L. Frank Baum - Oz 34

by The Wonder City Of Oz

  While the Munchkins were running through all the rooms, looking for the turn-style, in the chimney

  Uinph whispered to Grumph, “Suppose they look up the chimney?”

  “We could drop some red-hot coals on them-if We had any red-hot coals,” answered Grumph.

  “But we haven’t any. We had better climb to the roof and hide there.”

  Together the two gnomes began to climb. Their shoes, scraping the inside of the chimney, tickled the house. The house began to shake and cough and sneeze. Umph and Grumph reached the top and pulled themselves over onto the roof. They rubbed the warts on their hands together and laughed, “They won’t catch us now. After dark, we’ll steal

  the turn-style, and-OUCH! OH, OUCH! OUCH!”

  The chimney had reached down and caught one of them by his waistcoat. A chimney close by caught the second. Then they straightened up, holding the two gnomes high in the air. Their screams filled the street.

  Inside the shop, the Munchkins heard the noise and ran outside. The blue mules were rolling their lips at the gnomes. Number Nine was the first to see them kicking their bowlegs in the air.

  “Good work!” he called to the chimneys. “Those must be the thieves. Give them a good shaking, until they tell where they’ve hidden the turn-style.”

  The chimneys began to sway, rattling the teeth of

  the gnomes.

  “YEEOW! Sulphur and brimstone!” they yelled. They were shaken so hard that their buttons broke, and they fell out of their waistcoats, sprawling on the roof.

  “Get back into the chimney!” whispered Umph to Grumph. “It’s safer there.”

  Before the chimneys could catch them again, they leaped down a flue and slid down as far as the hidden turn-style.

  Number Nine was in despair. “How can we make them come out?” he asked his mother. “Shall we throw hot water down on them?”

  “No, for the hotter it is, the better they like it,” said his mother. Her blue eyes filled with perplexity.

  All the Munchkin family remained outside, looking up and down the street for help. Just then, around the corner, came galloping on its eight short legs, a dragonette. This little dragon was purple, and it had two heads. Both its mouths were panting quick, fiery breaths. Close behind its spiky tail came clanking Sir Hokus, in full armor, waving his short sword and shouting, “Stop, stop, and let me have at thee!”

  The dragonette dashed past the Munchkin family,

  and when Sir Hokus came by, Number Nine caught his iron sleeve, stopping him.

  “Good knight, could you lend us your stout right arm?” asked Number Nine.

  Sir Hokus came to such a sudden stop that his iron heels sparked. He held his sword high in the air, crying, “Hail! This blade is at the service of all who seek me!”

  “Two bowlegged gnomes are hiding in our chimney,” explained the boy. “I think they have stolen our turn-style.”

  The knight thrust his sword forward. “A challenge! I accept! Lead on to danger!” he cried.

  As Sir Hokus leaped into the shop, the dragonette looked over her shoulder, and, seeing that the knight was no longer chasing her, turned back to learn the reason. Her curiosity led her right to the door of the Style Shop. She poked her two heads in, and saw Sir Hokus waving his sword at the chimney and shouting, “Come out, knaves, and joust fairly!”

  “Sir Hokus, aren’t you going to chase me?” she

  called.

  The knight kept waving his sword and throwing challenges to the gnomes, until the dragonette said in her high, thin voice, “All this higgledy-piggledy over a couple of insignificant gnomes! Why, I could

  catch them in a minute!”

  Number Nine turned to her. “Oh, would you?”

  “Why, yes,” she replied. “I’ll climb onto the roof and get them through the chimney.”

  But when she started to climb, the house drew back from her fiery breath.

  “Could you please hold your breath until you reach the top?” asked Number Nine.

  The dragonette held her breath, but even then the house shut its eyes while she scaled its wall and slid along its roof.

  “I’ll drag-on to the chimney,” said the dragonette. Reaching it, she poked her spiky, saw-toothed tail into the flue. The house wriggled with all this tickling. In the darkness of the chimney, Umph and Grumph saw the spiky tail reaching for them.

  “We’re done for,” said Grumph. “That tail will cut us to pieces.”

  The tail pricked Umph’s ear. “Ouch! Get down, quick!” he bellowed at Grumph and pushed him with his foot.

  “This wart machine is blocking the way,” growled Grumph. “Stop kicking.”

  “Then push it down! Ouch! My other ear!” shrieked Umph.

  The turn-style came tumbling down. After it dropped the two gnomes.

  “Run for it!” cried Umph. But before they could get to their feet, the two fire dogs, that hold the burning logs in winter, caught them by their bandy legs and held on with their teeth.

  Number Nine shouted with joy when he saw the turn-style. “Now Jenny won’t be angry with me,” he exclaimed.

  Sir Hokus sheathed his sword. “I would not stain my noble blade with the blood of such rodents. Pray, call the rat catcher!”

  “Thank you for all you’ve done, Sir Hokus,” said Number Nine.

  The knight stalked out and beckoned with his iron fist to the dragonette, who was still on the roof.

  “Thou has done well to drive the gnomes from their lair,” he called to her. “For thy nobleness and courage, I shall grant thee two blocks’ head start in the chase.”

  The dragonette peered over the roof. “I must have time to let the Munchkin boy thank me.” She slid down the wall and walked into the shop. Number Nine and the other children crowded around her with thanks and praise. She was overcome with bashfulness at so much attention. She could only

  put her paws over her mouths and cough timidly. The children came closer and scratched her heads.

  “Good dragonette,” they said. The dragonette curled up on the floor like a family pet and lay there until Sir Hokus reminded her that he was waiting to resume the chase.

  The dragonette jumped up, ran out into the street, and galloped merrily for two blocks. Then she stopped and looked back to see whether Sir Hokus had begun his pursuit. He started after her. She grinned with her two faces, flipped her tail, and was off again.

  Within the shop, the gnomes were still held fast by the fire dogs. The Munchkin children were standing before the fireplace and staring with great curiosity at the little earth-colored creatures. They had heard much about the gnomes who lived in a kingdom underneath Oz. But this was the first time they had seen gnomes with their own eyes.

  “Ugh! How ugly they are,” said Sister Six.

  “And as bad as they are ugly,” said the mother.

  The gnomes screamed and shook their fists in anger. The fire dogs held them tighter.

  “What are we to do with them?” asked Number Nine. “If we let them go, they’ll run somewhere else

  and steal again.”

  His mother had an idea. “Now I remember that I once heard how to rid the house of gnomes. Just wait a minute.”

  She went quickly to the kitchen and returned carrying a couple of eggs.

  ‘Yeeow! Yeeow!” screamed the gnomes at the sight of the eggs.

  “I have been told that eggs knock gnomes unconscious instantly,” said the mother, and she pitched an egg at each gnome’s head. They slumped senseless to the floor. The fire dogs unclamped their teeth.

  “Now carry them out,” said the mother to Number Nine. “Throw them into the river, and ask the river to take them back where they belong.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Jenny Escapes

  JENNY paced up and down in her chocolate prison cell. The cell was like a cage, with no walls, but with chocolate bars on all four sides. Tears kept dropping from her eyes and freezing on her cheeks as she said over and over to herself, “How
can I possibly win the ozlection when I’m locked up in a

  chocolate prison?”

  Every move that Jenny made could be seen by the giant chocolate guard who had been ordered to watch her. He paced back and forth with upraised gun. Jenny was shivering, for the mountain night was very cold, and no one had given her a blanket. She did not know what had happened to Scraps and Jack Pumpkinhead. Going to the bars, she called to the guard.

  “Can you tell me where my two friends are locked

  up?”

  The guard halted and pointed his gun at her. “Prisoners are not allowed to speak,” he said sternly.

  “Well, I’m cold,” said Jenny angrily.

  “So am I,” the guard said. “There’s nothing to do except wait until morning to thaw out.”

  “But I’m not made of chocolate. I can freeze, but I can’t thaw!” spoke Jenny sharply.

  “I can’t talk to you any more. It is forbidden,” said

  the guard.

  He began pacing again, but he went more slowly, as if the cold were in his joints. Jenny felt colder than ever.

  “Eating something will make me feel warmer,” she thought. She looked around her cell. There was

  nothing but chocolate bars, a chocolate stool, and a chocolate cot.

  “The sight of so much chocolate makes me sick,” she said to herself. “But I’ll eat some of it, to get some strength. I must escape somehow and warn Ozma that the chocolate soldiers are going to attack the Emerald City tomorrow.”

  Reaching toward the bars, Jenny tried to break them with her hands. But they were thick, and, besides, they were frozen hard. The chocolate guard was pacing more slowly, his legs stiffening with the cold. Jenny waited for him to pass. He went very slowly.

  ‘If it gets any colder, he will come to a standstill and will not be able to move till morning. That will give me a chance to escape, if I can get out of this cell,” thought Jenny.

  She seized a bar and pulled at it, but it would not

  yield.

  “I guess I’ll have to eat through it.”

  Putting her face close to a bar, Jenny bit at it and quickly spat. “Bah! It’s bitter chocolate!” she exclaimed.

  Once again the guard passed. His feet barely rose from the ground. He did not turn his head to look at her.

  “He is almost stone-stiff,” Jenny thought, as she took another bite out of the chocolate bar. No matter how bitter it was, she must eat away the bar before she could escape. She took another bite, and another, spitting out the pieces.

  “I’d rather remain here the rest of my life than take another bite,” she said. “But I have not only myself to think of. There are Ozma and the Emerald City to be saved.”

  Jenny kept eating. The bar was almost gone, and if she squeezed hard she might get through the hole that she had made. But now the guard was coming back, dragging his feet, his gun motionless on his shoulder. Jenny drew back into her cell. If he should turn and see the bar missing, he would sound an alarm and bring warmer, quicker soldiers to the scene.

  The soldier came before her cell. His feet slowed to a complete stop, and he stood rigid. Jenny waited for him to pass, but he remained directly in front of her, like a post.

  “Is he watching me, or has he frozen stiff?” Jenny thought. She waited, but he did not move. “I believe he has frozen stiff and won’t move until the Sun comes up. If I wait any longer, a warmer soldier

  fllay come to change the guard. I must try to escape now!”

  Carefully, Jenny crawled through the opening had made and stepped upon the ground. The frozen earth creaked under her, and she stopped, waiting breathlessly to see if the soldier would turn around He remained stiff and staring ahead.

  “I must try to find Scraps and Pumpkinhead,” thought Jenny. “They are somewhere in the camp.”

  The guard stood in the way. She could not get to the camp, except by crawling under his very nose. Dropping to her hands and knees, she crept as quietly as she could. As she passed the soldier, she could feel a slight movement in his legs, as if he were trying to take a step. But he was too cold, and he remained where he was, while Jenny crept on toward the camp.

  She stood up and tiptoed around the corner of the cliff. There, on the ground before the General’s tent, she saw a small bonfire with a dozen soldiers sitting around it and keeping soft. Beyond them, plainly seen by the firelight, was a cage like the one she had been in. Jack Pumpkinhead was staring out, and Scraps was standing on her head. Before the cell was a slow-moving guard.

  Jenny heard the soldiers around the fire

  in unison, “Time to change the guard!”

  Two soldiers got up. One of them exchanged places with the soldier who had been guarding Scraps and Jack. Jenny saw the second soldier come toward her. She drew back and ran as hard as she could, around the cliff and down the mountainside. Before she reached the valley, she heard cries announcing her escape. Then she heard chocolate bullets zinging over her head. Down the mountain and into the valley she ran, onto the field of frozen cream chocolate. It was no longer soft, but hard as the mountain.

  The night was chocolate-dark. There were stars, but they were all chocolate stars and gave no light. Jenny ran over the hard cream chocolate field, trying to find the ozoplane. But she could not see it. Behind her she heard soldiers running.

  “I am lost!” she cried. “I shall never be able to Warn Ozma.”

  Then from a spot in the darkness she heard voices. It was Jack Pumpkinhead’s Glee Club, singing, “She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain when she comes.” Jenny ran toward the sounds. She bumped into something soft and round. It was one of the Pumpkins that decorated the ozoplane. The plane

  Was stuck fast in the hardened cream chocolate.

  Jenny opened the door of the ozoplane and called to the shoes, “Everybody help! The soldiers are at our heels. We must get the plane wheels loose.”

  The shoes tumbled out and wedged themselves under the plane. Then they arched themselves, slowly raising the plane on their uppers. The chocolate cracked loudly as it broke.

  “Hurrah!” cried Jenny. “The plane is free. Now, into it, everyone!”

  The soldiers were on the field of hardened cream chocolate. Bullets were smashing against the sides of the plane. The shoes scrambled in, and Jenny jumped in after them. Running to the engine room, she pulled the starter lever and felt the plane rising. A volley of chocolate bullets splattered on its under side.

  “Leaping Leprechauns!” Jenny panted. “That was close. I’ll have to warn Ozma and get help back to Scraps and Jack Pumpkinhead.”

  As the plane rose higher than the chocolate moun-tam, she saw a white, shining star.

  “That’s the morning star. I’ll steer toward that. By its light, I shall be able to see the Land of Oz.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Number Nine Searches for Jenny

  NUMBER NINE was worried. Although the turn-style was back in its place and was bright and shiny again, there was no Boss to run the shop. And how could she win an ozlection when nobody could even find her? He asked everyone who came into the Style Shop, “Have you seen Jenny Jump?”

  But no one had seen her. Number Nine said to himself, “Jenny is the best friend I ever had. She’s perky and bright, too. There aren’t many girls like my Boss!” The light in the boy’s eyes shone warmly. The first day passed, and Jenny did not return. Number Nine was so worried that his Sister Six said, “I’ll take care of the Style Shop if you want to go out and look for your Boss.”

  It was early evening in the Emerald City when Number Nine started his search. He wandered up and down asking, “Have you seen Jenny Jump?”

  But no one could help him.

  “If none of the people know where she is, maybe the animals do,” he thought. Then his heart turned over with fright. “Maybe a lion or a tiger has swallowed her!”

  His legs were shaking as he ran toward the enclosure where the animals were chained. Reaching the wall, he climbed onto it
and then looked carefully at each lion and tiger. His heart grew lighter. Every animal was sleek and thin and could not possibly contain Jenny in its stomach.

  Number Nine looked about the enclosure. Everything was peaceful. He saw Ojo, the elephant boy, sitting on Kabumpo’s head.

  “Jenny isn’t here. You had better search somewhere else,” Ojo replied when Number Nine asked if he or Kabumpo had seen her.

  He walked quickly up Doughnut Drive, searching for some glimpse of Jenny. When he came close to the Banquet Hall, the door opened and the square-bodied Head Waiter came out and started down the street. Number Nine hurried after him.

  “Hey, Head Waiter! Have you seen Jenny Jump?” “Jump what?” asked the Head Waiter, stopping and flipping a speck of dust from his square cellophane jacket.

  “I mean Jenny Jump, the stylist.”

  “Oh, yes, she is the one who gave me this slick suit that got me my job. I saw her yesterday.”

  “Where is she now?” the boy asked eagerly.

  “I don’t know.” The red Quadling Head Waiter

  shrugged his box shoulder, making his cellophane suit twinkle in the sunset. “When I left her, she was on her way to the river to fish. She said she was going through the pumpkin patch.”

  “Thank you!” cried Number Nine and, turning, he ran in the direction of the pumpkin patch. Coming into it, he saw that the familiar ozoplane was no longer there. The only thing in sight, besides the pumpkins, was the Sawhorse, standing quietly where the ozoplane had been.

  Number Nine ran up to it. “Did you see Jenny Jump, my Boss, pass along this way yesterday?” The Sawhorse shook itself from side to side, saying, “No, she did not pass by.”