except the little fellow Dorothy picked out. And the chances are that
they have been good boys and girls for some time, because they couldn't
help it."
"Oh, my poor darlings!" cried the Queen, with a sob of anguish.
"Not at all," returned the hen. "Don't let their condition make you
unhappy, ma'am, because I'll soon have them crowding 'round to bother
and worry you as naturally as ever. Come with me, if you please, and
I'll show you how pretty they look."
She flew down from her perch and walked into the next room, the Queen
following. As she passed a low table a small green grasshopper caught
her eye, and instantly Billina pounced upon it and snapped it up in her
sharp bill. For grasshoppers are a favorite food with hens, and they
usually must be caught quickly, before they can hop away. It might
easily have been the end of Ozma of Oz, had she been a real grasshopper
instead of an emerald one. But Billina found the grasshopper hard and
lifeless, and suspecting it was not good to eat she quickly dropped it
instead of letting it slide down her throat.
"I might have known better," she muttered to herself, "for where there
is no grass there can be no live grasshoppers. This is probably one of
the King's transformations."
A moment later she approached one of the purple ornaments, and while the
Queen watched her curiously the hen broke the Nome King's enchantment
and a sweet-faced girl, whose golden hair fell in a cloud over her
shoulders, stood beside them.
"Evanna!" cried the Queen, "my own Evanna!" and she clasped the girl to
her bosom and covered her face with kisses.
"That's all right," said Billina, contentedly. "Am I a good guesser, Mr.
Nome King? Well, I guess!"
Then she disenchanted another girl, whom the Queen addressed as Evrose,
and afterwards a boy named Evardo, who was older than his brother
Evring. Indeed, the yellow hen kept the good Queen exclaiming and
embracing for some time, until five Princesses and four Princes, all
looking very much alike except for the difference in size, stood in a
row beside their happy mother.
The Princesses were named, Evanna, Evrose, Evella, Evirene and Evedna,
while the Princes were Evrob, Evington, Evardo and Evroland. Of these
Evardo was the eldest and would inherit his father's throne and be
crowned King of Ev when he returned to his own country. He was a grave
and quiet youth, and would doubtless rule his people wisely and with
justice.
[Illustration: THE QUEEN OF EV THANKS BILLINA]
Billina, having restored all of the royal family of Ev to their proper
forms, now began to select the green ornaments which were the
transformations of the people of Oz. She had little trouble in finding
these, and before long all the twenty-six officers, as well as the
private, were gathered around the yellow hen, joyfully congratulating
her upon their release. The thirty-seven people who were now alive in
the rooms of the palace knew very well that they owed their freedom to
the cleverness of the yellow hen, and they were earnest in thanking her
for saving them from the magic of the Nome King.
"Now," said Billina, "I must find Ozma. She is sure to be here,
somewhere, and of course she is green, being from Oz. So look around,
you stupid soldiers, and help me in my search."
For a while, however, they could discover nothing more that was green.
But the Queen, who had kissed all her nine children once more and could
now find time to take an interest in what was going on, said to the hen:
"Mayhap, my gentle friend, it is the grasshopper whom you seek."
"Of course it's the grasshopper!" exclaimed Billina. "I declare, I'm
nearly as stupid as these brave soldiers. Wait here for me, and I'll go
back and get it."
So she went into the room where she had seen the grasshopper, and
presently Ozma of Oz, as lovely and dainty as ever, entered and
approached the Queen of Ev, greeting her as one high born princess
greets another.
"But where are my friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman?" asked the
girl Ruler, when these courtesies had been exchanged.
"I'll hunt them up," replied Billina. "The Scarecrow is solid gold, and
so is Tiktok; but I don't exactly know what the Tin Woodman is, because
the Nome King said he had been transformed into something funny."
Ozma eagerly assisted the hen in her quest, and soon the Scarecrow and
the machine man, being ornaments of shining gold, were discovered and
restored to their accustomed forms. But, search as they might, in no
place could they find a funny ornament that might be the transformation
of the Tin Woodman.
"Only one thing can be done," said Ozma, at last, "and that is to return
to the Nome King and oblige him to tell us what has become of our
friend."
"Perhaps he won't," suggested Billina.
"He must," returned Ozma, firmly. "The King has not treated us honestly,
for under the mask of fairness and good nature he entrapped us all, and
we would have been forever enchanted had not our wise and clever friend,
the yellow hen, found a way to save us."
"The King is a villain," declared the Scarecrow.
"His laugh is worse than another man's frown," said the private, with a
shudder.
"I thought he was hon-est, but I was mis-tak-en," remarked Tiktok. "My
thoughts are us-u-al-ly cor-rect, but it is Smith & Tin-ker's fault if
they some-times go wrong or do not work prop-er-ly."
"Smith & Tinker made a very good job of you," said Ozma, kindly. "I do
not think they should be blamed if you are not quite perfect."
"Thank you," replied Tiktok.
"Then," said Billina, in her brisk little voice, "let us all go back to
the Nome King, and see what he has to say for himself."
So they started for the entrance, Ozma going first, with the Queen and
her train of little Princes and Princesses following. Then came Tiktok,
and the Scarecrow with Billina perched upon his straw-stuffed shoulder.
The twenty-seven officers and the private brought up the rear.
As they reached the hall the doors flew open before them; but then they
all stopped and stared into the domed cavern with faces of astonishment
and dismay. For the room was filled with the mail-clad warriors of the
Nome King, rank after rank standing in orderly array. The electric
lights upon their brows gleamed brightly, their battle-axes were poised
as if to strike down their foes; yet they remained motionless as
statues, awaiting the word of command.
And in the center of this terrible army sat the little King upon his
throne of rock. But he neither smiled nor laughed. Instead, his face was
distorted with rage, and most dreadful to behold.
[Illustration]
The Scarecrow Wins the Fight
[Illustration]
After Billina had entered the palace Dorothy and Evring sat down to
await the success or failure of her mission, and the Nome King occupied
his throne and smoked his long pipe for a while in a cheerful and
contented mood.
Then the bell above the throne, which sounded whenever an enchantment
was broken, began to ring, and the King gave a start of annoyance and
exclaimed, "Rocketty-ricketts!"
When the bell rang a second time the King shouted angrily, "Smudge and
blazes!" and at a third ring he screamed in a fury, "Hippikaloric!"
which must be a dreadful word because we don't know what it means.
After that the bell went on ringing time after time; but the King was
now so violently enraged that he could not utter a word, but hopped out
of his throne and all around the room in a mad frenzy, so that he
reminded Dorothy of a jumping-jack.
The girl was, for her part, filled with joy at every peal of the bell,
for it announced the fact that Billina had transformed one more ornament
into a living person. Dorothy was also amazed at Billina's success, for
she could not imagine how the yellow hen was able to guess correctly
from all the bewildering number of articles clustered in the rooms of
the palace. But after she had counted ten, and the bell continued to
ring, she knew that not only the royal family of Ev, but Ozma and her
followers also, were being restored to their natural forms, and she was
so delighted that the antics of the angry King only made her laugh
merrily.
Perhaps the little monarch could not be more furious than he was before,
but the girl's laughter nearly drove him frantic, and he roared at her
like a savage beast. Then, as he found that all his enchantments were
likely to be dispelled and his victims every one set free, he suddenly
ran to the little door that opened upon the balcony and gave the shrill
whistle that summoned his warriors.
At once the army filed out of the gold and silver doors in great
numbers, and marched up a winding stairs and into the throne room, led
by a stern featured Nome who was their captain. When they had nearly
filled the throne room they formed ranks in the big underground cavern
below, and then stood still until they were told what to do next.
Dorothy had pressed back to one side of the cavern when the warriors
entered, and now she stood holding little Prince Evring's hand while the
great Lion crouched upon one side and the enormous Tiger crouched an the
other side.
"Seize that girl!" shouted the King to his captain, and a group of
warriors sprang forward to obey. But both the Lion and Tiger snarled so
fiercely and bared their strong, sharp teeth so threateningly, that the
men drew back in alarm.
"Don't mind them!" cried the Nome King; "they cannot leap beyond the
places where they now stand."
"But they can bite those who attempt to touch the girl," said the
captain.
"I'll fix that," answered the King. "I'll enchant them again, so that
they can't open their jaws."
He stepped out of the throne to do this, but just then the Sawhorse ran
up behind him and gave the fat monarch a powerful kick with both his
wooden hind legs.
"Ow! Murder! Treason!" yelled the King, who had been hurled against
several of his warriors and was considerably bruised. "Who did that?"
"I did," growled the Sawhorse, viciously. "You let Dorothy alone, or
I'll kick you again."
"We'll see about that," replied the King, and at once he waved his hand
toward the Sawhorse and muttered a magical word. "Aha!" he continued;
"_now_ let us see you move, you wooden mule!"
But in spite of the magic the Sawhorse moved; and he moved so quickly
toward the King, that the fat little man could not get out of his way.
Thump--_bang!_ came the wooden heels, right against his round body, and
the King flew into the air and fell upon the head of his captain, who
let him drop flat upon the ground.
"Well, well!" said the King, sitting up and looking surprised. "Why
didn't my magic belt work, I wonder?"
"The creature is made of wood," replied the captain. "Your magic will
not work on wood, you know."
"Ah, I'd forgotten that," said the King, getting up and limping to his
throne. "Very well, let the girl alone. She can't escape us, anyway."
The warriors, who had been rather confused by these incidents, now
formed their ranks again, and the Sawhorse pranced across the room to
Dorothy and took a position beside the Hungry Tiger.
At that moment the doors that led to the palace flew open and the people
of Ev and the people of Oz were disclosed to view. They paused,
astonished, at sight of the warriors and the angry Nome King, seated in
their midst.
"Surrender!" cried the King, in a loud voice. "You are my prisoners."
"Go 'long!" answered Billina, from the Scarecrow's shoulder. "You
promised me that if I guessed correctly my friends and I might depart in
safety. And you always keep your promises."
"I said you might leave the palace in safety," retorted the King; "and
so you may, but you cannot leave my dominions. You are my prisoners, and
I will hurl you all into my underground dungeons, where the volcanic
fires glow and the molten lava flows in every direction, and the air is
hotter than blue blazes."
[Illustration: "HELP, HELP!" SCREAMED THE KING]
"That will be the end of me, all right," said the Scarecrow,
sorrowfully. "One small blaze, blue or green, is enough to reduce me to
an ash-heap."
"Do you surrender?" demanded the King.
Billina whispered something in the Scarecrow's ear that made him smile
and put his hands in his jacket pockets.
"No!" returned Ozma, boldly answering the King. Then she said to her
army:
"Forward, my brave soldiers, and fight for your Ruler and yourselves,
unto death!"
"Pardon me, Most Royal Ozma," replied one of her generals; "but I find
that I and my brother officers all suffer from heart disease, and the
slightest excitement might kill us. If we fight we may get excited.
Would it not be well for us to avoid this grave danger?"
"Soldiers should not have heart disease," said Ozma.
"Private soldiers are not, I believe, afflicted that way," declared
another general, twirling his moustache thoughtfully. "If your Royal
Highness desires, we will order our private to attack yonder warriors."
"Do so," replied Ozma.
"For-ward--march!" cried all the generals, with one voice.
"For-ward--march!" yelled the colonels. "For-ward--march!" shouted the
majors. "For-ward--march!" commanded the captains.
And at that the private leveled his spear and dashed furiously upon the
foe.
The captain of the Nomes was so surprised by this sudden onslaught that
he forgot to command his warriors to fight, so that the ten men in the
first row, who stood in front of the private's spear, fell over like so
many toy soldiers. The spear could not go through their steel armor,
however, so the warriors scrambled to their feet again, and by that time
the private had knocked over another row of them.
Then the captain brought down his battle-axe with such a strong blow
that the private's spear was shattered and knocked from his grasp, and
he was helpless to fight any longer.
The Nome King had left his throne and pressed through his warriors to
the front ranks, so he could see what was going on; but as he faced Ozma
and her friends the Scarecrow, as if aroused to action by the valor of
the private, drew one of Billina's eggs from his right jacket pocket and
hurled it straight at the little monarch's head.
It struck him squarely in his left eye, where the egg smashed and
scattered, as eggs will, and covered his face and hair and beard with
its sticky contents.
"Help, help!" screamed the King, clawing with his fingers at the egg, in
a struggle to remove it.
"An egg! an egg! Run for your lives!" shouted the captain of the Nomes,
in a voice of horror.
And how they _did_ run! The warriors fairly tumbled over one another in
their efforts to escape the fatal poison of that awful egg, and those
who could not rush down the winding stair fell off the balcony into the
great cavern beneath, knocking over those who stood below them.
Even while the King was still yelling for help his throne room became
emptied of every one of his warriors, and before the monarch had managed
to clear the egg away from his left eye the Scarecrow threw the second
egg against his right eye, where it smashed and blinded him entirely.
The King was unable to flee because he could not see which way to run;
so he stood still and howled and shouted and screamed in abject fear.
While this was going on, Billina flew over to Dorothy, and perching
herself upon the Lion's back the hen whispered eagerly to the girl:
"Get his belt! Get the Nome King's jeweled belt! It unbuckles in the
back. Quick, Dorothy--quick!"
The Fate of the Tin Woodman
[Illustration]
Dorothy obeyed. She ran at once behind the Nome King, who was still
trying to free his eyes from the egg, and in a twinkling she had
unbuckled his splendid jeweled belt and carried it away with her to her
place beside the Tiger and Lion, where, because she did not know what
else to do with it, she fastened it around her own slim waist.
Just then the Chief Steward rushed in with a sponge and a bowl of water,
and began mopping away the broken eggs from his master's face. In a few
minutes, and while all the party stood looking on, the King regained
the use of his eyes, and the first thing he did was to glare wickedly
upon the Scarecrow and exclaim:
"I'll make you suffer for this, you hay-stuffed dummy! Don't you know
eggs are poison to Nomes?"
"Really," said the Scarecrow, "they _don't_ seem to agree with you,
although I wonder why."
"They were strictly fresh and above suspicion," said Billina. "You ought
to be glad to get them."
"I'll transform you all into scorpions!" cried the King, angrily, and
began waving his arms and muttering magic words.
But none of the people became scorpions, so the King stopped and looked
at them in surprise.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Why, you are not wearing your magic belt," replied the Chief Steward,
after looking the King over carefully. "Where is it? What have you done
with it?"
The Nome King clapped his hand to his waist, and his rock colored face
turned white as chalk.
"It's gone," he cried, helplessly. "It's gone, and I am ruined!"
Dorothy now stepped forward and said:
"Royal Ozma, and you, Queen of Ev, I welcome you and your people back to
the land of the living. Billina has saved you from your troubles, and
now we will leave this drea'ful place, and return to Ev as soon as
poss'ble."
While the child spoke they could all see that she wore the magic belt,
and a great cheer went up from all her friends, which was led by the
voices of the Scarecrow and the private. But the Nome King did not join
them. He crept back onto his throne like a whipped dog, and lay there
bitterly bemoaning his defeat.
"But we have not yet found my faithful follower, the Tin Woodman," said
Ozma to Dorothy, "and without him I do not wish to go away."
"Nor I," replied Dorothy, quickly. "Wasn't he in the palace?"
"He must be there," said Billina; "but I had no clew to guide me in
guessing the Tin Woodman, so I must have missed him."
"We will go back into the rooms," said Dorothy. "This magic belt, I am
sure, will help us to find our dear old friend."
So she re-entered the palace, the doors of which still stood open, and
everyone followed her except the Nome King, the Queen of Ev and Prince
Evring. The mother had taken the little Prince in her lap and was
fondling and kissing him lovingly, for he was her youngest born.
But the others went with Dorothy, and when she came to the middle of the
first room the girl waved her hand, as she had seen the King do, and
commanded the Tin Woodman, whatever form he might then have, to resume
his proper shape. No result followed this attempt, so Dorothy went into
another room and repeated it, and so through all the rooms of the
palace. Yet the Tin Woodman did not appear to them, nor could they
imagine which among the thousands of ornaments was their transformed
friend.
Sadly they returned to the throne room, where the King, seeing that they
had met with failure, jeered at Dorothy, saying:
"You do not know how to use my belt, so it is of no use to you. Give it
back to me and I will let you go free--you and all the people who came
with you. As for the royal family of Ev, they are my slaves, and shall
remain here."
"I shall keep the belt," said Dorothy.
"But how can you escape, without my consent?" asked the King.
"Easily enough," answered the girl. "All we need to do is to walk out
the way that we came in."
[Illustration: DOROTHY AND BILLINA ARGUE WITH THE KING]
"Oh, that's all, is it?" sneered the King. "Well, where is the passage
through which you entered this room?"
They all looked around, but could not discover the place, for it had
long since been closed. Dorothy, however, would not be dismayed. She
waved her hand toward the seemingly solid wall of the cavern and said:
"I command the passage to open!"
Instantly the order was obeyed; the opening appeared and the passage lay
plainly before them.
The King was amazed, and all the others overjoyed.
"Why, then, if the belt obeys you, were we unable to discover the Tin
Woodman?" asked Ozma.
"I can't imagine," said Dorothy.
"See here, girl," proposed the King, eagerly; "give me the belt, and I
will tell you what shape the Tin Woodman was changed into, and then you
can easily find him."
Dorothy hesitated, but Billina cried out:
"Don't you do it! If the Nome King gets the belt again he will make
every one of us prisoners, for we will be in his power. Only by keeping
the belt, Dorothy, will you ever be able to leave this place in
safety."
"I think that is true," said the Scarecrow. "But I have another idea,
due to my excellent brains. Let Dorothy transform the King into a
goose-egg unless he agrees to go into the palace and bring out to us the
ornament which is our friend Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman."
"A goose-egg!" echoed the horrified King. "How dreadful!"
[Illustration]
"Well, a goose-egg you will be unless you go and fetch us the ornament
we want," declared Billina, with a joyful chuckle.
"You can see for yourself that Dorothy is able to use the magic belt all
right," added the Scarecrow.
The Nome King thought it over and finally consented, for he did not want
to be a goose-egg. So he went into the palace to get the ornament which
was the transformation of the Tin Woodman, and they all awaited his
return with considerable impatience, for they were anxious to leave this
underground cavern and see the sunshine once more. But when the Nome
King came back he brought nothing with him except a puzzled and anxious
expression upon his face.
"He's gone!" he said. "The Tin Woodman is nowhere in the palace."
"Are you sure?" asked Ozma, sternly.
"I'm very sure," answered the King, trembling, "for I know just what I
transformed him into, and exactly where he stood. But he is not there,
and please don't change me into a goose-egg, because I've done the best
I could."
They were all silent for a time, and then Dorothy said:
"There is no use punishing the Nome King any more, and I'm 'fraid we'll
have to go away without our friend."
"If he is not here, we cannot rescue him," agreed the Scarecrow, sadly.
"Poor Nick! I wonder what has become of him."
"And he owed me six weeks back pay!" said one of the generals, wiping
the tears from his eyes with his gold-laced coat sleeve.
Very sorrowfully they determined to return to the upper world without
their former companion, and so Ozma gave the order to begin the march
through the passage.
The army went first, and then the royal family of Ev, and afterward came
Dorothy, Ozma, Billina, the Scarecrow and Tiktok.
They left the Nome King scowling at them from his throne, and had no
thought of danger until Ozma chanced to look back and saw a large number
of the warriors following them in full chase, with their swords and
spears and axes raised to strike down the fugitives as soon as they drew
near enough.
Evidently the Nome King had made this last attempt to prevent their
escaping him; but it did him no good, for when Dorothy saw the danger
they were in she stopped and waved her hand and whispered a command to
the magic belt.
[Illustration]
Instantly the foremost warriors became eggs, which rolled upon the floor
of the cavern in such numbers that those behind could not advance
without stepping upon them. But, when they saw the eggs, all desire to
advance departed from the warriors, and they turned and fled madly into
the cavern, and refused to go back again.
Our friends had no farther trouble in reaching the end of the passage,
and soon were standing in the outer air upon the gloomy path between
the two high mountains. But the way to Ev lay plainly before them, and
they fervently hoped that they had seen the last of the Nome King and of
his dreadful palace.
The cavalcade was led by Ozma, mounted on the Cowardly Lion, and the
Queen of Ev, who rode upon the back of the Tiger. The children of the
Queen walked behind her, hand in hand. Dorothy rode the Sawhorse, while
the Scarecrow walked and commanded the army in the absence of the Tin
Woodman.
Presently the way began to lighten and more of the sunshine to come in
between the two mountains. And before long they heard the "thump! thump!
thump!" of the giant's hammer upon the road.
"How may we pass the monstrous man of iron?" asked the Queen, anxious
for the safety of her children. But Dorothy solved the problem by a word
to the magic belt.
The giant paused, with his hammer held motionless in the air, thus
allowing the entire party to pass between his cast-iron legs in safety.
The King of Ev
[Illustration]