Tik-Tok of Oz Page 10

  CHAPTER 8

  Tik-Tok Tackles a Tough Task

  While Shaggy and his companions stood huddled in a group at one side, theArmy of Oogaboo was approaching along the pathway, the tramp of theirfeet being now and then accompanied by a dismal groan as one of theofficers stepped on a sharp stone or knocked his funnybone against hisneighbor's sword-handle.

  Then out from among the trees marched Private Files, bearing the bannerof Oogaboo, which fluttered from a long pole. This pole he stuck in theground just in front of the well and then he cried in a loud voice:

  "I hereby conquer this territory in the name of Queen Ann Soforth ofOogaboo, and all the inhabitants of the land I proclaim her slaves!"

  Some of the officers now stuck their heads out of the bushes and asked:

  "Is the coast clear, Private Files?"

  "There is no coast here," was the reply, "but all's well."

  "I hope there's water in it," said General Cone, mustering courage toadvance to the well; but just then he caught a glimpse of Tik-Tok andShaggy and at once fell upon his knees, trembling and frightened, andcried out:

  "Mercy, kind enemies! Mercy! Spare us, and we will be your slavesforever!"

  The other officers, who had now advanced into the clearing, likewise fellupon their knees and begged for mercy.

  Files turned around and, seeing the strangers for the first time,examined them with much curiosity. Then, discovering that three of theparty were girls, he lifted his cap and made a polite bow.

  "What's all this?" demanded a harsh voice, as Queen Ann reached the placeand beheld her kneeling army.

  "Permit us to introduce ourselves," replied Shaggy, stepping forward."This is Tik-Tok, the Clockwork Man--who works better than some meatpeople. And here is Princess Ozga of Roseland, just now unfortunatelyexiled from her Kingdom of Roses. I next present Polychrome, a sky fairy,who lost her Bow by an accident and can't find her way home. The smallgirl here is Betsy Bobbin, from some unknown earthly paradise calledOklahoma, and with her you see Mr. Hank, a mule with a long tail and ashort temper."

  "Puh!" said Ann, scornfully; "a pretty lot of vagabonds you are, indeed;all lost or strayed, I suppose, and not worth a Queen's plundering. I'msorry I've conquered you."

  "But you haven't conquered us yet," called Betsy indignantly.

  "No," agreed Files, "that is a fact. But if my officers will kindlycommand me to conquer you, I will do so at once, after which we can stoparguing and converse more at our ease."

  The officers had by this time risen from their knees and brushed the dustfrom their trousers. To them the enemy did not look very fierce, so theGenerals and Colonels and Majors and Captains gained courage to face themand began strutting in their most haughty manner.

  "You must understand," said Ann, "that I am the Queen of Oogaboo, andthis is my invincible Army. We are busy conquering the world, and sinceyou seem to be a part of the world, and are obstructing our journey, itis necessary for us to conquer you--unworthy though you may be of suchhigh honor."

  "That's all right," replied Shaggy. "Conquer us as often as you like. Wedon't mind."

  "But we won't be anybody's slaves," added Betsy, positively.

  "We'll see about that," retorted the Queen, angrily. "Advance, PrivateFiles, and bind the enemy hand and foot!"

  But Private Files looked at pretty Betsy and fascinating Polychrome andthe beautiful Rose Princess and shook his head.

  "It would be impolite, and I won't do it," he asserted.

  "You must!" cried Ann. "It is your duty to obey orders."

  "I haven't received any orders from my officers," objected the Private.

  But the Generals now shouted: "Forward, and bind the prisoners!" and theColonels and Majors and Captains repeated the command, yelling it as loudas they could.

  All this noise annoyed Hank, who had been eyeing the Army of Oogaboo withstrong disfavor. The mule now dashed forward and began backing upon theofficers and kicking fierce and dangerous heels at them. The attack wasso sudden that the officers scattered like dust in a whirlwind, droppingtheir swords as they ran and trying to seek refuge behind the trees andbushes.

  Betsy laughed joyously at the comical rout of the "noble army," andPolychrome danced with glee. But Ann was furious at this ignoble defeatof her gallant forces by one small mule.

  "Private Files, I command you to do your duty!" she cried again, andthen she herself ducked to escape the mule's heels--for Hank made nodistinction in favor of a lady who was an open enemy. Betsy grabbed herchampion by the forelock, however, and so held him fast, and when theofficers saw that the mule was restrained from further attacks they creptfearfully back and picked up their discarded swords.

  "Private Files, seize and bind these prisoners!" screamed the Queen.

  "No," said Files, throwing down his gun and removing the knapsack whichwas strapped to his back, "I resign my position as the Army of Oogaboo. Ienlisted to fight the enemy and become a hero, but if you want some oneto bind harmless girls you will have to hire another Private."

  Then he walked over to the others and shook hands with Shaggy and Tik-Tok.

  "Treason!" shrieked Ann, and all the officers echoed her cry.

  "Nonsense," said Files. "I've the right to resign if I want to."

  "Indeed you haven't!" retorted the Queen. "If you resign it will breakup my Army, and then I cannot conquer the world." She now turned tothe officers and said: "I must ask you to do me a favor. I know it isundignified in officers to fight, but unless you immediately capturePrivate Files and force him to obey my orders there will be no plunderfor any of us. Also it is likely you will all suffer the pangs ofhunger, and when we meet a powerful foe you are liable to be captured andmade slaves."

  The prospect of this awful fate so frightened the officers that they drewtheir swords and rushed upon Files, who stood beside Shaggy, in a trulyferocious manner. The next instant, however, they halted and again fellupon their knees; for there, before them, was the glistening Love Magnet,held in the hand of the smiling Shaggy Man, and the sight of this magictalisman at once won the heart of every Oogabooite. Even Ann saw the LoveMagnet, and forgetting all enmity and anger threw herself upon Shaggy andembraced him lovingly.

  Quite disconcerted by this unexpected effect of the Magnet, Shaggydisengaged himself from the Queen's encircling arms and quickly hid thetalisman in his pocket. The adventurers from Oogaboo were now his firmfriends, and there was no more talk about conquering and binding any ofhis party.

  "If you insist on conquering anyone," said Shaggy, "you may march with meto the underground Kingdom of Ruggedo. To conquer the world, as you haveset out to do, you must conquer everyone under its surface as well asthose upon its surface, and no one in all the world needs conquering somuch as Ruggedo."

  "Who is he?" asked Ann.

  "The Metal Monarch, King of the Nomes."

  "Is he rich?" inquired Major Stockings in an anxious voice.

  "Of course," answered Shaggy. "He owns all the metal that liesunderground--gold, silver, copper, brass and tin. He has an idea he alsoowns all the metals above ground, for he says all metal was once a partof his kingdom. So, by conquering the Metal Monarch, you will win all theriches in the world."

  "Ah!" exclaimed General Apple, heaving a deep sigh, "that would beplunder worth our while. Let's conquer him, Your Majesty."

  The Queen looked reproachfully at Files, who was sitting next to thelovely Princess and whispering in her ear.

  "Alas," said Ann, "I have no longer an Army. I have plenty of braveofficers, indeed, but no private soldier for them to command. Therefore Icannot conquer Ruggedo and win all his wealth."

  "Why don't you make one of your officers the Private?" asked Shaggy; butat once every officer began to protest and the Queen of Oogaboo shook herhead as she replied:

  "That is impossible. A private soldier must be a terrible fighter, and myofficers are unable to fight. They are exceptionally brave in commandingothers
to fight, but could not themselves meet the enemy and conquer."

  "Very true, Your Majesty," said Colonel Plum, eagerly. "There are manykinds of bravery and one cannot be expected to possess them all. I myselfam brave as a lion in all ways until it comes to fighting, but then mynature revolts. Fighting is unkind and liable to be injurious to others;so, being a gentleman, I never fight."

  "Nor I!" shouted each of the other officers.

  "You see," said Ann, "how helpless I am. Had not Private Files provedhimself a traitor and a deserter, I would gladly have conquered thisRuggedo; but an Army without a private soldier is like a bee without astinger."

  "I am not a traitor, Your Majesty," protested Files. "I resigned in aproper manner, not liking the job. But there are plenty of people to takemy place. Why not make Shaggy Man the private soldier?"

  "He might be killed," said Ann, looking tenderly at Shaggy, "for he ismortal, and able to die. If anything happened to him, it would break myheart."

  "It would hurt me worse than that," declared Shaggy. "You must admit,Your Majesty, that I am commander of this expedition, for it is mybrother we are seeking, rather than plunder. But I and my companionswould like the assistance of your Army, and if you help us to conquerRuggedo and to rescue my brother from captivity we will allow you to keepall the gold and jewels and other plunder you may find."

  This prospect was so tempting that the officers began whispering togetherand presently Colonel Cheese said: "Your Majesty, by combining our brainswe have just evolved a most brilliant idea. We will make the ClockworkMan the private soldier!"

  "Who? Me?" asked Tik-Tok. "Not for a sin-gle sec-ond! I can-not fight,and you must not for-get that it was Rug-ge-do who threw me in the well."

  "At that time you had no gun," said Polychrome. "But if you join the Armyof Oogaboo you will carry the gun that Mr. Files used."

  "A sol-dier must be a-ble to run as well as to fight," protested Tik-Tok,"and if my works run down, as they of-ten do, I could nei-ther run norfight."

  "I'll keep you wound up, Tik-Tok," promised Betsy.

  "Why, it isn't a bad idea," said Shaggy. "Tik-Tok will make an idealsoldier, for nothing can injure him except a sledge hammer. And, since aprivate soldier seems to be necessary to this Army, Tik-Tok is the onlyone of our party fitted to undertake the job."

  "What must I do?" asked Tik-Tok.

  "Obey orders," replied Ann. "When the officers command you to doanything, you must do it; that is all."

  "And that's enough, too," said Files.

  "Do I get a salary?" inquired Tik-Tok.

  "You get your share of the plunder," answered the Queen.

  "Yes," remarked Files, "one-half of the plunder goes to Queen Ann, theother half is divided among the officers, and the Private gets the rest."

  "That will be sat-is-fac-tor-y," said Tik-Tok, picking up the gun andexamining it wonderingly, for he had never before seen such a weapon.

  Then Ann strapped the knapsack to Tik-Tok's copper back and said: "Now weare ready to march to Ruggedo's Kingdom and conquer it. Officers, givethe command to march."

  "Fall--in!" yelled the Generals, drawing their swords.

  "Fall--in!" cried the Colonels, drawing their swords.

  "Fall--in!" shouted the Majors, drawing their swords.

  "Fall--in!" bawled the Captains, drawing their swords.

  Tik-Tok looked at them and then around him in surprise.

  "Fall in what? The well?" he asked.

  "No," said Queen Ann, "you must fall in marching order."

  "Can-not I march with-out fall-ing in-to it?" asked the Clockwork Man.

  "Shoulder your gun and stand ready to march," advised Files; so Tik-Tokheld the gun straight and stood still.

  "What next?" he asked.

  The Queen turned to Shaggy.

  "Which road leads to the Metal Monarch's cavern?"

  "We don't know, Your Majesty," was the reply.

  "But this is absurd!" said Ann with a frown. "If we can't get to Ruggedo,it is certain that we can't conquer him."

  "You are right," admitted Shaggy; "but I did not say we could not get tohim. We have only to discover the way, and that was the matter we wereconsidering when you and your magnificent Army arrived here."

  "Well, then, get busy and discover it," snapped the Queen.

  That was no easy task. They all stood looking from one road to another inperplexity. The paths radiated from the little clearing like the rays ofthe midday sun, and each path seemed like all the others.

  Files and the Rose Princess, who had by this time become good friends,advanced a little way along one of the roads and found that it wasbordered by pretty wild flowers.

  "Why don't you ask the flowers to tell you the way?" he said to hiscompanion.

  "The flowers?" returned the Princess, surprised at the question.

  "Of course," said Files. "The field-flowers must be second-cousins to aRose Princess, and I believe if you ask them they will tell you."

  She looked more closely at the flowers. There were hundreds of whitedaisies, golden buttercups, bluebells and daffodils growing by theroadside, and each flower-head was firmly set upon its slender but stoutstem. There were even a few wild roses scattered here and there andperhaps it was the sight of these that gave the Princess courage to askthe important question.

  She dropped to her knees, facing the flowers, and extended both her armspleadingly toward them.

  "Tell me, pretty cousins," she said in her sweet, gentle voice, "whichway will lead us to the Kingdom of Ruggedo, the Nome King?"

  At once all the stems bent gracefully to the right and the flower headsnodded once--twice--thrice in that direction.

  "That's it!" cried Files joyfully. "Now we know the way."

  Ozga rose to her feet and looked wonderingly at the field-flowers, whichhad now resumed their upright position.

  "Was it the wind, do you think?" she asked in a low whisper.

  "No, indeed," replied Files. "There is not a breath of wind stirring. Butthese lovely blossoms are indeed your cousins and answered your questionat once, as I knew they would."