The Meeting
CHAPTER 17
While the Frogman and his party were advancing from the west, Dorothyand her party were advancing from the east, and so it happened that onthe following night they all camped at a little hill that was only a fewmiles from the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. But the two partiesdid not see one another that night, for one camped on one side of thehill while the other camped on the opposite side. But the next morningthe Frogman thought he would climb the hill and see what was on top ofit, and at the same time Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, also decided toclimb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visible from its top. Soshe stuck her head over an edge just as the Frogman's head appeared overanother edge and both, being surprised, kept still while they took agood look at one another.
Scraps recovered from her astonishment first and bounding upward sheturned a somersault and landed sitting down and facing the big Frogman,who slowly advanced and sat opposite her.
"Well met, Stranger!" cried the Patchwork Girl, with a whoop oflaughter. "You are quite the funniest individual I have seen in all mytravels."
"Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?" asked the Frogman,gazing at her in wonder.
"I'm not funny to myself, you know," returned Scraps. "I wish I were.And perhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that you do notlaugh whenever you see your reflection in a pool, or in a mirror."
"No," said the Frogman gravely, "I do not. I used to be proud of mygreat size and vain of my culture and education, but since I bathed inthe Truth Pond I sometimes think it is not right that I should bedifferent from all other frogs."
"Right or wrong," said the Patchwork Girl, "to be different is to bedistinguished. Now, in my case, I'm just like all other Patchwork Girlsbecause I'm the only one there is. But, tell me, where did you comefrom?"
"The Yip Country," said he.
"Is that in the Land of Oz?"
"Of course," replied the Frogman.
"And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?"
"I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn't know thatshe was stolen."
"Well, you have. All the people of Oz," explained Scraps, "are ruled byOzma, whether they know it or not. And she has been stolen. Aren't youangry? Aren't you indignant? Your Ruler, whom you didn't know you had,has positively been stolen!"
"That is queer," remarked the Frogman thoughtfully. "Stealing is a thingpractically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken and a friend ofmine has also had her dishpan stolen. With her I have traveled all theway from the Yip Country in order to recover it."
"I don't see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a dishpan!"declared Scraps.
"They've both been stolen, haven't they?"
"True. But why can't your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?"asked Scraps.
"Why can't you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the one whois lost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is made of gold andstudded with diamonds and has magic powers."
"Magic, eh?" exclaimed Scraps. "_There_ is a link that connects the twosteals, anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the Land of Oz wasstolen at the same time, whether it was in the Emerald City or inGlinda's castle or in the Yip Country. Seems mighty strange andmysterious, doesn't it?"
"It used to seem that way to us," admitted the Frogman, "but we have nowdiscovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the Shoemaker."
"Ugu? Good gracious! That's the same magician we think has stolen Ozma.We are now on our way to the castle of this Shoemaker."
"So are we," said the Frogman.
"Then follow me, quick! and let me introduce you to Dorothy and theother girls and to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of us."
She sprang up and seized his coat-sleeve, dragging him off the hilltopand down the other side from that whence he had come. And at the foot ofthe hill the Frogman was astonished to find the three girls and theWizard and Button-Bright, who were surrounded by a wooden Sawhorse, alean Mule, a square Woozy and a Cowardly Lion. A little black dog ran upand smelled at the Frogman, but couldn't growl at him.
"I've discovered another party that has been robbed," shouted Scraps asshe joined them. "This is their leader and they're all going to Ugu'scastle to fight the wicked Shoemaker!"
They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest and, findingall eyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his necktie and smoothedhis beautiful vest and swung his gold-headed cane like a regular dandy.The big spectacles over his eyes quite altered his froglike countenanceand gave him a learned and impressive look. Used as she was to seeingstrange creatures in the Land of Oz, Dorothy was amazed at discoveringthe Frogman. So were all her companions. Toto wanted to growl at him,but couldn't, and he didn't dare bark. The Sawhorse snorted rathercontemptuously, but the Lion whispered to the wooden steed: "Bear withthis strange creature, my friend, and remember he is no moreextraordinary than you are. Indeed, it is more natural for a frog to bebig than for a Sawhorse to be alive."
On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of the lossof Cayke's highly prized dishpan and their adventures in search of it.When he came to tell of the Lavender Bear King and of the Little PinkBear who could tell anything you wanted to know, his hearers becameeager to see such interesting animals.
"It will be best," said the Wizard, "to unite our two parties and shareour fortunes together, for we are all bound on the same errand and asone band we may more easily defy this shoemaker magician than ifseparate. Let us be allies."
"I will ask my friends about that," replied the Frogman, and climbedover the hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The Patchwork Girlaccompanied him and when they came upon the Cookie Cook and the LavenderBear and the Pink Bear it was hard to tell which of the lot was the mostsurprised.
"Mercy me!" cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. "However did youcome alive?"
Scraps stared at the bears.
"Mercy me!" she echoed; "you are stuffed, as I am, with cotton, and yetyou appear to be living. That makes me feel ashamed, for I have pridedmyself on being the only live cotton-stuffed person in Oz."
"Perhaps you are," returned the Lavender Bear, "for I am stuffed withextra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear."
"You have relieved my mind of a great anxiety," declared the PatchworkGirl, now speaking more cheerfully. "The Scarecrow is stuffed withstraw, and you with hair, so I am still the Original and OnlyCotton-Stuffed!"
"I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton, as compared with curledhair," said the King, "especially as you seem satisfied with it."
Then the Frogman told of his interview with the party from the EmeraldCity and added that the Wizard of Oz had invited the bears and Cayke andhimself to travel in company with them to the castle of Ugu theShoemaker. Cayke was much pleased, but the Bear King looked solemn. Heset the Little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the crank in its side andasked:
"Is it safe for us to associate with those people from the EmeraldCity?"
And the Pink Bear at once replied:
"Safe for you and safe for me; Perhaps no others safe will be."
"That 'perhaps' need not worry us," said the King; "so let us join theothers and offer them our protection."
Even the Lavender Bear was astonished, however, when on climbing overthe hill he found on the other side the group of queer animals and thepeople from the Emerald City. The bears and Cayke were received verycordially, although Button-Bright was cross when they wouldn't let himplay with the Little Pink Bear. The three girls greatly admired the toybears, and especially the pink one, which they longed to hold.
"You see," explained the Lavender King, in denying them this privilege,"he's a very valuable bear, because his magic is a correct guide on alloccasions, and especially if one is in difficulties. It was the PinkBear who told us that Ugu the Shoemaker had stolen the Cookie Cook'sdishpan."
"And the King's magic is just as wonderful," added C
ayke, "because itshowed us the Magician himself."
"What did he look like?" inquired Dorothy.
"He was dreadful!"
"He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which had threegolden clasps," remarked the King.
"Why, that must have been Glinda's Great Book of Records!" exclaimedDorothy. "If it is, it proves that Ugu the Shoemaker stole Ozma, andwith her all the magic in the Emerald City."
"And my dishpan," said Cayke. And the Wizard added:
"It also proves that he is following our adventures in the Book ofRecords, and therefore knows that we are seeking him and that we aredetermined to find him and rescue Ozma at all hazards."
"If we can," added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at him.
The Wizard's statement was so true that the faces around him were veryserious until the Patchwork Girl broke into a peal of laughter.
"Wouldn't it be a rich joke if he made prisoners of _us_, too?" shesaid.
"No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider _that_ a joke,"grumbled Button-Bright. And then the Lavender Bear King asked:
"Would you like to see this magical shoemaker?"
"Wouldn't he know it?" Dorothy inquired.
"No, I think not."
Then the King waved his metal wand and before them appeared a room inthe wicker castle of Ugu. On the wall of the room hung Ozma's MagicPicture, and seated before it was the Magician. They could see thePicture as well as he could, because it faced them, and in the Picturewas the hillside where they were now sitting, all their forms beingreproduced in miniature. And, curiously enough, within the scene of thePicture was the scene they were now beholding, so they knew that theMagician was at this moment watching them in the Picture, and also thathe saw himself and the room he was in become visible to the people onthe hillside. Therefore he knew very well that they were watching himwhile he was watching them.
In proof of this, Ugu sprang from his seat and turned a scowling face intheir direction; but now he could not see the travelers who were seekinghim, although they could still see him. His actions were so distinct,indeed, that it seemed he was actually before them.
"It is only a ghost," said the Bear King. "It isn't real at all, exceptthat it shows us Ugu just as he looks and tells us truly just what he isdoing."
"I don't see anything of my lost growl, though," said Toto, as if tohimself.
Then the vision faded away and they could see nothing but the grass andtrees and bushes around them.
The Lost Princess of Oz Page 18
