L. Frank Baum - Oz 28 Read online

  into the singing of the National Anthem.

  Between each section Bamboula had placed a company of bandsmen. Balloons, released by the resourceful Su-jester from time to time, soared dizzily up among the palms and Umbrella Island, moving steadily and buoyantly through the clear spring sky, seemed almost too small to hold so much gaiety and happiness. Sizzeroo was so content he closed his eyes for a moment, thinking dreamily of the glamorous old days and forgetting all about the anxious new. To be perfectly truthful, his Majesty fell fast asleep. The marchers had gone perhaps halfway around the island when the King woke up with a sudden start, conscious that the music of the bands had ceased. The crowds along the highway had unaccountably disappeared, too.

  “Meander! Meander!” puffed Sizzeroo, leaning out of the window of the silver sedan. “What has become of the music?”

  Meander, dutifully running around back of the palanquin, stared in utter astonishment down the highway.

  “King! King!” shouted the messenger in a shrill voice. “There’s nobody behind us. We’re marching all by ourselves in a parade of one.”

  “What?” exclaimed Sizzeroo, thrusting his head

  still farther out of the window. “Why a moment ago we were at the head of the line.”

  “Well, now we’re at the tail,” announced Meander mournfully, shading his eyes with one hand and look-mg down the deserted highway. “I see a cloud of dust. Yes, it must be the procession, but they’re going the other way, your Majesty. There’s someone on the other end of the line more interesting than we are.”

  “Impossible,” hissed Pansy, arching her back angrily, while Gureeda, at last aroused from her book, looked up to see what was the matter. “Are you tamely going to let yourself be imposed upon like this, Sizzer? I, for one, refuse to be the tail of a procession.”

  “The cat tail, you mean,” mumbled Meander, “and that’s what you are, my lady, and you’ll just have to make the best of it.”

  “Turn around,” commanded Sizzeroo, tapping the bearer nearest him on the shoulder. “Can’t you see We’re going the wrong way? Quick now, step along. There’s something mighty queer about all this!”

  And there certainly was. For when the sedan of Sizzeroo, with Meander panting along behind, caught Up with the crowd, no one even gave them a glance.

  In a stupefied, frozen disbelief, the Islanders were gazing up at the enormous figure of Terrybubble. He stood in the exact center of the King’s highway, regarding them with a calm aloofness, for you see it was Umbrella Island Terrybubble had boarded the night before.

  We left him as you doubtless recall, heading recklessly for the palace. Speedy, by frantic pounding and thumping on Terrybubble’s ribs, had finally halted his exuberant steed. Threatening to leave him entirely unless he slackened his mad pace and listened to his directions, the little boy by this means had managed to bring the dinosaur to a surprising state of docility.

  “No matter what we see or run into, do nothing till I tell you,” warned the shaken and somewhat battered little traveller. “And above all, if you come to a crowd of people-that is, small beings like myself

  -STOP!”

  So when Terrybubble on his way around the edge of the island sighted the tail of the royal procession, he obediently stopped. At the same moment one of the guardsmen, chancing to glance over his shoulder, caught a glimpse of Terrybubble. The sight of the animated fossil was so unnerving that the guardsman had pulled up his horse with a gasp and

  touched his comrade on the shoulder and in less than a twinkling the whole procession had swung about to face the ghastly apparition. All, that is, but the bearers of the King’s palanquin. Trained to look straight ahead, they had tramped solemnly forward. but now, instead of being stricken dumb like the rest of the Islanders, the bearers gave sixteen bloodcurdling screeches, dropped the sedan with a thump and took to their thirty-two heels. The King and Gureeda, almost jolted out of their seats, gave two separate exclamations of distress and well they might!

  “Meander! Meander!” quavered Sizzeroo, pointing a trembling finger at Terrybubble, “What is

  that?”

  “Dunno~dunno, sir,” gulped the poor messenger, hugging Pansy to his palpitating bosom.

  “Right the first time,” chuckled Speedy, who could not have helped laughing even to save his life. For almost ten minutes he had been silently waiting for the Islanders to take some action, feeling that extreme caution was his safest course.

  “Why, it is a dinosaur,” marvelled the little Princess, leaning forward with more curiosity than fear. “There is a big book about them in the palace. Itit’s a prehistoric monster. But, Father, it’s only the bones!”

  “A-a-skeleton ?” hissed Kachewka convulsively. “Now then, I’ve seen live bodies without bones, but never live bones without bodies!”

  “But this-this is monstrous!” sputtered Sizzeroo, pushing back his crown. “I start out at the head of the procession and find myself at the tail. I reach the head and find this-this monster in my place. Why this is worse than the giant. Why are you standing here like images?” The King waved his arms furiously at his parashooters, his guardsmen and his courtiers. “Look-it has already swallowed this unhappy boy and in a moment will spring upon us. I, why I am simply petrified!”

  “And that makes two of us,” drawled Terrybubble, lowering his great skull toward the King. “I am petrified too, and liable, so this boy tells me, to disintegrate any minute.”

  “Great lakes, cakes and waffles!” screamed Sizzeroo, ducking down in horror. “Waddy! Waddy! Are you going to stand there and let this dinosaur devour me. Look-look at his teeth!”

  With quivering chins and popping eyes the Islanders looked, and Terrybubble’s teeth, in splendid condition and a foot long, were far from reassuring.

  “It’s a dragon’s ghost!” “It’s a prehistoric monster !” “It’s bewitched!” “Shoot it, ram it, push it off the island!” they shouted hysterically.

  “Stop! Stop! Stop it!” Speedy thumped so loudly on Terrybubble’s ribs and spoke in such a determined and compelling voice that the Umbrellians actually obeyed him. “Terrybubble is a monster, a prehistoric monster, but even monsters have feelings. Can’t you see you’re hurting his feelings?” he asked angrily.

  “Feelings?” Waddy leaned weakly against the black umbrella bearer. “You mean to tell me that hulking wreck has feelings? And how about your own feelings? How does it feel to be on the inside of a monster like that? How do I know we all won’t be inside of him in another minute?”

  “Because he is perfectly harmless,” stated Speedy earnestly. “Harmless as a little dog.”

  “Mmm-mmmm, so he’s a petrified dog, is he?” Pansy reared her head up inquisitively. “What do you call him, Petrifido?

  “He’s petrified, no hair or hide! An awfier sight I never spied. Now woe then betide us,

  A magic cloak hide us, He’s here and we’re here with no mother to guide us!”

  Pansy’s poem sent the populace into a second uproar and as the King’s parashooters rather unsteadily unbuckled their weapons, Gureeda began tugging at her father’s sleeve.

  “Stop them! Stop them at once!” commanded the little Princess, stamping her foot in a royal temper. “Do you want them to injure that boy? Go away, you monster, you!”

  Seizing a handful of chocolates, Gureeda flung them at Terrybubble as hard as she could. But in-instead of going away, Terrybubble grinned enormously, caught the chocolates in his left claw and handed them gravely down to Speedy.

  “There, there, did you see that? I don’t believe he’s dangerous at all! Why, he’s a regular dear.” Gureeda clapped her hands with pleasure. “Why don’t you ask this boy to explain him, Father?”

  “Explain him!” shuddered the King, running his finger around his stiff embroidered collar. “I wish he’d explain him away from here.”

  “We’ll go away, if you tell us how it can be done safely,” offered Speedy, in the little silence following

&n
bsp; the King’s speech. “If we jump off the island we’ll be dashed to pieces and surely you do not wish that?”

  “Why did you come here in the first place?” demanded Kachewka suspiciously. “Who are you and just what are you doing here?”

  “Yes,” repeated Bamboula, sitting down carefully on his great drum, “who are you and why are you

  here?”

  “It’s a long story,” answered Speedy, looking thoughtfully out between Terrybubble’s ribs, “but if you’ll call off your soldiers, I’ll try to explain everything as that sensible girl over there suggested.” Speedy smiled approvingly at Gureeda and delighted by his compliment, Gureeda smiled back.

  “Princess to you!” snapped Kachewka stiffly.

  “Oh, he doesn’t have to call me one,” said the King’s daughter, leaning forward eagerly.

  “Proceed, boy. On with your monster tale,” ordered Waddy, as Sizzeroo waved off the parashooters and settled more calmly among his cushions.

  So while the Umbrellians in awe-stricken silence stared up at Terrybubble, Speedy gave them the story of the previous day’s experiences. In as few words as possible, he told of his and Uncle Billy’s visit to Professor Sanderson’s camp, how, in the professor’s absence, they had put the dinosaur bones together, how the geyser had unexpectedly erupted and brought Terrybubble to life and flung them miles up into the air, and how Umbrella Island had saved them from a ruinous drop back to earth.

  “I thought a prehistoric monster was terrible, at first,” admitted Speedy, as he hastily wound up his recital, “and that’s how he got his new name. I called him terrible, but we were shaking about so. and I was so rattled, it sounded like Terrybubble He likes Terrybubble for a name and I like Terrybubble for a friend and I hope you’ll like him, too.”

  “Well,” murmured Waddy, blinking rapidly, “he certainly has his points. What size! What eyes! What symmetry!”

  “What a sight,” sniffed Kachewka, who still regarded the dinosaur with disfavor, “He’d make a fine mess of buttons and be safer as buttons, too.”

  “Well, I’m glad I’m good for something,” said Terrybubble, calmly. “What does one do with buttons?”

  “One pushes them,” answered Kachewka shortly. But Speedy, paying no attention to the old counselor’s unkind remarks, went on to explain a little about the United States, his life in Garden City and a little about Uncle Billy and his many useful inventions.

  “So,” wheezed Waddy, as Speedy paused for breath, “you are one of those enterprising Americans? I was flying over your country last evening, luckily for you! There are several Americans, as your Majesty remembers, in the Emerald City of Oz, so undoubtedly this boy speaks the truth.”

  “Oz!” exclaimed Speedy, pricking up his ears in Pleasant surprise. Why, are we anywhere near Oz?”

  “At this moment we are flying over the Eastern Empire of that very Kingdom,” Waddy assured him Portentously.

  “And are you going to stop?” asked Speedy, sticking his head out eagerly.

  “Not necessarily, not necessarily.” The Wizard clasped his hands on his buge stomach and thoughtfully regarded the little boy. “Why?”

  “Oh, because if we were in Oz, I’m sure Ozma would send us back to the United States. I’ve been to Oz before, you see!”

  “Have you?” Gureeda looked enviously up at him. “Oh, I wish I had, I’ve read books and books about Oz, but I’ve never been there.” “Why should you wish to go to Oz when your father has this perfectly good flying country of his

  own?” inquired Kachewka sharply. “They have nothing in Oz that we have not here.”

  “Especially now,” murmured the Wizard, with an eloquent glance at Terrybubble.

  “But could your Majesty-would your Majesty let us off at Oz?” Speedy turned eagerly to Sizzeroo, whom he had at once recognized as the Ruler of the Flying Island. “Do you ever stop, and could we get

  off without falling?”

  “This island can do anything,” boasted Waddy, thrusting out his three chins. “Look at that umbrella over your head. Well, my boy, that umbrella can take us up or down, sideways or crossways. We can sail, fly, drift or anchor, just as we choose.”

  “I don’t see any umbrella.” Speedy stared up so intently he got three wrinkles between his eyes.

  “Ha, that is because I, Waddy the Wizard, chief magician to his Majesty King Sizzeroo, have willed it so. Our umbrella is constructed of material strong as steel, but gossamer as cobweb. It allows the sun, moon and starlight through, but not even the heaviest hail stones can penetrate its magic tissue.”

  “Ahem-er-I see no reason why we could not set these travellers down in Oz,” put in the King, heading off a long and detailed description of Umbrella Island by his chief wizard. “He has told an honest

  and straightforward story and should have our help.”

  “Hear! Hear!” The Umbrellians, who had been containing themselves in quietness as long as they could, now burst into loud shouts and cheering.

  “But not right away,” objected Gureeda, as Speedy guided Terrybubble nearer in order that he might thank the King. “I have hundreds of books to show you back in the palace.”

  “Books?” Speedy looked curiously at the little Princess. “Why books, when we have all of this to see?” He waved his arm in a circle to include the whole lovely island.

  “Yes, why not stay here and visit us awhile before you go back to Oz and America,” proposed Sizzeroo, staring up at Speedy with deep interest. “And can’t you come out of that shell and ride here with us?”

  “He’s far safer with me,” chattered Terrybubble jealously. “But I’ll carry the girl if she wants to come.” Without waiting for Gureeda to make up her mind, Terrybubble seized the Princess in his bony claw and thrust her unceremoniously in beside Speedy. A gasp of horror went up from the Islanders, but as Gureeda settled calmly down beside the newcomer it gave place to an amazed silence, and when the procession hastily reorganized by Bamboula got under way again, Terrybubble and the King’s palanquin moved along side by side, Terrybubble of course, towering above everything in sight.

  “The sooner we set them down in Oz, the better,” whispered the King uneasily to Kachewka, whom he had motioned to Gureeda’s place beside him. “That monster may be harmless, but how he looks and ugh -how his bones rattle!”

  “Not too soon, not too soon,” answered Kachewka, drawing a pair of field glasses from his sleeve and fixing them on the children riding so unconcernedly in the bony chest of the dinosaur. “Has your Majesty studied this boy at all?”

  “No, not especially,” confessed Sizzeroo. “Why?” Kachewka paused impressively and then sneezed twice. “Because he is the same size, weight, coloring and build as our Princess. He resembles her to a startling degree.”

  “You mean?” Sizzeroo snatched the glasses and earnestly studied the boy and girl conversing so coz-ily together. Then he gave a slight shiver of distaste. “But that is cruel and impossible.”

  “Why?” Kachewka raised his shoulders expressively. “Is it not better to turn this strange boy over to a giant than your daughter? Fate has played directly into our hands. But hush! Not a word of this

  to anyone. Not a word!”

  “Not a word,” echoed the King wretchedly. “I couldn’t say enough words against it if I tried. Oh dear, dear and dear, what ever and ever shall I do?” Pushing back his crown, Sizzeroo began to rock backward and forward, groaning with every rock.

  “As always, your Majesty will do the correct and proper thing,” murmured Kachewka, and taking the glasses firmly from the King, he took another long and satisfying squint at the young American.

  CHAPTER 8

  Tetrybubble Meets a Princess

  ALL unconscious of the dark schemes of Kachewka, Speedy and the Princess were fast becoming friends, Gureeda explaining the points of interest as they moved along and Speedy telling the little girl a bit more about his hair-raising flight with Terrybubble. By the time the procession reach
ed the palace, Speedy had quite made up his mind to spend a week or two on Urnbrella Island. For surely, thought the little boy, from a Wizard who had invented an umbrella powerful enough to lift an island, he could gain many

  helpful ideas for himself and Uncle Billy.

  The braided beards of the men, the pagoda-like dwellings of the Islanders, the shade and umbrella trees, just visible on the hillsides, he found tremendously exciting and not even in Oz had he seen cows and sheep wearing umbrella belts. Terrybubble was excited too, but comported himself in such a quiet and dignified manner that Speedy felt an increasing pride in and affection for the enormous partner of his adventures. From time to time the fossil looked fondly down at his small benefactor, but for the most part he was busy studying the imposing silver towers of the imperial palace, that occupied not only the loveliest, but the highest spot on Umbrella Island.

  The dinosaur had to duck his head going under the arch into the courtyard, and again when he Passed through the immense double doors of the castle itself, but he fitted quite comfortably into the crystal and silver throne room of Sizzeroo. This impressive apartment, in the center of the royal edifice, Was at least sixty feet high, the upper stories opening on galleries that ran completely around and looked down upon this stately presence chamber. Only the counselors and courtiers had followed the King’s palanquin into the castle, and as the chief

  bearer helped His Majesty to alight, Terrybubble eased himself to a sitting position against a silver pillar and looked around him with complete and cavernous curiosity. Never in his whole prehistoric existence had Terrybubble seen anything like this.

  Then Gureeda, following Speedy’s directions, slipped between the dinosaur’s ribs and slid down the vine to the floor, and Speedy himself, in the same manner descended. Scarcely had he done so, than a gong from the room beyond announced luncheon, and Sizzeroo and his courtiers and counselors, wearied from the long march, moved hurriedly into the royal dining hall. The door of this great banquet room was not large enough to accommodate Terrybubble, so Speedy exacted a promise from the dinoSaur to stay exactly where he was before joining the others, then, with the most carefree feeling he had enjoyed since leaving the earth, he sank down between Waddy and Bamboula in a chair an umbrella footman ceremoniously drew out for him.