over the mantel. "Why, you couldn't have done any better if you'd been
a boy. Now, as soon as these fellows grow down a bit further, we'll
run." Hurreewurree and the other boys were so engrossed in a marble
game that they did not notice their new King tiptoeing toward the door.
And by the time Speedy and Marygolden were scampering down the steps
of the moving castle, they and all the other inhabitants of Quick City
were infants again. "You certainly have to think and step quick in this
country," puffed Speedy, as they ran hand in hand down the main street
of the town. Having had a lot of practice dodging motors, he managed to
keep out of the path of the whirling houses and shops, and by the time
the Quix were growing up again, he and Marygolden had left the city far
behind them. Even in the fields and orchards on the outskirts of the
town the curious nature of the country persisted. Flowers grew up and
wilted under their feet. Fruit ripened and fell from the trees before
they could eat it. After several unsuccessful attempts to pick some
peaches, only to have them rot in his hands, Speedy gave up. Indeed it
was with something like relief that they came to a cool, deep forest,
where trees neither shot up nor down, and everything was pleasantly
quiet and still.
"We'll stop here a long, long time," sighed Speedy, sitting down under
a great oak. "Then I'll try to find you something to eat and discover
where we are. I'm sure it's not America, for things like this couldn't
happen in America. Say, I wonder why those fellows wanted me for King!
Can you imagine being King of a place like that?"
Marygolden shook her head and smoothed out her dress. "I like it better
here," she said contentedly.
"Well, I do too, but I don't think I'm going to like growing old
very much. It felt awful." Speedy rubbed his knees reminiscently and
wondered what Uncle Billy would think of his adventures. "I'm certainly
having a lot of experiences," he muttered reflectively. "And you know,"
he turned thoughtfully to look at the little Princess sitting so
quietly at his side, "you're the very strangest of them all. I can't
make you out in the least, Marygolden. If you were just a statue, and
were never alive before, how is it you can talk, and know how to act?
And now that you are alive, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to do everything you do," announced Marygolden calmly.
"Gosh!" breathed Speedy, rather frightened by the responsibility of
such a thing. "Then I'll have to be pretty careful about everything I
do, won't I?"
"Yes," smiled the Princess, folding her hands serenely in her lap.
Speedy was about to explain that she, being a girl, could not possibly
do all the exciting and adventurous things that he, as a boy, could do,
but she seemed so pleased and happy that he decided to let the matter
rest for a while.
"She's certainly done everything I've done so far," he reflected
slowly, "except grow whiskers! And she didn't cry when we fell, either.
You're all right!" he announced emphatically, and leaning over he
gave her a real boyish handshake. "You're all right, and a real good
fellow!"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE ENCHANTED FOREST
After the rush and hurry of Quick City, both travellers were glad
enough to rest quietly under the oak tree. Leaning back with his
head against the broad trunk, Speedy tried to puzzle out and explain
to himself the queer happenings of the morning. But there seemed no
reasonable explanation of Subterranea or Quick City, or the curious
coming to life of Marygolden, and with a little sigh he finally
stopped bothering and turned his attention back to his companion.
"Do you ever remember seeing that Shah, or any of those people before?"
he inquired earnestly.
"I don't remember anyone but you," answered Marygolden, fixing her eyes
dreamily on the bit of sky just visible above the tree tops.
"Well," pondered Speedy, "if you were alive before, you must have lived
in some old, old country. You know, you're dreadfully old-fashioned,
Marygolden."
"Do you mind?" asked the Princess, leaning forward anxiously.
"No," Speedy assured her gallantly. "But I should think you would."
His glance travelled critically from her long, frilled skirts, now
sadly torn and dusty, to the stiff, high, and certainly uncomfortable
ruff. "Girls don't wear such long skirts nowadays," he explained
apologetically. "I say, shall I cut off some of that stuff?" The
Princess seemed quite interested in the idea, so Speedy, taking out his
scout knife, which fortunately had a scissor attachment, snipped all
the lace ruffles from her gold dress, making it about knee length. Then
he cut off her huge, uncomfortable ruff and stood back, quite pleased
with the result. "If it wasn't for that crown you'd look just like a
regular girl," declared Speedy, returning the knife to his pocket. At
these words, and before he could stop her, Marygolden took off her
crown and flung it as far as she possibly could.
"Curses!" muttered the boy with a worried bounce. "You shouldn't have
done that, Mary. It's probably worth a lot of money."
"But it makes my head ache," stated the Princess calmly, "and what good
is it anyway?"
"Oh, well," decided Speedy, after looking without success for the
golden circlet, "I guess you won't need a crown now, for you're going
home with me, if I can ever find the way, and they don't use crowns in
America."
"America?" asked the Princess, taking a few dancing steps to see how it
felt without her long, trailing skirts. "Shall we reach there soon?"
"Not unless we start," answered Speedy. "And unless we want to spend
the rest of the day in this forest, we'd better start right away."
Marygolden made no objection, so talking quite cheerfully they strolled
along under the giant trees.
"Pretty soon, now," observed Speedy, helping the Princess over a
little brook, "pretty soon now we ought to be meeting some people."
"People!" sniffed Marygolden, turning up her pretty nose. "Every time
we meet people we run. I'd rather not meet any people, Speedy."
"Maybe the next ones will be good fellows. Maybe they'll give us
something to eat and tell us where we are. We can't just go on and on
forever," he explained, leaning down to examine a colored stone at his
feet.
"Is there no other way of getting about, then?" inquired Marygolden,
staring sorrowfully at her gold kid slippers, which were already sadly
scratched and torn by the sticks and stones of the forest. "Must we
always walk and run?"
"If we were in my country we could take a bus, or a train, or a taxi;
but there's nothing to take here," answered Speedy in a matter-of-fact
voice, and finally deciding that the stone he had picked up was of no
value, he sent it flying into the branches of a horse chestnut tree.
With speed and accuracy it hit a large chestnut burr and the burr,
sailing through the air, dropped directly in his path. As Speedy was
about to pick it up, it began to swell like a balloon, larger and
larger till it was simply immense; and as Speedy and Marygolden jumped
back together, it burst with a loud bang and out trotted a shining
chestnut steed. He wore a breastplate of gold, yellow silk trappings,
a gold-trimmed saddle, and had such a glorious, golden, flyaway mane
and tail that Speedy, in spite of his fright and astonishment, gave a
cry of pure delight and admiration. The horse, lifting his head, looked
about a bit wildly and began to paw up the earth with his forefoot.
"Do you see that?" gasped Speedy, holding fast to Marygolden's arm in
case the wonderful horse should spring forward. "One minute there was
a horse chestnut and now there's a chestnut horse. Girl! Girl! What a
country!"
"Is it something to ride?" whispered Marygolden, not in the least upset
by the miraculous appearance of this stunning steed. "Is it yours?"
"I belong to the Yellow Knight," trumpeted the horse, with a quick toss
of his golden mane. "Have you seen the Yellow Knight, Smallfellow?"
[Illustration: "HAVE YOU SEEN THE YELLOW KNIGHT, SMALLFELLOW?"]
"Knight!" breathed Speedy in a hushed voice. "I didn't know there were
any Knights nowadays. And listen to that, Marygolden, he's talking;
that horse is talking to us. Wait! Stop!" he called excitedly, as the
horse, wheeling round and round, showed signs of galloping off. "Wait,
I want to ask you something. How is it one moment you were a chestnut
burr, and the next moment a horse? How is it you can talk? Horses in my
country only say 'neigh'."
"Nay!" snorted the Knight's horse, pausing with one foot uplifted.
"What a stupid country yours must be. What do they do when they wish to
say yes, or answer a question?"
"Nobody asks them questions," answered Speedy, quite truthfully. "They
just tell them what to do."
"Worse and worse," whinnied the horse disapprovingly. "Why, hereabouts
all the animals can talk. You asked me how I happened to be a chestnut
burr, didn't you? Well, as to that, I think I've been enchanted, and
someone has just broken the spell."
"It was Speedy," cried Marygolden, pointing proudly to the boy. "He
threw a stone at the horse chestnut tree and knocked down the burr, and
there you were!"
"Well, in that case," mused the horse thoughtfully, "I owe you a great
debt of gratitude. You have no idea how it feels to be cooped up in a
chestnut burr. Speak up, Smallfellow, what can I do for you? What is
your name, and where are you going?"
"My name is Speedy, I'm from the United States, and would like to get
back there if I could. I found Marygolden in a cave. She was enchanted,
too, I guess, but she's all right now. Could you let us ride on your
back and help us find our way back to America?"
"That place where horses can only say 'neigh, neigh'?" questioned the
Knight's steed uneasily. "Where they are dumb as fish, and ordered
about like slaves? Nay, nay! Good turnips, Smallfellow! You have me
saying it already! Nay, an' I will not go there, but I'll tell you
what I will do," he offered generously, noticing Speedy's disappointed
expression. "I'll not go with you, but you may come with me until I
find the Yellow Knight, and perhaps he can tell you the way back to
your own country. Come! Will you go? Decide quickly for I long to
stretch my legs again." It did not take Speedy long to decide. Putting
his foot in the golden stirrup, he gave such a spring that he landed
safely in the splendid saddle of the Yellow Knight. Then he looked
doubtfully down at Marygolden.
"Can the little wench ride?" inquired the horse, beginning to prance
with impatience. "Can the little baggage stick on?"
"I can do anything Speedy can do," declared the Princess stoutly,
and mounting a tree stump she motioned imperiously for the horse to
approach.
"What's your name?" asked Speedy, as the big chestnut trotted
obligingly over to the tree stump.
"Stampedro!" cried the horse, with a joyous toss of his head. "Up with
you, maiden, and away we'll be going!" And scarcely had Marygolden
seated herself behind Speedy and clasped her arms round his waist,
before Stampedro set off at such a pace that both riders had all they
could do to hang on. To himself, Speedy pretended he was really the
Yellow Knight with long gleaming lance and gold armor. He only wished
Uncle Billy or some of the fellows could see him galloping through the
forest on this great shining steed, and though the Knight's saddle was
uncommonly hard, and the bumps and bouncing terrific, he would not have
changed places with Lindy himself. After a while Stampedro slackened
his speed, much to the relief of Marygolden, thumping up and down
behind.
"AH--HH!" snorted the Knight's horse. "'Tis fine to breathe this keen
air and feel the good earth underfoot again. It's good to be alive, and
could I see my young Master, no more would I ask."
"Was--he--en--chanted--too?" asked Speedy, quite breathless from the
jouncing he had received. "Say, why didn't I bring along that stone?
There must have been something magic about that stone, for it turned
you from a chestnut burr to a chestnut horse. And if you ask me,
there's something magic about this whole country."
"Right in both cases," agreed Stampedro amiably. "This is the Magical
Country of Oz."
"Oz!" sputtered Speedy, sitting up very straight. "Why, I've often read
about Oz, but I never thought it was really true."
"Well, what do you think now?" queried the horse, looking over his
shoulder to wink good-naturedly at Marygolden.
"It must be true," conceded the boy slowly, "for you see, we're here.
Do you know what part of Oz we're in, Stampedro?" The horse stopped
short in his tracks and thought so intently that his ears crossed and
his mane stood up and waved to and fro, but, think as he would, he
could not remember.
"It's that wretched enchantment," he wheezed crossly. "I've been a
chestnut inside of a burr so long I've forgotten everything."
"But you remembered the Yellow Knight," Marygolden reminded him softly,
"and if we find him, perhaps he can tell us where we are."
"Maybe we'd better go back and hunt that magic stone," suggested
Speedy, as Stampedro, shouldering his way through some low bushes, came
to a rushing yellow river. So far and so fast had he galloped that they
were entirely out of the forest and moving swiftly toward a pleasant
orange grove.
"Too late," sighed Stampedro, picking his way carefully along the
slippery bank of the stream. "We'd never find the place again. Besides,
I do not think my Master was enchanted. He's far too clever for such
trickery. Hello, what's this?" This was a bright yellow basket
floating merrily along with the current. "Want it?" whinnied Stampedro,
and as both his riders nodded enthusiastically he stepped daintily into
the river and lifted the basket in his teeth.
"Wonder what's in it," muttered Speedy, leaning forward eagerly to take
the basket. "Why, hurray, it's something to eat! Chicken, Marygolden!
Bread, fruit, cake, and everything! Here, have a chicken wing, and
do try this apricot." Marygolden obediently took the articles Speedy
handed to her, but she did not seem to know what to do with them.
Speedy, buried to the ears in a piece of frosted cake, looked back at
her in surprise.
"Aren't you hungry?" he asked, gulping down his great bite of cake so
fast he almost choked. "My goodness, I forgot! You don't even know how
to eat. Here, girl, watch me, and do just what I do."
"What manner of maiden is this Marygolden?" rumbled Stampedro. "A
maiden who does not eat? Is she a fairy?"
"No, she's a Princess," explained the boy, biting off a piece of
chicken leg and motioning for Marygolden to do the same with her wing.
"Like it?" he asked, as Marygolden took a thoughtful nibble.
"Mm--mm! Yes!" sighed the Princess, chewing faster and faster. "See, I
can eat just as fast as you can now!" And as both travellers were ever
so hungry, there was soon nothing left in the basket at all. Speedy had
given several apples to Stampedro and he was now finishing his lunch on
the moist river-grass, while Speedy and the Princess sampled the golden
oranges, which they could pick quite easily as the great horse walked
beneath the branches.
"You've brought us good luck already," said Speedy, looking regretfully
into the empty basket. He was about to toss it away when a sentence
stamped on the bottom caught his attention.
"'Made in Samandra'," read Speedy with a puzzled look. "I wonder where
that is? And how did this basket come to be in the river?" As a matter
of fact, the basket had tumbled from the yellow boat when Tuzzle and
his men were capturing the Comfortable Camel, but of course Speedy
could know nothing of this and continued to stare at the gay blue
letters.
"Samandra!" he repeated slowly. "What kind of a country could that be?"
"Samandra?" coughed Stampedro, stopping his eating and putting one ear
forward and one ear backward. "It seems to me I remember something
disagreeable about that place. Humph--HAH!" The Knight's horse
trumpeted so loudly and suddenly that Marygolden nearly tumbled off
backwards. "I know!" he wheezed grimly. "It's a country like that
America you were telling me about, the only country in Oz where animals
can't talk."
"Then let's keep away from there," said Speedy, for he enjoyed the
experience of a talking steed.
"But Samandra," continued the chestnut solemnly, "Samandra lies near
the country of the Yellow Knight. I remember riding through there long
ago, and being struck dumb for two days. Now why can't I remember the
name of my own country?"
"Well, if we're near one we must be near both of them," reasoned
Speedy. "And maybe there'll be some sign posts beyond this orange
grove, or somebody who can tell us where we are."
"There's somebody now," cried Marygolden, tugging Speedy's coat.
"There, on the other side of the river! Oh dear, now we shall have to
run again."
"Good golly, it's a Knight!" exclaimed Speedy, standing up in the
stirrups. "Look! Look, Stampedro, is that your Master?" Spinning round
so quickly he almost spilled both of his riders, the splendid chestnut
faced the opposite bank, his breath coming in short, smoky pants. Then
his head dropped.
"What a start you gave me, Smallfellow," he sighed reproachfully. "This
Knight wears silver armor; my Master wears gold. This Knight is old and
thin; my Master is young and hearty. No, no, it is not he." Stampedro's
head fell lower and lower until his long golden mane swept the ground,
and sorrowfully he turned away. But Speedy, nothing daunted, leaned far
out of the saddle and shouted loudly:
"Ho! Ho! Hello, Sir Knight! Can you tell me what country we are in?"
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FIVE TRAVELLERS MEET
At Speedy's lusty cry, Sir Hokus and the jester stopped running and
stared in amazement across the river.
"Come now, this is better," chuckled Peter, shading his eyes with his
hand and gazing across with lively interest at the travelers. "A page
and a Princess, or I miss my guess."
"And a horse," breathed the Knight, his eye sparkling with pleasure.
"Such a steed as I've not seen these many long years. An' they lend me
yon noble beast I'll overtake that fat camel-snatcher in no time. What
ho!" he called loudly. "Cans't lend me your horse, fellow, to catch the
greatest rascal in the country?"
"Rascal?" gulped Speedy. "Why, this sounds interesting!" And Stampedro,
being of the same mind, stepped boldly into the yellow river, swam
strongly across, and climbed up the steep bank.
"Happily met, travellers!" cried Peter Pun, throwing up his belled cap.
Then, running alongside the great charger, he stared inquisitively up
at Marygolden. "Are you, perchance, a damsel in distress?" he queried
saucily. "For know that this Knight is sworn to rescue a maid, serve a
monarch, and slay a monster. Dost wish to be rescued, maiden? Speak the
word and 'twill be done."
"I'm taking care of Marygolden," said Speedy stiffly. "I found her and
brought her to life, and she's going back to America with me."
"America!" boomed Sir Hokus, striding closer. "Art from America, young
man? And this horse--is he from America, too?"
"Oh, no, no, no! We found him in the forest. Tell them about it,
Stampedro," begged the boy, who wanted to do nothing but feast his
eyes on the Knight's sword and armor. With a toss of his flying mane,
Stampedro began to speak, but a long shrill neigh was the best he could
manage. Terrified and dismayed, he reared and plunged, and had not Sir
Hokus seized his bit, Speedy and Marygolden would have sailed over his
head.
"Steady now! Steady! What means this?" puffed the Knight, stroking the
glossy neck soothingly.
"I know! I know!" Speedy stood straight up in the stirrups. "It means
we're in Samandra, that country where animals cannot talk. Don't you
care!" he whispered consolingly in the great chestnut steed's ear. "You
can still hear, can't you?" Stampedro nodded his head to show that
he could. "Well, then," continued Speedy, "cheer up, for if we're in
Samandra we must be near the Kingdom of your Master. Can you tell us
anything about the Yellow Knight?" asked Speedy, sliding down from the
saddle and staring earnestly up at Sir Hokus. "This grand horse belongs
to the Yellow Knight of Oz, but he's been enchanted for years and
years. He was a horse chestnut till I flung a stone at the tree, and
then he turned into a real chestnut horse."
"Enchantments! Still more enchantments. Odds helmets and hauberks!"
stuttered Sir Hokus, falling back against a tree and forgetting all
about Camy for the moment. "Odds helmets and hauberks! It must have
been the same stone that restored Peter. Dids't pick up the stone in
yonder forest, my boy?"
"Hey bowstrings and fiddles, they're talking in riddles,
But, Hokus, take heed, I remember that steed!"
"Hast ever seen me before, good horse?" inquired Peter Pun, capering
close to the pawing charger. Stampedro, after a close look at the
jester, nodded emphatically.
"Well, what do you know about that?" mused Speedy, gazing from one to
the other.
"What you _you_ know about it?" demanded Peter Pun, turning a
somersault and coming top side up under Speedy's very nose.
"Well," sighed the boy, "everything's so mixed up and strange, I hardly
know what to think. But you all seem to belong together somehow,"
he continued seriously, "you and this Knight and Stampedro. Even
Marygolden," he added reluctantly. "But I don't see how you can all be
alive to-day."
"Why not to-day as well as yesterday, why not yesterday as well as
to-morrow?" queried Peter Pun blandly, sitting down cross-legged in
the grass.
"Because in our part of the world," persisted Speedy in a puzzled
voice, "Knights and jesters lived ages and ages ago and now they're all
dead."
"What a country!" groaned Peter, toppling over backwards. "Why, we're
all ages in Oz and no one ever dies at all. Have you no Kings, Knights,
jesters, wizards, or enchantments where you come from? A dreadful place
it must be."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," answered Speedy quickly. "We have motors and
airplanes and speed boats and inventors. My uncle's an inventor," he
finished proudly, "and that's almost the same as a wizard."
"Quite true," observed Sir Hokus, as Peter Pun shook his head
dubiously. "I've heard much about this America from Dorothy and the
little mortal maids at the castle; also from a Philadelphia boy who
sometimes comes to Oz and visits us in the Emerald City."
"Do _you_ live in the Emerald City?" asked Speedy in a hushed voice,
while Marygolden regarded the Knight with round eyes.
"To be sure, to be sure. Let me introduce myself," smiled the Knight.
"I am Sir Hokus of Pokes, bound upon a quest in search of adventure.
This is Peter Pun, a jester, just released from an enchantment. We're
both pursuing a fat rogue in a yellow boat who villainously dragged
off the Comfortable Camel. But tell me, how came you to Oz, and what
happened in yonder forest?"
"Plenty," sighed Speedy, leaning up to pat Stampedro on the nose. "I've
been about everywhere and everything since morning, even a King."
"You're still a King," piped Peter Pun, chewing a long blade of grass,
and when Speedy shook his head the jester still insisted.
"Admit that you're thin-king this very minute of all the adventures
you've been having. Hah, ho! Shall we pause and listen, Sir Knight,
or fare forth and pursue? I confess to a great curiosity concerning
these travellers. Let them tell their strange story. We also will tell
ours, then together we will resume the chase and rescue our unfortunate
friend."
"Good!" decided the Knight. "Methinks there is more mystery here!" and
helping Marygolden from her high perch on Stampedro's back, he seated
her under an orange tree, and throwing himself on the grass beside her
begged Speedy to tell his story. This Speedy was quite willing to do,
for when one has had astonishing experiences there is nothing quite so
satisfactory as telling about them. Sir Hokus and the jester listened
spellbound to his exciting ride in the Skyrocket, his reception in
Subterranea, the curious way he had discovered Marygolden and the
miraculous coming to life of the little Princess. Their trip up in
the parashuter astonished his listeners no less, and Speedy's trials
and tribulations as King of the Quix made the Knight and Peter laugh
uproariously. But when he came to the finding of the magic stone in the
forest, and the disenchantment of Stampedro, Sir Hokus grew grave and
thoughtful.
"Of this bewitching little Princess," sighed the Knight, "I can tell
you nothing. But this gallant charger----" he waved his sword at
Stampedro, who was quietly grazing a little distance away, "this
charger evidently belongs to the King of the Golden Castle."
"What ho!" cried the jester. "Our quest progresses. We now have a King
to serve and all we need is a damsel and a dragon."
"I'll serve Marygolden an' she will let me," said Sir Hokus, smiling
kindly at Speedy's Princess. As Marygolden, with a quaint curtsey, was
acknowledging the honor, Peter, peering between two trees, let out an
ear-splitting screech.