CHAPTER 12
The Wooden-Legged Grass-Hopper
Now it so happened that Trot, from the window of her room, had witnessedthe meeting of the lovers in the garden and had seen the King come anddrag Gloria away. The little girl's heart went out in sympathy for thepoor Princess, who seemed to her to be one of the sweetest and loveliestyoung ladies she had ever seen, so she crept along the passages and froma hidden niche saw Gloria locked in her room.
The key was still in the lock, so when the King had gone away, followedby Googly-Goo, Trot stole up to the door, turned the key and entered.The Princess lay prone upon a couch, sobbing bitterly. Trot went up toher and smoothed her hair and tried to comfort her.
"Don't cry," she said. "I've unlocked the door, so you can go away anytime you want to."
"It isn't that," sobbed the Princess. "I am unhappy because they will notlet me love Pon, the gardener's boy!"
"Well, never mind; Pon isn't any great shakes, anyhow, seems to me," saidTrot soothingly. "There are lots of other people you can love."
Gloria rolled over on the couch and looked at the little girlreproachfully.
"Pon has won my heart, and I can't help loving him," she explained.Then with sudden indignation she added: "But I'll never loveGoogly-Goo--never, as long as I live!"
"I should say not!" replied Trot. "Pon may not be much good, but oldGoogly is very, very bad. Hunt around, and I'm sure you'll find someoneworth your love. You're very pretty, you know, and almost anyone ought tolove you."
"You don't understand, my dear," said Gloria, as she wiped the tears fromher eyes with a dainty lace handkerchief bordered with pearls. "When youare older you will realize that a young lady cannot decide whom she willlove, or choose the most worthy. Her heart alone decides for her, andwhomsoever her heart selects, she must love, whether he amounts to muchor not."
Trot was a little puzzled by this speech, which seemed to herunreasonable; but she made no reply and presently Gloria's griefsoftened and she began to question the little girl about herself and heradventures. Trot told her how they had happened to come to Jinxland, andall about Cap'n Bill and the Ork and Pessim and the Bumpy Man.
While they were thus conversing together, getting more and more friendlyas they became better acquainted, in the Council Chamber the King andGoogly-Goo were talking with the Wicked Witch.
This evil creature was old and ugly. She had lost one eye and wore ablack patch over it, so the people of Jinxland had named her "Blinkie."Of course witches are forbidden to exist in the Land of Oz, but Jinxlandwas so far removed from the center of Ozma's dominions, and so absolutelycut off from it by the steep mountains and the bottomless gulf, thatthe laws of Oz were not obeyed very well in that country. So there wereseveral witches in Jinxland who were the terror of the people, but KingKrewl favored them and permitted them to exercise their evil sorcery.
Blinkie was the leader of all the other witches and therefore the mosthated and feared. The King used her witchcraft at times to assist him incarrying out his cruelties and revenge, but he was always obliged to payBlinkie large sums of money or heaps of precious jewels before she wouldundertake an enchantment. This made him hate the old woman almost as muchas his subjects did, but to-day Lord Googly-Goo had agreed to pay thewitch's price, so the King greeted her with gracious favor.
"Can you destroy the love of Princess Gloria for the gardener's boy?"inquired his Majesty.
The Wicked Witch thought about it before she replied:
"That's a hard question to answer. I can do lots of clever magic, butlove is a stubborn thing to conquer. When you think you've killed it,it's liable to bob up again as strong as ever. I believe love and catshave nine lives. In other words, killing love is a hard job, even for askillful witch, but I believe I can do something that will answer yourpurpose just as well."
"What is that?" asked the King.
"I can freeze the girl's heart. I've got a special incantation for that,and when Gloria's heart is thoroughly frozen she can no longer love Pon."
"Just the thing!" exclaimed Googly-Goo, and the King was likewise muchpleased.
They bargained a long time as to the price, but finally the old courtieragreed to pay the Wicked Witch's demands. It was arranged that theyshould take Gloria to Blinkie's house the next day, to have her heartfrozen.
Then King Krewl mentioned to the old hag the strangers who had that dayarrived in Jinxland, and said to her:
"I think the two children--the boy and the girl--are unable to harm me,but I have a suspicion that the wooden-legged man is a powerful wizard."
The witch's face wore a troubled look when she heard this.
"If you are right," she said, "this wizard might spoil my incantation andinterfere with me in other ways. So it will be best for me to meet thisstranger at once and match my magic against his, to decide which is thestronger."
"All right," said the King. "Come with me and I will lead you to theman's room."
Googly-Goo did not accompany them, as he was obliged to go home to getthe money and jewels he had promised to pay old Blinkie, so the other twoclimbed several flights of stairs and went through many passages untilthey came to the room occupied by Cap'n Bill.
The sailor-man, finding his bed soft and inviting, and being tired withthe adventures he had experienced, had decided to take a nap. When theWicked Witch and the King softly opened his door and entered, Cap'n Billwas snoring with such vigor that he did not hear them at all.
Blinkie approached the bed and with her one eye anxiously stared at thesleeping stranger.
"Ah," she said in a soft whisper, "I believe you are right, King Krewl.The man looks to me like a very powerful wizard. But by good luck I havecaught him asleep, so I shall transform him before he wakes up, givinghim such a form that he will be unable to oppose me."
"Careful!" cautioned the King, also speaking low. "If he discovers whatyou are doing he may destroy you, and that would annoy me because I needyou to attend to Gloria."
But the Wicked Witch realized as well as he did that she must becareful. She carried over her arm a black bag, from which she now drewseveral packets carefully wrapped in paper. Three of these she selected,replacing the others in the bag. Two of the packets she mixed togetherand then she cautiously opened the third.
"Better stand back, your Majesty," she advised, "for if this powder fallson you you might be transformed yourself."
The King hastily retreated to the end of the room. As Blinkie mixed thethird powder with the others she waved her hands over it, mumbled a fewwords, and then backed away as quickly as she could.
Cap'n Bill was slumbering peacefully, all unconscious of what was goingon. Puff! A great cloud of smoke rolled over the bed and completely hidhim from view. When the smoke rolled away, both Blinkie and the King sawthat the body of the stranger had quite disappeared, while in his place,crouching in the middle of the bed, was a little gray grasshopper.
One curious thing about this grasshopper was that the last joint of itsleft leg was made of wood. Another curious thing--considering it was agrasshopper--was that it began talking, crying out in a tiny but sharpvoice:
"Here--you people! What do you mean by treating me so? Put me back whereI belong, at once, or you'll be sorry!"
The cruel King turned pale at hearing the grasshopper's threats, but theWicked Witch merely laughed in derision. Then she raised her stick andaimed a vicious blow at the grasshopper, but before the stick struck thebed the tiny hopper made a marvelous jump--marvelous, indeed, when weconsider that it had a wooden leg. It rose in the air and sailed acrossthe room and passed right through the open window, where it disappearedfrom their view.
"Good!" shouted the King. "We are well rid of this desperate wizard." Andthen they both laughed heartily at the success of the incantation, andwent away to complete their horrid plans.
After Trot had visited a time with Princess Gloria, the little girl wentto Button-Bright's room but did not find him there. Then she went toCap'n Bill's room, but he
was not there because the witch and the Kinghad been there before her. So she made her way downstairs and questionedthe servants. They said they had seen the little boy go out into thegarden, some time ago, but the old man with the wooden leg they had notseen at all.
Therefore Trot, not knowing what else to do, rambled through the greatgardens, seeking for Button-Bright or Cap'n Bill and not finding eitherof them. This part of the garden, which lay before the castle, was notwalled in, but extended to the roadway, and the paths were open to theedge of the forest; so, after two hours of vain search for her friends,the little girl returned to the castle.
But at the doorway a soldier stopped her.
"I live here," said Trot, "so it's all right to let me in. The King hasgiven me a room."
"Well, he has taken it back again," was the soldier's reply. "HisMajesty's orders are to turn you away if you attempt to enter. I am alsoordered to forbid the boy, your companion, to again enter the King'scastle."
"How 'bout Cap'n Bill'?' she inquired.
"Why, it seems he has mysteriously disappeared," replied the soldier,shaking his head ominously. "Where he has gone to, I can't make out, butI can assure you he is no longer in this castle. I'm sorry, little girl,to disappoint you. Don't blame me; I must obey my master's orders."
Now, all her life Trot had been accustomed to depend on Cap'n Bill, sowhen this good friend was suddenly taken from her she felt very miserableand forlorn indeed. She was brave enough not to cry before the soldier,or even to let him see her grief and anxiety, but after she was turnedaway from the castle she sought a quiet bench in the garden and for atime sobbed as if her heart would break.
It was Button-Bright who found her, at last, just as the sun had set andthe shades of evening were falling. He also had been turned away from theKing's castle, when he tried to enter it, and in the park he came acrossTrot.
"Never mind," said the boy. "We can find a place to sleep."
"I want Cap'n Bill," wailed the girl.
"Well, so do I," was the reply. "But we haven't got him. Where do yous'pose he is, Trot?"
"I don't s'pose anything. He's gone, an' that's all I know 'bout it."
Button-Bright sat on the bench beside her and thrust his hands in thepockets of his knickerbockers. Then he reflected somewhat gravely for him.
"Cap'n Bill isn't around here," he said, letting his eyes wander overthe dim garden, "so we must go somewhere else if we want to find him.Besides, it's fast getting dark, and if we want to find a place to sleepwe must get busy while we can see where to go."
He rose from the bench as he said this and Trot also jumped up, dryingher eyes on her apron. Then she walked beside him out of the grounds ofthe King's castle. They did not go by the main path, but passed throughan opening in a hedge and found themselves in a small but well-wornroadway. Following this for some distance, along a winding way, they cameupon no house or building that would afford them refuge for the night. Itbecame so dark that they could scarcely see their way, and finally Trotstopped and suggested that they camp under a tree.
"All right," said Button-Bright, "I've often found that leaves make agood warm blanket. But--look there, Trot!--isn't that a light flashingover yonder?"
"It certainly is, Button-Bright. Let's go over and see if it's a house.Whoever lives there couldn't treat us worse than the King did."
To reach the light they had to leave the road, so they stumbled overhillocks and brushwood, hand in hand, keeping the tiny speck of lightalways in sight.
They were rather forlorn little waifs, outcasts in a strange country andforsaken by their only friend and guardian, Cap'n Bill. So they were veryglad when finally they reached a small cottage and, looking in throughits one window, saw Pon, the gardener's boy, sitting by a fire of twigs.
As Trot opened the door and walked boldly in, Pon sprang up to greetthem. They told him of Cap'n Bill's disappearance and how they had beenturned out of the King's castle. As they finished the story Pon shook hishead sadly.
"King Krewl is plotting mischief, I fear," said he, "for to-day he sentfor old Blinkie, the Wicked Witch, and with my own eyes I saw hercome from the castle and hobble away toward her hut. She had been withthe King and Googly-Goo, and I was afraid they were going to work someenchantment on Gloria so she would no longer love me. But perhaps thewitch was only called to the castle to enchant your friend, Cap'n Bill."
"Could she do that?" asked Trot, horrified by the suggestion.
"I suppose so, for old Blinkie can do a lot of wicked magical things."
"What sort of an enchantment could she put on Cap'n Bill?"
"I don't know. But he has disappeared, so I'm pretty certain she has donesomething dreadful to him. But don't worry. If it has happened, it can'tbe helped, and if it hasn't happened we may be able to find him in themorning."
With this Pon went to the cupboard and brought food for them. Trot wasfar too worried to eat, but Button-Bright made a good supper from thesimple food and then lay down before the fire and went to sleep. Thelittle girl and the gardener's boy, however, sat for a long time staringinto the fire, busy with their thoughts. But at last Trot, too, becamesleepy and Pon gently covered her with the one blanket he possessed. Thenhe threw more wood on the fire and laid himself down before it, next toButton-Bright. Soon all three were fast asleep. They were in a good dealof trouble; but they were young, and sleep was good to them because for atime it made them forget.
The Scarecrow of Oz Page 14
