The Shutter Faces
The face of the Out Keeper was entirely hidden behind blue shutters. They seemed to sprout out behind the ears on each side of his head and fasten securely in front with two bolts.
"I suppose he hears through the slats," said Philador, leaning back to whisper this observation to the medicine man.
"Perfectly!" answered the Out Keeper.
"Can you see through the slats, too?" asked Herby, quite interested in the fellow's singular appearance.
"No!" snapped the Out Keeper crossly. "But who wants to see? Most people are not worth looking at. Presently I shall shut my shutters tight and then I shall neither see you nor listen to you," he finished triumphantly.
"But we'll still be here!" whinnied High Boy, with a mischievous prance. Leaning forward he thrust his head through the opening, seized the Out Keeper by the seat of his pantaloons and, withdrawing his head, stretched up his telescope legs and stepped calmly over the wall. "That's the way to handle an O.K.," snickered High Boy, dropping the Out Keeper carelessly in a clump of pickle bushes.
"I'm not an O.K.!" shrieked the Out Keeper, springing furiously out of the pickle bushes. "I'm a Shutter Face!" Pulling back the bolts that fastened his shutters, he glared out at the travelers. The face back of the blue shutters was pale, flat and disagreeable. After a long, horrified, look at High Boy and the others, the Out Keeper jumped a foot into the air and then ran screaming down the street, his shutters flapping and slamming against the sides of his head. "Bandits! Robbers! Donkeys and thieves!" he cried shrilly. "Here they come! Shut the shutters! Bolt the windows and lock the doors. Shut up! Shut up! Everybody shut up!"
"Shut up your ownself!" yelled the Scarecrow gleefully, as High Boy, letting himself down to a lower level, cantered mischievously after the frightened little man. Although the whole town was shut up to begin with, at the gate keeper's loud cries the travelers could hear extra bolts being shot into place.
"What's the matter, Tighty?" called a gruff voice. Looking up in surprise, Trot saw a huge Shutter Face, sitting cross legged on a tall chimney.
"Bandits, Your Majesty!" Panting with exhaustion, the Out Keeper looked imploringly up at the chimney.
"How did they get in?" asked the chimney squatter, opening the slats on one side so he could hear.
"Stepped over the wall," choked Tighty, looking apprehensively over his shoulder at High Boy.
"Ridiculous and impossible," sniffed His Majesty, crossing his legs comfortably. "I neither saw nor heard anyone come over the wall."
"How do you expect to see or hear, hid behind those blue blinkers?" inquired the Scarecrow, as High Boy came to a stop in front of the chimney.
"Fall down the chimney! Fall down the chimney!" quavered the Out Keeper, dashing into a doorway. "And don't say I never warned you!" For a moment Trot thought His Majesty was going to follow Tighty's advice, but thinking better of it, the King called pompously: "I refuse to hear, see or believe such nonsense!" Shutting the slats in his shutters the King folded his arms and continued to sit defiantly on the chimney.
"Shall I shove him down?" whispered High Boy, looking around at Philador. "If he cannot see or hear, perhaps he can feel."
"No!" laughed the little Prince, "they've really done us no harm, so why should we hurt them? Look! Everything's shutting up, even the hedges!" The hedges surrounding the small, closely shuttered houses were real box hedges and as High Boy clattered through the streets they began slamming their lids as fast as they could. Even the flowers growing in the stiff little gardens, promptly shut up as the travelers passed and it was with real relief that they reached the other side of the town.
Not a Shutter Face was in sight and the dingy houses, with their blue shuttered windows and doors, gave the town such a very gloomy appearance.
"The poor silly things look half starved!" exclaimed Trot, glancing down and back at Shutter Town, as High Boy, without bothering to shorten his legs, stepped over the wall and briskly down the road on the other side.
"They're worse than the Round-abouties," decided Benny, "and I suppose if we had stayed any longer they would have insisted upon us growing shutters, too!"
"Not a bad idea, when you come to think of it," observed the Scarecrow. "With shutters one need never be bored or shocked."
"Shutters would be extremely becoming to you," chuckled High Boy, with a vigorous shake of his umbrella tail.
"Hush!" whispered Trot, who did not like anyone to make fun of her old friend.
"You mean shut up, I suppose?" wheezed High Boy. "But remember I'm not a Shutter Face, my girl."
"That's so," giggled Trot. "If anyone tells them to shut up, they really can. I'm going to bring Dorothy and Betsy back here some day and see what they do to us."
"Here's a river," announced Philador, who was looking anxiously for the first signs of the Emerald City. "And I have a magic jumping rope to help us cross." Holding up the good witch's rope, the little Prince quickly explained how it worked. High Boy listened in silence, and when Philador finished tossed his head impatiently.
"I've never jumped rope in my life," declared High Boy stubbornly, "and I'm not going to begin now. Besides it's not necessary. Stay where you are! Keep quiet and hold tight!"
Rather worried and undecided whether to stay on or tumble off, the little company looked uncertainly at one another. But before they could dismount, High Boy shot up two hundred feet and then carefully stepped down into the river. Trot gasped and expected to find herself under water. But only the toes of her shoes touched the water, and when High Boy, looking around, saw this, he raised himself higher still and, with his whole body out of the water and his feet on the river bed, carried them safely and slowly across.
"Why, you're better than a bridge!" exclaimed Philador, leaning forward to give him a good hug. "I wish I could keep you always."
"Joe couldn't spare me," announced High Boy, self consciously, "but I'll come to see you often, Phil, when this adventure is over. Hold on now, I'm going to step out."
The great length of High Boy's legs made his body almost vertical, as he scrambled up the bank. But so tightly did his riders hold on to the saddle and to one another, nobody fell off. Bringing his legs down with a few sharp clicks, High Boy put up his umbrella tail and was about to start on when a series of splutters made him look back. The high horse had closed his umbrella tail when he stepped into the river, but in spite of this a lot of water had got in. Therefore, when he snapped it up, a perfect deluge had come down on his luckless passengers.
"This is the third shower I've had to-day," coughed the Scarecrow dolefully. Benny didn't mind the water at all and Herby, after peering into his medicine chest and discovering that none of the contents were wet, merely gave himself a good shake. As for Philador and Trot—what could they do but laughingly accept High Boy's apologies? It was late afternoon by now, and the sun sinking lower and lower behind the hills. Since their meeting on the blue highway, High Boy had come many a long mile, and everyone but Benny and the Scarecrow began to feel tired as well as hungry.
"I'd give my gold tooth for a pail of yummy jummy," confessed High Boy, as he slowly mounted a small hill. "I'm hungry enough to eat a—" He did not finish his sentence, but glanced longingly over his shoulder at the Scarecrow, who immediately ducked behind Benny and began feverishly stuffing in his stray wisps of straw.
"How about a sandwich?" suggested Philador, pulling out the lunch basket Queen Hyacinth had filled so generously.
"A sandwich would be no more than a cracker crumb to me," exclaimed High Boy disdainfully.
"Well, what's yummy jummy?" asked Trot, accepting with a smile the chicken sandwich the little Prince held out to her.
"Oats, hay, bran, brown sugar and grape juice," explained High Boy, smacking his lips and closing his eyes. "Do you think they'd mix me up a pail when we reach this Emerald City of yours?"
"Of course they will," promised Trot, "but couldn't you stop and eat a little grass or tree leaves?"
"Grass is too short, besides, I never eat grass or leaves at night," announced High Boy, turning up his nose. "Gives me grasstreetus." For a time the little company progressed in silence, Herby, Trot and Philador contentedly munching the dainty sandwiches and Benny enjoying the scenery. As it grew darker, an overpowering drowsiness stole over Trot and Philador. High Boy, too, began to yawn so terrifically that his passengers were nearly thrown out of the saddle.
"If he does that again, I'll fall off," quavered the Scarecrow, clasping his arms 'round Benny's waist.
"Wait," whispered Herby, "I have a remedy." Unbuckling Trot's belt, Herby opened his medicine chest and drew out a box of pills. "These are my famous 'Keep Awake' pills," he explained proudly, swallowing two, "and these others will prevent yawning."
"Whoa!" gasped Philador as High Boy's last "Hah, hoh, hum!" lifted them a foot into the air. "Whoa!" The high horse was glad enough to whoa and, looking around with half closed eyes, inquired the reason for their stop.
"Take these," directed Philador, slipping two Keep Awake pills and three yawn lozenges down High Boy's throat. Sleepily High Boy swallowed the dose. The effect was startling and instantaneous. His eyes opened wide, his teeth clicked together and next minute he was streaking down the road so fast that Trot's hair blew straight out behind and the little Prince's cloak snapped in the wind.
"Better take some yourselves," advised Herby holding out the boxes to Trot. "For if you fall asleep you'll fall off and then where'll you be?"
A little nervously, Trot swallowed the Keep Awake pills and yawn lozenges. Philador then took two of each and immediately they both felt wide awake and full of energy.
"You are a real wizard, Herby," admitted the Scarecrow, noting admiringly the effect of the pills, "and ought to make a great hit at the capital."
"Do you think so?" puffed Herby breathlessly, as he bounced up and down. "Are we almost there?" It was hard to see, for it was night and only a few stars twinkled in the sky. But presently Trot gave a little shout of relief and satisfaction.
"See that green glow?" cried the little girl with an excited wave. "They're the tower lights of the castle. Hurry up, High Boy. We're almost there!" At Trot's words, High Boy gathered his long legs together and fairly flew over hills and across fields, so that in less than an hour they reached the Emerald City itself. It was still fairly early, and the lovely capital of Oz shimmered as only a jeweled city can.