With a happy little chuckle, Bob picked a napkin for each, and three for the Cowardly Lion. Then Notta broke a coffee cup from its stem, and no sooner had he touched the cup than the coffee pot on the next branch tilted gently and filled the cup with fragrant hot coffee. The clown was so startled that he accidentally brushed off another cup, at which a cocoa pot poured a cup full of cocoa over his head before he had time to duck. Spluttering and coughing, Notta drew back, but that was the only accident, and as the clown said, it saved him from washing his face.
The Cowardly Lion drank a dozen cups of coffee, one right after the other. Bob had two cups of cocoa, and Snorer, holding a tea cup in one claw, sipped the beverage suspiciously, then flew off to find something more to his taste. Next, Notta picked five dishes of Ozish stew for the Cowardly Lion, a plate full of meat hash for himself and a chop and baked potato for Bob Up.
Nothing could have been jollier than that breakfast. The Cowardly Lion forgot to worry about his feathers, Bob forgot he had ever been an orphan, and Notta forgot that he was lost in a strange magic country and in the power of the wicked monarch of Mudge. When they could not eat another bite, Snorer flew to the top of a tree and brought down dozens of eggs from the nest. Strangely enough, they were hard boiled and Bob filled his blouse with them, for as Notta said, there was no telling where they would be by noon. The Cowardly Lion now dug a deep hole and they buried all the dishes, which was lots less trouble than washing them, then back they went to the Flyaboutabus.
Bob chattered quite gaily to Nickadoodle, but Notta and the Cowardly Lion walked along in silence. Notta, after the valiant way the lion had defended them from the Uns, could not bear the idea of betraying this strange new friend. Better a thousand times turn blue than have the kind-hearted Cowardly Lion fall into the merciless hands of Mustafa.
"Perhaps the old Mudger's ring will not work any way," reflected Notta uncomfortably. "Perhaps it was just a threat to frighten us." If they could just reach this wonderful Emerald City and tell their story to Dorothy, everything would turn out happily. And that, decided Notta, was what he would do.
The Cowardly Lion, on his part, was thinking how terrible it would have been had he eaten Notta on that first morning of their meeting. He felt guilty every time he looked at the jolly, companionable clown. The more he thought about the Patchwork Girl's suggestion, the more ashamed of himself he felt. Why it was perfectly unish, this idea of devouring a brave man. No wonder he had grown a larger bunch of feathers than Notta and Bob! If there was no other way to acquire courage, he would stay a coward forever and that was the end of that! No sooner had the Cowardly Lion reached this conclusion, than he, too, felt light-hearted and happy again and began to roar with appreciation at Notta's funny antics and jokes.
When they reached the Flyaboutabus, it was jerking at its rope as if it was anxious to be off, and so were they all for that matter.
"Which way is the Emerald City from here?" asked Notta, turning to the Cowardly Lion. "I've lost my bearings." The Cowardly Lion looked first north, then south. He knew they were in the Munchkin Country, but their flight to Un had confused him terribly.
"I think it's straight ahead," he roared uncertainly. "Let's run along the ground for a while till we're sure."
"All right," agreed the clown and, calling to Bob, started for the bus. But half way he stopped in horror. Bob, though perfectly unconscious of it, had turned as blue as washday. At the same time Notta caught the Cowardly Lion staring at him fixedly.
"What's the matter?" choked Notta. "Am I blue, too?"
"Not very," faltered the lion, whose heart was in his throat at the awful change in his friends.
Notta looked down at his hands with a shudder. "I'm as blue as the Danube," he muttered unhappily. "But that's all the better. Why, a blue clown ought to be the greatest curiosity yet. Wait till I reach America with my new skin and feathers." Notta went on trying to make a joke of it, but his voice shook a little in spite of himself, and when he tried a light double somersault an even worse thing happened. Halfway around he found himself unable to move, and there he stood on his head, powerless to straighten his arms or legs.
There was no doubt about it, Mustafa had taken off his magic ring. For when Bob tried to run to Notta's assistance he was caught with one foot in the air.
"Help, help!" croaked Snorer, flying frantically from one to the other. His nose came off the hook and hung straight down, but he never even noticed it.
"Fly up a tree, can't you!" roared the Cowardly Lion, as Snorer flapped into his face and almost blinded him with his wings.
With a quick spring he reached Notta's side. "Better lift me down," puffed the clown, for under the blue he was turning crimson from standing so long upside down. The Cowardly Lion obeyed, and placed him gently on the ground, where he lay as stiff as a statue.
"It's magic!" growled the lion. "Blue magic!"
"It's Mustafa!" groaned Notta, looking dismally at Bob. "I guess I'll have to tell you the whole story." In short jerks and gasps, for he could barely move his lips, he told how Mustafa had sent them to capture the Cowardly Lion and of how he had threatened them with the magic ring if they failed to obey him.
"But youdiddisobey him," breathed the lion, lashing his tail. "Even when you knew what would happen, you made no attempt to capture me!" Tears of gratitude rolled down his nose. "You're the bravest man in Oz," he choked miserably, "but look what it has brought you to?"
"Weren't you looking for the bravest man in Oz?" asked Notta, suddenly remembering their first conversation. "That's how we happened to meet you, I think."
The Cowardly Lion nodded gloomily, for it was now his turn to confess. With many apologies and sighs he told Notta of his quest for courage and his determination to devour a brave man, the bravest man that he met.
"But you didn't do it!" shouted Notta triumphantly. "And many a chance you've had if you had cared to take it. Cheer up, old fellow, there's some way out of it."
Snorer with suppressed gurgles and sobs had listened to both stories. Now he held up his claw. "As I understand," croaked the bird, pushing his curly nose back of his ear, "Mustafa's ring has turned black because you have not captured the Cowardly Lion?"
"That's about it," admitted Notta, trying to wink at Bob, but finding it impossible to move his eyelid.
"Well, then," sniffled Snorer with a little hop, "why not capture him? Wait, I'll get a rope." He flew off to the Flyaboutabus, first stopping to comfort Bob Up. "Let us meet magic with strategy," cawed Nick, flying back with a long piece of rope in his bill.
"I'll never urge him a step," declared Notta firmly. "Not if I have to stay blue and still for the rest of my life."
"You won't have to," rumbled the Cowardly Lion, who was beginning to look quite cheerful. "I'll run all the way to Mudge and give myself up to this ridiculous Mustafa." He made a little spring, but Snorer with a screech barred the way.
"Have you no sense?" shrilled Nick sharply. "I said strategy." He tied the rope hastily around the Cowardly Lion's neck and placed the end in Notta's stiff hand. And no sooner had he done so than Bob, with a little shout, ran over to Notta and the clown also found himself able to move about once more. While Nick and the Cowardly Lion watched anxiously, the offensive blue faded out, leaving Notta's face white and powdery and Bob's rosy and freckled.
"So long as you keep hold of the rope everything will be all right," chuckled Snorer strutting proudly up and down, "for while you have the rope the Cowardly Lion is captured."
"Then we'll just run double harness until we think of something else," said the Cowardly Lion. "Tie the rope 'round your waist, Notta, old boy. Then you'll be sure not to lose me." Rather thoughtfully Notta obeyed, but he could not help thinking that being tied to a Cowardly Lion might prove awfully awkward at times. The Cowardly Lion, however, was in fine spirits, so Notta, swallowing his misgivings, stepped with the others into the Flyaboutabus. "And now that I'm captured," chuckled the Cowardly Lion mischievously, "what next?"
"Oh, let someone else decide that," yawned Snorer. Flopping down in the last seat of the bus he was soon sound asleep and snoring loudly.
Flying in a Deluge
"Let's find Dorothy," shouted Bob. It was necessary to shout, for Nick's snores rattled in their ears like a series of explosions. The Cowardly Lion and Notta looked doubtfully at each other. They were not sure that Mustafa's magic ring would allow them to proceed toward the Emerald City.
"We'll try it," shouted Notta. "Which way is it?"
"I don't know," roared the Cowardly Lion. "Let's fly up and look around till I see a familiar landmark. So Notta pressed all the buttons necessary to start the bus, and up they went with such a rush that Bob almost lost his cap and the Cowardly Lion's mane waved like a flag. Bob put both fingers in his ears, for with Nick's snores and the whir of the feather wheels the noise was deafening. When they were about a hundred feet above ground, Notta slowed the bus down and ran it gently and evenly over the pleasant blue fields and forests of the Munchkins. Bob, slipping into the seat beside Snorer, put his nose, which had fallen off his ear, back on its hook. Immediately Snorer awoke and stamped his foot, but in a wink he was asleep again and Bob watched in open-eyed wonder, for snoring in his own ear wakened him about every three minutes, and when he wakened he stamped, so that between snoring and stamping the noise was worse than ever.
"I wish our friend was not such a loud sleeper," growled the Cowardly Lion. "I can't even hear my own heart beat. Say, was that thunder or Snorer?"
"Thunder," quavered Notta anxiously. "See how dark it's growing! Let's go down!"
"It's raining," cried Bob Up in the same breath.
Notta touched the button marked "Faster," and was about to press the one marked "Down," when a blinding flash of lightning zig-zagged across their path. The Cowardly Lion, with a roar of terror, dashed under the last seat of the bus, dragging Notta with him. In his clutch to save himself the clown pressed the button marked "Turn," so that the Flyaboutabus not only increased its speed but churned 'round and 'round till the four occupants were almost knocked senseless. To make matters worse, the rain came down in perfect torrents.
Snorer, awakened by the awful clamor, put his wing around Bob and clutched the arm of the seat with his curling claws. Even so they were shaken up and down till Bob's teeth chattered and nearly drowned by the storm. Notta and the Cowardly Lion in the bottom of the bus were faring even worse. Every time the clown scrambled to his feet, the Cowardly Lion, terrified by a new flash of lightning, would spring in another direction and, tied to him by the stout rope, Notta would be dragged along.
"Help! Help! I'm drowning," gurgled Notta after the eighth fall. A sudden flash of lightning showed Snorer that the Flyaboutabus was more than half full of water, and Notta lying entirely immersed.
"Bob," cried Nick, "can you hold on a minute by yourself?" Bob nodded his head and with closed eyes grasped the side of the bus. He did not dare open his eyes, for flying in a circle had made him dreadfully dizzy.
Snorer sidled cautiously to the edge of the seat and with a little spring jumped on the Cowardly Lion's back. The big beast was trembling like a runaway race horse, and the beating of his heart shook Snorer up and down. But holding on to his mane with one claw, he felt about in the water till his other one fastened in the belt of Notta's baggy suit. Then he pulled with all his might till, dripping and breathless, the poor clown lay across the Cowardly Lion's back.
"Climb on the seat," directed Nick sternly. "Do you want to drown the most beautiful person in Oz?" With shaking legs the Cowardly Lion obeyed, Nick holding Notta safely in place, and when they were both on the seat he begged the lion, with tears in his eyes, to control himself. The Cowardly Lion, catching a glimpse of poor Notta, and realizing for the first time what he had done, wept with embarrassment.
"This is what comes of being tied to a coward," he roared dismally, "but someone clapped me on the back."
"It was a thunderclap," chattered Snorer. "Just close your eyes and hang together, and Bob and I will do the same." Hastily he flew back to the little boy, who was rolling and slipping around on the wet seat. Notta, wise from past experiences, fastened his arms tightly around the Cowardly Lion's neck.
"Divided we fall, together we stand," he panted weakly. "If you're going to jump give me a signal, won't you?" The Cowardly Lion made no answer but just dug his claws into the seat and closed his eyes tighter. The wind whistled shrilly in their ears, the rain pelted mercilessly upon their heads and the bus tumbled and tossed through the air like a rudderless ship.
Suddenly Snorer, who was less affected by the motion of the bus than the others, felt water on his feet.
"Somebody bail out the boat," he shrieked in real terror, "it's sinking!" And so it was. The feather wheels, wet and draggled by the rain, moved slower and slower, and the bus was now so full of water that every time it lurched sideways the luckless voyagers were submerged. It was like flying in a very deep and dangerous tub.
"I never expected to be drowned in the air," screamed Notta. "Shall we jump overboard?"
"Do you want to be dashed to pieces?" shouted Nick in reply. "Hold on to the sides." He called more directions, but the fury of the storm drowned even his shrill voice, and each found he had enough to do to keep from being washed over the edge. The water rose higher and higher and the bus sank lower and lower. With eyes closed, and only their heads above water, the four clung grimly to the feathery edges. When the bus finally struck the ground it did so with such force that they all let go and fell back into the water. The Cowardly Lion sprang out first, pulling Notta along with him. Then, realizing Bob was still struggling in the water, he impulsively sprang back, seized the little boy in his teeth and jumped out again. A shout from Snorer made him pause. Notta was bumping along on the end of the rope like a big bag of clothes.
"You've killed him," wailed Nick angrily. But just then, with a watery sigh, the clown opened his eyes. Immediately he began fumbling in his chest pocket. "What are you trying to do?" screamed Snorer.
"My disguise," choked the clown. "I must put on my disguise—first disguise, then joke and run, you know!"
"You don't need any disguise," wailed the Cowardly Lion remorsefully. "You look like almost anyone."
"I feel the same way," coughed the clown. "Am I dashed or drowned or both?"
"Neither," croaked Snorer sorrowfully. "Only tied to a very forgetful friend." The disguises, concealed in various parts of Notta's apparel, were dragged down in disfiguring lumps about his knees. There were four bumps on his forehead and one was coming on the back of his head. Bob, though shivering and wet, was otherwise unhurt, so he and Nick helped Notta to the Cowardly Lion's back, and, dripping and shaken, the air-wrecked party started toward a little hut near which they had fallen.
"Where's the Fallaboutabus?" muttered Notta thickly, as the Cowardly Lion stumbled over the sill.
"I don't care where it is," groaned the lion. "I hope it's busted. I'm against flying in all its branches." He dropped panting on the hearth, and Notta did not even move from his back. The hut evidently belonged to some thrifty woodcutter. It was quite neat and comfortable and there was a fire all ready to light.
Bob, feeling very important, started a cheerful blaze, and though the rain still rattled on the roof, inside it was quite cozy and comfortable. Notta, with Bob's help, took out all of his disguises, and the three that had already been used he hung out in full view. But the clown was so down-hearted when Bob started to shake out the others, and seemed to attach so much importance to keeping them secret, that Snorer, without unrolling them, carried them into the next room and hung them on hooks to dry. Notta was quite thin and fallen without them, but when his suit had dried and he had powdered his nose with some of the woodcutter's flour he felt quite restored, and it was not until then that he discovered his feathers were gone. With a little shout he looked at the Cowardly Lion and Bob.
"We've all shed our feathers," he cried exultantly. "They must have washed away." The Cowardly Lion was so pleased that he jumped for joy, and started to run and look in the woodcutter's mirror, upsetting Notta as usual.
"It's because you're no longer unish," explained Snorer wisely, as Notta scrambled to his feet and hastened to accompany the lion to the mirror. "When you both stopped planning unwise and unfair things the feathers just naturally dropped out, and Bob's followed suit, for there isn't an unish bone in that boy's body," continued Snorer, rolling his eyes knowingly. "And now that we've all decided to stick together everything will be as happy as possible."
"We don't stick together very well," sighed the Cowardly Lion, hanging his head. "Did I hurt you, Notta, old fellow?"
"Not much," said the clown, "but I'll have to use more padding if you are going to be so impetuous." Being tied to a Cowardly Lion was proving even worse than he had expected. The Cowardly Lion himself felt uncomfortable and ill at ease.
"See here," he rumbled, as they gathered round the fire again, "I think we had better separate. I'll go on to Mudge and you three go to the Emerald City for help."
"No," objected Notta, wrinkling his poor bumped forehead, "let's stick together a bit longer, for I don't know the way to the Emerald City, and the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions might tear you to pieces before we got back. Traveling in this country is dreadfully uncertain. Why, we don't even know where we are now!"
"But the sun's out," cried Bob, running to the window. "Let's see if the Flyaboutabus is still around." The Cowardly Lion started at once to run toward the door, but Notta, with a flying leap jumped on his back and thus avoided another fall. The bus was full of water, but the feather wheels, already somewhat drier, were slowly revolving. As they drew nearer the bus began to run 'round in circles, spraying water in every direction.
"I'll stop it," volunteered Snorer and, swooping down over the wheel, quickly pushed the button marked "Stop." Then Notta and the Cowardly Lion, shoving with all their strength, turned the huge bus over on its side so the water could run out. After this they went back to the hut to fetch the clown's disguises, and then they all sat down under a tree and waited for the bus to dry.
Just beyond a little fringe of trees they could see the roofs of a small city, and Snorer, sensibly enough, proposed that they run the bus into the city and inquire of its inhabitants just where they were. "Though as far as I can make out," finished Nick, "if we move toward Mudge all will be well, but if we take any other direction this beautiful person," he pointed his claw at Notta, "will turn blue."
"Regular signals, aren't we, Bob?" The clown thoughtlessly turned a handspring, but the short rope spoiled it and the Cowardly Lion was quite choked.
"We don't twin very well, old fellow, do we?" sighed Notta. "But let's see which is the way to Mudge, for it seems that to Mudge we must trudge."
Hopping on the Cowardly Lion's back he waved him to the left, but at the first step both Notta and Bob turned quite blue.
"Try the right," suggested the clown, pulling the lion's right ear. So the Cowardly Lion pranced to the right, but had not gone a dozen steps before Bob and Notta were bluer than ever.
"Back!" directed Notta, swinging around and seizing the lion's tail. But their blueness only increased.
"Straight ahead then," cried Notta, standing up and waving his arms. So the Cowardly Lion obligingly trotted a few paces straight ahead, and as Bob and the clown promptly turned back to their natural complexions, they concluded that straight ahead was the road to Mudge.
Bob could hardly help feeling pleased that it also led toward the strange city, for Bob was very curious about Oz and its singular peoples, and the little fellow was enjoying every minute of his adventures. Even the wreck and the thunderstorm had given him a new kind of thrill.
"We must all think of a way to outwit Mustafa," said Notta, as they took their places in the Flyaboutabus. "But until we do I shall simply follow my usual rules." So saying, he untied, for a moment, the rope that bound him to the Cowardly Lion and stepped into another of his disguises. This was almost the strangest of the lot. It covered him all but the feet, and in place of their jolly companion stood a huge goggle-eyed fish. The fish skin buttoned down the front, and Notta's arms protruded under the fins, but he was unable to sit down. This, however, he bore quite cheerfully and, standing up very straight and stiff, seized the wheel of the Flyaboutabus, pressed the button marked "Go," and away they did go in a series of bumps and bounces, for the feathery vehicle could not seem to keep its wheels on the ground.
Notta disguised as a huge fish
Notta disguised as a huge fish
Notta disguised as a huge fish
"Too bad you did not put on that rig during the storm," chuckled Nick, hanging on with both claws. "Then you could have swum to earth. But what good is it now?"
"Just you wait," promised Notta confidently. "When these people, whoever they are, see a fish walking about on dry land, they will do just as I ask them to. You see!" Nick looked rather nervous as he adjusted his nose, and the Cowardly Lion shook his head doubtfully.
"But he cannot help his disguises any more than Nick can help his snoring, or I, my cowardice," whispered the big beast huskily to Bob. Bob Up said nothing, but he always felt uncomfortable when Notta put on one of his queer costumes. The bus was bouncing and jerking so crazily that conversation was now impossible. As they came nearer and nearer to the strange city, it became at once apparent that it was unlike any city or town any of them had ever seen or visited. Even the Cowardly Lion, old Oz adventurer that he was and accustomed to unusual sights and places, gave a snort of surprise as the Flyaboutabus rushed through the glittering glass gates.
Mustafa Keeps Watch
Mustafa, seated on his blue throne, stared steadily at his magic ring. He had done little else since Bob and Notta's departure, and in consequence was beginning to squint fearfully. On his lap lay the lion book, and when he was not gazing at his ring, the blue-whiskered monarch looked longingly at the picture of the Cowardly Lion.
In one corner of the tent, in a large cage, crouched the twenty Uns Notta had wished into Mudge, and in the tent top were twenty blue patches where they had burst through. At first Mustafa had been terribly angry and ordered the Featherheads thrown to the lions. But Mixtuppa, pleased by the color and brilliancy of their feathers, begged that they be saved, so she might always have fresh feathers for her turbans. Then the Uns, seeing that Mustafa was almost as wicked and bad tempered as themselves, promised to teach him all the Unish they knew—so that every hour Mustafa was growing unhappier and unpleasanter.
Panapee stepped about breathlessly on tiptoe, for each time Notta had done anything to turn Mustafa's ring black the ruler of Mudge had flown at his royal chamberlain and shaken him unmercifully.
"He is escaping, you villain!" screamed Mustafa the first time—that was when Notta had determined not to betray his faithful four-footed friend.
"Help! Ouch! Does your Majesty expect to stop him by pulling my beard? Let go! Take off your ring," spluttered the unhappy Mudger, "there is no magic in my whiskers."
Realizing the truth of this, Mustafa snatched off his ring, with what alarming consequences to Bob and Notta we all know. Since then his watchfulness had increased, and even while he ate he held his thumb before his eyes so that no move of the clown would escape him. While Mustafa kept watch, the royal jewelers worked day and night upon a gold collar, studded with sapphires, and the forger of swords and scimitars hammered early and late upon a heavy gold chain—for once the Cowardly Lion entered Mudge, Mustafa was determined he should never leave the kingdom. Tazzywaller, who was still lion feeder, peering at intervals through the tent flap thanked his lucky stars he was no longer high chamberlain of Mudge.
"When this Cowardly Lion actually appears will be time enough for me to be reinstated," muttered the wily fellow to himself. "Meanwhile let Panny take his Majesty's ill-tempered thumps and shakings!"
A Fall From the Sky
"Tents and trapezes!" shouted Notta Bit More, as he tried to keep the Flyaboutabus in the center of the glass street.
"I think we had better run straight through," roared the Cowardly Lion, beginning to tremble slightly. "I don't like the look of this at all."
"Well, whatever happens, try to remember you're tied to me," begged Notta, straightening his fish head hastily.
"Then woe betide us," sighed the Cowardly Lion.
Nick put his wing around Bob and all of them gazed in bewilderment at this bewildering city.
"Preservatory," said a large sign just beyond the glass gates, and over the whole city hung a sweet, smoky haze. The houses had glass fronts and were more like cupboards than ordinary dwellings. Each had three stories, or as Bob Up explained later to Dorothy, three shelves. And on these shelves, swinging their legs, sat the oddest individuals in Oz. From head to knee they were enclosed in glass jars. Their arms and legs came through especially cut places, but these were carefully soldered so as not to let in any air. And their heads, somewhat flattened by the glass lids, had a squashed and foolish look.
As the Flyaboutabus bounced merrily along the main street, they began to tumble off the shelves and run down the glass steps of their comical houses. They made no attempt to keep out of the way, so Notta hastily stopped the bus. But even so, one managed to get under the wheels and Bob shivered as the creature's jar splintered to bits on the glass paving stones.
"Now you've done it," groaned Nick, slamming his nose back on its hook. The jarred populace evidently thought so too, for they began hopping up and down, shouting all sorts of threats and abuse. The four travelers could only hear a dull muttering, for the voices of the creatures did not carry through their lids, but the visitors could tell from the dreadful faces they were making through the glass that they were being threatened and abused. The cries of the unhappy victim under the wheels were quite distinct.
"Save me! Save me, or I shall spoil!" he cried in heart-rending tones.
Notta was so moved by his evident distress that he impulsively started to jump out of the bus, forgetting the tie between himself and the Cowardly Lion. He therefore got a terrible wrench that twisted his fish head sideways, so he could not see at all. While Bob was straightening this out, the jar-men dragged their companion from beneath the feather wheels, and a simply enormous fellow came running down the street. In one hand he had a pad and in the other a pencil.
"Looks like the Prime Pickle," chattered Snorer, as the jar-man began scribbling on his pad.
"You have broken the peace," read Notta, as the angry official held up his pad. He was magnificently attired under his jar and was evidently a person of some importance. He had, however, been preserved by pickling and was of an unhealthy shade of green.
Notta leaned out of the bus and, seizing the pencil and pad, wrote back, "He broke himself, save the pieces."
The rage of the Preserves, as they read these words, increased to a perfect fury. One, evidently a relation of the broken man, snatched off his lid and cried shrilly, "You'll be minced for this!"
The Prime Preserve again scratched furiously on his pad, "You are under arrest. Come with me," directed the pad, when he held it up.
"This is because I forgot the rules," sighed Notta. "If I had been more polite this would not have happened. Shall we fly or follow?"
"Let's follow," rumbled the Cowardly Lion. "We can fly any time, and I'd like to see all the Preserves while I'm about it, for I think Dorothy will enjoy hearing about them."
Notta ran the Flyaboutabus slowly and carefully down the glass street after the solemn jar-men, the rest of the population following at a safe distance. Bob's eyes grew larger and larger and when a preserved dog ran briskly in front of the bus he gave a shout of glee.
"I think Oz is the funniest place in the world, don't you, Nick?" cried the little boy merrily.
"Well," chirruped Snorer, "as I was never any place else, I can hardly say. Look, look! There goes a canned cat!" And so it was, as canned a cat as you'd ever want to see.
But right here their guide turned the corner and they found themselves in the presence of another Queen. They knew she was a Queen, for on the pad held up for their inspection the guide had written, "Preserva the Great." Notta stopped the bus before the low glass throne and they stared in wonder at her Majesty. Preserva seemed as much surprised as they.
"Well, I'll be jellied!" wheezed the Queen, taking off her lid and thrusting out a moist head. Bob thought she need not have said this, for she was jellied already—her face and royal robes being a quivery and delicious pink.
The Prime Preserve seemed very much alarmed at the Queen's action and quickly wrote on his pad, "Shut your lid." Bob considered this dreadfully disrespectful, and Snorer began to chuckle with enjoyment. Preserva quite meekly obeyed, but her eyes, behind the thick glass of the jar, grew larger and larger, and finally, snatching the pad from the Prime Preserve, she dashed off in great excitement these words, "A tomato can would be about right for him!" Holding up the pad she pointed joyfully at Notta.
"Serves you right for coming as a fish," chortled the Cowardly Lion. "So we'll have to take you back in a can. Well, well!"
Then he craned his neck to see what else the Queen had written. A rapid conversation was going on between Preserva and their guide. One would write a message and pass it to the other. The other would snatch the page and dash off an answer, and so quickly was it done, the four in the bus had all they could do to keep up with the conversation.
"Pickle the boy,Can the fish,Mince the lionAnd pot the fowl."
"Pickle the boy,Can the fish,Mince the lionAnd pot the fowl."
"Pickle the boy,
Can the fish,
Mince the lion
And pot the fowl."
commanded the Queen.
"Now that's what I'd call taking pot luck," chirped Nick, balancing himself on the edge of the bus.
But the Prime Preserve replied, "Why not preserve them whole for the royal museum?"
While the Queen was considering this suggestion, Notta began feeling in the pockets under his disguise for a paper and pencil, so that he could get into the conversation, but without result.
"No use being polite! Let's joke and run," puffed the clown, after an unsuccessful search. Leaning over the edge of the bus, he tapped the Queen sharply on the jar. Preserva dropped her pad and pencil and almost rolled from the throne. Inside the jar, they could see her jellied figure bubbling with fright and indignation. The Prime Preserve also trembled in his jar, then leaning down to read the last command of her Majesty, he ran off as fast as his crooked green legs would carry him.
"Fetch the Imperial Squawmos," read the Cowardly Lion, with an amused twinkle in his yellow eyes as Notta tore off the page.
"If we stay here it is plain we shall be pickled to death," scrawled the clown, "so we bid you a fond but final farewell."
The Queen leaned forward, the better to read Notta's message and, while Nick, Bob and the Cowardly Lion fairly rocked with merriment at her discomfited expression, she suddenly unscrewed her lid.
"Help!" screamed Preserva loudly, sticking her head out of the jar. "Help! Help!" Then back went her head and down went the lid, only to have the whole performance repeated the next second. This she kept up at regular intervals until the whole party were simply convulsed. But it would have been wiser had they, instead of laughing, looked behind them, for presently a terrible thump on the back sent all the scales on Notta's disguise to trembling. It was the Imperial Squawmos, followed by all the Preserves in the city. While a dozen ran to calm the agitated Queen, who was still quivering in her jar, the rest surrounded the Flyaboutabus. Most alarming of all, the Imperial Squawmos was not in a jar. She was, in fact, a huge and towering cookywitch with a passion for preserving. And a cookywitch, I don't mind telling you, is next in wizardry to a sorceress. She had put up the inhabitants of the entire city and was the real ruler of the Preserve.
"A fish!" shrilled the Cookywitch, prodding Notta with a fork as long as an umbrella. "Ah, what an extreme pleasure. I have canned cats, dogs and people, but never a fish. And a boy," she chucked Bob familiarly under the chin. "Spare the jar and spoil the child," she quoted with a dreadful wink that sent Snorer circling into the air, where he flew uneasily over the heads of his luckless companions.
"Off to the preserving kettles with you!" shrilled the Squawmos, and Notta, in real alarm, made a dash toward the buttons to start the bus, but the Cookywitch brought down a heavy iron spoon, that she carried in one hand, and crushed the entire steering gear. The clown, seeing that escape for the time being was impossible, decided to go back to rule two and gain a little time by politeness.
"Imperial and Imperious Squawmos," began Notta, speaking somewhat stuffily through the fish head, "why are you so determined to preserve us against our wills, and why have you preserved these others?"
Squawmos, the Cookywitch, and Notta as a Fish]
Squawmos, the Cookywitch, and Notta as a Fish]
Squawmos, the Cookywitch, and Notta as a Fish]
The Squawmos immediately put down her fork, for she was terribly fond of conversation, and she could not very well converse with the Preserves, whose language at best was an indistinct jargon.
"Strangers," wheezed the Squawmos, "since I am to have the pleasure of putting you up I don't mind explaining my little system. In a jar, barring breaks, you will last for years, and needing neither food nor drink will find it quite unnecessary to work. So you see, we put ourselves up here for the same reason most housewives preserve their fruit—to keep from working."
"Put yourselves up to keep from working," gasped Notta. "But I love my work!"
"Then you are very different from most people," observed the Squawmos, looking at the Cowardly Lion with great interest. "But, never mind, you will soon be a perfect Preserve. And this lion—he will look perfectly handsome in a jar. Let me see, shall I put him up in vinegar or preserve him in spices?"
The Cookywitch closed her eyes and Notta, winking warningly at the Cowardly Lion, who was about to spring on the Imperial monster, cautiously moved his hand toward the only button in the Flyaboutabus that the iron spoon had not smashed—the button that said "Up!"
The Prime Preserve saw him and made indistinct gurgles of protest under his lid, but before he could warn the Cookywitch or the Prime Preserva, Notta had pressed the button, and the Flyaboutabus, with a jerk that sent hundreds of the jar-men crashing to the glass pavement and knocked Squawmos head over heels, rose into the air. Snorer made a flying leap and caught it on the wing, so to speak, and in a flash they were hurtling toward the sky.
Notta, jerking off his disguise, frantically felt for all the buttons, but they were hopelessly broken.
"This continual flying about makes me light-headed," groaned the lion, hanging on to the arms of the seat with both paws.
"Where are we going, Notta?" gasped Bob, edging close to Snorer and peering giddily over the edge of the bus.
"Up as far as it takes us, and then—" Notta shuddered and clung dizzily to the wheel. And up they did go, faster and faster, until they lost all track of time and place and had not even breath enough to talk. Then, with a terrific crash, the Flyaboutabus ran into a small day star, turned completely over and spilled out the whole company.
There, caught by its feather wheel, it hung on the point of the star, while Notta, Bob, Nick and the Cowardly Lion fell head over heels through the air. Nick caught himself first and, flying after Bob, edged himself around until the little boy was on his back. Notta and the Cowardly Lion were falling together, first one and then the other on top, and Nick had to fly rapidly to keep pace with their falling.
"Oh, my quills and feathers!" spluttered the faithful bird, "they'll be shattered to bits! Oh, my tail and top knot! What shall I do? Bob I can save, but that beautiful clown will be broken to pieces!"
Though falling, as Notta explained afterward, did give one a sinking sensation, it was not nearly so unpleasant as he had expected and, when he looked up and saw Bob safely on Snorer's back, he fell more calmly, trying now and then to do the side stroke and calling encouragement to the Cowardly Lion. Earth as it came in view was not very encouraging and Snorer screamed with fright when he saw the rocky nature of the country into which his friends were tumbling.
"Good-bye!" roared the Cowardly Lion, looking up mournfully at the clown, who was at that minute a little above him. "I'll never forget you, for you are a brave man in spite of your disguises." The clown was too affected by this speech to answer and, when he glimpsed the jagged rocks below, he decided that soon he would be disguised as a pan cake. So he merely waved to the others and closed his eyes.
Like a flash Nick darted down and set Bob on a huge bowlder. Then, with wings spread, he flew up and down, intending, if possible, to break Notta's fall with his own feathery body. But Notta and the Cowardly Lion never did finish their fall—for as they whizzed past a tall, craggy rock, jutting out from the side of a mountain, a stone arm reached out and miraculously caught the rope that held them together.
"Scrags and scrivets! What kind of birds are these?" cried a grating voice, and down from the ledge stepped a roughly hewn man of stone. Swinging Notta and the Cowardly Lion easily in one hand, he came crunching toward Nick and Bob.
The Stone Man of Oz
Bob put his arm around Snorer's neck, and Nick, clapping his nose on its hook, prepared to fly from this new danger. Dangling from his end of the rope, Notta sighed mournfully to think he had not disguised himself, and the Cowardly Lion, after one look at the stone hand that held them, closed his eyes and began to tremble violently. The Stone Man was about three times the size of an ordinary man and carved out of a huge block of granite. His features, though rough hewn, were not unpleasant and Notta, after a few false starts, ventured a remark.
"It was very kind of you to catch us," faltered the clown.
"It wasn't kindness; it was curiosity," rasped the Stone Man frankly. "I've been watching you fall for some time, and I must say you're the oddest looking creatures I've seen in a stone age."
As he said this, the Stone Man placed them on a flat rock that was on a level with his nose. And as he could not sit down, he leaned up against another rock and regarded them inquisitively.
"Come on up here," he called gruffly to Snorer, "and bring that little fellow with you." Rather reluctantly, Nick flew up with Bob, and the four fallers tried to compose themselves and catch a bit of the breath they had lost on the trip down. The stone eyes of the Stone Man rested longest on the Cowardly Lion. "I like you best," he remarked presently. "You're better made than these others and not so likely to crumble. They look too soft to last long." He poked his stone finger experimentally into Notta's ribs, and only the clown's disguises saved him from serious injury.
"Don't do that," growled the Cowardly Lion sharply.
"What a lovely voice," mused the Stone Man almost to himself. "Tell me, what are you?"