Prisoners of the Wizard
What seemed to be hours later, though in reality it was only a few
moments, the two luckless prisoners found themselves side by side on a
heap of soft blue flower petals. They were in a small circular pit with
one amethyst burning dimly in the grating that covered the top. The
Goat Girl had no recollection of her final landing and gazing up at the
grilled ceiling wondered dully how they had come through without being
cut to pieces.
"It tilted," wheezed the Royal Ox, answering the unspoken question in
Handy's eyes, "just tilted and slid us down. A fortunate thing you
kept that magic flower, m'lass. Ha--rumph!" Weakly and still trembling
in every limb, Nox tried to rise, but his legs gave way beneath him
and for a good fifteen minutes he and the Goat Girl rested on the
flower petals saying never a word. The tapping of footsteps in the
corridor brought Handy quickly to her feet and as Nox managed to heave
himself upright, the blue petals vanished, leaving only a tiny flower
on the floor. Handy had just time to stuff it into her pocket when
an invisible door in the side of the pit opened and twelve depressed
workmen in silver cloth caps and overalls stepped inside. They
carried brooms, mops and dust pans and stood staring in dismay at the
seven-armed Goat Girl and angry-looking Ox.
"We--we were sent to brush up!" stuttered the first workman, touching
his cap uneasily. "But--there--seems--"
"To be nothing to brush!" finished Handy sarcastically. "Sorry to
disappoint you. Now get OUT!" ordered the Goat Girl furiously, and
seizing buckets, brooms and mops from their nerveless fingers, Handy
pummeled them left and right with her seven hands.
"Get out and don't come back till Christmas," she panted, as the
workmen, tumbling over one another, clawed open the door and banged it
to behind them. The knob was on the other side of the pit and not even
the edges of the door were now visible.
"What a place!" groaned Handy Mandy, leaning dejectedly against the
side of their prison. "What a King! And he looked so nice!" grieved the
Goat Girl, sliding down to a sitting position and holding her head in
all of her hands.
"Never mind," said the Ox, settling on the floor beside her. "He hasn't
gotten the best of us yet. It was pretty clever of you to remember that
flower, but what I can't understand, is why you did not tell him at
once that we _did_ have this silver hammer he is so anxious to possess?
Then we could have traded the hammer for the release of Kerry."
"I don't trust him," answered the Goat Girl somberly. "Why I wouldn't
trust that Wizard as far as a goat can butt. Didn't you hear him say
the hammer was the second most important magic in Oz? Didn't you hear
him say he was stealing and planning to steal the best magic from all
the four Kingdoms to make himself supreme ruler of Oz? Well, now that
Five has brought him this jug-a-rug or whatever it is and Ozma's own
magic picture he's probably well on the way to realizing his ambitions.
But he's not going to get our silver hammer. I found it, and I'm going
to keep it, for it's far safer with me than with him. Do you suppose
we're going to help an old Bozzywog like that? What good would it do
to put Kerry back on his throne if Wutz is to be Ruler of Oz? He'd
probably pot all the Kings and keep everything for himself."
"Very probably," agreed Nox, wagging his head mournfully. "But what
are we to do? Are we an army to fight a mountain full of silver moles
and minions, are we magicians to risk our necks with this wizard?
Besides," Nox's face grew thin and anxious, "if Wutz has treated Kerry
the way he has treated us, the boy needs us right now and this very
minute."
"But didn't you hear him say he'd put Kerry back on the throne if Nine
did not soon find the hammer?" put in Handy patiently. "That proves the
little King is still here, and safe. Of course we must find him and get
him out of this miserable mountain, but we're not going to give Wutz
our hammer or any help at all, and he can put that in his silver pipe
and blow bubbles till he bursts," said Handy vindictively. "Now the
thing to do is to rest and eat, and then set ourselves to find the way
out of this pit and this mountain. Wutz and Nifflepok think we're all
swept away by this time. Besides, they'll be too busy talking with Five
to bother us. So first to eat and then to think!" proposed Handy in a
businesslike manner.
"Perhaps you're right," sighed the Ox, "but I'll not have an easy
moment till we're out of this magic mountain. That ride!" Nox lashed
his tail and rolled his eyes at the mere thought of their dash down the
underground railway. "Did you ever experience anything like it in your
life?"
"Well," grinned Handy, "it's one way of seeing the country, I suppose.
But let's not look back, old Toggins, let's look ahead. Remember we
still have the Dwarf of the Hammer on our side and when we are ready to
leave he'll surely show us the way."
"Not before I put a few gores in that Wizard's pants and plans,"
rumbled Nox belligerently. "I'll teach him to take liberties with the
Royal Ox of Keretaria."
"Hi--yigh! That's the old Oz spirit!" cheered Handy, reaching out
to touch his golden horn. "Horn, dear, just serve two dinners, and
no fooling." Unscrewing Nox's horn of plenty as she spoke, the Goat
Girl held it quietly in her wooden hand. And there was certainly no
fooling about the two splendid dinners the horn delivered in answer
to Handy's wish. Never had she eaten a more appetizing repast and half
of the prison pit was taken up by the fresh hay, fruit and grains
brought to satisfy the hunger of the Royal Ox. So, forgetting for a
time their awful danger and their disagreeable imprisonment, the two
adventurers refreshed themselves, and after the dishes and containers
had disappeared, settled down to evolve some plan to outwit the Wizard
of Wutz.