Under the Great Dome
When Glinda the Good and her followers of the Rescue Expedition came
in sight of the Enchanted Mountain of the Flatheads, it was away to
the left of them, for the route they had taken through the Great
Forest was some distance from that followed by Ozma and Dorothy.
They halted awhile to decide whether they should call upon the Supreme
Dictator first, or go on to the Lake of the Skeezers.
"If we go to the mountain," said the Wizard, "we may get into trouble
with that wicked Su-dic, and then we would be delayed in rescuing Ozma
and Dorothy. So I think our best plan will be to go to the Skeezer
Country, raise the sunken island and save our friends and the
imprisoned Skeezers. Afterward we can visit the mountain and punish
the cruel magician of the Flatheads."
"That is sensible," approved the Shaggy Man. "I quite agree with you."
The others, too, seemed to think the Wizard's plan the best, and
Glinda herself commended it, so on they marched toward the line of
palm trees that hid the Skeezers' lake from view.
Pretty soon they came to the palms. These were set closely together,
the branches, which came quite to the ground, being so tightly
interlaced that even the Glass Cat could scarcely find a place to
squeeze through. The path which the Flatheads used was some distance
away.
"Here's a job for the Tin Woodman," said the Scarecrow.
So the Tin Woodman, who was always glad to be of use, set to work with
his sharp, gleaming axe, which he always carried, and in a
surprisingly short time had chopped away enough branches to permit
them all to pass easily through the trees.
Now the clear waters of the beautiful lake were before them and by
looking closely they could see the outlines of the Great Dome of the
sunken island, far from shore and directly in the center of the lake.
Of course every eye was at first fixed upon this dome, where Ozma and
Dorothy and the Skeezers were still fast prisoners. But soon their
attention was caught by a more brilliant sight, for here was the
Diamond Swan swimming just before them, its long neck arched proudly,
the amethyst eyes gleaming and all the diamond-sprinkled feathers
glistening splendidly under the rays of the sun.
"That," said Glinda, "is the transformation of Queen Coo-ee-oh, the
haughty and wicked witch who betrayed the three Adepts at Magic and
treated her people like slaves."
"She's wonderfully beautiful now," remarked the Frogman.
"It doesn't seem like much of a punishment," said Trot. "The Flathead
Su-dic ought to have made her a toad."
"I am sure Coo-ee-oh is punished," said Glinda, "for she has lost all
her magic power and her grand palace and can no longer misrule the
poor Skeezers."
"Let us call to her, and hear what she has to say," proposed the
Wizard.
So Glinda beckoned the Diamond Swan, which swam gracefully to a
position near them. Before anyone could speak Coo-ee-oh called to
them in a rasping voice--for the voice of a swan is always harsh and
unpleasant--and said with much pride:
"Admire me, Strangers! Admire the lovely Coo-ee-oh, the handsomest
creature in all Oz. Admire me!"
"Handsome is as handsome does," replied the Scarecrow. "Are your deeds
lovely, Coo-ee-oh?"
"Deeds? What deeds can a swan do but swim around and give pleasure to
all beholders?" said the sparkling bird.
"Have you forgotten your former life? Have you forgotten your magic
and witchcraft?" inquired the Wizard.
"Magic--witchcraft? Pshaw, who cares for such silly things?" retorted
Coo-ee-oh. "As for my past life, it seems like an unpleasant dream. I
wouldn't go back to it if I could. Don't you admire my beauty,
Strangers?"
"Tell us, Coo-ee-oh," said Glinda earnestly, "if you can recall enough
of your witchcraft to enable us to raise the sunken island to the
surface of the lake. Tell us that and I'll give you a string of pearls
to wear around your neck and add to your beauty."
"Nothing can add to my beauty, for I'm the most beautiful creature
anywhere in the whole world."
"But how can we raise the island?"
"I don't know and I don't care. If ever I knew I've forgotten, and I'm
glad of it," was the response. "Just watch me circle around and see me
glitter!"
"It's no use," said Button Bright; "the old Swan is too much in love
with herself to think of anything else."
"That's a fact," agreed Betsy with a sigh; "but we've got to get Ozma
and Dorothy out of that lake, somehow or other."
"And we must do it in our own way," added the Scarecrow.
"But how?" asked Uncle Henry in a grave voice, for he could not bear
to think of his dear niece Dorothy being out there under water; "how
shall we do it?"
"Leave that to Glinda," advised the Wizard, realizing he was helpless
to do it himself.
"If it were just an ordinary sunken island," said the powerful
Sorceress, "there would be several ways by which I might bring it to
the surface again. But this is a Magic Isle, and by some curious art
of witchcraft, unknown to any but Queen Coo-ee-oh, it obeys certain
commands of magic and will not respond to any other. I do not despair
in the least, but it will require some deep study to solve this
difficult problem. If the Swan could only remember the witchcraft that
she invented and knew as a woman, I could force her to tell me the
secret, but all her former knowledge is now forgotten."
"It seems to me," said the Wizard after a brief silence had followed
Glinda's speech, "that there are three fishes in this lake that used
to be Adepts at Magic and from whom Coo-ee-oh stole much of her
knowledge. If we could find those fishes and return them to their
former shapes, they could doubtless tell us what to do to bring the
sunken island to the surface."
"I have thought of those fishes," replied Glinda, "but among so many
fishes as this lake contains how are we to single them out?"
You will understand, of course, that had Glinda been at home in her
castle, where the Great Book of Records was, she would have known that
Ervic the Skeezer already had taken the gold and silver and bronze
fishes from the lake. But that act had been recorded in the Book after
Glinda had set out on this journey, so it was all unknown to her.
"I think I see a boat yonder on the shore," said Ojo the Munchkin boy,
pointing to a place around the edge of the lake. "If we could get
that boat and row all over the lake, calling to the magic fishes, we
might be able to find them."
"Let us go to the boat," said the Wizard.
They walked around the lake to where the boat was stranded upon the
beach, but found it empty. It was a mere shell of blackened steel,
with a collapsible roof that, when in position, made the submarine
water-tight, but at present the roof rested in slots on either side of
the magic craft. There were no oars or sails, no machinery to make the
boat go, and although Glinda promptly realized it was meant to be
operated by witchcraft, she was not acquainted with that sort of
magic.
"However," said she, "the boat is merely a boat, and I believe I can
make it obey a command of sorcery, as well as it did the command of
witchcraft. After I have given a little thought to the matter, the
boat will take us wherever we desire to go."
"Not all of us," returned the Wizard, "for it won't hold so many. But,
most noble Sorceress, provided you can make the boat go, of what use
will it be to us?"
"Can't we use it to catch the three fishes?" asked Button Bright.
"It will not be necessary to use the boat for that purpose," replied
Glinda. "Wherever in the lake the enchanted fishes may be, they will
answer to my call. What I am trying to discover is how the boat came
to be on this shore, while the island on which it belongs is under
water yonder. Did Coo-ee-oh come here in the boat to meet the
Flatheads before the island was sunk, or afterward?"
No one could answer that question, of course; but while they pondered
the matter three young men advanced from the line of trees, and
rather timidly bowed to the strangers.
"Who are you, and where did you come from!" inquired the Wizard.
"We are Skeezers," answered one of them, "and our home is on the Magic
Isle of the Lake. We ran away when we saw you coming, and hid behind
the trees, but as you are Strangers and seem to be friendly we decided
to meet you, for we are in great trouble and need assistance."
"If you belong on the island, why are you here?" demanded Glinda.
So they told her all the story: How the Queen had defied the Flatheads
and submerged the whole island so that her enemies could not get to it
or destroy it; how, when the Flatheads came to the shore, Coo-ee-oh
had commanded them, together with their friend Ervic, to go with her
in the submarine to conquer the Su-dic, and how the boat had shot out
from the basement of the sunken isle, obeying a magic word, and risen
to the surface, where it opened and floated upon the water.
Then followed the account of how the Su-dic had transformed Coo-ee-oh
into a swan, after which she had forgotten all the witchcraft she ever
knew. The young men told how in the night when they were asleep,
their comrade Ervic had mysteriously disappeared, while the boat in
some strange manner had floated to the shore and stranded upon the
beach.
That was all they knew. They had searched in vain for three days for
Ervic. As their island was under water and they could not get back to
it, the three Skeezers had no place to go, and so had waited patiently
beside their boat for something to happen.
Being questioned by Glinda and the Wizard, they told all they knew
about Ozma and Dorothy and declared the two girls were still in the
village under the Great Dome. They were quite safe and would be well
cared for by Lady Aurex, now that the Queen who opposed them was out
of the way.
When they had gleaned all the information they could from these
Skeezers, the Wizard said to Glinda:
"If you find you can make this boat obey your sorcery, you could have
it return to the island, submerge itself, and enter the door in the
basement from which it came. But I cannot see that our going to the
sunken island would enable our friends to escape. We would only join
them as prisoners."
"Not so, friend Wizard," replied Glinda. "If the boat would obey my
commands to enter the basement door, it would also obey my commands to
come out again, and I could bring Ozma and Dorothy back with me."
"And leave all of our people still imprisoned?" asked one of the
Skeezers reproachfully.
"By making several trips in the boat, Glinda could fetch all your
people to the shore," replied the Wizard.
"But what could they do then?" inquired another Skeezer. "They would
have no homes and no place to go, and would be at the mercy of their
enemies, the Flatheads."
"That is true," said Glinda the Good. "And as these people are Ozma's
subjects, I think she would refuse to escape with Dorothy and leave
the others behind, or to abandon the island which is the lawful home
of the Skeezers. I believe the best plan will be to summon the three
fishes and learn from them how to raise the island."
The little Wizard seemed to think that this was rather a forlorn hope.
"How will you summon them," he asked the lovely Sorceress, "and how
can they hear you?"
"That is something we must consider carefully," responded stately
Glinda, with a serene smile. "I think I can find a way."
All of Ozma's counsellors applauded this sentiment, for they knew
well the powers of the Sorceress.
"Very well," agreed the Wizard. "Summon them, most noble Glinda."