THE SIZING TOWER
As Dorothy walked along, wondering what would happen to her next, she
felt something tugging at her frock, and looking around she saw that it
was the Highlander running along beside her, quite breathless, and
trying very hard to attract her attention. "Oh, it's you, is it?" she
said, stopping short and looking at him pleasantly.
"Yes, it's me," said the Highlander, sitting down on the ground as if he
were very much fatigued. "I've been wanting to speak to you privately
for a very long time."
"What about?" said Dorothy, wondering what was coming now.
"Well," said the Highlander, blushing violently and appearing to be
greatly embarrassed, "you seem to be a very kind-hearted person, and I
wanted to show you some poetry I've written."
"Did you compose it?" said Dorothy, kindly.
"No," said the Highlander; "I only made it up. Would you like to hear
it?"
"Oh, yes, indeed," said Dorothy, as gravely as she could; "I should like
to hear it very much."
"It's called"--said the Highlander, lowering his voice confidentially
and looking cautiously about--"it's called 'The Pickle and the
Policeman';" and, taking a little paper out of his pocket, he began:
"There was a little pickle and his name was John--"
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Dorothy, "I don't think that will do _at all_."
"Suppose I call him _George_?" said the Highlander, gazing reflectively
at his paper. "It's got to be something short, you know."
"But you mustn't call him _anything_," said Dorothy, laughing. "Pickles
don't have any names."
"All right," said the Highlander; and, taking out a pencil, he began
repairing his poetry with great industry. He did a great deal of
writing, and a good deal of rubbing out with his thumb, and finally said
triumphantly:
"There was a little pickle and he hadn't any name!"
"Yes, that will do very nicely," said Dorothy; and the Highlander,
clearing his voice, read off his poetry with a great flourish:
"There was a little pickle and he hadn't any name--
In this respect, I'm just informed, all pickles are the same.
A large policeman came along, a-swinging of his club,
And took that little pickle up and put him in a tub.
"That's rather good about taking him up," said the Highlander, chuckling
to himself; "so exactly like a policeman, you know."
"Oh, yes, indeed," said Dorothy, who was ready to scream with laughter.
"What's the rest of it?"
"There isn't any more," said the Highlander, rather confusedly. "There
was going to be another verse, but I couldn't think of anything more to
say."
"Oh, well, it's very nice as it is," said Dorothy, consolingly; and
then, as the Highlander put up his paper and went away, she laughed till
her eyes were full of tears. "They are _all_ funny," she said at last,
as she walked away through the wood, "but I think _he's_ funnier than
all of 'em put together"--which, by the way, was not a very sensible
remark for her to make, as you will see if you'll take the trouble to
think it over.
[Illustration: "'THERE ISN'T ANY MORE,' SAID THE HIGHLANDER, RATHER
CONFUSEDLY."]
But presently, as she strolled along, she made a discovery that quite
drove the Highlander and his ridiculous poetry out of her head. It was a
tower in the wood; not an ordinary tower, of course, for there would
have been nothing remarkable about that, but a tower of shining brass,
and so high that the top of it was quite out of sight among the
branches of the trees. But the strangest thing about it was that there
seemed to be no possible way of getting into it, and Dorothy was very
cautiously walking around it to see if she could find any door when she
came suddenly upon the Caravan standing huddled together, and apparently
in a state of great excitement.
"What is it?" asked Dorothy, eagerly.
"Hush!" said the Admiral, in an agitated whisper. "We think it's where
Bob Scarlet changes himself"--and as he said this there was a tremendous
flapping of wings, and down came Bob Scarlet through the branches and
landed with a thump a little way from where they were standing. He was
as big as a goose again, and his appearance was so extremely formidable
that the Caravan, as one man, threw themselves flat on their faces in a
perfect frenzy of terror, and Dorothy herself hid in the grass, with her
heart beating like a little eight-day clock. But Bob Scarlet fortunately
paid no more attention to any of them than if they had been so many
flies, and, after strutting about for a moment with his usual important
air, strolled away in the direction of the toy-shop.
"Now what do you make of _that_?" said the Admiral, lifting up his
head. "He went in at a little door not five minutes ago, and he wasn't
any bigger than an every-day bird."
"I'm sure I don't know _what_ to make of it," said Dorothy. "But where
is the door?" she added, running around the tower and looking at it on
all sides.
"It went up after him," said the Admiral, "like a corkscrew."
"And it's coming down again, like a gimlet!" shouted the Highlander;
and, as they all looked up, sure enough there was the little door slowly
coming down, around and around, as if it were descending an invisible
staircase on the outside of the tower. They all watched this performance
with much interest, and as the door touched the ground it opened, and,
to Dorothy's amazement, out came the little field-mouse.
"What is it?" cried Dorothy, as they all crowded around the little
creature. "Do tell us what it all means."
"It's a Sizing Tower," said the Mouse, its little voice trembling with
agitation. "You get big at the top, and little at the bottom. I wouldn't
go up there again--not for a bushel of nuts."
"Were you pretty big?" inquired Sir Walter.
"Monstrous!" said the Mouse, with a little shudder; "I was as big as a
squirrel; and while I was up there, Bob Scarlet flew up and came down
with the door, and there I was."
"_That_ was a precious mess!" remarked the Highlander.
"Wasn't it now!" said the Mouse. "And if he hadn't taken it into his
head to come up again and _fly down_, I'd 'a' been there yet."
"Why, it's the very thing for us!" cried Dorothy, clapping her hands
with delight as a happy thought occurred to her. "Let's all go up and
get back our regular selves."
"You go first," said the Admiral, suspiciously, "and call down to us how
it feels." But Dorothy wouldn't hear of this; and after a great deal of
arguing and pushing and saying "_You_ go in first," the whole party at
last got squeezed in through the little doorway. Then the Mouse sat up
on its hind legs and waved a little farewell with its paws, and the door
softly closed.
"If we begin to grow _now_," said the Admiral's voice in the dark,
"we'll all be squeegeed, _sure_!"
* * * * *
"What an extraordinary thing!" exclaimed Dorothy; for they had come out
into a street full of houses.
"What _I_ want to know is what's become of the door," said Sir Walter,
indignantly, staring at a high wall where the door had been, and which
was now perfectly blank.
"I'm sure I don't know," said Dorothy, quite bewildered. "It's really
quite mysterious, isn't it?"
"It makes my stomach tickle like anything," said the Highlander, in a
quavering voice.
"What _shall_ we do?" said Dorothy, looking about uneasily.
"Run away!" said the Admiral, promptly; and without another word the
Caravan took to their heels and disappeared around a corner. Dorothy
hurried after them, but by the time she turned the corner they were
quite out of sight; and as she stopped and looked about her she
discovered that she was once more in the Ferryman's street, and, to her
great delight, quite as large as she had been when she left the Blue
Admiral Inn.