L. Frank Baum - Oz 36 Read online

  At the distinct command the King stopped and listened. The voice continued: “To the boy and the whale, Welcome to Oz. The Gnomes cannot hurt you. This is Number Nine speaking!”

  CHAPTER 11

  King Bucky

  KAL.IKO stood still, his face filled with an expression of doubt and indecision. Recovering quickly from his surprise, he came closer to his prisoners. “Don’t try any Hoodle Doodle tricks with me,” he said sharply. “If you think you can trick a Gnome you are just making yourselves ridiculous.” He aimed a Rockety-socket blow straight at Bucky’s head, with his sceptre.

  The sceptre was snatched from his grasp by an unseen hand and Kaliko was thrown flat on his back. He lay quiet for a moment, then raised his head just enough to order the whale dragged out of his sight Led by Quiggeroc, the front line of Gnomes advanced in a body, only to be stopped by an invisible wall that rose several feet away from the prisoners. The rush of Gnomes from the rear stumbled over those ahead, piling up in a wriggling mass of the little men before the barrier, while from inside the wall the clink of breaking chains falling from the whale added to the racket

  Then out of the confusion appeared a boy about the same age as Bucky. He turned to the stubborn Gnome

  Ring, pointing his finger at him. “I am here to warn you. I don’t want any harm to come to these strangers. See that you do as you are told.” He smiled at Davy and Bucky and was gone as quickly as he had come.

  Almost as astonished as Kaliko were Bucky and Davy but they managed to keep their wits about them. And with this sudden turn of events the boy became alert, springing toward the King of the Gnomes with his fists clenched.

  No longer a beaten prisoner, Bucky grabbed the little King by the shoulders and spun him around. In the scuffle the King’s ruby crown fell to the ground. Bucky picked it up and set it on his own head.

  “Help!” shrieked Kaliko.

  Quiggeroc made a feeble attempt, at the beginning of the scrimmage, to assist his monarch but was unable to get within ten feet of the struggling pair. Bucky, feeling more powerful now that the situation had changed, decided to take the bull by the horns. The crown on his head filled him with courage. He was ready for anything.

  “See here, you Kaliko King!” he snapped, with little respect for the uncrowned King. “I’m King here now and I intend to teach you better manners!”

  Kaliko bit and scratched at the boy without harming him, and Bucky held him tightly. For a boy of twelve

  he was exceptionally strong and he handled the ferocious little Gnome exactly as he should have been handled.

  Pulling the ruby crown down tighter on his head, he turned to Quiggeroc who was bouncing nervously on the ends of his toes with the horde of Gnomes bouncing behind him.

  “Back to the mines!” yelled the boy.

  Many of the Gnomes turned and marched back toward the underground caverns. Quiggeroc, still on his toes, stared with a crafty stare.

  From the tail of his eye, Bucky saw Kaliko crawl out of reach, leap to his feet and run toward the great ruby throne. Trembling with terror, he rummaged through his pockets until he found a small ruby key.

  In a twinkling he slipped it into a key-hole on the side of the throne. The throne swung open in two halves. Kaliko darted into a hollow space inside and it closed together with a snap.

  Tempestuous as the last few minutes had been, Bucky felt even surer of himself than before. The voice of Number Nine had filled him with courage; the crown on his head made him feel like a King when the miners had obeyed his first command. With the unruly little King safely locked up, Bucky felt safe

  from his attacks. But of Quiggeroc he was not so sure —he would bear watching.

  He turned to the whale who was impatiently swinging his tail from side to side.

  “So far, so good,” he said in an off-hand manner, patting the crown down tighter on his head.

  The gentle whale turned his round eyes sadly to the boy. “I must say-of all the extraordinary behavior - and surprising conduct - the folks around here beat the pirates-”

  “Please now, hold onto yourself,” pleaded Bucky. “You warned me not to be surprised at anything in the Land of Oz, so I’m not the least surprised at this. There was a time when I thought the worst had come to the worst. Now, it appears that the best has come to the best and I am King of the Gnomes.”

  “Yip, Yip for King Bucky Jones!” trumpeted the whale, starting to thrash himself across the jeweled floor toward the lake.

  King Bucky jumped aboard and stood erect by the rail as they passed through groups of sulky Gnomes who offered no resistance.

  “It’s plain to be seen,” remarked Bucky, “that whoever wears this ruby crown is King. I may be King but I feel like a fish out of water in this awful hole.”

  “So do I,” complained the whale, “for I am a fish

  out of water - and I don’t intend to stay out any longer.”

  He strained his big frame, and creakily dragged himself along corridors lined by walls of beaten gold. On every side Gnomes surrounded them in sullen silence, obeying the boy’s commands only because he wore the crown.

  With a sigh of relief the whale eased himself into the waters of the lake. They explored every side, looking for a way of escape, but the only possible way was through a large floodgate and that was closed.

  “Open the floodgate,” ordered Bucky.

  Not a Gnome budged.

  “Stop pussyfooting! Open the gate!” This time Bucky roared. Still, no Gnome obeyed.

  Bucky searched his mind for a solution of this difficulty. Like a flash, he remembered the first day he had spent with the whale and his search of the cabin. He had found the pirates’ chest and in that chest were the four explosive doorknobs. Quickly he ran to the cabin and returned with them hidden under his coat.

  “For the last time, Quiggeroc-Open it up before I blow it up!”

  One stubborn Gnome handed Quigg a large diamond, urging him to throw it.

  Without waiting longer, Bucky fired a doorknob at the gate. To his astonishment, there was no explosion. But what was more effective, a great blast of wind ripped loose the hinges of the barrier. At the same moment, the horde of Gnomes let fly a shower of emeralds, diamonds and sapphires that fell clattering on the deck of the whale. Some weighed two pounds and were as large as baseballs. One after another, the boy threw the doorknobs and the floodgates were blown wide apart by the released wind; they fell open with a crash sending the spray high. The wind of a tornado now whistled across the lake. Quiggeroc was blown clear back to the cavern entrance, a large emerald still in his hand.

  Before he had a chance to throw this stone, Lucky Bucky slipped the ruby crown from his head and let it fly at the old Gnome. The powerful wind penetrated the caverns, filling them with a dismal howling and those Gnomes who had not sought shelter in the galleries were sent spinning into the water. Not until the last Gnome was swept away did the violent wind die down. Bucky could see three queer creatures flying clumsily overhead.

  Their heads were shaped like bellows with strong, nozzle-shaped beaks. Long legs dangled from their

  bird-like bodies as they darted aimlessly around.

  “Come back here,” Bucky called, noticing their indecisive movements.

  Much to his relief, the birds fluttered down, one at a time, and came to rest on the rail beside him. The first one puffed:

  “I’m Tom.” The second, “I’m Dick,” and gave a nod. The third announced: “I’m Harry, at your service,” and took his place beside the others.

  Then, they all looked around and asked: “Where is the Flummux?”

  “Do you mean this one?” asked Bucky, for he was still holding the fourth doorknob in his hand. “You were all doorknobs before I set you free.”

  “I’m not surprised at that,” Tom why don’t you set her free, too?”

  “I’ll be glad to,” Bucky told them and dropped the knob on the deck.

  A report like a bursting automobile tire sounded
and Bucky was almost thrown from the deck when a fourth, smaller creature appeared with quite a flutter.

  “Hello, everybody!” she called when she saw Tom, Dick and Harry sitting on the rail. Turning to Bucky she announced: “These brothers of mine call me Flummux because I am a kid sister. You know how brothers are. My nature is like the breath of spring-a very gentle Zephyr. You may think I am weather vain until you know me better. Who are you?” she asked, suddenly staring at the whale, who was draw-mg a deep breath.

  “Oh, I am Bucky Jones, and this is my favorite cousin, Davy Jones,” replied the boy turning to his friend.

  The whale gave her a smile.

  The girl continued: “We Gabooches always stand together. I really mean, we always blow together. And when we get our wind up, we make the dust fly.”

  “So I noticed! It was ripping of you to open the floodgate for-”

  “Glad to do it,” she interrupted, “but where are we? And why are we here? I don’t like this place but I do like you and your big cousin.” “Thanks,” replied Bucky. “If you all would like to join our crew, we could help each other to escape from this tough little kingdom.”

  “Since you have thrown away your crown and King Kaliko is safely locked inside his throne, I think we had better be moving along,” suggested Davy.

  “Squee to gnomes. I’m not afraid of them as long as I have my breath and strength enough to blow it,” said Dick the Gabooch.

  “You leave them to me,” said the little Gabooch girl breezily as she swooped down on some Gnomes that were creeping up with more diamonds in their hands.

  Swish, swash, swooch, she blew them around and returned to her perch beside her brothers.

  Flapping her wings, she looked up at the whale with a self-important twitter: “Satisfactory?” she asked. “Exceedingly so-quite superior-indeed, you deserve all the supreme words of praise that I cannot think of at this moment, to save my soul!” responded the good-natured whale.

  “Hardly anything remarkable-just so so,” said the little Gabooch in a soft tone that showed a growing affection for Davy.

  “Your brothers certainly got us out of a fix,” explained Bucky, “and, as we don’t like this place any better than you do, I think we had better be moving out while we have the chance.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Over the Rainbow

  HOLD tight, all of you,” warned Davy impatiently, and spun himself around toward the broken

  floodgate. Over it he plunged blindly into a gloom, the end of which none of them could even guess.

  The Gabooches crowded closer to Bucky who hugged the handrail with determination.

  Their way turned and twisted as before. Now and then Davy scraped along the sides of rock. He mumbled unhappily at having his beautiful coat of enamel scarred.

  But having begun the journey, they must keep going so they crashed along with the current. Presently they were swirling ‘round and ‘round like a bubble in a whirlpool, evidently staying in one place; and for hours this traveling in long, monotonous cir-les continued.

  When they were nearly desperate, from somewhere in the darkness a clear voice spoke out: “Turn to the left! This is Number Nine speaking. Always turn left. Turn now!”

  Promptly following the advice, Davy struck out blindly and after a momentary shudder while falling through dark space, they regained their composure and knew that the guiding voice had led them in the right direction.

  The waters became calm and a faint sparkle of light appeared. Not long after this, they swung out into fresh air.

  As far as the eye could see, stretched a land of dreary rocks and sand. Neither dwellings nor animals were to be seen or heard; not even the chirp of the early bird, for it was early morning.

  “We must have spent the night in that underground kingdom of gold and diamonds, where they eat sandstone sandwiches and drink molten metal,” said Bucky as he scooped a drink from the river. “Suffering Sea Serpents!” he cried and spat the water out. A look of disgust broke over his face. “I’m a burnt biscuit if old Tickley Bender isn’t in that water yet. I can taste him. The water tickled my tongue.”

  The whale’s honest eyes took on a cautious expression at the mention of old Tickley.

  “I know everything turns out all right in Oz but I would rather not be in the same river with him,” whispered Davy as he started in a hurry down the narrow waterway.

  As they continued, the river grew narrower and shallower, with the rocks scraping beneath them, but Davy kept on until he found that the entire river had fizzled away into thin air and they were stranded in a desert waste.

  The Gabooches looked with sympathy at the boy who had set them free. “Looks as if someone had

  stolen the river,” said Tom.

  “And it looks like the end of us, too,” answered Bucky, trying to be cheerful. “I do wish we had picked an orange grove or a strawberry patch.”

  “Of course, of course,” said Tom, “no one would pick such a place as this to end in.”

  “Be quiet! all of you. And let me hear no more talk about ending, here or anywhere else,” said the whale rather sharply. “I want you all to understand that we are going to the Emerald City if we have to move but an inch at a time,” and he yanked himself around the rocks with determined jerks.

  For hours they jogged through the blistering sun, urged forward by the resolute purpose that Davy always kept fixed in his wooden head.

  “We may stumble and even flop a little, but we will get to the Emerald City,” he repeated over and over. Sometimes Bucky walked ahead, removing stones to clear the path. Over many miles they staggered, and at the end of the day found that they had covered a considerable distance. Still the way ahead seemed endless.

  Luckily neither Davy nor the Gabooches required food. Bucky ate a couple ofjuicy peach pies and felt better. They rested that night under the stars. Early next morning the restless whale was awake

  and on his way again. He expected to go farther than he had the day before because fewer rocks bothered him and the way sloped slightly down hill.

  Coming to level ground they noticed, for the first time, that all about them were strewn many bones. With a yell, one of the bones jumped up: “Klickity Yi-Yi-Klick-Klick-” he shouted and all the bones awoke.

  They rattled and shook themselves, staring at the whale out of cold bone eyes. Shrill gusts of crackling mirth filled the air as they danced about with absurd motions to show their fantastic amusement. Every awkward jump brought them closer to the travelers.

  “One side! One side!” called Bucky stepping out with the intention of pushing them away if they blocked his path.

  Quickly he changed his mind when one of the creatures stood up to shake his hand and with his bent elbow, the bone jabbed Bucky in the ribs. The boy doubled up and rolled on the ground. Before he could get to his feet another elbow nudged him, giving him another sharp shock, like a shooting cramp.

  “Stop it!” Bueky howled as he tumbled about in the

  sand.

  Other bones hopped up to give him more jabs with

  the butt ends of their joints, and with every touch he got a slight electric thrill that gave him a most unpleasant feeling.

  “Are you bones trying to be funny?” gasped the squirming boy.

  “Of course we are. We’re the funniest bones in all the world. You don’t need to tell us that!”

  “I think you’re crazy!” sputtered Bucky.

  “Sure, we’re often called Crazy bones too,” they rattled as they danced around. “Crazy bones! Funny bones!” they cheered.

  Then turning their attention to Davy, they jabbed and poked him from every side. Even through his thick bulk the whale felt little cricks and stitches that made him wiggle. These visible shivers only made matters worse, for the clownish bones left Bucky to give all their annoyances to Davy. While hundreds of little electric darts stung the whale, Bucky regained his place of safety on deck.

  Davy moved briskly over the sandy stretch
trying to outstrip them, but the nimble bones followed at an amazing pace, prodding and twittering at him as they followed.

  Each little electric touch they administered increased the flight of the whale until he was moving at a very rapid speed due to this borrowed electric power.

  In this manner they continued the chase until the crazy bones, having used up all their shocks, fell flat on the sand, completely exhausted.

  The plucky whale staggered on alone until he came to the edge of the dangerous desert. Hot waves of burning sand dashed up on the shore, as breakers do in the sea.

  Here the whale stopped short—and his heart sank. Instead of the cool waters of an ocean, he was faced with rolling waves of scorching sand. The heat was so great that the whale was forced to turn back. Behind a little sand dune the Gabooches were flying lazily, acting as guides. They fluttered to earth, slapping their wings noisily against their small bodies to attract Davy’s attention. The whale immediately turned in that direction, and when he and Bucky reached the spot they found the Gabooches guarding an exquisite little girl sitting on a rock.

  Tom, Dick and Harry had their dangerous nozzles pointed at the child, who was laughing. The sound was like the tinkle of bells.

  The Flummux was angrily scolding her brothers. “Don’t you dare touch that beautiful creature! Sometimes you are so stupid.”

  “Let them raise all the wind they want to; it won’t

  bother me,” said the beautiful creature with peals of silvery laughter.

  At that moment Davy arrived and the little fairy danced through the air and landed on the rail beside Bucky.

  “Whatever brought you here? Are you lost?” she

  asked.

  “I’m beginning to think so,” he answered ruefully.