All Together at Last
"KABUMPO! Kabumpo! Randy! Oh, my mercy me!" Rolling to his feet,
Jinnicky tottered over to the hearth and, encountering Ginger half-way
there, clasped his faithful Bell Boy to his shiny glass bosom. "As soon
as that bell rang I knew everything was going to be better," he puffed.
"And I rather expected Ginger, but YOU! Why, my dear old Gaboscis,
fancy meeting YOU here!"
"But I don't fancy it at all," grunted Kabumpo, placing the sleeping
Princess gently down on the fisherman's bench and glancing disgustedly
round the mean little hut. "How in Ev did you ever happen to be in
such a place, how did you get here and where in Oz are we, anyway?"
"Oh, Jinnicky, are you really all right?" Grasping the little Wizard by
both arms, Randy examined him carefully from top to toe. "Kabumpo and I
came to see you, and instead of you, there was Gludwig in your castle.
He told us you were at the bottom of the sea, and after first trying to
destroy us with his army, he flung us into the castle basement. There
we found Ginger sealed up in a big drum and we let him out, and after
awhile, in a way I cannot figure out at all, we find ourselves here.
How did it happen?"
"Why, Ginger brought you, of course." Releasing the little black boy
from his tight embrace, Jinnicky planted a huge kiss on his ebony
forehead, and with a flashing grin the slave of the bell vanished into
space. "Don't worry! He's always going, but he'll come back any time
I ring the bell. You must all have been touching Ginger when the bell
rang, so naturally when Ginger answered the bell he brought you right
along."
"Nothing natural about it," fumed Kabumpo, drawing his trunk wearily
across his forehead.
"But you haven't told us how YOU got here," said Randy, bending over
Planetty to see that she had made the trip without coming to any harm.
"And what is that, pray?" demanded the little Jinn, eyeing the sleeping
Princess with round astonished eyes. "Something you brought me for a
present? A pretty little idol you've stolen from some heathen temple?
My, mercy me! What a beauty it is! I'll mount it on a ruby pedestal and
worship it all the rest of my days!"
"Oh, no, Jinnicky, no!" Randy's voice broke and he could not utter
another word, try as he would. In puzzled concern the Red Jinn turned
to Kabumpo.
"She's not a present, but she's an idol all right--Randy's idol--and
he intends to spend the rest of his life worshiping her, if I read
the signals aright," said Kabumpo dryly. "There you see the Princess
of Anuther Planet, old boy, and up to an hour ago she was as live and
bright and happy as any of us."
"But what happened to her? Oh, my, mercy me, another mystery!" Jinnicky
clasped his hands in genuine distress.
"Well, you tell us what happened to you, and then we'll tell you what
happened to her and us," offered Kabumpo. "That is, if we don't die of
hunger first."
"Hunger?" Jinnicky swallowed four times in rapid succession. "Oh, my,
mercy me and us! You do not even know the meaning of the word! I have
not eaten a bite for seven months! But, har, har, har! That is all
over now. With my magic dinner bell right at hand, why should anyone
be hungry? Four dinners and at once," beamed the Red Jinn, ringing it
smartly. "See, my dear, I've not even forgotten you." Jinnicky leaned
down to stroke Nina, who had hidden behind the hearth brush when so
many strangers came dropping into the hut. "This valiant Nonagon Puss
fought bravely in my defense and has thereby earned herself a place in
my heart and castle for all the rest of her nine natural lives."
"But first you must get back your castle," said Kabumpo as Jinnicky
began dancing up and down the room, the miserable cat hugged tightly in
his arms. Even Randy had to smile at that. No one could be around the
little Jinn and stay sorrowful, and worried as he was over Planetty and
Thun, the young King could not help feeling that now they were together
everything was going to turn out right. Some how and way Jinnicky would
help them.
"Isn't this like old times?" he beamed, bustling around like a busy
host as Ginger, with four enormous trays balanced on his head, flashed
down, set an appetizing dinner before each of the company and melted
away like smoke up the chimney. For Nina, he had brought nine saucers
of cream and some minced chicken. For Kabumpo, a huge bowl of assorted
nuts and another bowl of cut raw vegetables, each bowl capable of
replenishing itself, so that there was enough for even an elephant. For
Randy and Jinnicky there were the finest of roast duck dinners. So,
forgetting their mean surroundings and Gludwig's wickedness, the three
Royal Wayfarers fell to and ate with an abandon and gusto that would
have astonished their own castle-holds and footmen. Nina, lapping up
her rich and plenteous viands, seemed to grow fat and content before
their very eyes. And while they dined, Jinnicky explained how he had
been tricked by Gludwig, pulled out of the sea by Bloff and then
nearly shaken out of his jar by the surly fisherman, who at the same
time had shaken out the bell and brought him assistance.
"Where is he? Wait till I get my trunk on him," raged Kabumpo, glancing
sharply round the nine-sided shack. Jinnicky, on his part, when he
discovered how Gludwig had treated his friends and visitors, was no
less enraged and indignant.
"Used my very own patented trap floor on you, did he? Hah! wait--I'll
fix him!" Beating his small hands angrily together, Jinnicky's eyes
burned with a bright red hatred.
"Yes, we were floored, all right," admitted the Elegant Elephant,
pushing away his two bowls, for at last he had had enough, and while
Randy and the Red Jinn were finishing their suppers he told the whole
story of their journey through Oz and Ev and Ix, of their meeting with
Planetty and Thun and the sad fate that had overtaken these loyal
comrades in the Red Castle when they could no longer avail themselves
of their own Vanadium Springs.
"Vanadium?" murmured the Red Jinn, resting his head in his chubby
hands. "I believe I could make a substitute for that. Why, in my
laboratory--"
"Yes, but this isn't your laboratory," sighed Randy, "and how ever
are we to get off this nine-sided island if all the fishermen are as
hateful as Bloff?"
"Har! har! har! Now that is the least of our troubles." Jinnicky waved
airily to the owner of the cottage whose glum face had just appeared in
the window. "Ginger shall carry us back, as easily as he carries the
trays! First I shall ring the dinner bell, then when Ginger appears, I
shall hang on to his coat; you, Randy, must hang on to me and Kabumpo,
bless his big heart, shall hang on to you, being careful to hold the
Princess of this Other Planet in his trunk. Oh, my, mercy me! I'd
almost forgotten the cat."
Scooping up Nina, Jinnicky waited till the Elegant Elephant had lifted
Planetty in his trunk, then, taking the silver bell from his sleeve, he
gave it a cheerful tinkle.
"Ho, this!" puffed the little Jinn, blowing a kiss to the glowering
fisherman--"this is the finest place to leave I've ever left in my
whole life. Oh, my, mercy me! You and us! Here's Ginger! Hold on,
everybody! We're OFF!"
And they were, sailing along as smoothly behind the little slave of the
bell as if they weighed nothing at all, and leaving Bloff running in
frantic circles round his hut--for he was now more convinced than ever
that this was a nightmare or that, worse still, he had taken entire
leave of his wits and senses.