The Fate of the Tin Woodman
Dorothy obeyed. She ran at once behind the Nome King, who was stilltrying to free his eyes from the egg, and in a twinkling she hadunbuckled his splendid jeweled belt and carried it away with her to herplace beside the Tiger and Lion, where, because she did not know whatelse to do with it, she fastened it around her own slim waist.
Just then the Chief Steward rushed in with a sponge and a bowl of water,and began mopping away the broken eggs from his master's face. In a fewminutes, and while all the party stood looking on, the King regainedthe use of his eyes, and the first thing he did was to glare wickedlyupon the Scarecrow and exclaim:
"I'll make you suffer for this, you hay-stuffed dummy! Don't you knoweggs are poison to Nomes?"
"Really," said the Scarecrow, "they _don't_ seem to agree with you,although I wonder why."
"They were strictly fresh and above suspicion," said Billina. "You oughtto be glad to get them."
"I'll transform you all into scorpions!" cried the King, angrily, andbegan waving his arms and muttering magic words.
But none of the people became scorpions, so the King stopped and lookedat them in surprise.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Why, you are not wearing your magic belt," replied the Chief Steward,after looking the King over carefully. "Where is it? What have you donewith it?"
The Nome King clapped his hand to his waist, and his rock colored faceturned white as chalk.
"It's gone," he cried, helplessly. "It's gone, and I am ruined!"
Dorothy now stepped forward and said:
"Royal Ozma, and you, Queen of Ev, I welcome you and your people back tothe land of the living. Billina has saved you from your troubles, andnow we will leave this drea'ful place, and return to Ev as soon asposs'ble."
While the child spoke they could all see that she wore the magic belt,and a great cheer went up from all her friends, which was led by thevoices of the Scarecrow and the private. But the Nome King did not jointhem. He crept back onto his throne like a whipped dog, and lay therebitterly bemoaning his defeat.
"But we have not yet found my faithful follower, the Tin Woodman," saidOzma to Dorothy, "and without him I do not wish to go away."
"Nor I," replied Dorothy, quickly. "Wasn't he in the palace?"
"He must be there," said Billina; "but I had no clew to guide me inguessing the Tin Woodman, so I must have missed him."
"We will go back into the rooms," said Dorothy. "This magic belt, I amsure, will help us to find our dear old friend."
So she re-entered the palace, the doors of which still stood open, andeveryone followed her except the Nome King, the Queen of Ev and PrinceEvring. The mother had taken the little Prince in her lap and wasfondling and kissing him lovingly, for he was her youngest born.
But the others went with Dorothy, and when she came to the middle of thefirst room the girl waved her hand, as she had seen the King do, andcommanded the Tin Woodman, whatever form he might then have, to resumehis proper shape. No result followed this attempt, so Dorothy went intoanother room and repeated it, and so through all the rooms of thepalace. Yet the Tin Woodman did not appear to them, nor could theyimagine which among the thousands of ornaments was their transformedfriend.
Sadly they returned to the throne room, where the King, seeing that theyhad met with failure, jeered at Dorothy, saying:
"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is of no use to you. Give itback to me and I will let you go free--you and all the people who camewith you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are my slaves, and shallremain here."
"I shall keep the belt," said Dorothy.
"But how can you escape, without my consent?" asked the King.
"Easily enough," answered the girl. "All we need to do is to walk outthe way that we came in."
DOROTHY AND BILLINA ARGUE WITH THE KING]
"Oh, that's all, is it?" sneered the King. "Well, where is the passagethrough which you entered this room?"
They all looked around, but could not discover the place, for it hadlong since been closed. Dorothy, however, would not be dismayed. Shewaved her hand toward the seemingly solid wall of the cavern and said:
"I command the passage to open!"
Instantly the order was obeyed; the opening appeared and the passage layplainly before them.
The King was amazed, and all the others overjoyed.
"Why, then, if the belt obeys you, were we unable to discover the TinWoodman?" asked Ozma.
"I can't imagine," said Dorothy.
"See here, girl," proposed the King, eagerly; "give me the belt, and Iwill tell you what shape the Tin Woodman was changed into, and then youcan easily find him."
Dorothy hesitated, but Billina cried out:
"Don't you do it! If the Nome King gets the belt again he will makeevery one of us prisoners, for we will be in his power. Only by keepingthe belt, Dorothy, will you ever be able to leave this place insafety."
"I think that is true," said the Scarecrow. "But I have another idea,due to my excellent brains. Let Dorothy transform the King into agoose-egg unless he agrees to go into the palace and bring out to us theornament which is our friend Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman."
"A goose-egg!" echoed the horrified King. "How dreadful!"
"Well, a goose-egg you will be unless you go and fetch us the ornamentwe want," declared Billina, with a joyful chuckle.
"You can see for yourself that Dorothy is able to use the magic belt allright," added the Scarecrow.
The Nome King thought it over and finally consented, for he did not wantto be a goose-egg. So he went into the palace to get the ornament whichwas the transformation of the Tin Woodman, and they all awaited hisreturn with considerable impatience, for they were anxious to leave thisunderground cavern and see the sunshine once more. But when the NomeKing came back he brought nothing with him except a puzzled and anxiousexpression upon his face.
"He's gone!" he said. "The Tin Woodman is nowhere in the palace."
"Are you sure?" asked Ozma, sternly.
"I'm very sure," answered the King, trembling, "for I know just what Itransformed him into, and exactly where he stood. But he is not there,and please don't change me into a goose-egg, because I've done the bestI could."
They were all silent for a time, and then Dorothy said:
"There is no use punishing the Nome King any more, and I'm 'fraid we'llhave to go away without our friend."
"If he is not here, we cannot rescue him," agreed the Scarecrow, sadly."Poor Nick! I wonder what has become of him."
"And he owed me six weeks back pay!" said one of the generals, wipingthe tears from his eyes with his gold-laced coat sleeve.
Very sorrowfully they determined to return to the upper world withouttheir former companion, and so Ozma gave the order to begin the marchthrough the passage.
The army went first, and then the royal family of Ev, and afterward cameDorothy, Ozma, Billina, the Scarecrow and Tiktok.
They left the Nome King scowling at them from his throne, and had nothought of danger until Ozma chanced to look back and saw a large numberof the warriors following them in full chase, with their swords andspears and axes raised to strike down the fugitives as soon as they drewnear enough.
Evidently the Nome King had made this last attempt to prevent theirescaping him; but it did him no good, for when Dorothy saw the dangerthey were in she stopped and waved her hand and whispered a command tothe magic belt.
Instantly the foremost warriors became eggs, which rolled upon the floorof the cavern in such numbers that those behind could not advancewithout stepping upon them. But, when they saw the eggs, all desire toadvance departed from the warriors, and they turned and fled madly intothe cavern, and refused to go back again.
Our friends had no farther trouble in reaching the end of the passage,and soon were standing in the outer air upon the gloomy path betweenthe two high mountains. But the way to Ev lay plainly before them, andthey fervently hoped that they
had seen the last of the Nome King and ofhis dreadful palace.
The cavalcade was led by Ozma, mounted on the Cowardly Lion, and theQueen of Ev, who rode upon the back of the Tiger. The children of theQueen walked behind her, hand in hand. Dorothy rode the Sawhorse, whilethe Scarecrow walked and commanded the army in the absence of the TinWoodman.
Presently the way began to lighten and more of the sunshine to come inbetween the two mountains. And before long they heard the "thump! thump!thump!" of the giant's hammer upon the road.
"How may we pass the monstrous man of iron?" asked the Queen, anxiousfor the safety of her children. But Dorothy solved the problem by a wordto the magic belt.
The giant paused, with his hammer held motionless in the air, thusallowing the entire party to pass between his cast-iron legs in safety.
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