DOROTHY AND HER GUARDIANS MEET NEW FRIENDS
While all these exciting things were happening to the poor Scarecrow,
Dorothy, Sir Hokus and the Cowardly Lion had been having adventures
of their own. For three days, they had wandered through a deserted
part of the Winkie Country, subsisting largely on berries, sleeping
under trees, and looking in vain for a road to lead them back to the
Emerald City. On the second day, they had encountered an ancient
woodsman, too old and deaf to give them any information. He did,
however, invite them into his hut and give them a good dinner and a
dozen sandwiches to carry away with them.
"But, oh, for a good old pasty!" sighed Sir Hokus late on the third
afternoon as they finished the last of the crumbly sandwiches.
"Do you know," said Dorothy, looking through the straggly fields and
woods ahead, "I believe we've been going in the wrong direction
again."
"Again!" choked the Cowardly Lion. "You mean still. I've been in a
good many parts of Oz, but this--this is the worst."
"Not even one little dragon!" Sir Hokus shook his head mournfully.
Then, seeing that Dorothy was tired and discouraged, he pretended to
strum on a guitar and sang in his high-pitched voice:
A rusty Knight in steel bedite
And Lady Dot, so fair,
Sir Lion bold, with mane of gold
And might besides to spa--ha--hare!
And might beside to spare!
The dauntless three, a company
Of wit and bravery are,
Who seek the valiant Scarecrow man,
Who seek him near and fa--har--har,
Who seek him near and fa--har!
"Oh, I like that!" cried Dorothy, jumping up and giving Sir Hokus a
little squeeze. "Only you should have said trusty Knight."
The Cowardly Lion shook his golden mane. "Let's do a little
reconnoitering, Hokus," he said carelessly. He felt he must live up
to the song somehow. "Perhaps we'll find a sign."
"I don't believe in signs anymore," laughed Dorothy, "but I'm coming
too." Sir Hokus' song had cheered them all, and it wasn't the first
time the Knight had helped make the best of a tiresome journey.
"The air seemeth to grow very hot," observed Sir Hokus after they had
walked along silently for a time. "Hast noticed it, Sir Cowardly?"
"No, but I've swallowed some of it," coughed the Cowardly Lion,
looking suspiciously through the trees.
"I'll just step forward and see what it is," said the Knight. As he
disappeared, the truth dawned on Dorothy.
"Wait! Wait! Don't go! Please, please, Sir Hokus, come back, come
back!" cried the little girl, running after him as fast as she could.
"What's the matter?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion, thudding behind her.
Then both, coming suddenly out of the woods, gave a terrible scream,
which so startled Sir Hokus that he fell over backwards. Just in
time, too, for another step would have taken him straight on to the
Deadly Desert, which destroys every living thing and keeps all
intruders away from Oz.
"What befell?" puffed Sir Hokus, getting to his feet. Naturally, he
knew nothing of the poisonous sands.
"You did," wheezed the Cowardly Lion in an agitated voice.
"Was it a dragon?" asked the Knight, limping toward them hopefully.
"Sit down!" The Cowardly Lion mopped his brow with his tail. "One
step on that desert and it would have been one long goodnight."
"I should say it would!" shuddered Dorothy, and explained to Sir
Hokus the deadly nature of the sands. "And do you know what this
means?" Dorothy was nearer to tears than even I like to think about.
"It means we've come in exactly the wrong direction and are farther
away from the Emerald City than we were when we started."
"And seek him near and fa--hah--har," mumbled Sir Hokus with a very
troubled light in his kindly blue eyes.
"And seek him near and far."
"Fah--har--har! I should say it was," said the Cowardly Lion
bitterly. "But you needn't sing it."
"No, I s'pose not. Uds helmets and hauberks! I s'pose not!" The
Knight lapsed into a discouraged silence, and all three sat and
stared drearily at the stretch of desert before them and thought
gloomily of the rough country behind.
"It's a caravan," wheezed a hoarse voice.
"I doubt that, Camy, I doubt it very much." The shrill nasal voices
so startled the three travelers that they swung about in
astonishment.
"Great dates and deserts!" burst out the Cowardly Lion, jumping up.
And on the whole, this exclamation was entirely suitable, for ambling
toward them were a long-legged camel and a wobbly-necked dromedary.
"At last! A steed!" cried the Knight, bounding to his feet.
"I doubt that." The dromedary stopped and looked at him coldly.
"Try me," said the camel amiably. "I'm more comfortable."
"I doubt that, too."
"The doubtful dromedary wept,
As o'er the desert sands he stept,
Association with the sphinx
Has made him doubtful, so he thinks!"
chortled the Knight with his head on one side.
"How did you know?" asked the Dromedary, opening his eyes wide.
"It just occurred to me," admitted Sir Hokus, clearing his throat
modestly.
"I doubt that. Somebody told you," said the Doubtful Dromedary
bitterly.
"Pon my honor," said Sir Hokus.
"I doubt it, I doubt it very much," persisted the Dromedary, wagging
his head sorrowfully.
"You seem to doubt everything!" Dorothy laughed in spite of herself,
and the Dromedary regarded her sulkily.
"He does," said the Camel. "It makes him very doubtful company. Now,
I like to be comfortable and happy, and you can't be if you're always
doubting things and people and places. Eh, my dear?"
"Where did you comfortable and doubtful parties come from?" asked the
Cowardly Lion. "Strangers here?"
"Well, yes," admitted the Camel, nibbling the branch of a tree.
"There was a terrific sandstorm, and after blowing and blowing and
blowing, we found ourselves in this little wood. The odd part of it
is that you talk in our language. Never knew a two-leg to understand
a word of Camelia before."
"You're not talking Camelia, you're talking Ozish," laughed Dorothy.
"All animals can talk here."
"Well, now, that's very comfortable, I must say," sighed the Camel,
"and if you'd just tell me where to go, it would be more comfortable
still."
"I doubt that," snapped the Dromedary. "They're no caravan."
"Where do you want to go?" asked the Cowardly Lion, ignoring the
Doubtful Dromedary.
"Anywhere, just so we keep moving. We're used to being told when to
start and stop, and life is mighty lonely without our Karwan Bashi,"
sighed the Comfortable Camel.
"Why, I didn't know you smoked!" exclaimed Dorothy in surprise. She
thought the camel was referring to a brand of tobacco.
"He means his camel driver," whispered Sir Hokus, eyeing the soft,
pillowed seat on the camel's back longingly. Besides the seat, great
sacks and bales of goods hung from its sides. The Doubtful Dromedary
was similarly loaded.
"Goodness!" exclaimed Dorothy. A sudden idea had struck her. "You
haven't anything to eat in those sacks, have you?"
"Plenty, my child--plenty!" answered the Camel calmly.
"Three cheers for the Comfortable Camel!" roared the Cowardly Lion,
while Sir Hokus, following the camel's directions, carefully
unfastened a large, woven basket from one of the sacks on its side.
"You may be my Karwan Bashi," announced the Comfortable Camel
judiciously as Sir Hokus paused for breath.
"Hear that, Lady Dot?" Sir Hokus swept the camel a bow and fairly
beamed with pleasure. Dorothy, meanwhile, had set out an appetizing
repast on a small, rocky ledge--a regular feast, it appeared to the
hungry travelers. There were loaves of black bread, figs, dates,
cheese, and a curious sort of dried meat which the Cowardly Lion
swallowed in great quantities.
"Isn't this cozy?" said Dorothy, forgetting the long, weary way
ahead. "My, I'm glad we met you!"
"Very comforting to us, too, my dear," said the Camel, swaying
complacently. "Isn't it, Doubty?"
"There are some silk cushions in my right-hand saddle sack, but I
doubt very much whether you'll like 'em," mumbled the Dromedary
gruffly.
"Out with them!" cried Sir Hokus, pouncing on the Doubtful Dromedary,
and in a minute each of the party had a cushion and was as snug as
possible.
"Could anything have been more fortunate?" exulted the Knight. "We
can now resume our journey properly mounted."
"I think I'll ride the Cowardly Lion," said Dorothy, looking uneasily
at the high seat on the camel's back. "Let's start before it grows
any darker."
They had eaten to heart's content, and now, packing up the remainder
of the feast, the little party made ready to start.
Sir Hokus, using the Cowardly Lion as a footstool, mounted the camel,
and then Dorothy climbed on her old friend's back, and the little
caravan moved slowly through the forest.
"There's a tent in my left-hand saddle sack, but I doubt very much
whether you can put it up," said the Doubtful Dromedary, falling in
behind the Comfortable Camel. "I doubt it very much indeed."
"How now, what means this doubting?" called Sir Hokus from his
perilous seat. "I'll pitch it when the time comes."
"Mind you don't pitch out when the Camel goes!" called the Cowardly
Lion, who would have his little joke. Sir Hokus, to tell the truth,
was feeling tossed about and dizzy, but he was too polite to mention
the fact. As they proceeded, Dorothy told the Comfortable Camel all
about the Scarecrow and Oz.
An occasional word jolted down from above told her that the Knight
was singing. They had gone possibly a mile when Dorothy pointed in
excitement to a road just ahead.
"We must have missed it before! Wait, I'll see what it's like."
Jumping down from the Cowardly Lion's back, she peered curiously at
the narrow, tree-lined path. "Why, here's a sign!"
"What of?" asked the Comfortable Camel, lurching forward eagerly and
nearly unseating the Knight.
W I S H W A Y
read Dorothy in a puzzled voice.
"Looks like a pretty good road," said the Comfortable Camel,
squinting up its eyes.
"I doubt it, Camy, I doubt it very much," said the Doubtful Dromedary
tremulously.
"What does my dear Karwan Bashi think?" asked the Comfortable Camel,
looking adoringly back at the Knight.
"It is unwise to go back when the journey lieth forward," said the
Knight, and immediately returned to his song. So, single file, the
little company turned in at the narrow path, the Comfortable Camel
advancing with timid steps and the Doubtful Dromedary bobbing his
head dubiously.