once on his list of questions. Fess and Flitter and the Unicorn did their best to answer every one.

  At lunchtime, they stopped briefly to quench their thirst at a little spring and gather a few wild peachplums to nibble on the way. An hour or two later, Dorothy and Robin changed mounts just for fun, since Dorothy had not ridden a merry-go-round horse since she left Kansas, and Robin had never ridden a lion at all. They changed back again about an hour after that, when they stopped at a crossroads for a few minutes’ rest while the Prince studied the map.

  “We should be near now,” he said anxiously, frowning at the sun, which was dropping low in the western sky. “Oh, I do want to get there before nightfall! Let’s go on, it can’t be far.”

  He vaulted back into the saddle and led the way down the left fork of the road, which looked far less traveled than the other and made Dorothy hope Roundelay’s map was reliable. However, only three hills and a patch of woodland later, Fess and all the other homesick Halidomians broke into a cheer as they emerged from the trees and sighted the Crenelated Wall ahead.

  As Prince Gules had predicted, it was just at tea-time-the loveliest of all hours in Halidom, when the first blue shadows were lengthening over the fields of azure, gathering among the sloping mulberry orchards, and reaching out to stain a turret here and a crumbling tower there-that the little procession rode down

  the cobbled High Road into Pax-on-Argent.

  It was a triumphal entry. The Halidomians were well aware that their Prince had found two Circlets, for they had recovered their wits and strength as soon as he had, and their first glimpse of him brought them flocking into the streets to cheer with all their might. Wildly excited children took turns pelting the company with flowers and dashing about the gardens in search of more; agile boys scrambled up trees to gape at Merry and the Lioncel. Girls and women hung out of every window, waving handkerchiefs and calling a joyful welcome.

  The Prince had immediately pulled Fred to a stately walk, and his eyes shone with pride as he nodded this way and that, acknowledging the people’s greetings, but he moved steadily onward to the castle. As he led the way at last through the courtyard gates, Barry erupted joyously from the kitchen door and rushed toward them, yelling over his shoulder for Bodkin and Scutcheon, and trying to bow to the Prince and clap Fess on the back all at the same time. Soon the courtyard was alive with people and swarming with barking, ecstatic Questing dogs, all thirty of whom insisted on licking Fess personally. Fred was led away by the two grooms to be rubbed down and pampered and deferred to in the stables, and the Unicorn headed at once for her favorite bed of quatrefoils. The others finally managed to make their way into the castle, where they were greeted with tea, crumpets, martlet pudding, and cries of joy-as well as a few happy tears-by King Herald and Queen Farthingale.

  What with the many introductions to be performed, welcomes to be extended, and adventures to be described at least briefly, it was not until the tea-things had been cleared away that Gules was able to explain to his father the fears that
had brought him home before the last Circlet was found, and tell him his grave suspicions about Sir Greves.

  “Sir Greves, eh? Fancy that! Well, he hasn’t seized the crown yet, that l know of,” said King Herald, reaching up to make sure it was still safely on his head. “Nor the throne either. Couldn’t you know. I’ve been sitting on it. Fact is, I don’t think I’ve seen the fellow since you left.”

  “Neither have I, not once,” declared the Queen.

  “Well, if he hasn’t run away, you’ll see him shortly, because I sent Pellets for him,” the Prince informed them grimly. “I’m going to confront him with this second Circlet, and see what has to say.”

  However, when the chubby little knight was hauled into the throne room five minutes later, he had nothing at all to say. He took one look at the Prince, standing stern and straight on the steps of the throne with Circlet Two gleaming on his arm, and burst into floods of tears.

  “So you do know something about this matter,” Prince Gules

  said.

  “Oh, yes. Yes, I do. I d-do,” wept the little knight. “That’s a disgrace,” Gules told him. “An absolute disgrace!”

  Seating himself on his own throne, he glanced at his father, who nodded. The Prince leaned back, folded his hands across his slim middle, and said coldly, “You’ll have to tell me everything, you know. You may begin at once.

  It was some moments, however, before Sir Greves could manage to control his sobs, mop his mild blue eyes, and declare in a voice of heartfelt relief that he was quite ready to confess.

  “You don’t know how miserable I’ve been!” he said tremulously. “Just simply miserable. I’ll be glad to get it off my chest.”