...AND HE SHOWS THEM PEARLY WHITES
As the little group, together with a party of five of the Saber-Toothed
Light-Bulbs, turned a bend in the road, they came upon a huge dried sea
bed. They could see for miles, and there was not a soul in sight.
"I think we're in uncharted territory," remarked Elephant, peering into
the distance. "I don't remember anyone ever mentioning this. But it
looks safe enough to cross. No more unpleasant surprises, I'm sure."
At that moment a deep disembodied voice said, "Dinnah iss serffed,
laddies and lassies, pliss shtep oop to da table."
Everyone turned around to see who was speaking, but could see no one.
Suddenly, several mounds of sand that they had not noticed before began
to quiver and slowly rise a couple of feet above the ground. The mounds
shook themselves and the sand fell off to reveal about fifty _Great
White Sharks_. They were not suspended above the ground as it first
seemed, but were supported with legs like an alligator.
This was a frightening scene to behold, as you can well imagine. And
when their leader approached our heroes, he repeated the words "Dinnah
iss serffed," and licked his lips with anticipation.
He spoke again in that very strange accent, this time addressing
Elephant: "Vatt iss a madder vi' chew? You nebber seen land sharks
'afore?"
"N-N-N-No, w-w-w-we h-h-h-haven't," stuttered Elephant.
"Habben chew?" the leader said, winking at his friends. "Den ah vill
share some knowletch vi' chew to take vi' chew to da hereafter. (The
other sharks roared with laughter at this). Ven our ocean dried oop
millons off yearss ago, all da fishies died, includen uss sharks--except
for two, zat iss. Undt dare chilluns ver born vi' liddle leggies. Ve
arrda descendants off dose two, undt ve haff effolved over da yearss to
our present selfs. Fully adapted to da land. Undt ve haff kept alive all
deess yearss on a steady diet off hunsuspecting helaffant. So vat chew
'tink 'bout zat?"
"N-n-not t-t-too m-m-much," answered Elephant in a high pitched voice.
"I-I mean, I d-d-d-don't know wh-what t-to think."
"Tell chew vat ve do," said the shark. "Chew seem like nice a guyss. Ve
no eat chew tonight. Ve eat chew tomorrow--fer break'ast."
[Illustration: Land Sharks]
All the sharks laughed uproariously, whereupon they surrounded our
heroes and promptly lay back down in the sand and went to sleep.
"Well," said Watts. "This is a fine how-do-you-do. But I don't think we
have to worry about these guys too much. I seriously doubt they could
eat glass, so we can protect the rest of you." He smiled a very sharp
toothy smile. "Besides, they seem to be very lazy. It isn't like they've
enclosed us in a cage or anything like that. What's to stop us from
simply slipping out between two of them and walking away?"
"Ahh am," came a rumbling voice. "Ahh am ze vatchman uff ze Land Sharks.
But chew do have a point. Ve cannot eat glass. Ve can break it, but ve
can't eat it. Chew are uff no value to us. Ve vill only be able to eat
ze meat creatchures. Chew that are a made from glass may go."
Watts and his friends made their most ferocious faces at the Land
Sharks. "You will allow us all to go!" said Watts to the Shark. "You
will not hold any of us back! Besides, we have with us the Queen of Oz.
Your own Queen, for crying out loud!"
"Chew does have some pretty teeth, don' chew?" said the watchman. "But I
am not afraid of chew, zo chew should leave now. I do not know chust
'zactly vat a queen might be, but I am sure that it iss delissious."
"We do not have time for this," hooted Lisa. "We are on an important
mission to save the Lunechien Forest of Oz from a gigantic Forest
Monster, and you had better not hold us back! The Forest Monster is
already bigger than the lot of you, and he will come for you sooner or
later if you don't let us stop him!"
"Vorest Monzter?" echoed the great shark.
"That's what I said," replied Lisa angrily.
"Chust vat iss ze Vorest Monzter made uff?" asked the shark.
"Er, I don't know. Whatever monsters are usually made of," answered the
female owl. "Flesh and blood, I guess."
"Und he iss ass big ass chew zay he iss?" asked the shark.
"Probably bigger by now," put in Tweaty, realizing what was happening.
"Zen ve shall eat ziss Vorest Monzter!" said the shark. "Ve shall eat
him 'til he iss only bones!"
Lisa was not entirely sure the Forest Monster had any bones, as she
suspected that spiders had exoskeletons instead, but she saw no reason
to bring this up at the moment. "Then you really don't need us. It is
against the laws of the jungle to kill more than you can eat, and the
Forest Monster will easily tide you over for a good long time."
Ozma was not quite happy with the way things were turning out. She was
not an advocate of killing at all. The thought of her willingly placing
one of her subjects--even one so wicked as the Forest Monster--in mortal
danger was a hard pill for her to swallow. Still, this development had
apparently removed the threat to her own hide. "Then we shall be on our
way," she said. "I will wish you a good night."
The shark thanked her and, having no one left that he had to guard,
settled down to sleep among his fellows.
"This is odd," said Ozma as the group continued on its way. "We set out
to rid ourselves of the Forest Monster, and now I feel inclined to find
him so that we can warn him of his pending danger."
"You are kidding, aren't you?" asked Watts.
Ozma only looked solemnly at the ground and kept walking.