Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
the presence of the strangers; but then he stopped abruptly. There was
no expression of either fear or surprise upon his tranquil face, yet he
must have been both astonished and afraid; for after his eyes had rested
upon the ungainly form of the horse for a moment he walked rapidly to
the furthest edge of the roof, his head turned back over his shoulder to
gaze at the strange animal.
"Look out!" cried Dorothy, who noticed that the beautiful man did not
look where he was going; "be careful, or you'll fall off!"
But he paid no attention to her warning. He reached the edge of the tall
roof, stepped one foot out into the air, and walked into space as calmly
as if he were on firm ground.
The girl, greatly astonished, ran to lean over the edge of the roof, and
saw the man walking rapidly through the air toward the ground. Soon he
reached the street and disappeared through a glass doorway into one of
the glass buildings.
"How strange!" she exclaimed, drawing a long breath.
"Yes; but it's lots of fun, if it _is_ strange," remarked the small
voice of the kitten, and Dorothy turned to find her pet walking in the
air a foot or so away from the edge of the roof.
"Come back, Eureka!" she called, in distress, "you'll certainly be
killed."
"I have nine lives," said the kitten, purring softly as it walked around
in a circle and then came back to the roof; "but I can't lose even one
of them by falling in this country, because I really couldn't manage to
fall if I wanted to."
"Does the air bear up your weight?" asked the girl.
"Of course; can't you see?" and again the kitten wandered into the air
and back to the edge of the roof.
"It's wonderful!" said Dorothy.
"Suppose we let Eureka go down to the street and get some one to help
us," suggested Zeb, who had been even more amazed than Dorothy at these
strange happenings.
"Perhaps we can walk on the air ourselves," replied the girl.
Zeb drew back with a shiver.
"I wouldn't dare try," he said.
"May be Jim will go," continued Dorothy, looking at the horse.
"And may be he won't!" answered Jim. "I've tumbled through the air long
enough to make me contented on this roof."
"But we didn't tumble to the roof," said the girl; "by the time we
reached here we were floating very slowly, and I'm almost sure we could
float down to the street without getting hurt. Eureka walks on the air
all right."
"Eureka weighs only about half a pound," replied the horse, in a
scornful tone, "while I weigh about half a ton."
"You don't weigh as much as you ought to, Jim," remarked the girl,
shaking her head as she looked at the animal. "You're dreadfully
skinny."
"Oh, well; I'm old," said the horse, hanging his head despondently, "and
I've had lots of trouble in my day, little one. For a good many years I
drew a public cab in Chicago, and that's enough to make anyone skinny."
"He eats enough to get fat, I'm sure," said the boy, gravely.
"Do I? Can you remember any breakfast that I've had today?" growled Jim,
as if he resented Zeb's speech.
"None of us has had breakfast," said the boy; "and in a time of danger
like this it's foolish to talk about eating."
"Nothing is more dangerous than being without food," declared the horse,
with a sniff at the rebuke of his young master; "and just at present no
one can tell whether there are any oats in this queer country or not. If
there are, they are liable to be glass oats!"
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I can see plenty of nice gardens and
fields down below us, at the edge of this city. But I wish we could find
a way to get to the ground."
"Why don't you walk down?" asked Eureka. "I'm as hungry as the horse is,
and I want my milk."
"Will you try it, Zeb" asked the girl, turning to her companion.
Zeb hesitated. He was still pale and frightened, for this dreadful
adventure had upset him and made him nervous and worried. But he did not
wish the little girl to think him a coward, so he advanced slowly to the
edge of the roof.
Dorothy stretched out a hand to him and Zeb put one foot out and let it
rest in the air a little over the edge of the roof. It seemed firm
enough to walk upon, so he took courage and put out the other foot.
Dorothy kept hold of his hand and followed him, and soon they were both
walking through the air, with the kitten frisking beside them.
"Come on, Jim!" called the boy. "It's all right."
Jim had crept to the edge of the roof to look over, and being a sensible
horse and quite experienced, he made up his mind that he could go where
the others did. So, with a snort and a neigh and a whisk of his short
tail he trotted off the roof into the air and at once began floating
downward to the street. His great weight made him fall faster than the
children walked, and he passed them on the way down; but when he came to
the glass pavement he alighted upon it so softly that he was not even
jarred.
"Well, well!" said Dorothy, drawing a long breath, "What a strange
country this is."
People began to come out of the glass doors to look at the new arrivals,
and pretty soon quite a crowd had assembled. There were men and women,
but no children at all, and the folks were all beautifully formed and
attractively dressed and had wonderfully handsome faces. There was not
an ugly person in all the throng, yet Dorothy was not especially pleased
by the appearance of these people because their features had no more
expression than the faces of dolls. They did not smile nor did they
frown, or show either fear or surprise or curiosity or friendliness.
They simply stared at the strangers, paying most attention to Jim and
Eureka, for they had never before seen either a horse or a cat and the
children bore an outward resemblance to themselves.
Pretty soon a man joined the group who wore a glistening star in the
dark hair just over his forehead. He seemed to be a person of authority,
for the others pressed back to give him room. After turning his composed
eyes first upon the animals and then upon the children he said to Zeb,
who was a little taller than Dorothy:
"Tell me, intruder, was it you who caused the Rain of Stones?"
For a moment the boy did not know what he meant by this question. Then,
remembering the stones that had fallen with them and passed them long
before they had reached this place, he answered:
"No, sir; we didn't cause anything. It was the earthquake."
The man with the star stood for a time quietly thinking over this
speech. Then he asked:
"What is an earthquake?"
"I don't know," said Zeb, who was still confused. But Dorothy, seeing
his perplexity, answered:
"It's a shaking of the earth. In this quake a big crack opened and we
fell through--horse and buggy, and all--and the stones got loose and
came down with us."
The man with the star regarded her with his calm, expressionless eyes.
"The Rain of Stones has done much damage to our city," he said; "and we
shall hold you responsible for it unless you can prove your innocence."
"How can we do that?" asked the girl.
"That I am not prepared to say. It is your affair, not mine. You must
go to the House of the Sorcerer, who will soon discover the truth."
"Where is the House of the Sorcerer?" the girl enquired.
"I will lead you to it. Come!"
He turned and walked down the street, and after a moment's hesitation
Dorothy caught Eureka in her arms and climbed into the buggy. The boy
took his seat beside her and said: "Gid-dap, Jim."
As the horse ambled along, drawing the buggy, the people of the glass
city made way for them and formed a procession in their rear. Slowly
they moved down one street and up another, turning first this way and
then that, until they came to an open square in the center of which was
a big glass palace having a central dome and four tall spires on each
corner.
CHAPTER 3.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE WIZARD
The doorway of the glass palace was quite big enough for the horse and
buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children found
themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people at once
followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious room,
leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy the
center of the hall.
"Come to us, oh, Gwig!" called the man, in a loud voice.
Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared and rolled over the floor; then it
slowly spread and ascended into the dome, disclosing a strange personage
seated upon a glass throne just before Jim's nose. He was formed just as
were the other inhabitants of this land and his clothing only differed
from theirs in being bright yellow. But he had no hair at all, and all
over his bald head and face and upon the backs of his hands grew sharp
thorns like those found on the branches of rose-bushes. There was even a
thorn upon the tip of his nose and he looked so funny that Dorothy
laughed when she saw him.
The Sorcerer, hearing the laugh, looked toward the little girl with
cold, cruel eyes, and his glance made her grow sober in an instant.
"Why have you dared to intrude your unwelcome persons into the secluded
Land of the Mangaboos?" he asked, sternly.
"'Cause we couldn't help it," said Dorothy.
"Why did you wickedly and viciously send the Rain of Stones to crack and
break our houses?" he continued.
"We didn't," declared the girl.
"Prove it!" cried the Sorcerer.
"We don't have to prove it," answered Dorothy, indignantly. "If you had
any sense at all you'd known it was the earthquake."
"We only know that yesterday came a Rain of Stones upon us, which did
much damage and injured some of our people. Today came another Rain of
Stones, and soon after it you appeared among us."
"By the way," said the man with the star, looking steadily at the
Sorcerer, "you told us yesterday that there would not be a second Rain
of Stones. Yet one has just occurred that was even worse than the first.
What is your sorcery good for if it cannot tell us the truth?"
"My sorcery does tell the truth!" declared the thorn-covered man. "I
said there would be but one Rain of Stones. This second one was a Rain
of People-and-Horse-and-Buggy. And some stones came with them."
"Will there be any more Rains?" asked the man with the star.
"No, my Prince."
"Neither stones nor people?"
"No, my Prince."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure, my Prince. My sorcery tells me so."
Just then a man came running into the hall and addressed the Prince
after making a low bow.
"More wonders in the air, my Lord," said he.
Immediately the Prince and all of his people flocked out of the hall
into the street, that they might see what was about to happen. Dorothy
and Zeb jumped out of the buggy and ran after them, but the Sorcerer
remained calmly in his throne.
Far up in the air was an object that looked like a balloon. It was not
so high as the glowing star of the six colored suns, but was descending
slowly through the air--so slowly that at first it scarcely seemed to
move.
The throng stood still and waited. It was all they could do, for to go
away and leave that strange sight was impossible; nor could they hurry
its fall in any way. The earth children were not noticed, being so near
the average size of the Mangaboos, and the horse had remained in the
House of the Sorcerer, with Eureka curled up asleep on the seat of the
buggy.
Gradually the balloon grew bigger, which was proof that it was settling
down upon the Land of the Mangaboos. Dorothy was surprised to find how
patient the people were, for her own little heart was beating rapidly
with excitement. A balloon meant to her some other arrival from the
surface of the earth, and she hoped it would be some one able to assist
her and Zeb out of their difficulties.