The Emperor's Horse Makes a Bargain
Bitty Bit's shooting tower had made a record trip to the Emerald City,
and guided by the little Seer of Some Summit, had come to a deft and
dexterous stop right outside the windows of the great Throne Room.
After a short, anxious look inside, and before anyone was aware of
their arrival, Dorothy removed the lid from the box of the powder of
darkness and threw a generous pinch into the air, plunging the Emerald
City into an instant and thunderous dark. Under cover of this magic
darkness, Dorothy, Pigasus, and Bitty Bit boldly entered the palace and
singled out the white horse and his terrified Master. They had fully
expected some resistance--Dorothy had brought a long piece of rope and
Pigasus carried a stout club under his wing--but they were delighted
to find the Emperor too frightened and his white horse too clever to
resist an invisible foe. Being able to see in the dark themselves, they
had Chalk and Skamperoo at a decided advantage. Dorothy's plans, now
that they had actually returned to the Emerald City, were rather vague,
but Bitty Bit knew just what he hoped and intended to do. His seerish
powers had enabled him to discover that all the changes in Oz had been
brought about by the magic emeralds which in some way had fallen into
Skamperoo's hands, and these emeralds Bitty Bit meant to have at the
earliest possible moment.
So first, he ordered all the windows and doors in the laboratory
closed, then, annoyed by the screams and crashes still issuing from
every room in the castle, he advised Dorothy to put the lid back on the
powder of darkness.
"But supposing someone disturbs us before we finish," objected Pigasus,
looking doubtfully at the tremendous war horse, who stood with feet
braced and ears back ready to listen or defy them. Somehow Chalk had
managed to toss Skamperoo back into the saddle and with both hands
fixed grimly in the horse's mane, the Emperor was blinking his eyes in
a vain attempt to see them or catch a glimpse of Matiah, for he was
convinced that the merchant was at the bottom of the whole procedure.
"If we agree to lift this pall of darkness, will you agree to grant us
an uninterrupted hour of your time?" asked Bitty Bit, turning toward
the Emperor, but really addressing the horse, whom he considered the
better man of the two.
"I think we can, without undue danger, promise that," answered Chalk
guardedly, while Skamperoo hemmed and hawed with indecision. "Of
course, you must promise to use no more magic against us."
"Well, the same goes for you too, remember," put in Pigasus quickly.
"An hour's time and conversation and no trickery."
"But who--who are you?" muttered Skamperoo, finding his voice at last.
"I seem to hear three different voices."
"You'll soon see," answered Dorothy, clapping the lid on her powder of
darkness. With a suddenness that made them all gasp, the laboratory
was again flooded with the bright noon sunshine, and in a determined
row before him Skamperoo saw a pretty little girl in green, a fat pink
pig with white wings, and a small wrinkled old gentleman in brown.
"W-why--" whinnied Chalk, drawing in a deep breath of relief, "at first
I thought you were enemies, but now I see that you are merely visitors
and friends."
"That depends," observed Bitty Bit, seating himself on a tall stool
that brought him on a level with Chalk's nose. "I am the Seer of Some
Summit, but these others are Princess Dorothy and Pigasus, the Winged
Pig. They really belong in this palace and are close friends of the
rightful ruler of this country, Ozma of Oz!"
"I am the rightful ruler of Oz!" shouted Skamperoo, growing red in the
face and thrusting out his three chins belligerently.
"Oh, don't bother putting on a show for me," exclaimed Bitty Bit,
waving his arms impatiently. "Remember, I am a Seer, I know all, I see
all, and what is more, I TELL ALL! You, my pretty fellow, are really
the King of Skampavia, a small, no-count country on the other side of
the Deadly Desert. In some way the long-lost necklaces of Lorna the
Wood Nymph have come into your possession. With these necklaces you
have enchanted the people of Oz into believing you are their ruler.
You have wickedly banished Ozma and her allies and counselors and
unlawfully made yourself Emperor of Oz."
"That seems to cover everything," drawled Chalk, as Skamperoo turned
from red to purple.
"Not everything!" went on Bitty Bit, shaking his finger sternly under
Chalk's nose. "Kingdoms are not won and held by trickery, my friends,
and we are here to see that those necklaces are returned and the
Kingdom of Oz restored to its proper rulers."
"And suppose we refuse!" suggested the white horse in a bored voice.
"What then?"
"Why then," Bitty Bit threw back his shoulders and spun round several
times on his shiny stool, "why then it means WAR!" Bitty Bit did not
say who were his friends or allies or where he should get his armies,
but he spoke with such firm confidence, both Skamperoo and Chalk were
taken aback and completely dismayed. Matiah had been bad enough, but
this strange and determined little Seer was worse.
"Perhaps we can make a bargain, or come to some agreement?" suggested
Chalk, resolved to save what he could for himself and his Master.
"Suppose King Skamperoo and I agree to return the emerald necklaces,
which undoubtedly belong in Oz, will you grant us the privilege of
using them twice for ourselves?"
"But--but--" Skamperoo was about to blurt out the fact that they no
longer had the necklaces when Chalk gave him a savage nip on the leg
which silenced him effectively.
"Why should we do that?" inquired Pigasus, fluttering his wings
nervously. "After all the grief and worry you have caused us, you are
lucky to get off with your skins."
"Where are the necklaces now?" asked Dorothy, stepping close to Chalk
and looking eagerly up into the face of the discomfited Emperor.
Skamperoo's face grew long as a balloon suddenly punctured, but
remembering Chalk's last bite, he managed to keep silent.
"When you have answered OUR question, we will answer yours," stated
Chalk, firmly but pleasantly. "You can, of course, appeal to the Court
and members of the household, but I think you will find them entirely
satisfied with their present Emperor and ready to stand by him to the
last man." At Chalk's words, Bitty Bit looked rather crestfallen. As
the white horse had so quietly stated, they were perfectly powerless
to take the necklaces by force and a quick inspection of the Emperor,
when he first reached the palace, had convinced him Skamperoo was not
wearing the precious emeralds. At this rather embarrassing moment a
series of thumps, kicks, and knocks on the door made not only the
rescuers, but the Emperor and Chalk turn rather pale.
"Oh! Oh! It's Matiah!" quavered Skamperoo, whose nerves were
completely shaken by the shocking disclosures of the last few moments.
"Oh! Oh! What'll we do now?"
"Hold your tongue," advised Chalk, and swinging round he trotted
briskly over to the door.
"Who's there?" he demanded in a dignified voice.
"'Tis I-Iva the Kitchen Boy!" stuttered a frightened treble. "I must
see the Emperor at once."
"Well, shall we let him in?" Bitty Bit looked uneasily at Pigasus and
Dorothy and then rather thoughtfully at Chalk.
"Suit yourselves," yawned the white horse indifferently. "It's probably
a messenger telling us the pudding is cold with all this delay and
darkness. You asked for an hour's time and conversation and we agreed
to that demand, so it is for you to decide what to do, not us."
"Oh, let him in," fumed Pigasus, "and tell him to stop this hammering
and yammering. What harm is there in a Kitchen Boy?"
So Bitty Bit, taking the key from the lock and squinting through the
keyhole to assure himself there was only a small boy outside, quickly
admitted him. Now in darted Iva, screaming loudly of a mad man in the
cellar and bursting into tearful and incoherent recital of his woes.
Scarcely had he got out two sentences before Skamperoo fell bodily off
his horse and made a desperate snatch at the Kitchen Boy's throat. But
Bitty Bit was too quick for him. His eyes, too, had caught the glimmer
of emeralds, and jerking the three chains from the lad's neck as Chalk
made a savage lunge forward, he tossed them to Pigasus. Catching them
on his nose as cleverly as a trained seal, the pink pig spread his
wings and flew up to the top of a tall cabinet, where he sat panting
and puffing with satisfaction and defiance.
"Come down, you fat scoundrel!" roared Skamperoo, dancing up and down
like a dervish, while the poor Kitchen Boy, outraged by the way both
Skamperoo and Bitty Bit had rushed upon him, burst into loud sobs and
rushing out the still open door, ran crying down the corridor. Slamming
the door and locking it after him, Bitty Bit rather anxiously waited
for Chalk's next move, and as usual Chalk was quite prepared and ready
to make it.
"Well," he observed with a jaunty flick of his tail, "now that you have
the famous wishing emeralds, I suppose you are satisfied and we may as
well go. Come along, Skamperoo, you will get nowhere in an argument
with a pig. Just casting pearls before swine, you know, and he already
has our emeralds!"
"You mean your wishing necklaces!" shrieked Pigasus furiously, "and
I'll tell you what I wish. I wish that you and your silly Master were
clams at the bottom of the Nonestic Ocean!" Thoroughly shocked and
startled by the pink pig's unexpected wish, Bitty Bit and Dorothy
rushed toward the cabinet, hoping in some way to prevent the wish from
taking effect. But they need not have worried, for of course, nothing
happened at all. Then Skamperoo, urged by Chalk, hastily climbed into
the saddle.
"Well," whinnied the white horse, twitching his ears provokingly,
"goodbye to you. Goodbye! We'll just be trotting along."
"Wait! Look here, hold on a bit." The little Seer of Some Summit
stepped angrily in front of the white horse. "How do these emeralds
work, how are we to disenchant the rulers of Oz and restore Ozma to the
throne unless we know the proper way to use these magic chains?"
"I'm afraid that's YOUR problem," sighed Chalk, rolling his eyes round
at Skamperoo. "Come now, my little mannikin, open up the door. We kept
our promise and you must keep yours. After all, my Master has done no
real harm here. There has been no war or bloodshed. In fact, everything
has been decidedly gay and jolly. If his laudable ambition to better
himself brought Ozma and her counselors a little well-earned rest, at
least they have suffered no pain or unpleasantness, and are perfectly
unaware of what has happened to them. Open the door, I tell you, or
I'll call for help and there are many in this palace who would gladly
come to our assistance."
"Oh! Oh! What shall we do?" wailed Dorothy, as Bitty Bit stood
uncertainly with his back to the door. "You're the horridest horse I've
ever known!"
"Well, that's all in the way you look at me," answered Chalk, staring
steadily into Dorothy's eyes. "You, my dear, are fond of your Mistress,
Queen Ozma of Oz, and are trying to help her. I, on my part, am
exceedingly fond of my Master, the King of Skampavia, and am trying to
help him. You can't blame me for that, you know."
"The creature is right," sighed Bitty Bit, "and we'll have to agree to
his plans, preposterous though they are."
"That would, of course, be the sensible thing to do," murmured Chalk,
lowering his eyes modestly. "You grant me two wishes and I will tell
you the proper way to use the magic wishing chains."
"But suppose they are bad wishes--I mean," Bitty Bit corrected himself
hastily, "good for you, but bad for us, what then? With the necklaces
in your possession, you could wish yourselves away in an instant."
"That," admitted Chalk, "is perfectly true, but I am afraid you will
have to take that chance--and trust me."
"Never do it! Never do it!" squealed Pigasus, who now had the necklaces
tucked tightly under his wing. "We might as well throw ourselves out of
the window."
But Bitty Bit, closing his eyes and pressing his fingers close to
his forehead, made no reply. "I'll trust you," he said after a short
silence, and opening his eyes he looked cheerfully up at the white
horse. "Hand down those necklaces, Pigasus, and be quick about it too;
I hear footsteps in the passageway."
"Well, don't blame me if we're turned to pretzels and pumpernickel,"
grunted the pig, dropping the necklaces into the seer's outstretched
hand. "Goodbye, all." Turning his back in disgust and covering his
ears with his wings, Pigasus waited in fear and trembling for the
end. But Bitty Bit quite calmly handed the emeralds to Skamperoo, and
Skamperoo immediately draped them over Chalk's left ear.
"Now, then," murmured Chalk, looking firmly back at the unhappy
Emperor, "repeat exactly what I say and all will yet be well."
"I wish," began Chalk, while Skamperoo listened with bulging eyes, "I
wish that the five wishes I make when we return to Skampavia shall be
instantly granted." As Skamperoo repeated the wish and slowly started
to count to a hundred, Dorothy fidgeted with uneasiness and Pigasus
fairly groaned with alarm, for it seemed to them both that their danger
had only been postponed and not averted.
"My second wish I will keep for our return," decided Chalk. "Now, my
dear, attend closely. Since you are the avowed friend of Ozma and live
with her in this palace, it seems to me you are the one to keep safely
the secret of the magic emeralds." Moving close to Dorothy, Chalk put
his soft pink nose close to her ear and whispered several very hoarse
sentences. "Get it? Get it?" he demanded, backing away exuberantly.
"Oh--is THAT all?" Dorothy pushed back her hair in surprise and
bewilderment, "why anyone could do that!"
"Then prove it by sending us back to Skampavia," beamed Chalk, shaking
his mane approvingly. "It would be embarrassing for us to be here when
Ozma and her friends return. Here, my child, take the necklaces and
I'll do the wishing." Pigasus, now more interested than frightened,
tried his best to see what Dorothy did after she clasped the emeralds
around her neck and the white horse solemnly wished himself and
Skamperoo back in Skampavia, but before Chalk reached ten in his
counting, there was a whiff and puff and except for a slight rustle in
the air, no sign at all of the splendid white steed and his red-faced
Master.
"It works! It works!" exulted Bitty Bit, hopping about like a Brownie.
"Can you do it again, my dear? All we need to do is to wish that the
people of Oz shall be released from this wicked spell of forgetting and
then wish Ozma and all the others safely back to this palace."
"Don't forget Highboy!" cried Pigasus, switching his little tail
violently. "He's gone, too, you know, and don't forget Jinnicky and old
Willy Green Whiskers!"
"I'll remember!" promised Bitty Bit. "All ready, Dorothy?" The little
girl nodded and Bitty Bit, looking and feeling more serious and
important than he had ever felt in his whole little life, slowly made
the wish that was to restore peace and happiness to Oz.
"I wish," said the little sage sternly, "that the wicked enchantment
cast by Skamperoo upon the inhabitants of Oz be instantly dispelled. I
wish that Ozma herself, the Wizard of Oz, the Red Jinn of Ev, the King
and Queen of the Munchkins and their son Prince Philador, the King and
Queen of the Gillikens and their giant horse, Glinda the Good Sorceress
of the South, Nick Chopper the Tin Emperor of the East, and the Soldier
with the Green Whiskers be immediately released from Thunder Mountain
and restored to this palace. One--two--three--four--five--six--seven."
At seven Pigasus with a loud squall of astonishment fell from the top
of the cabinet, and Dorothy rushed joyfully forward. For now, every
chair around the Wizard's table was occupied. At the head sat Ozma,
calm and gracious as ever, at the foot the spry little Wizard, and
between, all the others who had so recently lain at the bottom of
Lightning Lake. Highboy stood over by the window looking dreamily out
across the garden and none of them seemed in the least surprised or
excited to find themselves in the Wizard's laboratory.
"Let--me--see--" mused Ozma, raising her hand gravely--"Ah, yes--we are
here to discuss a threatened danger to ourselves and the Kingdom of Oz."
"But it's all over now," cried Dorothy, running over to Ozma and
flinging both arms round her waist. "It's all over and we're safe and
you're safe, and my, how glad we are to have you back here again!"
"Here!" exclaimed the Wizard, popping up like a startled
Jack-in-the-Box, "where else would we be?"
"Only at the bottom of Lightning Lake in Thunder Mountain," murmured
Bitty Bit, coming modestly forward to meet the Fairy Ruler of Oz and
winking merrily at Jinnicky, whom he already knew.