The Mysterious City
CHAPTER 8
There they sat upon the grass, their heads still swimming from theirdizzy flights, and looked at one another in silent bewilderment. Butpresently, when assured that no one was injured, they grew more calm andcollected and the Lion said with a sigh of relief:
"Who would have thought those Merry-Go-Round Mountains were made ofrubber?"
"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot.
"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not havebounded so swiftly from one to another without getting hurt."
"That is all guesswork," declared the Wizard, unwinding the blanketsfrom his body, "for none of us stayed long enough on the mountains todiscover what they are made of. But where are we?"
"That's guesswork, too," said Scraps. "The shepherd said theThistle-Eaters live this side the mountains and are waited on bygiants."
"Oh, no," said Dorothy; "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, and theThistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots."
"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long tails,which would get in the way of the chariot wheels."
"And, if the Herkus have conquered the giants," said Trot, "they must beat least twice the size of giants. P'raps the Herkus are the biggestpeople in all the world!"
"Perhaps they are," assented the Wizard, in a thoughtful tone of voice."And perhaps the shepherd didn't know what he was talking about. Let ustravel on toward the west and discover for ourselves what the people ofthis country are like."
It seemed a pleasant enough country, and it was quite still and peacefulwhen they turned their eyes away from the silently whirling mountains.There were trees here and there and green bushes, while throughout thethick grass were scattered brilliantly colored flowers. About a mileaway was a low hill that hid from them all the country beyond it, sothey realized they could not tell much about the country until they hadcrossed the hill.
The Red Wagon having been left behind, it was now necessary to makeother arrangements for traveling. The Lion told Dorothy she could rideupon his back, as she had often done before, and the Woozy said he couldeasily carry both Trot and the Patchwork Girl. Betsy still had her mule,Hank, and Button-Bright and the Wizard could sit together upon the long,thin back of the Sawhorse, but they took care to soften their seat witha pad of blankets before they started. Thus mounted, the adventurersstarted for the hill, which was reached after a brief journey.
As they mounted the crest and gazed beyond the hill they discovered notfar away a walled city, from the towers and spires of which gay bannerswere flying. It was not a very big city, indeed, but its walls were veryhigh and thick and it appeared that the people who lived there musthave feared attack by a powerful enemy, else they would not havesurrounded their dwellings with so strong a barrier.
There was no path leading from the mountains to the city, and thisproved that the people seldom or never visited the whirling hills; butour friends found the grass soft and agreeable to travel over and withthe city before them they could not well lose their way. When they drewnearer to the walls, the breeze carried to their ears the sound ofmusic--dim at first but growing louder as they advanced.
"That doesn't seem like a very terr'ble place," remarked Dorothy.
"Well, it _looks_ all right," replied Trot, from her seat on the Woozy,"but looks can't always be trusted."
"My looks can," said Scraps. "I _look_ patchwork, and I _am_ patchwork,and no one but a blind owl could ever doubt that I'm the PatchworkGirl." Saying which she turned a somersault off the Woozy and, alightingon her feet, began wildly dancing about.
"Are owls ever blind?" asked Trot.
"Always, in the daytime," said Button-Bright. "But Scraps can see withher button eyes both day and night. Isn't it queer?"
"It's queer that buttons can see at all," answered Trot; "but--goodgracious! what's become of the city?"
"I was going to ask that myself," said Dorothy. "It's gone!"
The animals came to a sudden halt, for the city had reallydisappeared--walls and all--and before them lay the clear, unbrokensweep of the country.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the Wizard. "This is rather disagreeable. It isannoying to travel almost to a place and then find it is not there."
"Where can it be, then?" asked Dorothy. "It cert'nly was there a minuteago."
"I can hear the music yet," declared Button-Bright, and when they alllistened the strains of music could plainly be heard.
"Oh! there's the city--over at the left," called Scraps, and turningtheir eyes they saw the walls and towers and fluttering banners far tothe left of them.
"We must have lost our way," suggested Dorothy.
"Nonsense," said the Lion. "I, and all the other animals, have beentramping straight toward the city ever since we first saw it."
"Then how does it happen--"
"Never mind," interrupted the Wizard, "we are no farther from it than wewere before. It is in a different direction, that's all; so let us hurryand get there before it again escapes us."
So on they went, directly toward the city, which seemed only a couple ofmiles distant; but when they had traveled less than a mile it suddenlydisappeared again. Once more they paused, somewhat discouraged, but in amoment the button eyes of Scraps again discovered the city, only thistime it was just behind them, in the direction from which they had come.
"Goodness gracious!" cried Dorothy. "There's surely something wrong withthat city. Do you s'pose it's on wheels, Wizard?"
"It may not be a city at all," he replied, looking toward it with aspeculative gaze.
"What _could_ it be, then?"
"Just an illusion."
"What's that?" asked Trot.
"Something you think you see and don't see."
"I can't believe that," said Button-Bright. "If we only saw it, we mightbe mistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, it must be there."
"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl.
"Somewhere near us," he insisted.
"We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy, with a sigh.
So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it disappearedagain, only to reappear at the right of them. They were constantlygetting nearer to it, however, so they kept their faces turned toward itas it flitted here and there to all points of the compass. Presently theLion, who was leading the procession, halted abruptly and cried out:"Ouch!"
"What's the matter?" asked Dorothy.
"Ouch--ouch!" repeated the Lion, and leaped backward so suddenly thatDorothy nearly tumbled from his back. At the same time Hank the Muleyelled "Ouch!" almost as loudly as the Lion had done, and he alsopranced backward a few paces.
"It's the thistles," said Betsy. "They prick their legs."
Hearing this, all looked down, and sure enough the ground was thick withthistles, which covered the plain from the point where they stood way upto the walls of the mysterious city. No pathways through them could beseen at all; here the soft grass ended and the growth of thistles began.
"They're the prickliest thistles I ever felt," grumbled the Lion. "Mylegs smart yet from their stings, though I jumped out of them as quickas I could."
"Here is a new difficulty," remarked the Wizard in a grieved tone. "Thecity has stopped hopping around, it is true; but how are we to get toit, over this mass of prickers?"
"They can't hurt _me_," said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancingfearlessly and trampling among the thistles.
"Nor me," said the Wooden Sawhorse.
"But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers," asserted Dorothy,"and we can't leave them behind."
"Must we all go back?" asked Trot.
"Course not!" replied Button-Bright scornfully. "Always, when there'strouble, there's a way out of it, if you can find it."
"I wish the Scarecrow was here," said Scraps, standing on her head onthe Woozy's square back. "His splendid brains would soon show us how toconquer this field of thistles."
"What's the
matter with _your_ brains?" asked the boy.
"Nothing," she said, making a flip-flop into the thistles and dancingamong them without feeling their sharp points. "I could tell you inhalf a minute how to get over the thistles, if I wanted to."
"Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy.
"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied thePatchwork Girl.
"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked Betsyreproachfully.
"Yes, indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does atthe circus.
"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," declaredDorothy.
Scraps danced around them two or three times, without reply. Then shesaid:
"Don't look at me, you stupid folks; look at those blankets."
The Wizard's face brightened at once.
"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of those blanketsbefore?"
"Because you haven't magic brains," laughed Scraps. "Such brains as youhave are of the common sort that grow in your heads, like weeds in agarden. I'm sorry for you people who have to be born in order to bealive."
But the Wizard was not listening to her. He quickly removed the blanketsfrom the back of the Sawhorse and spread one of them upon the thistles,just next the grass. The thick cloth rendered the prickers harmless, sothe Wizard walked over this first blanket and spread the second onefarther on, in the direction of the phantom city.
"These blankets," said he, "are for the Lion and the Mule to walk upon.The Sawhorse and the Woozy can walk on the thistles."
So the Lion and the Mule walked over the first blanket and stood uponthe second one until the Wizard had picked up the one they had passedover and spread it in front of them, when they advanced to that one andwaited while the one behind them was again spread in front.
"This is slow work," said the Wizard, "but it will get us to the cityafter a while."
"The city is a good half mile away, yet," announced Button-Bright.
"And this is awful hard work for the Wizard," added Trot.
"Why couldn't the Lion ride on the Woozy's back?" asked Dorothy. "It's abig, flat back, and the Woozy's mighty strong. Perhaps the Lion wouldn'tfall off."
"You may try it, if you like," said the Woozy to the Lion. "I can takeyou to the city in a jiffy and then come back for Hank."
"I'm--I'm afraid," said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big as theWoozy.
"Try it," pleaded Dorothy.
"And take a tumble among the thistles?" asked the Lion reproachfully.But when the Woozy came close to him the big beast suddenly bounded uponits back and managed to balance himself there, although forced to holdhis four legs so close together that he was in danger of toppling over.The great weight of the monster Lion did not seem to affect the Woozy,who called to his rider: "Hold on tight!" and ran swiftly over thethistles toward the city.
The others stood on the blankets and watched the strange sightanxiously. Of course the Lion couldn't "hold on tight" because there wasnothing to hold to, and he swayed from side to side as if likely to falloff any moment. Still, he managed to stick to the Woozy's back untilthey were close to the walls of the city, when he leaped to the ground.Next moment the Woozy came dashing back at full speed.
"There's a little strip of ground next the wall where there are nothistles," he told them, when he had reached the adventurers once more."Now, then, friend Hank, see if you can ride as well as the Lion did."
"Take the others first," proposed the Mule. So the Sawhorse and theWoozy made a couple of trips over the thistles to the city walls andcarried all the people in safety, Dorothy holding little Toto in herarms. The travelers then sat in a group on a little hillock, justoutside the wall, and looked at the great blocks of gray stone andwaited for the Woozy to bring Hank to them. The Mule was very awkwardand his legs trembled so badly that more than once they thought he wouldtumble off, but finally he reached them in safety and the entire partywas now reunited. More than that, they had reached the city that hadeluded them for so long and in so strange a manner.
"The gates must be around the other side," said the Wizard. "Let usfollow the curve of the wall until we reach an opening in it."
"Which way?" asked Dorothy.
"We must guess at that," he replied. "Suppose we go to the left? Onedirection is as good as another."
They formed in marching order and went around the city wall to the left.It wasn't a big city, as I have said, but to go way around it, outsidethe high wall, was quite a walk, as they became aware. But around it ouradventurers went, without finding any sign of a gateway or otheropening. When they had returned to the little mound from which they hadstarted, they dismounted from the animals and again seated themselves onthe grassy mound.
"It's mighty queer, isn't it?" asked Button-Bright.
"There must be _some_ way for the people to get out and in," declaredDorothy. "Do you s'pose they have flying machines, Wizard?"
"No," he replied, "for in that case they would be flying all over theLand of Oz, and we know they have not done that. Flying machines areunknown here. I think it more likely that the people use ladders to getover the walls."
"It would be an awful climb, over that high stone wall," said Betsy.
"Stone, is it?" cried Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, forshe never tired and could never keep still for long.
"Course it's stone," answered Betsy scornfully. "Can't you see?"
"Yes," said Scraps, going closer, "I can _see_ the wall, but I can't_feel_ it." And then, with her arms outstretched, she did a very queerthing. She walked right into the wall and disappeared.
"For goodness sake!" cried Dorothy amazed, as indeed they all were.
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