Transcriber Notes
Text emphasis id denoted as _Italics_ and =Bold=.
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| The |
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| Scarecrow of Oz |
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| by |
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| L. Frank Baum |
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[Illustration]
===== The Famous Oz Books =====
Since 1900, when L. Frank Baum introduced to the children of America
THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ and all the other exciting characters who
inhabit the land of Oz, these delightful fairy tales have stimulated the
imagination of millions of young readers.
These are stories which are genuine fantasy creative, funny, tender,
exciting and surprising. Filled with the rarest and most absurd
creatures, each of the 14 volumes which now comprise the series, has been
eagerly sought out by generation after generation until to-day they are
known to all except the very young or those who were never young at all.
When, in a recent survey, The =New York Times= polled a group of teen agers
on the books they liked best when they were young, the Oz books topped
the list.
THE FAMOUS OZ BOOKS
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By L. Frank Baum:
THE WIZARD OF OZ
THE LAND OF OZ
OZMA OF OZ
DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ
THE ROAD TO OZ
THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ
THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ
TIK-TOK OF OZ
THE SCARECROW OF OZ
RINKITINK IN OZ
THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ
THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ
THE MAGIC OF OZ
GLINDA OF OZ
Chicago THE REILLY & LEE CO. _Publishers_
[Illustration: THE SCARECROW _OF_ OZ]
Dedicated to
"The Uplifters" of Los Angeles, California, in grateful appreciation
of the pleasure I have derived from association with them, and in
recognition of their sincere endeavor to uplift humanity through
kindness, consideration and good-fellowship. They are big men all of them
and all with the generous hearts of little children.
L. Frank Baum
[Illustration]
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| THE |
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| =SCARECROW OF OZ= |
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| BY |
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| L. FRANK BAUM |
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| AUTHOR OF |
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| THE ROAD TO OZ, DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ, THE EMERALD |
| CITY OF OZ, THE LAND OF OZ, OZMA OF OZ. THE PATCHWORK GIRL |
| OF OZ, TIK-TOK OF OZ |
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| [Illustration] |
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| ILLUSTRATED BY |
| JOHN R. NEILL |
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| =The Reilly & Lee Co= |
| Chicago |
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| COPYRIGHT |
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| 1915 BY |
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| L Frank Baum |
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| ALL |
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| RIGHTS RESERVED |
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[Illustration]
'TWIXT YOU AND ME
The Army of Children which besieged the Postoffice, conquered the Postmen
and delivered to me its imperious Commands, insisted that Trot and Cap'n
Bill be admitted to the Land of Oz, where Trot could enjoy the society
of Dorothy, Betsy Bobbin and Ozma, while the one-legged sailor-man might
become a comrade of the Tin Woodman, the Shaggy Man, Tik-Tok and all the
other quaint people who inhabit this wonderful fairyland.
It was no easy task to obey this order and land Trot and Cap'n Bill
safely in Oz, as you will discover by reading this book. Indeed, it
required the best efforts of our dear old friend, the Scarecrow, to save
them from a dreadful fate on the journey; but the story leaves them
happily located in Ozma's splendid palace and Dorothy has promised me
that Button-Bright and the three girls are sure to encounter, in the near
future, some marvelous adventures in the Land of Oz, which I hope to be
permitted to relate to you in the next Oz Book.
Meantime, I am deeply grateful to my little readers for their continued
enthusiasm over the Oz stories, as evinced in the many letters they send
me, all of which are lovingly cherished. It takes more and more Oz Books
every year to satisfy the demands of old and new readers, and there
have been formed many "Oz Reading Societies," where the Oz Books owned
by different members are read aloud. All this is very gratifying to me
and encourages me to write more Oz stories. When the children have had
enough of them, I hope they will let me know, and then I'll try to write
something different.
L. Frank Baum
"Royal Historian of Oz."
"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA,
1915.
[Illustration]
LIST OF CHAPTERS
1 The Great Whirlpool 18
2 Cavern Under the Sea 22
3 The Ork 33
4 Daylight at Last! 52
5 The Little Old Man of the Island 62
6 The Flight of the Midgets 82
7 The Bumpy Man 89
8 Button-Bright is Lost, and Found Again 101
9 The Kingdom of Jinxland 119
10 Pon, the Gardener's Boy 131
11 The Wicked King and Googly-Goo 138
12 The Wooden-Legged Grasshopper 151
13 Glinda the Good and the Scarecrow of Oz 167
14 The Frozen Heart 178
15 Trot Meets the Scarecrow 195
16 Pon Summons the King to Surrender 204
17 The Ork Rescues Button-Bright 213
18 The Scarecrow Meets an Enemy 220
19 The Conquest of the Witch 230
20 Queen Gloria 241
21 Dorothy, Betsy and Ozma 255
22 The Waterfall 264
23 The Land of Oz 273
24 The Royal Reception 278
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Cap'n Bill]
CHAPTER 1
The Great Whirlpool
"Seems to me," said Cap'n Bill, as he sat beside Trot under the big
acacia tree, looking out over the blue ocean, "seems to me, Trot, as how
the more we know, the more we find we don't know."
"I can't quite make that out, Cap'n Bill," answered the little girl in a
serious voice, after a moment's thought, during which her eyes followed
those of the old sailor-man across the glassy surface of the sea. "Seems
to me that all we learn is jus' so much gained."
"I know; it looks that way at first sight," said the sailor, nodding his
head; "but those as knows the least have a habit of thinkin' they know
all there is to know, while them as knows the most admits what a turr'ble
big world this is. It's the knowing ones that realize one lifetime ain't
long enough to git more'n a few dips o' the oars of knowledge."
Trot didn't answer. She was a very little girl, with big, solemn eyes and
an earnest, simple manner. Cap'n Bill had been her faithful companion for
years and had taught her almost everything she knew.
He was a wonderful man, this Cap'n Bill. Not so very old, although his
hair was grizzled--what there was of it. Most of his head was bald as
an egg and as shiny as oilcloth, and this made his big ears stick out
in a funny way. His eyes had a gentle look and were pale blue in color,
and his round face was rugged and bronzed. Cap'n Bill's left leg was
missing, from the knee down, and that was why the sailor no longer sailed
the seas. The wooden leg he wore was good enough to stump around with on
land, or even to take Trot out for a row or a sail on the ocean, but when
it came to "runnin' up aloft" or performing active duties on shipboard,
the old sailor was not equal to the task. The loss of his leg had ruined
his career and the old sailor found comfort in devoting himself to the
education and companionship of the little girl.
[Illustration: The old sailor devoted himself to the Education of the
little girl.]
The accident to Cap'n Bill's leg had happened at about the time Trot was
born, and ever since that he had lived with Trot's mother as "a star
boarder," having enough money saved up to pay for his weekly "keep." He
loved the baby and often held her on his lap; her first ride was on Cap'n
Bill's shoulders, for she had no baby-carriage; and when she began to
toddle around, the child and the sailor became close comrades and enjoyed
many strange adventures together. It is said the fairies had been present
at Trot's birth and had marked her forehead with their invisible mystic
signs, so that she was able to see and do many wonderful things.
The acacia tree was on top of a high bluff, but a path ran down the bank
in a zigzag way to the water's edge, where Cap'n Bill's boat was moored
to a rock by means of a stout cable. It had been a hot, sultry afternoon,
with scarcely a breath of air stirring, so Cap'n Bill and Trot had been
quietly sitting beneath the shade of the tree, waiting for the sun to get
low enough for them to take a row.
They had decided to visit one of the great caves which the waves had
washed out of the rocky coast during many years of steady effort. The
caves were a source of continual delight to both the girl and the
sailor, who loved to explore their awesome depths.
"I b'lieve, Cap'n," remarked Trot, at last, "that it's time for us to
start."
The old man cast a shrewd glance at the sky, the sea and the motionless
boat. Then he shook his head.
"Mebbe it's time, Trot," he answered, "but I don't jes' like the looks o'
things this afternoon."
"What's wrong?" she asked wonderingly.
"Can't say as to that. Things is too quiet to suit me, that's all. No
breeze, not a ripple a-top the water, nary a gull a-flyin' anywhere, an'
the end o' the hottest day o' the year. I ain't no weather-prophet, Trot,
but any sailor would know the signs is ominous."
"There's nothing wrong that I can see," said Trot. "If there was a cloud
in the sky even as big as my thumb, we might worry about it; but--look,
Cap'n!--the sky is as clear as can be."
He looked again and nodded.
"P'r'aps we can make the cave, all right," he agreed, not wishing to
disappoint her. "It's only a little way out, an' we'll be on the watch;
so come along, Trot."
Together they descended the winding path to the beach. It was no trouble
for the girl to keep her footing on the steep way, but Cap'n Bill,
because of his wooden leg, had to hold on to rocks and roots now and
then to save himself from tumbling. On a level path he was as spry as
anyone, but to climb up hill or down required some care.
They reached the boat safely and while Trot was untying the rope Cap'n
Bill reached into a crevice of the rock and drew out several tallow
candles and a box of wax matches, which he thrust into the capacious
pockets of his "sou'wester." This sou'wester was a short coat of oilskin
which the old sailor wore on all occasions--when he wore a coat at
all--and the pockets always contained a variety of objects, useful and
ornamental, which made even Trot wonder where they all came from and why
Cap'n Bill should treasure them. The jackknives--a big one and a little
one--the bits of cord, the fishhooks, the nails: these were handy to
have on certain occasions. But bits of shell, and tin boxes with unknown
contents, buttons, pincers, bottles of curious stones and the like,
seemed quite unnecessary to carry around. That was Cap'n Bill's business,
however, and now that he added the candles and the matches to his
collection Trot made no comment, for she knew these last were to light
their way through the caves.
The sailor always rowed the boat, for he handled the oars with strength
and skill. Trot sat in the stern and steered. The place where they
embarked was a little bight or circular bay, and the boat cut across a
much larger bay toward a distant headland where the caves were located,
right at the water's edge. They were nearly a mile from shore and about
half-way across the bay when Trot suddenly sat up straight and exclaimed:
"What's that, Cap'n?"
He stopped rowing and turned half around to look.
[Illustration]
"That, Trot," he slowly replied, "looks to me mighty like a whirlpool."
"What makes it, Cap'n?"
"A whirl in the air makes the whirl in the water. I was afraid as we'd
meet with trouble, Trot. Things didn't look right. The air was too still."
"It's coming closer," said the girl.
The old man grabbed the oars and began rowing with all his strength.
"'Tain't comin' closer to us, Trot," he gasped; "it's we that are comin'
closer to the whirlpool. The thing is drawin' us to it like a magnet!"
Trot's sun-bronzed face was a little paler as she grasped the tiller
firmly and tried to steer the boat away; but she said not a word to
indicate fear.
The swirl of the water as they came nearer made a roaring sound that
was fearful to listen to. So fierce and powerful was the whirlpool that
it drew the surface of the sea into the form of a great basin, slanting
downward toward the center, where a big hole had been made in the
ocean--a hole with walls of water that were kept in place by the rapid
whirling of the air.
The boat in which Trot and Cap'n Bill were riding was just on the outer
edge of this saucer-like slant, and the old sailor knew very well that
unless he could quickly force the little craft away from the rushing
current they would soon be drawn into the great black hole that yawned in
the middle. So he exerted all his might and pulled as he had never pulled
before. He pulled so hard that the left oar snapped in two and sent Cap'n
Bill sprawling upon the bottom of the boat.
He scrambled up quickly enough and glanced over the side. Then he looked
at Trot, who sat quite still, with a serious, far-away look in her sweet
eyes. The boat was now speeding swiftly of its own accord, following
the line of the circular basin round and round and gradually drawing
nearer to the great hole in the center. Any further effort to escape the
whirlpool was useless, and realizing this fact Cap'n Bill turned toward
Trot and put an arm around her, as if to shield her from the awful fate
before them. He did not try to speak, because the roar of the waters
would have drowned the sound of his voice.
These two faithful comrades had faced dangers before, but nothing to
equal that which now faced them. Yet Cap'n Bill, noting the look in
Trot's eyes and remembering how often she had been protected by unseen
powers, did not quite give way to despair.
The great hole in the dark water--now growing nearer and nearer--looked
very terrifying; but they were both brave enough to face it and await the
result of the adventure.
[Illustration]