Flying in a Deluge
"Let's find Dorothy," shouted Bob. It was necessary to shout, for
Nick's snores rattled in their ears like a series of explosions. The
Cowardly Lion and Notta looked doubtfully at each other. They were not
sure that Mustafa's magic ring would allow them to proceed toward the
Emerald City.
"We'll try it," shouted Notta. "Which way is it?"
"I don't know," roared the Cowardly Lion. "Let's fly up and look around
till I see a familiar landmark. So Notta pressed all the buttons
necessary to start the bus, and up they went with such a rush that Bob
almost lost his cap and the Cowardly Lion's mane waved like a flag.
Bob put both fingers in his ears, for with Nick's snores and the whir
of the feather wheels the noise was deafening. When they were about a
hundred feet above ground, Notta slowed the bus down and ran it gently
and evenly over the pleasant blue fields and forests of the Munchkins.
Bob, slipping into the seat beside Snorer, put his nose, which had
fallen off his ear, back on its hook. Immediately Snorer awoke and
stamped his foot, but in a wink he was asleep again and Bob watched in
open-eyed wonder, for snoring in his own ear wakened him about every
three minutes, and when he wakened he stamped, so that between snoring
and stamping the noise was worse than ever.
"I wish our friend was not such a loud sleeper," growled the Cowardly
Lion. "I can't even hear my own heart beat. Say, was that thunder or
Snorer?"
"Thunder," quavered Notta anxiously. "See how dark it's growing! Let's
go down!"
"It's raining," cried Bob Up in the same breath.
Notta touched the button marked "Faster," and was about to press the
one marked "Down," when a blinding flash of lightning zig-zagged across
their path. The Cowardly Lion, with a roar of terror, dashed under
the last seat of the bus, dragging Notta with him. In his clutch to
save himself the clown pressed the button marked "Turn," so that the
Flyaboutabus not only increased its speed but churned 'round and 'round
till the four occupants were almost knocked senseless. To make matters
worse, the rain came down in perfect torrents.
Snorer, awakened by the awful clamor, put his wing around Bob and
clutched the arm of the seat with his curling claws. Even so they were
shaken up and down till Bob's teeth chattered and nearly drowned by the
storm. Notta and the Cowardly Lion in the bottom of the bus were faring
even worse. Every time the clown scrambled to his feet, the Cowardly
Lion, terrified by a new flash of lightning, would spring in another
direction and, tied to him by the stout rope, Notta would be dragged
along.
"Help! Help! I'm drowning," gurgled Notta after the eighth fall. A
sudden flash of lightning showed Snorer that the Flyaboutabus was more
than half full of water, and Notta lying entirely immersed.
"Bob," cried Nick, "can you hold on a minute by yourself?" Bob nodded
his head and with closed eyes grasped the side of the bus. He did not
dare open his eyes, for flying in a circle had made him dreadfully
dizzy.
Snorer sidled cautiously to the edge of the seat and with a little
spring jumped on the Cowardly Lion's back. The big beast was trembling
like a runaway race horse, and the beating of his heart shook Snorer
up and down. But holding on to his mane with one claw, he felt about
in the water till his other one fastened in the belt of Notta's baggy
suit. Then he pulled with all his might till, dripping and breathless,
the poor clown lay across the Cowardly Lion's back.
"Climb on the seat," directed Nick sternly. "Do you want to drown the
most beautiful person in Oz?" With shaking legs the Cowardly Lion
obeyed, Nick holding Notta safely in place, and when they were both
on the seat he begged the lion, with tears in his eyes, to control
himself. The Cowardly Lion, catching a glimpse of poor Notta, and
realizing for the first time what he had done, wept with embarrassment.
"This is what comes of being tied to a coward," he roared dismally,
"but someone clapped me on the back."
"It was a thunderclap," chattered Snorer. "Just close your eyes and
hang together, and Bob and I will do the same." Hastily he flew back
to the little boy, who was rolling and slipping around on the wet seat.
Notta, wise from past experiences, fastened his arms tightly around the
Cowardly Lion's neck.
"Divided we fall, together we stand," he panted weakly. "If you're
going to jump give me a signal, won't you?" The Cowardly Lion made
no answer but just dug his claws into the seat and closed his eyes
tighter. The wind whistled shrilly in their ears, the rain pelted
mercilessly upon their heads and the bus tumbled and tossed through the
air like a rudderless ship.
Suddenly Snorer, who was less affected by the motion of the bus than
the others, felt water on his feet.
"Somebody bail out the boat," he shrieked in real terror, "it's
sinking!" And so it was. The feather wheels, wet and draggled by
the rain, moved slower and slower, and the bus was now so full of
water that every time it lurched sideways the luckless voyagers were
submerged. It was like flying in a very deep and dangerous tub.
"I never expected to be drowned in the air," screamed Notta. "Shall we
jump overboard?"
"Do you want to be dashed to pieces?" shouted Nick in reply. "Hold on
to the sides." He called more directions, but the fury of the storm
drowned even his shrill voice, and each found he had enough to do to
keep from being washed over the edge. The water rose higher and higher
and the bus sank lower and lower. With eyes closed, and only their
heads above water, the four clung grimly to the feathery edges. When
the bus finally struck the ground it did so with such force that they
all let go and fell back into the water. The Cowardly Lion sprang out
first, pulling Notta along with him. Then, realizing Bob was still
struggling in the water, he impulsively sprang back, seized the little
boy in his teeth and jumped out again. A shout from Snorer made him
pause. Notta was bumping along on the end of the rope like a big bag of
clothes.
"You've killed him," wailed Nick angrily. But just then, with a watery
sigh, the clown opened his eyes. Immediately he began fumbling in his
chest pocket. "What are you trying to do?" screamed Snorer.
"My disguise," choked the clown. "I must put on my disguise--first
disguise, then joke and run, you know!"
"You don't need any disguise," wailed the Cowardly Lion remorsefully.
"You look like almost anyone."
"I feel the same way," coughed the clown. "Am I dashed or drowned or
both?"
"Neither," croaked Snorer sorrowfully. "Only tied to a very forgetful
friend." The disguises, concealed in various parts of Notta's apparel,
were dragged down in disfiguring lumps about his knees. There were
four bumps on his forehead and one was coming on the back of his head.
Bob, though shivering and wet, was otherwise unhurt, so he and Nick
helped Notta to the Cowardly Lion's back, and, dripping and shaken,
the air-wrecked party started toward a little hut near which they had
fallen.
"Where's the Fallaboutabus?" muttered Notta thickly, as the Cowardly
Lion stumbled over the sill.
"I don't care where it is," groaned the lion. "I hope it's busted. I'm
against flying in all its branches." He dropped panting on the hearth,
and Notta did not even move from his back. The hut evidently belonged
to some thrifty woodcutter. It was quite neat and comfortable and there
was a fire all ready to light.
Bob, feeling very important, started a cheerful blaze, and though
the rain still rattled on the roof, inside it was quite cozy and
comfortable. Notta, with Bob's help, took out all of his disguises, and
the three that had already been used he hung out in full view. But the
clown was so down-hearted when Bob started to shake out the others,
and seemed to attach so much importance to keeping them secret, that
Snorer, without unrolling them, carried them into the next room and
hung them on hooks to dry. Notta was quite thin and fallen without
them, but when his suit had dried and he had powdered his nose with
some of the woodcutter's flour he felt quite restored, and it was not
until then that he discovered his feathers were gone. With a little
shout he looked at the Cowardly Lion and Bob.
"We've all shed our feathers," he cried exultantly. "They must have
washed away." The Cowardly Lion was so pleased that he jumped for joy,
and started to run and look in the woodcutter's mirror, upsetting Notta
as usual.
"It's because you're no longer unish," explained Snorer wisely, as
Notta scrambled to his feet and hastened to accompany the lion to the
mirror. "When you both stopped planning unwise and unfair things the
feathers just naturally dropped out, and Bob's followed suit, for there
isn't an unish bone in that boy's body," continued Snorer, rolling
his eyes knowingly. "And now that we've all decided to stick together
everything will be as happy as possible."
"We don't stick together very well," sighed the Cowardly Lion, hanging
his head. "Did I hurt you, Notta, old fellow?"
"Not much," said the clown, "but I'll have to use more padding if
you are going to be so impetuous." Being tied to a Cowardly Lion was
proving even worse than he had expected. The Cowardly Lion himself felt
uncomfortable and ill at ease.
"See here," he rumbled, as they gathered round the fire again, "I think
we had better separate. I'll go on to Mudge and you three go to the
Emerald City for help."
"No," objected Notta, wrinkling his poor bumped forehead, "let's stick
together a bit longer, for I don't know the way to the Emerald City,
and the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions might tear you
to pieces before we got back. Traveling in this country is dreadfully
uncertain. Why, we don't even know where we are now!"
"But the sun's out," cried Bob, running to the window. "Let's see if
the Flyaboutabus is still around." The Cowardly Lion started at once
to run toward the door, but Notta, with a flying leap jumped on his
back and thus avoided another fall. The bus was full of water, but the
feather wheels, already somewhat drier, were slowly revolving. As they
drew nearer the bus began to run 'round in circles, spraying water in
every direction.
"I'll stop it," volunteered Snorer and, swooping down over the wheel,
quickly pushed the button marked "Stop." Then Notta and the Cowardly
Lion, shoving with all their strength, turned the huge bus over on its
side so the water could run out. After this they went back to the hut
to fetch the clown's disguises, and then they all sat down under a tree
and waited for the bus to dry.
Just beyond a little fringe of trees they could see the roofs of a
small city, and Snorer, sensibly enough, proposed that they run the
bus into the city and inquire of its inhabitants just where they
were. "Though as far as I can make out," finished Nick, "if we move
toward Mudge all will be well, but if we take any other direction this
beautiful person," he pointed his claw at Notta, "will turn blue."
"Regular signals, aren't we, Bob?" The clown thoughtlessly turned a
handspring, but the short rope spoiled it and the Cowardly Lion was
quite choked.
"We don't twin very well, old fellow, do we?" sighed Notta. "But let's
see which is the way to Mudge, for it seems that to Mudge we must
trudge."
Hopping on the Cowardly Lion's back he waved him to the left, but at
the first step both Notta and Bob turned quite blue.
"Try the right," suggested the clown, pulling the lion's right ear. So
the Cowardly Lion pranced to the right, but had not gone a dozen steps
before Bob and Notta were bluer than ever.
"Back!" directed Notta, swinging around and seizing the lion's tail.
But their blueness only increased.
"Straight ahead then," cried Notta, standing up and waving his arms.
So the Cowardly Lion obligingly trotted a few paces straight ahead, and
as Bob and the clown promptly turned back to their natural complexions,
they concluded that straight ahead was the road to Mudge.
Bob could hardly help feeling pleased that it also led toward the
strange city, for Bob was very curious about Oz and its singular
peoples, and the little fellow was enjoying every minute of his
adventures. Even the wreck and the thunderstorm had given him a new
kind of thrill.
"We must all think of a way to outwit Mustafa," said Notta, as they
took their places in the Flyaboutabus. "But until we do I shall simply
follow my usual rules." So saying, he untied, for a moment, the rope
that bound him to the Cowardly Lion and stepped into another of his
disguises. This was almost the strangest of the lot. It covered him
all but the feet, and in place of their jolly companion stood a huge
goggle-eyed fish. The fish skin buttoned down the front, and Notta's
arms protruded under the fins, but he was unable to sit down. This,
however, he bore quite cheerfully and, standing up very straight and
stiff, seized the wheel of the Flyaboutabus, pressed the button marked
"Go," and away they did go in a series of bumps and bounces, for the
feathery vehicle could not seem to keep its wheels on the ground.
[Illustration: NOTTA DISGUISED AS A HUGE FISH]
"Too bad you did not put on that rig during the storm," chuckled Nick,
hanging on with both claws. "Then you could have swum to earth. But
what good is it now?"
"Just you wait," promised Notta confidently. "When these people,
whoever they are, see a fish walking about on dry land, they will do
just as I ask them to. You see!" Nick looked rather nervous as he
adjusted his nose, and the Cowardly Lion shook his head doubtfully.
"But he cannot help his disguises any more than Nick can help his
snoring, or I, my cowardice," whispered the big beast huskily to Bob.
Bob Up said nothing, but he always felt uncomfortable when Notta put on
one of his queer costumes. The bus was bouncing and jerking so crazily
that conversation was now impossible. As they came nearer and nearer
to the strange city, it became at once apparent that it was unlike any
city or town any of them had ever seen or visited. Even the Cowardly
Lion, old Oz adventurer that he was and accustomed to unusual sights
and places, gave a snort of surprise as the Flyaboutabus rushed through
the glittering glass gates.