L. Frank Baum - Oz 28

by Speedy In Oz

  “But only with umbrellas,” said Ozina, rising quickly to her feet.

  “They are fat and therefore jolly. Let us be calm,” stuttered the Scarecrow. Nevertheless he picked up a large serving fork and placed himself resolutely in front of the two girls. By this time, Waddy, Sizzeroo and Bamboula - for of course it was these three-came running breathlessly toward the group around the breakfast table.

  “Where are they?” puffed the Wizard, stumbling over a gold flower urn in his haste. “Speedy, Gureeda, Terrybubble?”

  “What language is this?” gasped the Scarecrow,

  wrinkling up his cotton forehead. “Wait, I’ll fetch an interpreter. What country do you hie and fly from, strangers? But wait, I’ll fetch the interpreter.”

  “No need, no need for that,” panted Waddy, putting down his umbrella. “We speak the same language as your own.” In spite of his agitation the Wizard made three stiff and correct bows, one each, for Ozma, Dorothy and the Scarecrow. The King and Bamboula, close behind him, also bowed.

  “We are Umbrellians,” announced Waddy, “and yonder lies our island.”

  “And you, I presume, are the Umbrella Spokesman of this flying delegation,” observed the Scarecrow, as Dorothy and Ozma politely acknowledged the bows of the visitors.

  “I am a Wizard,” answered Waddy, fuming at all this conversation and delay. “This is Sizzeroo, King of Umbrella Island, and Bamboula, his Royal Su-jester. But tell me, tell me quickly, have you seen anything of a dinosaur, a little Princess and an American boy named Speedy?”

  “Why, is Speedy in Oz?” cried Dorothy, pressing forward eagerly. “And a dinosaur! I didn’t think there were any live dinosaurs anywhere.”

  “He should be, he should be,” quavered Sizzeroo. “Only last evening he jumped off the Island with my

  daughter and our visitor.”

  “But how jocular,” beamed the Scarecrow, twinkling his painted eyes. “How amusing and astonishing and won’t they all be pretty much smashed?”

  “Oh, oh! Don’t joke about it!” Sizzeroo, dropping on a golden bench, covered his face with his hands, and Pansy who had concealed herself in his pocket came out and rubbed softly against his ear.

  “Please do sit down, all of you,” begged Ozma kindly. She had at once noticed the distress and anxiety of her callers or rather her fallers. “Could you not tell us a little more about this whole matter?”

  “Yes, and about yourselves,” proposed the Scarecrow, fascinated by the Watch Cat, and the braided beards of the Umhrellians. Are you quite sure that island will not come down on us like the top crust of a pie?”

  “Certainly not,” declared the Wizard indignantly. “It is held aloft by one of my most successful inventions, and will not stir till I set the machinery in motion. But this is no time for explanations. We must have your help and assistance at once to find Terrybubble, Gureeda and Speedy. You see-”

  Heartened by the dignified reception and manner of the little ruler of all Oz, Waddy poured out his

  whole strange story from the moment Umbrella Island had hit Loxo in the forehead, omitting nothing, not even the perfidious plan of Kachewka to substitute Speedy for the Princess and hand him over to the giant.

  By the time he had finished, the faces of his listeners were grave and serious, for Speedy was well liked in the capital. The Soldier with Green Whiskers plucked nervously at his beard, terrified lest the monster so graphically described by Waddy should rush suddenly out at him. “The thing to do is to look in the Magic Mirror,” decided the Scarecrow, as Waddy finished his sorrowful recital of happenings on Umbrella Island. “Then we’ll know just where this dinosaur landed.” We can settle the giant later.”

  Waddy said nothing to this, for he was fully resolved to handle Loxo himself, but he kept his own counsel and lumbered after the Scarecrow, who was awkwardly running toward the palace.

  Ozma, Dorothy and the two other Umbrellians followed as quickly as they could, Ozma explaining the Magic Mirror as they hurried along. This mirror disclosed, at a given command, the exact location of any missing person or persons.

  Hope lent speed to the sovereign of Umbrella

  Island and you can imagine with what feelings he faced the blank and gold framed square of glass in Ozma’s private sitting room. Pansy’s eyes grew round with fright and suspense as Ozma directed the mirror to show them the dinosaur and the two missing children, but when, instead of her old friend Terrybubble, the much reduced but still formidable form of Loxo, with Speedy and Gureeda tied to his ankles, loomed up on the glass, she gave an anguished howl and dove under a sofa, too soon to see Terrybubble, lashing up and down in his rocky cavern, take the place of the giant. There were more cries than just Pansy’s, as Dorothy and her friends and the King and his counselors realized the dreadful danger confronting Speedy and the little Princess of Umbrella Island.

  “Call the Wizard of Oz! Tell him to bring his search light,” commanded Ozma, in a stern but slightly shaky voice. “This green mountain on which Loxo sits cannot be near our city or we should have seen Loxo long ago.”

  “Pansy, you must have made a mistake,” groaned Waddy. “You turned the Island in the wrong direction, but I thought there were no green forests or mountains except near the Emerald City of Oz.”

  “There is one.” The Wizard of Oz, hastily summoned by Dorothy, solemnly made this disclosure.

  “It is in the exact center of the Quadling Country and this mountain, settled by a band of Emerald City dwellers and planted with seeds and shrubs brought from the capital, retained all the verdure and charm of our own countryside. Later, I understand the giant Loxo drove off these peaceful settlers and took the mountain for himself. Your Watch Cat doubtless mistook the capital of the Quadling Country for the Emerald Gity.”

  Dorothy had explained the whole story of Loxo, Speedy and the Princess, to the Wizard and now he was quickly introduced to the Umbrellians.

  “Red or green, who cares, let us fly there at once,” wheezed Bamboula earnestly. The King’s Su-jester had left his drum behind him and so far had not spoken a word, for as he always preceded his remarks by a series of drum beats, he felt almost tongue tied without his drum sticks.

  “Would the flying island of our visitors be better than a wish?” pondered the Wizard of Oz, beginning to unclasp his bag.

  “Much better,” answered Waddy jealously. “If Loxo grows troublesome we can fly out of his reach and at any rate we can reason with him on his own

  level and from a safe and convenient base.”

  As these arguments appealed to Ozma, she quickly decided the matter and in less than five minutes she and her three advisers and Sizzeroo and his two counselors were hurrying toward the suspended isle. Meander, hanging over the gold fence at the foot of the King’s garden, proved his good sense and usefulness by letting down a rope ladder kept for such emergencies, and one after the other the little party of rescuers mounted the ladder, climbed aboard and hurried to the royal terrace. With the Wizard of Oz and his magic searchlight to guide him, Wad-dy manipulated the silver wheel and at a rate of almost a hundred miles an hour, Umbrella Island skimmed over field and forest towards its distant and dangerous goal.

  CHAPTER 19 The Last of Loxo

  Loxo had just awakened from his long morning nap and was lazily reaching for his mouth organ, when Umbrella Island swung

  suddenly into view. Having already looked at his boots and found them neatly laced and tied by his new slaves, the giant was in high good humor and waved quite jovially as the Umbrellians approached.

  “I see you kept your bargain ahead of time and sent me two children instead of one,” he called cheerfully, as Waddy brought the Island to a halt about six feet from his nose. “Thank you! Thank you very kindly.”

  Without replying to the giant’s greeting, the group on the royal terrace hurried down to the Island’s edge. That is, all but Waddy. Waddy’s one thought was to reach the tower and fetch down his precious golden bowl before the Wizard of Oz
opened his black bag and began experimenting with his famous green magic. Whisking up and down the spiral stair took so little time that Sizzeroo’s chief necromancer reached the foot of the garden just as Ozma, in a stern voice, commanded Loxo to return his two prisoners to Umbrella Island. At first the giant did not understand. Then when it gradually dawned on him that the diminutive brown-haired Princess was actually commanding him to give up his slaves, he began to roar with delight and derision.

  “Save your breath, Lady,” he bellowed uproariously. “And don’t try ordering a fellow like me around or I might steal you to sweep up my cave.”

  “Do you realize to whom you are talking?” shouted the Wizard, shaking his bag angrily. “This is Ozma of Oz, Supreme Ruler of this whole magic country. Unless you obey her at once, I, as her Wizard, will be forced to resort to magic to subdue

  you!”

  “Oh, take care! Take care,” breathed Sizzeroo nervously. “He’s dreadfully dangerous, you know, and liable to snatch a piece right out of this Island. Are you sure you can manage him?”

  “Certainly,” answered the Wizard of Oz, snapping his fingers scornfully at the scowling ogre. “In this bag I have magic enough for a dozen giants.”

  “But-but-he may injure those poor children be fore your magic works,” fumed Sizzeroo, clasping Pansy frantically to his plump middle. “Would not -ah-would not a littlah—er persuasion be best, your Highness?”

  “Yes, let us first try to reason with him,” whispered Waddy, pushing his way hurriedly between the Wizard and Sizzeroo. “Then if we fail, your Majesty and your Majesty’s Wizard can take him in

  hand.”

  “Persuasion! Persuasion! Humph! I’ll persuade him with a pinch of the powder of petrifaction,” sniffed the Wizard of Oz, briskly snapping open his

  bag.

  “Now Wizard, now Wizard! You know I dislike violence.” Ozma raised her hand in gentle reproof. “After all, Loxo has his rights too. Let this King and his magician first try their persuasion, then if that does not succeed we can try something more serious.”

  “Wisely spoken, Your Highness!Most wisely spoken!” Waddy made a jerky little bow to Ozma and then, before she could change her mind, opened the golden gate and stepped to the very edge of the Island, waving both arms to. attract Loxo’s attention. During this low spoken conversation, the giant’s expression had changed from amusement to sullen anger.

  “What do you mean bothering around here again,” he called in a surly voice. “Go away before I put my feet through your island.”

  “We are going away,” shouted Waddy cheerfully. “But tell me first, are you satisfied with your bargain?”

  “Perfectly.” The giant, blinking rapidly down at his boots, spoke more pleasantly.

  “Fine!” smiled Waddy. “Then let us part good friends and drink to the health of all concerned in our famous umbrella-ade.” Coaxingly Waddy held out a large glass of sparkling amber liquid and a round yellow sponge cake which he had just turned out of the golden bowl.

  “Well, this is more like it. What was all that talk of returning the King’s children?” rumbled Loxo, stretching out a huge hand for the Umbrellian’s offering. “This umbrella-ade will scarce wet my tongue and that cake looks like a bird seed. Still, since it’s kindly meant-” Seizing the glass, the giant emptied it down his vast throat, tossing the yellow cake, bowl and all, down after it. 287

  Clasping and unclasping his pudgy hands, Waddy watched him, breathless with suspense and anxiety. Would his cake, a mere crumb in the great cavern of the giant’s mouth, really go down that tremendous and terrible throat? The first proof that it had, came from the Scarecrow, who dangled dangerously over the edge of the golden fence.

  “Where is he?” shrilled the straw gentleman hysterically. And “Where is he?” echoed Sizzeroo, Dorothy, Ozma and all the others who had crowded into

  the garden to get a glimpse of the terrifying giant. “Oh, somewhere below,” answered Waddy carelessly, and stepping back through the gate, he hurried up to the royal terrace to bring the Island as close to the foot of Big Enough Mountain as possible. This was pretty close, and when Meander let down his rope ladder, Waddy was the first to descend, followed jealously by the Wizard of Oz, who felt he should have been the one to deal with Loxo.

  Instead of two, three figures came hurrying to meet them, the first two, Speedy and Gureeda, who in great suspense and anxiety had been awaiting the outcome of the parley, and the third Loxo himself, now scarcely a head taller than his prisoners. Bound to them by the ropes on his ankles and theirs, he came most unwillingly, but no one could have withstood the rush of the relieved and delighted children.

  And while the Princess and Speedy were being hugged, exclaimed over and carefully examined for bruises or injury by Sizzeroo, both the Wizards seized the shrunken giant and held him while Meander hastily cut the cords binding him to his erstwhile boot lacers.

  “Well, what did you think of my patent double-acting, shrinking-magic, malted sponge cake?” inquired Waddy maliciously, as the Wizard of Oz

  stared in amazement at the reduced but still ugly ogre.

  “Didn’t even taste it,” confessed Loxo, in a frightened voice. “First thing I know, I feel myself slipping and shrinking inside, and second thing I know, here I am no bigger than a peanut!”

  “And larger than you deserve to be, even at that,” remarked Ozma, coming quietly over to the cowering figure. “Good work, Waddy!”

  “I always try to reduce problems to their smallest possible form,” explained the Umbrellian, blushing with pleasure. “In this size he’ll not harm anyone.”

  “I’d rather be small anyway,” grumbled Loxo, edging off defiantly. “No fun being a giant-too lonely. Now I can lace my own boots and marry a dairymaid.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” exclaimed Speedy, finally escaping from the King, and warmly greeting his old friends from the Emerald City. “I thought we were done for this time.”

  “You didn’t suppose I’d let anything happen to Gureeda and my assistant wizard, did you?” Waddy smiled proudly down at the little boy.

  “Oh, are you a wizard now?” Dorothy, who was herself a Princess of Oz, could not help feeling a

  bit envious of Speedy’s new position on this strange island.

  “The best little wizard as ever wizzed,” Waddy assured her gravely. “Come along, my boy. Let’s show Dorothy and the famous Wizard of Oz some of our latest tricks and contrivances, and perhaps he will show us some of his own magic experiments.” Waddy, having gained his point, felt very generous toward Ozma’s chief magician.

  “But first we must find Terrybubble,” cried Speedy, striding toward the cave where Loxo had imprisoned the dinosaur.

  “I’ll help you,” volunteered the Wizard of Oz, and as Waddy made no objection, he took a magic rod from his black bag and waved the rock away from the opening in the cave, and out sprang Terrybubble, looking like some strange nightmare to the visitors from the Emerald City.

  “A hat rack,” shuddered the Scarecrow. “A hat rack and ruin. Does he bite and devour one?”

  “Certainly not,” said Speedy, running up the long ladderlike tail and back bone of the dinosaur and patting him affectionately on the skull. “Terrybubble’s as gentle and harmless as you are!” And now, what a hub-bub of introductions and explanations, as Gureeda and Terrybubble met the celebrities from Oz. During the general excitement and rejoicing Loxo took himself off and nobody even noticed his departure.

  At Sizzeroo’s earnest invitation, they all climbed aboard Umbrella Island, Terrybubble scorning the ladder and jumping aboard in a dythrambic leap that caused the Scarecrow to regard him with profound wonder and admiration.

  As the Island billowed smoothly and rhythmically back toward the Emerald City, a great feast was prepared in honor of the distinguished guests - a feast that lasted five hours and eight hundred miles and had more kinds of cake and ices than even a royal wedding. Sizzeroo was so happy over the return of his dau
ghter and Speedy, and the unexpected graciousness of Ozma of Oz that all unpleasantness was forgotten. Even Kachewka was dragged down from his tower room and after being gently reprived was completely forgiven and placed in his old seat at the royal board.

  Speedy, looking down that long sparkling table at his old friends from Oz and his new friends among the Umbrellians, then toward the door where Terrybubble, wearing a fresh wreath of roses, stood observing them with insatiable interest and curiosity,

  felt a twinge of sadness.

  Why must all his thrilling adventures and friendships end? Might it not be better to spend the remainder of his days on Umbrella Island than to return to his more or less humdrum existence in America? But even as the dazzling idea flitted through his mind, the thought of Uncle Billy, anxious, alone and grief stricken, quickly put such a plan out of his head. Besides, there was the water gun! Should an important invention like that be left to the foolish uses of a Fairy Island Sea King? No, no, a thousand times no! It was his duty to return and help Uncle Billy perfect this powerful weapon for Uncle Sam.

  Terrybubble, he decided reluctantly, must stay where he was to spend long lazy afternoons in the jungle and long happy mornings with Pansy and Gureeda. Professor Sanderson would have to look elsewhere for a prehistoric monster, and some day-Speedy looked again toward his gigantic but gentle comrad~some day he would return and spend the whole summer with these dear old friends.

  So, while Waddy explained all over again how he had compounded the magic sponge cake that shrank the giant, while Bamboula impatiently cleared his throat for the next song, the little boy took a slip of paper from his pocket and scribbled a hasty note.

  “Dear Gureeda:

  Please keep Terrybubble and my magic umbrella for me and say good-bye to Waddy, Pansy and all of the others. I hate to go away, but I must. Some day I’m coming back to read all the books you were telling me about. Goodbye! Don’t forget me! “SPEEDY.”