A WONDERFUL ESCAPE
For a while the enemy hesitated to renew the attack. Then a few of them
advanced until another shot from the Wizard's revolver made them
retreat.
"That's fine," said Zeb. "We've got 'em on the run now, sure enough."
"But only for a time," replied the Wizard, shaking his head gloomily.
"These revolvers are good for six shots each, but when those are gone we
shall be helpless."
The Gargoyles seemed to realize this, for they sent a few of their band
time after time to attack the strangers and draw the fire from the
little man's revolvers. In this way none of them was shocked by the
dreadful report more than once, for the main band kept far away and
each time a new company was sent into the battle. When the Wizard had
fired all of his twelve bullets he had caused no damage to the enemy
except to stun a few by the noise, and so he was no nearer to victory
than in the beginning of the fray.
[Illustration: THE WIZARD FIRED INTO THE THRONG.]
"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy, anxiously.
"Let's yell--all together," said Zeb.
"And fight at the same time," added the Wizard. "We will get near Jim,
so that he can help us, and each one must take some weapon and do the
best he can. I'll use my sword, although it isn't much account in this
affair. Dorothy must take her parasol and open it suddenly when the
wooden folks attack her. I haven't anything for you, Zeb."
"I'll use the king," said the boy, and pulled his prisoner out of the
buggy. The bound Gargoyle's arms extended far out beyond its head, so by
grasping its wrists Zeb found the king made a very good club. The boy
was strong for one of his years, having always worked upon a farm; so he
was likely to prove more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard.
When the next company of Gargoyles advanced, our adventurers began
yelling as if they had gone mad. Even the kitten gave a dreadfully
shrill scream and at the same time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly.
This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of
breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more of
the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced in
a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them.
Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly
covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade
snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the
wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a club
until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they clustered
so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to swing his
arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even Eureka
assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched and bit
at them like a wild-cat.
But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things wound
their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast. Dorothy
was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles clung to
Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was helpless.
Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along the ground
like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and grabbed her
before she had gone very far.
All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their
surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them
far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a
wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square and
six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the best of
them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and substantial.
To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only one
broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were brought by
their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the opening, where
there was a platform, and then flew away and left them. As they had no
wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they jumped down from
such a height they would surely be killed. The creatures had sense
enough to reason that way, and the only mistake they made was in
supposing the earth people were unable to overcome such ordinary
difficulties.
Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles
to carry the big beast through the air and land him on the high
platform, and the buggy was thrust in after him because it belonged to
the party and the wooden folks had no idea what it was used for or
whether it was alive or not. When Eureka's captor had thrown the kitten
after the others the last Gargoyle silently disappeared, leaving our
friends to breathe freely once more.
"What an awful fight!" said Dorothy, catching her breath in little
gasps.
"Oh, I don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her
paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and nobody managed to hurt us."
"Thank goodness we are together again, even if we are prisoners," sighed
the little girl.
"I wonder why they didn't kill us on the spot," remarked Zeb, who had
lost his king in the struggle.
"They are probably keeping us for some ceremony," the Wizard answered,
reflectively; "but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as
possible in a short time."
"As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes, my dear. But we have no need to worry about that just now. Let us
examine our prison and see what it is like."
The space underneath the roof, where they stood, permitted them to see
on all sides of the tall building, and they looked with much curiosity
at the city spread out beneath them. Everything visible was made of
wood, and the scene seemed stiff and extremely unnatural.
From their platform a stair descended into the house, and the children
and the Wizard explored it after lighting a lantern to show them the
way. Several stories of empty rooms rewarded their search, but nothing
more; so after a time they came back to the platform again. Had there
been any doors or windows in the lower rooms, or had not the boards of
the house been so thick and stout, escape would have been easy; but to
remain down below was like being in a cellar or the hold of a ship, and
they did not like the darkness or the damp smell.
In this country, as in all others they had visited underneath the
earth's surface, there was no night, a constant and strong light coming
from some unknown source. Looking out, they could see into some of the
houses near them, where there were open windows in abundance, and were
able to mark the forms of the wooden Gargoyles moving about in their
dwellings.
"This seems to be their time of rest," observed the Wizard. "All people
need rest, even if they are made of wood, and as there is no night here
they select a certain time of the day in which to sleep or doze."
"I feel sleepy myself," remarked Zeb, yawning.
"Why, where's Eureka?" cried Dorothy, suddenly.
They all looked around, but the kitten was no place to be seen.
"She's gone out for a walk," said Jim, gruffly.
"Where? On the roof?" asked the girl.
"No; she just dug her claws into the wood and climbed down the sides of
this house to the ground."
"She couldn't climb _down_, Jim," said Dorothy. "To climb means to go
up."
"Who said so?" demanded the horse.
"My school-teacher said so; and she knows a lot, Jim."
"To 'climb down' is sometimes used as a figure of speech," remarked the
Wizard.
"Well, this was a figure of a cat," said Jim, "and she _went_ down,
anyhow, whether she climbed or crept."
"Dear me! how careless Eureka is," exclaimed the girl, much distressed.
"The Gurgles will get her, sure!"
"Ha, ha!" chuckled the old cab-horse; "they're not 'Gurgles,' little
maid; they're Gargoyles."
"Never mind; they'll get Eureka, whatever they're called."
"No they won't," said the voice of the kitten, and Eureka herself
crawled over the edge of the platform and sat down quietly upon the
floor.
"Wherever have you been, Eureka?" asked Dorothy, sternly.
"Watching the wooden folks. They're too funny for anything, Dorothy.
Just now they are all going to bed, and--what do you think?--they unhook
the hinges of their wings and put them in a corner until they wake up
again."
"What, the hinges?"
"No; the wings."
"That," said Zeb, "explains why this house is used by them for a prison.
If any of the Gargoyles act badly, and have to be put in jail, they are
brought here and their wings unhooked and taken away from them until
they promise to be good."
The Wizard had listened intently to what Eureka had said.
"I wish we had some of those loose wings," he said.
"Could we fly with them?" asked Dorothy.
"I think so. If the Gargoyles can unhook the wings then the power to fly
lies in the wings themselves, and not in the wooden bodies of the people
who wear them. So, if we had the wings, we could probably fly as well as
they do--at least while we are in their country and under the spell of
its magic."
"But how would it help us to be able to fly?" questioned the girl.
"Come here," said the little man, and took her to one of the corners of
the building. "Do you see that big rock standing on the hillside
yonder?" he continued, pointing with his finger.
"Yes; it's a good way off, but I can see it," she replied.
"Well, inside that rock, which reaches up into the clouds, is an archway
very much like the one we entered when we climbed the spiral stairway
from the Valley of Voe. I'll get my spy-glass, and then you can see it
more plainly."
He fetched a small but powerful telescope, which had been in his
satchel, and by its aid the little girl clearly saw the opening.
"Where does it lead to?" she asked.
"That I cannot tell," said the Wizard; "but we cannot now be far below
the earth's surface, and that entrance may lead to another stairway that
will bring us on top of our world again, where we belong. So, if we had
the wings, and could escape the Gargoyles, we might fly to that rock and
be saved."
"I'll get you the wings," said Zeb, who had thoughtfully listened to all
this. "That is, if the kitten will show me where they are."
"But how can you get down?" enquired the girl, wonderingly.
For answer Zeb began to unfasten Jim's harness, strap by strap, and
to buckle one piece to another until he had made a long leather strip
that would reach to the ground.
[Illustration: THE FIGHT WITH THE GARGOYLES.]
"I can climb down that, all right," he said.
"No you can't," remarked Jim, with a twinkle in his round eyes. "You may
_go_ down, but you can only _climb_ up."
"Well, I'll climb up when I get back, then," said the boy, with a laugh.
"Now, Eureka, you'll have to show me the way to those wings."
"You must be very quiet," warned the kitten; "for if you make the least
noise the Gargoyles will wake up. They can hear a pin drop."
"I'm not going to drop a pin," said Zeb.
He had fastened one end of the strap to a wheel of the buggy, and now he
let the line dangle over the side of the house.
"Be careful," cautioned Dorothy, earnestly.
"I will," said the boy, and let himself slide over the edge.
The girl and the Wizard leaned over and watched Zeb work his way
carefully downward, hand over hand, until he stood upon the ground
below. Eureka clung with her claws to the wooden side of the house and
let herself down easily. Then together they crept away to enter the low
doorway of a neighboring dwelling.
The watchers waited in breathless suspense until the boy again appeared,
his arms now full of the wooden wings.
When he came to where the strap was hanging he tied the wings all in a
bunch to the end of the line, and the Wizard drew them up. Then the line
was let down again for Zeb to climb up by. Eureka quickly followed him,
and soon they were all standing together upon the platform, with eight
of the much prized wooden wings beside them.
The boy was no longer sleepy, but full of energy and excitement. He put
the harness together again and hitched Jim to the buggy. Then, with the
Wizard's help, he tried to fasten some of the wings to the old
cab-horse.
This was no easy task, because half of each one of the hinges of the
wings was missing, it being still fastened to the body of the Gargoyle
who had used it. However, the Wizard went once more to his
satchel--which seemed to contain a surprising variety of odds and
ends--and brought out a spool of strong wire, by means of which they
managed to fasten four of the wings to Jim's harness, two near his head
and two near his tail. They were a bit wiggley, but secure enough if
only the harness held together.
The other four wings were then fastened to the buggy, two on each side,
for the buggy must bear the weight of the children and the Wizard as it
flew through the air.
[Illustration: JIM FLUTTERED AND FLOUNDERED THROUGH THE AIR.]
These preparations had not consumed a great deal of time, but the
sleeping Gargoyles were beginning to wake up and move around, and soon
some of them would be hunting for their missing wings. So the prisoners
resolved to leave their prison at once.
They mounted into the buggy, Dorothy holding Eureka safe in her lap. The
girl sat in the middle of the seat, with Zeb and the Wizard on each side
of her. When all was ready the boy shook the reins and said:
"Fly away, Jim!"
"Which wings must I flop first?" asked the cab-horse, undecidedly.
"Flop them all together," suggested the Wizard.
"Some of them are crooked," objected the horse.
"Never mind; we will steer with the wings on the buggy," said Zeb. "Just
you light out and make for that rock, Jim; and don't waste any time
about it, either."
So the horse gave a groan, flopped its four wings all together, and flew
away from the platform. Dorothy was a little anxious about the success
of their trip, for the way Jim arched his long neck and spread out his
bony legs as he fluttered and floundered through the air was enough to
make anybody nervous. He groaned, too, as if frightened, and the wings
creaked dreadfully because the Wizard had forgotten to oil them; but
they kept fairly good time with the wings of the buggy, so that they
made excellent progress from the start. The only thing that anyone could
complain of with justice was the fact that they wobbled first up and
then down, as if the road were rocky instead of being as smooth as the
air could make it.
The main point, however, was that they flew, and flew swiftly, if a bit
unevenly, toward the rock for which they had headed.
Some of the Gargoyles saw them, presently, and lost no time in
collecting a band to pursue the escaping prisoners; so that when Dorothy
happened to look back she saw them coming in a great cloud that almost
darkened the sky.
[Illustration]