brother, "that I tried to hide; but the cruel King Ruggedo forced me to
appear before all the legion of nomes, to whom he said: 'Behold the
Ugly One!' But when the nomes saw my face they all fell to laughing and
jeering, which prevented them from working at their tasks. Seeing this,
Ruggedo became angry and pushed me into a tunnel, closing the rock
entrance so that I could not get out. I followed the length of the
tunnel until I reached this huge dome, where the marvelous Metal Forest
stands, and here I have remained ever since."
"Poor Brother!" repeated Shaggy. "But I beg you now to come forth and
face us, who are your friends. None here will laugh or jeer, however
unhandsome you may be."
"No, indeed," they all added pleadingly.
But the Ugly One refused the invitation.
"I cannot," said he; "indeed, I cannot face strangers, ugly as I am."
Shaggy Man turned to the group surrounding him.
"What shall I do?" he asked in sorrowful tones. "I cannot leave my dear
brother here, and he refuses to come out of that house and face us."
"I'll tell you," replied Betsy. "Let him put on a mask."
"The very idea I was seeking!" exclaimed Shaggy joyfully; and then he
called out: "Brother, put a mask over your face, and then none of us
can see what your features are like."
"I have no mask," answered the Ugly One.
"Look here," said Betsy; "he can use my handkerchief."
Shaggy looked at the little square of cloth and shook his head.
"It isn't big enough," he objected; "I'm sure it isn't big enough to
hide a man's face. But he can use mine."
Saying this he took from his pocket his own handkerchief and went to
the door of the hut.
"Here, my Brother," he called, "take this handkerchief and make a mask
of it. I will also pass you my knife, so that you may cut holes for the
eyes, and then you must tie it over your face."
The door slowly opened, just far enough for the Ugly One to thrust out
his hand and take the handkerchief and the knife. Then it closed again.
"Don't forget a hole for your nose," cried Betsy. "You must breathe,
you know."
For a time there was silence. Queen Ann and her army sat down upon the
ground to rest. Betsy sat on Hank's back. Polychrome danced lightly up
and down the jeweled paths while Files and the Princess wandered
through the groves arm in arm. Tik-Tok, who never tired, stood
motionless.
By and by a noise sounded from within the hut.
"Are you ready?" asked Shaggy.
"Yes, Brother," came the reply and the door was thrown open to allow
the Ugly One to step forth.
Betsy might have laughed aloud had she not remembered how sensitive to
ridicule Shaggy's brother was, for the handkerchief with which he had
masked his features was a red one covered with big white polka dots. In
this two holes had been cut--in front of the eyes--while two smaller
ones before the nostrils allowed the man to breathe freely. The cloth
was then tightly drawn over the Ugly One's face and knotted at the back
of his neck.
He was dressed in clothes that had once been good, but now were sadly
worn and frayed. His silk stockings had holes in them, and his shoes
were stub-toed and needed blackening. "But what can you expect,"
whispered Betsy, "when the poor man has been a prisoner for so many
years?"
Shaggy had darted forward, and embraced his newly found brother with
both his arms. The brother also embraced Shaggy, who then led him
forward and introduced him to all the assembled company.
"This is the new Nome King," he said when he came to Kaliko. "He is our
friend, and has granted you your freedom."
"That is a kindly deed," replied Ugly in a sad voice, "but I dread to
go back to the world in this direful condition. Unless I remain forever
masked, my dreadful face would curdle all the milk and stop all the
clocks."
"Can't the enchantment be broken in some way?" inquired Betsy.
Shaggy looked anxiously at Kaliko, who shook his head.
"I am sure I can't break the enchantment," he said. "Ruggedo was fond
of magic, and learned a good many enchantments that we nomes know
nothing of."
"Perhaps Ruggedo himself might break his own enchantment," suggested
Ann; "but unfortunately we have allowed the old King to escape."
"Never mind, my dear Brother," said Shaggy consolingly; "I am very
happy to have found you again, although I may never see your face. So
let us make the most of this joyful reunion."
The Ugly One was affected to tears by this tender speech, and the tears
began to wet the red handkerchief; so Shaggy gently wiped them away
with his coat sleeve.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kindly Kisses
"Won't you be dreadful sorry to leave this lovely place?" Betsy asked
the Ugly One.
"No, indeed," said he. "Jewels and gold are cold and heartless things,
and I am sure I would presently have died of loneliness had I not found
this natural forest at the edge of the artificial one. Anyhow, without
these real trees I should soon have starved to death."
Betsy looked around at the quaint trees.
"I don't just understand that," she admitted. "What could you find to
eat here?"
"The best food in the world," Ugly answered. "Do you see that grove at
your left?" he added, pointing it out; "well, such trees as those do
not grow in your country, or in any other place but this cavern. I have
named them 'Hotel Trees,' because they bear a certain kind of table
d'hote fruit called 'Three-Course Nuts.'"
"That's funny!" said Betsy. "What are the 'Three-Course Nuts' like?"
"Something like cocoanuts, to look at," explained the Ugly One. "All
you have to do is to pick one of them and then sit down and eat your
dinner. You first unscrew the top part and find a cupfull of good soup.
After you've eaten that, you unscrew the middle part and find a hollow
filled with meat and potatoes, vegetables and a fine salad. Eat that,
and unscrew the next section, and you come to the dessert in the bottom
of the nut. That is, pie and cake, cheese and crackers, and nuts and
raisins. The Three-Course Nuts are not all exactly alike in flavor or
in contents, but they are all good and in each one may be found a
complete three-course dinner."
"But how about breakfasts?" inquired Betsy.
"Why, there are Breakfast Trees for that, which grow over there at the
right. They bear nuts, like the others, only the nuts contain coffee or
chocolate, instead of soup; oatmeal instead of meat-and-potatoes, and
fruits instead of dessert. Sad as has been my life in this wonderful
prison, I must admit that no one could live more luxuriously in the
best hotel in the world than I have lived here; but I will be glad to
get into the open air again and see the good old sun and the silvery
moon and the soft green grass and the flowers that are kissed by the
morning dew. Ah, how much more lovely are those blessed things than the
glitter of gems or the cold gleam of gold!"
"Of course," said Betsy. "I once knew a little boy who wanted to catch
the measles, because all the little boys in his neighborhood but him
had had 'em, and he was really unhappy 'cause he couldn't catch 'em, try as
he would. So I'm pretty certain that the things we want, and can't
have, are not good for us. Isn't that true, Shaggy?"
"Not always, my dear," he gravely replied. "If we didn't want anything,
we would never get anything, good or bad. I think our longings are
natural, and if we act as nature prompts us we can't go far wrong."
"For my part," said Queen Ann, "I think the world would be a dreary
place without the gold and jewels."
"All things are good in their way," said Shaggy; "but we may have too
much of any good thing. And I have noticed that the value of anything
depends upon how scarce it is, and how difficult it is to obtain."
"Pardon me for interrupting you," said King Kaliko, coming to their
side, "but now that we have rescued Shaggy's brother I would like to
return to my royal cavern. Being the King of the Nomes, it is my duty
to look after my restless subjects and see that they behave themselves."
So they all turned and began walking through the Metal Forest to the
other side of the great domed cave, where they had first entered it.
Shaggy and his brother walked side by side and both seemed rejoiced
that they were together after their long separation. Betsy didn't dare
look at the polka dot handkerchief, for fear she would laugh aloud; so
she walked behind the two brothers and led Hank by holding fast to his
left ear.
When at last they reached the place where the passage led to the outer
world, Queen Ann said, in a hesitating way that was unusual with her:
"I have not conquered this Nome Country, nor do I expect to do so; but
I would like to gather a few of these pretty jewels before I leave this
place."
"Help yourself, ma'am," said King Kaliko, and at once the officers of
the Army took advantage of his royal permission and began filling their
pockets, while Ann tied a lot of diamonds in a big handkerchief.
This accomplished, they all entered the passage, the nomes going first
to light the way with their torches. They had not proceeded far when
Betsy exclaimed:
"Why, there are jewels here, too!"
All eyes were turned upon the ground and they found a regular trail of
jewels strewn along the rock floor.
"This is queer!" said Kaliko, much surprised. "I must send some of my
nomes to gather up these gems and replace them in the Metal Forest,
where they belong. I wonder how they came to be here?"
All the way along the passage they found this trail of jewels, but when
they neared the end the mystery was explained. For there, squatted upon
the floor with his back to the rock wall, sat old Ruggedo, puffing and
blowing as if he was all tired out. Then they realized it was he who
had scattered the jewels, from his many pockets, which one by one had
burst with the weight of their contents as he had stumbled along the
passage.
"But I don't mind," said Ruggedo, with a deep sigh. "I now realize that
I could not have carried such a weighty load very far, even had I
managed to escape from this passage with it. The woman who sewed the
pockets on my robe used poor thread, for which I shall thank her."
"Have you any jewels left?" inquired Betsy.
He glanced into some of the remaining pockets.
"A few," said he, "but they will be sufficient to supply my wants, and
I no longer have any desire to be rich. If some of you will kindly help
me to rise, I'll get out of here and leave you, for I know you all
despise me and prefer my room to my company."
Shaggy and Kaliko raised the old King to his feet, when he was
confronted by Shaggy's brother, whom he now noticed for the first time.
The queer and unexpected appearance of the Ugly One so startled Ruggedo
that he gave a wild cry and began to tremble, as if he had seen a ghost.
"Wh--wh--who is this?" he faltered.
"I am that helpless prisoner whom your cruel magic transformed from a
handsome man into an ugly one!" answered Shaggy's brother, in a voice
of stern reproach.
"Really, Ruggedo," said Betsy, "you ought to be ashamed of that mean
trick."
"I am, my dear," admitted Ruggedo, who was now as meek and humble as
formerly he had been cruel and vindictive.
"Then," returned the girl, "you'd better do some more magic and give
the poor man his own face again."
"I wish I could," answered the old King; "but you must remember that
Tititi-Hoochoo has deprived me of all my magic powers. However, I never
took the trouble to learn just how to break the charm I cast over
Shaggy's brother, for I intended he should always remain ugly."
"Every charm," remarked pretty Polychrome, "has its antidote; and, if
you knew this charm of ugliness, Ruggedo, you must have known how to
dispel it."
He shook his head.
"If I did, I--I've forgotten," he stammered regretfully.
"Try to think!" pleaded Shaggy, anxiously. "_Please_ try to think!"
Ruggedo ruffled his hair with both hands, sighed, slapped his chest,
rubbed his ear, and stared stupidly around the group.
"I've a faint recollection that there _was_ one thing that would break
the charm," said he; "but misfortune has so addled my brain that I
can't remember what it was."
"See here, Ruggedo," said Betsy, sharply, "we've treated you pretty
well, so far, but we won't stand for any nonsense, and if you know
what's good for yourself you'll think of that charm!"
"Why?" he demanded, turning to look wonderingly at the little girl.
"Because it means so much to Shaggy's brother. He's dreadfully ashamed
of himself, the way he is now, and you're to blame for it. Fact is,
Ruggedo, you've done so much wickedness in your life that it won't hurt
you to do a kind act now."
Ruggedo blinked at her, and sighed again, and then tried very hard to
think.
"I seem to remember, dimly," said he, "that a certain kind of a kiss
will break the charm of ugliness."
"What kind of a kiss?"
"What kind? Why, it was--it was--it was either the kiss of a Mortal
Maid; or--or--the kiss of a Mortal Maid who had once been a Fairy;
or--or the kiss of one who is still a Fairy. I can't remember which.
But of course no maid, mortal or fairy, would ever consent to kiss a
person so ugly--so dreadfully, fearfully, terribly ugly--as Shaggy's
brother."
"I'm not so sure of that," said Betsy, with admirable courage; "I'm a
Mortal Maid, and if it is _my_ kiss that will break this awful charm,
I--I'll do it!"
"Oh, you really couldn't," protested Ugly. "I would be obliged to
remove my mask, and when you saw my face, nothing could induce you to
kiss me, generous as you are."
"Well, as for that," said the little girl, "I needn't see your face at
all. Here's my plan: You stay in this dark passage, and we'll send away
the nomes with their torches. Then you'll take off the handkerchief,
and I--I'll kiss you."
"This is awfully kind of you, Betsy!" said Shaggy, gratefully.
"Well, it surely won't kill me," she replied; "and, if it makes you and
your brother happy, I'm willing to take some chances."
So Kaliko ordered the torch-bearers to leave the passage, which they
did by going through the rock opening. Queen Ann and her army also went
out; but the others were so interested in Betsy's experiment that they
remained grouped at the mouth of the passageway. When the big rock
swung into place, closing tight the opening, they were left in total
darkness.
"Now, then," called Betsy in a cheerful voice, "have you got that
handkerchief off your face, Ugly?"
"Yes," he replied.
"Well, where are you, then?" she asked, reaching out her arms.
"Here," said he.
"You'll have to stoop down, you know."
He found her hands and clasping them in his own stooped until his face
was near to that of the little girl. The others heard a clear, smacking
kiss, and then Betsy exclaimed:
"There! I've done it, and it didn't hurt a bit!"
"Tell me, dear brother; is the charm broken?" asked Shaggy.
"I do not know," was the reply. "It may be, or it may not be. I cannot
tell."
"Has anyone a match?" inquired Betsy.
"I have several," said Shaggy.
"Then let Ruggedo strike one of them and look at your brother's face,
while we all turn our backs. Ruggedo made your brother ugly, so I guess
he can stand the horror of looking at him, if the charm isn't broken."
Agreeing to this, Ruggedo took the match and lighted it. He gave one
look and then blew out the match.
"Ugly as ever!" he said with a shudder. "So it wasn't the kiss of a
Mortal Maid, after all."
"Let me try," proposed the Rose Princess, in her sweet voice. "I am a
Mortal Maid who was once a Fairy. Perhaps my kiss will break the charm."
Files did not wholly approve of this, but he was too generous to
interfere. So the Rose Princess felt her way through the darkness to
Shaggy's brother and kissed him.
Ruggedo struck another match, while they all turned away.
"No," announced the former King; "that didn't break the charm, either.
It must be the kiss of a Fairy that is required--or else my memory has
failed me altogether."
"Polly," said Betsy, pleadingly, "won't _you_ try?"
"Of course I will!" answered Polychrome, with a merry laugh. "I've
never kissed a mortal man in all the thousands of years I have existed,
but I'll do it to please our faithful Shaggy Man, whose unselfish
affection for his ugly brother deserves to be rewarded."
Even as Polychrome was speaking she tripped lightly to the side of the
Ugly One and quickly touched his cheek with her lips.
"Oh, thank you--thank you!" he fervently cried. "I've changed, this
time, I know. I can feel it! I'm different. Shaggy--dear Shaggy--I am
myself again!"
Files, who was near the opening, touched the spring that released the
big rock and it suddenly swung backward and let in a flood of daylight.
Everyone stood motionless, staring hard at Shaggy's brother, who, no
longer masked by the polka-dot handkerchief, met their gaze with a glad
smile.
"Well," said Shaggy Man, breaking the silence at last and drawing a
long, deep breath of satisfaction, "you are no longer the Ugly One, my
dear brother; but, to be entirely frank with you, the face that belongs
to you is no more handsome than it ought to be."
"I think he's rather good looking," remarked Betsy, gazing at the man
critically.
"In comparison with what he was," said King Kaliko, "he is really
beautiful. You, who never beheld his ugliness, may not understand that;
but it was my misfortune to look at the Ugly One many times, and I say
again that, in comparison with what he was, the man is now beautiful."
"All right," returned Betsy, briskly, "we'll take your word for it,
Kaliko. And now let us get out of this tunnel and into the world again."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ruggedo Reforms
It did not take them long to regain the royal cavern of the Nome King,
where Kaliko ordered served to them the nicest refreshments the place
afforded.
Ruggedo had come trailing along after the rest of the party and while
no one paid any attention to the old King they did not offer any
objection to his presence or command him to leave them. He looked
fearfully to see if the eggs were still guarding the entrance, but they
had now disappeared; so he crept into the cavern after the others and
humbly squatted down in a corner of the room.
There Betsy discovered him. All of the little girl's companions were
now so happy at the success of Shaggy's quest for his brother, and the
laughter and merriment seemed so general, that Betsy's heart softened
toward the friendless old man who had once been their bitter enemy, and
she carried to him some of the food and drink. Ruggedo's eyes filled
with tears at this unexpected kindness. He took the child's hand in his
own and pressed it gratefully.
"Look here, Kaliko," said Betsy, addressing the new King, "what's the
use of being hard on Ruggedo? All his magic power is gone, so he can't
do any more harm, and I'm sure he's sorry he acted so badly to
everybody."
"Are you?" asked Kaliko, looking down at his former master.
"I am," said Ruggedo. "The girl speaks truly. I'm sorry and I'm
harmless. I don't want to wander through the wide world, on top of the
ground, for I'm a nome. No nome can ever be happy any place but
underground."
"That being the case," said Kaliko, "I will let you stay here as long
as you behave yourself; but, if you try to act badly again, I shall
drive you out, as Tititi-Hoochoo has commanded, and you'll have to
wander."
"Never fear. I'll behave," promised Ruggedo. "It is hard work being a
King, and harder still to be a good King. But now that I am a common
nome I am sure I can lead a blameless life."
They were all pleased to hear this and to know that Ruggedo had really
reformed.
"I hope he'll keep his word," whispered Betsy to Shaggy; "but if he
gets bad again we will be far away from the Nome Kingdom and Kaliko
will have to 'tend to the old nome himself."
Polychrome had been a little restless during the last hour or two. The
lovely Daughter of the Rainbow knew that she had now done all in her
power to assist her earth friends, and so she began to long for her sky
home.
"I think," she said, after listening intently, "that it is beginning to
rain. The Rain King is my uncle, you know, and perhaps he has read my
thoughts and is going to help me. Anyway I must take a look at the sky
and make sure."
So she jumped up and ran through the passage to the outer entrance, and
they all followed after her and grouped themselves on a ledge of the
mountain-side. Sure enough, dark clouds had filled the sky and a slow,
drizzling rain had set in.
"It can't last for long," said Shaggy, looking upward, "and when it
stops we shall lose the sweet little fairy we have learned to love.
Alas," he continued, after a moment, "the clouds are already breaking
in the west, and--see!--isn't that the Rainbow coming?"
Betsy didn't look at the sky; she looked at Polychrome, whose happy,
smiling face surely foretold the coming of her father to take her to
the Cloud Palaces. A moment later a gleam of sunshine flooded the
mountain and a gorgeous Rainbow appeared.
With a cry of gladness Polychrome sprang upon a point of rock and held
out her arms. Straightway the Rainbow descended until its end was at
her very feet, when with a graceful leap she sprang upon it and was at
once clasped in the arms of her radiant sisters, the Daughters of the
Rainbow. But Polychrome released herself to lean over the edge of the
glowing arch and nod, and smile and throw a dozen kisses to her late
comrades.
"Good-bye!" she called, and they all shouted "Good-bye!" in return and
waved their hands to their pretty friend.
Slowly the magnificent bow lifted and melted into the sky, until the
eyes of the earnest watchers saw only fleecy clouds flitting across the
blue.
"I'm dreadful sorry to see Polychrome go," said Betsy, who felt like
crying; "but I s'pose she'll be a good deal happier with her sisters in
the sky palaces."
"To be sure," returned Shaggy, nodding gravely. "It's her home, you
know, and those poor wanderers who, like ourselves, have no home, can
realize what that means to her."
"Once," said Betsy, "I, too, had a home. Now, I've only--only--dear old
Hank!"
She twined her arms around her shaggy friend who was not human, and he
said: "Hee-haw!" in a tone that showed he understood her mood. And the
shaggy friend who was human stroked the child's head tenderly and said:
"You're wrong about that, Betsy, dear. I will never desert you."
"Nor I!" exclaimed Shaggy's brother, in earnest tones.
The little girl looked up at them gratefully, and her eyes smiled
through their tears.
"All right," she said. "It's raining again, so let's go back into the
cavern."
Rather soberly, for all loved Polychrome and would miss her, they
reentered the dominions of the Nome King.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dorothy is Delighted
"Well," said Queen Ann, when all were again seated in Kaliko's royal
cavern, "I wonder what we shall do next. If I could find my way back to
Oogaboo I'd take my army home at once, for I'm sick and tired of these
dreadful hardships."
"Don't you want to conquer the world?" asked Betsy.
"No; I've changed my mind about that," admitted the Queen. "The world
is too big for one person to conquer and I was happier with my own
people in Oogaboo. I wish--Oh, how earnestly I wish--that I was back
there this minute!"
"So do I!" yelled every officer in a fervent tone.
Now, it is time for the reader to know that in the far-away Land of Oz
the lovely Ruler, Ozma, had been following the adventures of her Shaggy
Man, and Tik-Tok, and all the others they had met. Day by day Ozma,
with the wonderful Wizard of Oz seated beside her, had gazed upon a
Magic Picture in a radium frame, which occupied one side of the Ruler's
cosy boudoir in the palace of the Emerald City. The singular thing
about this Magic Picture was that it showed whatever scene Ozma wished
to see, with the figures all in motion, just as it was taking place. So
Ozma and the Wizard had watched every action of the adventurers from
the time Shaggy had met shipwrecked Betsy and Hank in the Rose Kingdom,
at which time the Rose Princess, a distant cousin of Ozma, had been
exiled by her heartless subjects.
When Ann and her people so earnestly wished to return to Oogaboo, Ozma
was sorry for them and remembered that Oogaboo was a corner of the Land
of Oz. She turned to her attendant and asked:
"Can not your magic take these unhappy people to their old home,
Wizard?"
"It can, Your Highness," replied the little Wizard.
"I think the poor Queen has suffered enough in her misguided effort to
conquer the world," said Ozma, smiling at the absurdity of the
undertaking, "so no doubt she will hereafter be contented in her own
little Kingdom. Please send her there, Wizard, and with her the
officers and Files."
"How about the Rose Princess?" asked the Wizard.
"Send her to Oogaboo with Files," answered Ozma. "They have become such
good friends that I am sure it would make them unhappy to separate
them."