L. Frank Baum - Oz 20

by The Hungry Tiger Of Oz

  Several days before Betsy’s arrival, an old Ev fisherman had brought a sparkling square ruby to the Gnome King. He had found it in a fish he had drawn up in his nets and, knowing Kaliko’s fondness for jewels, had taken it straight to the King. Kaliko at once purchased the stone and had it set in a small ring-the same ring Carter had seen him slip into the rock throne. “If you had the courage of a flea,” grumbled Guph, “you’d steal the ruby this vegetable person discovered and become a real power in the

  land.”

  “But it wouldn’t be right,” objected Kaliko, mopping his brow with his gray kerchief, “Besides, Ozma would hear of it and come with her army to conquer us.

  “How could she if you had the two Rash rubies?” argued Guph. “How would she ever know? We’ll just destroy all these rubbishy travellers and that will be the end of it. Where’s the ring now?” he inquired anxiously.

  “Safe enough,” answered Kaliko, glancing over his shoulder. “I took it off as soon as Betsy mentioned the rubies. I was afraid she would notice it.”

  “Come on then,” urged Guph coaxingly-“Can’t you be a little bad for once. Tisn’t natural for a gnome to be good all the time and where does all this goodness get you? Show you’re a real gnome for once and forget all this mortal stuff you learned from Betsy Bobbin

  As Guph continued his wicked pleading, Carter stood frozen to the spot, his corn ears waving

  to and fro with wrath and indignation. He longed to snatch the precious ruby from its hiding place and dash back to warn the others. But the gnomes were so close, he dared not move. But all at once Kaliko came to a decision and began to hurry toward a small door.

  “I will consult the wizard,” muttered the Gnome King in a weak whisper. “Come, let us see what the wizard thinks about this.” Taking Guph’s arm, Kaliko went pattering down the rocky hallway. In one leap, the Vegetable Man reached the great throne, found the ruby ring and dropped it into his leather pouch. He was about to return to his companions when the King’s exspectacles, lying on the arm of the throne, attracted his attention. Clapping them hurriedly upon his nose, he rushed toward the cavern occupied by the little Prince of Rash. But halfway there he gave a great leap.

  “Great cauliflowers!” gasped Carter. As plainly as you see the pictures in this book, he saw Guph thumping the little boy on the head with a pickaxe.

  “Stop! Stop!” screamed the Vegetable Man, dashing into the cavern like a whirlwind. Off flew the King’s exspectacles and splintered into bits on the floor, and his entrance was so noisy, Evered jumped up in a fright from the couch where he had been sleeping.

  “What’s the matter?” he demanded, feeling around sleepily for his sword.

  “Matter!” coughed Carter, “Wasn’t that rogue Guph in here?” The Prince shook his head and, looking into the next cavern, Carter saw Betsy curled up peacefully on a green sofa and from the cave beyond came the resounding snores of the Hungry Tiger. “Nothing’s happened at all,” yawned Reddy.

  “It was the exspectacles,” puffed Carter, catching a glimpse of the pink splinters of glass at his

  feet.

  “Do you know what is going to happen, my Rash young friend? That scalawag of a gnome intends to bang you over the ears with a pickaxe. I saw him with my own eyes and Kaliko’s specs!”

  “Bang me with a pickaxe!” shuddered Evered, jumping up in alarm, as Carter ran to waken Betsy and the Hungry Tiger. As fast as he could, the Vegetable Man told them all he had overheard, and showed them the ruby ring Kaliko had slyly hidden away from them. Their pleasure at recovering the second ruby was entirely spoiled by the treachery of the Gnome King and, scarcely looking at it, Reddy thrust the ring into his pocket.

  “I can run the fastest,” panted the Hungry Tiger. “Jump on my back, all of you and I’ll make a sprint for safety.” Almost as one, the three leaped on the Hungry Tiger’s back, Carter leaving his wheelbarrow with a sigh, and arming himself with the spade he had picked from the Indus Tree.

  But as the Hungry Tiger dashed through the door into the throne room, Guph and his entire army came swarming through another entrance. Kaliko, himself, was nowhere in sight. He had delegated Guph to secure the Rash ruby and dispose of the travellers. Then, thought the Gnome King, if any trouble arose afterward, Guph would be held responsible.

  But Guph did not intend to have any trouble afterward. He meant to destroy the travellers so utterly that not even Ozma, with her magic, would be able to discover what had become of them. Therefore, when the wicked little elf saw his four victims preparing to escape, he gave a loud screech, hurled himself at the Hungry Tiger, and brought his pickaxe down with all his might upon the head of the little Prince. It might have been a feather for all the impression it made upon Reddy. And while Betsy and Carter ducked back in dismay, the gnomes rushed at them in a body and simply rained blows upon their heads and shoulders. But the blows fell as harmlessly as an April shower and when Carter realized this, he began laying about with his spade so briskly that the enemy went down in heaps. “One of the rubies is protecting us,” whispered Prince Evered, pulling out his sword. Take that you gray robber!” And bringing the sword down on Guph’s shoulders he stretched him flat upon the rocks. At the same moment, the Hungry Tiger, gathering himself for a spring, leaped entirely over the gnome army and, charging out the first door he came to, raced down a long dismal tunnel. They could hear the gnomes scampering after them and, redoubling his speed, the Hungry Tiger fairly flew down the dim corridor. When a sudden turn brought him up against a swinging door, he went through like a shot and out upon a huge rocky cliff.

  “Whoa! Whoa!” quavered Carter, jerking the Hungry Tiger frantically by the tail.

  “Stop! Stop!” implored Betsy and Reddy both together. No wonder! Bubbling up from the cliff and hurling itself down over the rocks below, was a shimmering sheet of flame, the highest fire-fall, to be perfectly exact, in the whole of Kaliko’s Kingdom. But the Hungry Tiger could no more stop himself than a barrel rolling down hill. With a roar that loosened three rocks and a boulder, he plunged over the cliff and down the fire-fall itself.

  “Ruby! Ruby!” moaned the Vegetable Man, clutching Betsy and the little Prince. “Do your work!” The roar of the flames drowned out every other sound and green and yellow tongues of fire licked out at the travellers as they were hurled downward. But so powerful was the Rash Ruby, they were harmless as spring zephyrs, while the stones and rocks against which they bumped and bounded seemed soft as pillows. The tiger was falling head first, and somehow the three riders managed to keep on his back and hang together. Just before they reached the bottom and swirled down into the pool of

  flames at the base of the fire-fall, Carter lost his hold on Reddy’s belt. He soon regained it, but not quickly enough.

  “My ears burn,” complained the Vegetable Man, as the Hungry Tiger struggled through the flaming torrent toward the shore.

  “What’s that?” questioned Betsy, sniffing the air suddenly. At the same moment they were simply covered with a shower of crisp white flakes.

  “My ears!” moaned the Vegetable Man, in grief-stricken tones. “They’ve popped!” This on top of all the other shocks was almost too much, and when the tiger had dragged himself out of the fiery stream and scrambled up the steep bank, they all dropped down upon the steaming rocks and simply panted with exhaustion.

  “First time I ever came down a fire-fall,” puffed Reddy, gazing fearfully at the tumbling torrent

  of flames.

  “Well, it’s the last time I ever come down one,” growled the Hungry Tiger. “If it hadn’t been for that ruby of yours we’d all have been nicely toasted by now. As it is-” The Hungry Tiger looked sorrowfully at the Vegetable Man.

  “The best ears I ever had,” groaned Carter, feeling the husks that were left to him.

  “Did it hurt?” asked Betsy sympathetically. But the Vegetable Man made no reply.

  “He can’t hear you,” explained the Hungry Tiger gloomily. “If I had that Gnom
e King I’d eat

  him.”

  “He didn’t turn out very well,” admitted Betsy sadly. “But never mind. Reddy has another ruby and we’re in the upstairs world again.”

  “That’s so! Maybe we’re nearer the Emerald City than we think,” rumbled the Hungry Tiger. “Let’s look around a bit and see.” Motioning for Carter to follow, and still feeling depressed over Kaliko’s treachery and the Vegetable Man’s sad loss, they started across the stony country edging the Gnome King’s dominions.

  “It’s funny Ozma doesn’t help us,” whispered Betsy to the little Prince of Rash, as Carter strode gloomily and silently beside them. “I’ve been away from the Emerald City two days now and she must be wondering where I am and they have certainly missed the Hungry Tiger by this time.”

  “But how would Ozma know where to look for you?” asked Reddy.

  “The Magic Picture would show her,” answered Betsy, and quickly explained the most magic of Ozma’s possessions. This curious painting hangs in the royal palace, and when Ozma wishes to know where her friends are and what they are doing she has but to stand before it and request them to appear. Immediately they flash into view, the picture showing just where they are and what they are doing at the time. More than once, Ozma had saved her subjects from serious disaster by consulting the Magic Picture, and it did seem strange that she had not looked for Betsy and the Hungry Tiger.

  While Betsy and the little Prince were still puzzling over it, they stepped across the rocky borders of the Gnome King’s dominion into a pleasant farming country and they were all so relieved to find themselves once again in more natural surroundings that they stopped worrying and began to enjoy themselves. The fields of potatoes and cabbages were especially cheering to Carter Green, and when they came up on a waving field of corn, he gave a joyful shout and sprang lightly over a fence.

  “Wait!” he called gaily holding up both hands. “Wait till I pick a couple of ears!”

  CHAPTER 12

  Immense City

  WHEN the Vegetable Man returned with his new corn ears, nicely adjusted, everyone felt more cheerful.

  “Can you hear?” asked the Hungry Tiger curiously.

  Carter nodded. “I think they’re even better than the last pair,” he confided happily. “It isn’t everyone who can pick a new ear when his old one pops or wears out. Not so bad being a Vegetable Man, eh, Betsy, my dear?”

  “No,” agreed the little girl thoughtfully, “and you haven’t taken root for a long time, have you

  Carter?”

  The Vegetable Man grinned. “Haven’t had a chance,” he chuckled merrily. “We haven’t stayed in one place long enough for that. I hope the next country we come to is calm and quiet and that I can pick up a cart and some fresh vegetables.”

  “I hope we can pick up a square meal,” roared the Hungry Tiger, licking his whiskers hungrily.

  “I hope there’s some magic!” Clasping her hands, Betsy looked around expectantly. “Then we could cross the Deadly Desert and go home. I kinda miss Dorothy and Ozma,” she acknowledged wistfully. “And I’d like to see Hank.”

  “Well, I hope we find the last ruby,” exclaimed Prince Evered. “The one Kaliko had must have been the ruby that protected one from danger by water. You said he bought it from a fisherman, Carter?”

  “Yes,” mused the Vegetable Man. “It must be the one Irashi flung into the river, while the one I found was the ruby that protects from danger on the earth and under the earth. Look how it saved us from the pickaxes and the fire-fall!”

  “Then the only one left to find is the ruby that protects you from danger in the air,” reflected Betsy thoughtfully. “Do you spose we’ll have to fly up in the air to find it?”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it,” growled the Hungry Tiger, shaking his handsome head. “Falling is bad enough; flying would turn my whiskers perfectly white. We’ll stay on the earth if we can, and travel back to Oz by the fastest route we can find. Then Ozma can settle affairs in Rash, discover the whereabouts of the last ruby and restore Reddy to his throne.”

  “Can Ozma do all that?” marveled the little Prince wonderingly.

  “Ozma can do anything,” Betsy answered proudly. “Just wait till you see the Emerald City and Scraps and the Scarecrow.”

  “Tell me about them,” begged the little Prince eagerly, and as the Hungry Tiger padded comfortably down the long sunlit lanes, Betsy told Reddy all about the jolly inhabitants of Oz. The Vegetable Man listened attentively, too, his new ears a bit forward and a dreamy expression in his kindly blue eyes. But right in the middle of a description of Tik Tok, the metal man, he gave a bounce of surprise.

  “Spinach!” spluttered Carter Green explosively.

  “Where?” inquired the Hungry Tiger, coming to an abrupt stop and blinking around longingly. He was not very fond of spinach, but even spinach would taste better than nothing.

  “I didn’t mean spinach exactly,” mumbled the Vegetable Man hurriedly. “But look!” Pointing his twig-like finger to a bend in the road, Carter directed their attention to a weather beaten sign.

  “Beware the Ants!” advised the sign mysteriously.

  “Oh, I hope they’re not red ants,” murmured Betsy, anxiously. “Red ants bite!”

  “Who’s afraid of ants?” cried Reddy disdain-fully. “All you have to do is tread on em.

  “That’s right,” agreed the Hungry Tiger. “I’m surprised at you, Carter, stopping us for a little

  thing like that.”

  “But suppose there were millions of them,” shuddered the Vegetable Man uneasily. “I’d be a feast for ants.”

  Betsy looked troubled, but the Prince of Rash, slapping his pocket suddenly, reminded her of the Rash rubies.

  “The rubies will protect us no matter what happens,” declared Reddy, confidently.

  “As soon as you see an ant, jump on my back,” advised the Hungry Tiger calmly. “Then we’ll all stick together and I’ll run like sixty.”

  Carter shook his head and muttered unhappily to himself. He could not help remembering the sad accident to his ears. They all kept their eyes glued to the road for the first sign of the ants, the Hungry Tiger tiptoeing along almost as if he were walking on eggs. They were all so intent upon the road beneath their feet that they never thought of the road ahead at all. Then Betsy, suddenly looking up to see whether any towns or villages were visible, gave a shrill scream and clasped her arms round the tiger’s neck.

  “Ants?” quavered Carter, leaping upon the Hungry Tiger and fastening both hands in Reddy’s belt. Betsy was too shocked for speech, and it was the Hungry Tiger, himself, who answered Carter’s query.

  “Ants!” coughed the Hungry Tiger, trembling like a leaf, “Giants!” And swinging about like a pivot, the terrified beast raced off in the opposite direction. But the Giants had already seen them. There were four of the huge creatures, and Betsy, glancing fearfully over her shoulder saw the smallest-a perfectly tremendous little girl Giant-beginning to gain on them. The Hungry Tiger did his best, but who could hope to outdistance a creature whose every step covered a city block?

  “Father! Father!” shrilled the little Giant, in a voice that shook the hills, “see that darling little kitten!” Before the luckless travellers had time to plan, think, or act, a great hand came snatching downward and seized the Hungry Tiger by the scruff of the neck. Up went the tiger, off went the three riders and, turning seven somersaults, landed together in a hay field. By the time they had picked themselves up, the Giants were a mile down the road.

  “They’re worse than gnomes,” sputtered Carter indignantly. “Called the Hungry Tiger, a kitten!

  Did you hear that? It’s a wonder that great girl didn’t break us to bits.”

  “She would have if we had not had the rubies,” panted Evered, picking up his sword. “We must have fallen a quarter of a mile. Weren’t you scared Betsy?”

  Betsy shivered, but recovering herself quickly ran out into the road and tri
ed to catch a last glimpse of the Hungry Tiger. “We’ll have to go after them,” she cried. “That girl needn’t think she can have the Hungry Tiger for a kitten. Why, he must be furious.”

  ”I’m glad she didn’t pick me for a exclaimed Carter, walking briskly up and down to keep from taking root. “Let’s go on, Betsy. Maybe the Giants live around here somewhere and maybe we can help the Hungry Tiger to escape.

  “I’m not afraid of Giants,” asserted Reddy, in a slightly shaky voice. “Come on, we’ve the Rash rubies to protect us. Trying to keep up their courage and assuming a bravery they were very far from feeling, the three adventurers started off in the direction the Giants had taken.

  “Well, I hope we don’t meet any more, sighed Betsy, pressing closer to the Vegetable Man, “and I hope we find the Hungry Tiger before night time.”

  The sun had set, and in the gray twilight the trees and bushes took on fearsome shapes and forms. Keeping close together, and conversing in scared whispers, they hurried anxiously along. Soon large and disturbing signs began to appear on both sides of the road.

  “This country belongs to the Big Wigs. Keep Out!” advised the signs.

  “Big Wigs!” breathed Betsy nervously, “Why, they must be the giants.”

  “See how high the fences are, and the trees are so tall I cannot even see the tops,” gasped Reddy. Feeling smaller than ever, the two children and Carter tiptoed down the long dark lanes and presently came to the Giant City, itself. All they could see was a grim gray wall, stretching up toward the sky. Hanging in niches of the wall at regular distances were great yellow lanterns and traced on the wall itself in flaming letters stood the town’s name.