The Mimic Monarchs Lock Themselves In
Back in the Emerald City a great deal had been happening while Dorothy
and the Wizard were adventuring on Mount Illuso.
You will recall that Toto had startled the Oz people by trotting into
the Grand Dining Room and declaring that it was not Dorothy who sat at
the head of the table. You see, in some ways animals are wiser than
human beings. King Umb and Queen Ra were able to fool the Oz people
just by _looking_ like Dorothy and the Wizard, but they couldn't
deceive the keen senses of the little dog so easily. Toto's animal
instinct warned him that this was not his beloved mistress Dorothy nor
his old friend the Wizard. When Toto made his astonishing assertion
every eye in the dining room turned questioningly upon the Mimic King
and Queen.
Suddenly Queen Ra leaped to her feet. Grasping King Umb by the arm and
hissing, "Hurry, you fool!" she pulled the Mimic King after her and the
two dashed from the dining room.
For a moment everyone was too startled to move--except Toto. He sped
like an arrow after the fleeing monarchs.
The quick-witted Scarecrow broke the spell by leaping to his feet and
following with awkward haste after the dog. Instantly there rose a
clamor of startled exclamations and bewildered questions from the Oz
people who were thrown into confusion by these strange happenings.
By the time the Scarecrow had reached the corridor, King Umb, Queen Ra
and Toto were nowhere in sight. But the straw man could hear Toto's
excited barking. Following in the direction of the sound, down one
corridor and up another, the Scarecrow arrived in the wing of the
palace usually occupied by Ozma, and found Toto barking before a closed
door. The little dog's eyes flashed angrily.
When Toto saw the Scarecrow, he stopped barking and said, "I was just
too late. They slammed the door in my face and now I suppose it is
locked." The Scarecrow attempted to turn the knob with his stuffed hand
and found that, as Toto suspected, the door was locked.
"Do you know what room this is?" Toto asked.
"Of course," replied the Scarecrow, "it's Ozma's Chamber of Magic."
"Yes," went on the little dog, "the same room where the imitation
Dorothy and Wizard have shut themselves in all day. Why? I want to
know! I tell you, Scarecrow, there's something awfully funny going on
here."
The straw man was thoughtful. "I agree with you, Toto. Something is
happening that we don't understand. We must find out what it is. I
believe the wisest thing we can do is to return to the dining room and
hold a council to talk this thing over. Maybe we will be able to find
an explanation."
Silently the little dog agreed, and a short time later a group of the
best-loved companions of Dorothy and the Wizard was gathered in a
living room adjoining the Grand Dining room. The Scarecrow presided
over the meeting.
"All we really know," he began, "is that Dorothy and the Wizard have
been acting very strangely today--the second day of the absence of Ozma
and Glinda. Toto insists that they are not Dorothy and the Wizard at
all."
"Lan' sakes!" exclaimed Dorothy's Aunt Em, "I'll admit the child ain't
been herself today, but it's down-right silly to say that our Dorothy's
someone else. I ought to know my own niece!"
"Em, you're a-gittin' all mixed up," cautioned Uncle Henry. "You jest
now said Dorothy ain't been herself today--that means she must be
somebody else."
"But who could look so much like Dorothy and the Wizard?" queried Betsy
Bobbin with a frown.
"And why should anyone wish to deceive us?" asked tiny Trot.
Now Cap'n Bill spoke up. "S'posin'," began the old sailor gruffly,
"that we admit fer the moment that this _ain't_ the real Dorothy and
the Wizard. Then the most important thing is--where _are_ the real
Dorothy and the Wizard?"
"That's the smartest thing that's been said yet," declared Toto
earnestly, with an admiring glance at Cap'n Bill. "Here we are, wasting
time in talk, when something dreadful may be happening to Dorothy and
the Wizard. Let's get busy and find them quickly."
"Maybe they're lost," suggested Button Bright. "If that's the case
there's nothing to worry about, 'cause I've been lost lots of times and
I always got found again." But no one paid any attention to the boy.
With her yarn hair dangling before her eyes, the Patchwork Girl danced
to the front of the gathering. "The trouble with you people," she
asserted, "is that you don't know how to add two and two and get four."
"What do you mean by that, Scraps?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Just this," retorted the stuffed girl, saucily making a face at the
Scarecrow. "What did we overhear Dorothy and the Wizard discussing
today in the garden? Magic! They were talking about a magic spell
which they hoped to find before Ozma and Glinda returned. All right.
Now where did Dorothy and the Wizard spend most of the day and where
have they fled just now to lock themselves in? To Ozma's Chamber of
_Magic_!" The Patchwork Girl concluded triumphantly, "Mark my words
there's magic behind all this, and the secret is hidden in Ozma's
Chamber of Magic."
With his chin in his hand, the Scarecrow was regarding Scraps in silent
admiration. "Sometimes," he said, "I almost believe your head is
stuffed with the same quality of brains the Wizard put in mine."
"Nope!" denied Scraps emphatically. "It's not brains--just a little
common sense." And with that the irrepressible creature leaped to the
chandelier suspended from the ceiling and began chinning herself.
"Yes," agreed the Scarecrow with a sigh as he regarded her antics, "I
guess I was wrong about your brains."
"But what are we going to _do_? That's what I want to know," demanded
Toto impatiently.
"I believe," declared the Scarecrow finally, "there is only one thing
we _can_ do. We must go to Ozma's Chamber of Magic and try to persuade
this strange Dorothy and the Wizard to admit us. If they refuse, then
we shall be obliged to break open the door and demand an explanation of
their mysterious behavior."
"Good!" exclaimed Toto. "Let us go at once."
They all filed out of the room and made their way to Ozma's Chamber of
Magic. The door was still locked. Several times the Scarecrow called to
Dorothy and the Wizard to open the door and admit them, but there was
no response. Then Cap'n Bill stepped forward. He knew what was expected
of him as the biggest and strongest of the group. He placed a shoulder
against the door and pushed. The door creaked and yielded. Again Cap'n
Bill pushed. This time the door yielded more noticeably. Upon the third
trial the door suddenly gave way before the old sailor man's weight,
and the Scarecrow followed by Scraps, Trot, Betsy Bobbin, Button Bright
and the rest crowded into Ozma's Chamber of Magic.