Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz Page 10

  9. They Fight the Invisible Bears

  The strangers took their seats at the table willingly enough, for theywere all hungry and the platters were now heaped with good things toeat. In front of each place was a plate bearing one of the deliciousdama-fruit, and the perfume that rose from these was so enticing andsweet that they were sorely tempted to eat of them and become invisible.

  But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her companionsdid likewise, resisting the temptation.

  "Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice.

  "We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl.

  "But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour you," saida girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the children. "We wholive here much prefer to be invisible; for we can still hug and kissone another, and are quite safe from the bears."

  "And we do not have to be so particular about our dress," remarked theman.

  "And mama can't tell whether my face is dirty or not!" added the otherchildish voice, gleefully.

  "But I make you wash it, every time I think of it," said the mother;"for it stands to reason your face is dirty, Ianu, whether I can see itor not."

  Dorothy laughed and stretched out her hands.

  "Come here, please--Ianu and your sister--and let me feel of you," sherequested.

  They came to her willingly, and Dorothy passed her hands over theirfaces and forms and decided one was a girl of about her own age and theother a boy somewhat smaller. The girl's hair was soft and fluffy andher skin as smooth as satin. When Dorothy gently touched her nose andears and lips they seemed to be well and delicately formed.

  "If I could see you I am sure you would be beautiful," she declared.

  The girl laughed, and her mother said:

  "We are not vain in the Valley of Voe, because we can not display ourbeauty, and good actions and pleasant ways are what make us lovely toour companions. Yet we can see and appreciate the beauties of nature,the dainty flowers and trees, the green fields and the clear blue ofthe sky."

  "How about the birds and beasts and fishes?" asked Zeb.

  "The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas as muchas we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them. Neither can wesee the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit. But the fishes thatswim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch them to eat."

  "It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even whileinvisible," remarked the Wizard. "Nevertheless, we prefer to remainvisible while we are in your valley."

  Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering outsidewith Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she cried out:

  "Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I'm half starved."

  The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the smallanimal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured them byexplaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if shewished to. Then, as the others had by this time moved away from thetable, the kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the clothto see what there was to eat. To her surprise an unseen hand clutchedher and held her suspended in the air. Eureka was frantic with terror,and tried to scratch and bite, so the next moment she was dropped tothe floor.

  "Did you see that, Dorothy?" she gasped.

  "Yes, dear," her mistress replied; "there are people living in thishouse, although we cannot see them. And you must have better manners,Eureka, or something worse will happen to you."

  She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate greedily.

  "Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table," she begged, whenshe had cleaned the plate.

  "Those are damas," said Dorothy, "and you must never even taste them,Eureka, or you'll get invis'ble, and then we can't see you at all."

  The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit.

  "Does it hurt to be invis'ble?" she asked.

  "I don't know," Dorothy answered; "but it would hurt me dre'fully tolose you."

  "Very well, I won't touch it," decided the kitten; "but you must keepit away from me, for the smell is very tempting."

  "Can you tell us, sir or ma'am," said the Wizard, addressing the airbecause he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, "if thereis any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top of theEarth again."

  "Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough," answered the man's voice;"but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country. As forreaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is possibleto do that, and if you succeeded in getting there you would probablyfall off."

  "Oh, no," said Dorothy, "we've been there, and we know."

  "The Valley of Voe is certainly a charming place," resumed the Wizard;"but we cannot be contented in any other land than our own, for long.Even if we should come to unpleasant places on our way it is necessary,in order to reach the earth's surface, to keep moving on toward it."

  "In that case," said the man, "it will be best for you to cross ourValley and mount the spiral staircase inside the Pyramid Mountain. Thetop of that mountain is lost in the clouds, and when you reach it youwill be in the awful Land of Naught, where the Gargoyles live."

  "What are Gargoyles?" asked Zeb.

  "I do not know, young sir. Our greatest Champion, Overman-Anu, onceclimbed the spiral stairway and fought nine days with the Gargoylesbefore he could escape them and come back; but he could never beinduced to describe the dreadful creatures, and soon afterward a bearcaught him and ate him up."

  The wanders were rather discouraged by this gloomy report, but Dorothysaid with a sigh:

  "If the only way to get home is to meet the Gurgles, then we've got tomeet 'em. They can't be worse than the Wicked Witch or the Nome King."

  "But you must remember you had the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman tohelp you conquer those enemies," suggested the Wizard. "Just now, mydear, there is not a single warrior in your company."

  "Oh, I guess Zeb could fight if he had to. Couldn't you, Zeb?" askedthe little girl.

  "Perhaps; if I had to," answered Zeb, doubtfully.

  "And you have the jointed sword that you chopped the veg'table Sorcererin two with," the girl said to the little man.

  "True," he replied; "and in my satchel are other useful things to fightwith."

  "What the Gargoyles most dread is a noise," said the man's voice. "OurChampion told me that when he shouted his battle-cry the creaturesshuddered and drew back, hesitating to continue the combat. But theywere in great numbers, and the Champion could not shout much because hehad to save his breath for fighting."

  "Very good," said the Wizard; "we can all yell better than we canfight, so we ought to defeat the Gargoyles."

  "But tell me," said Dorothy, "how did such a brave Champion happen tolet the bears eat him? And if he was invis'ble, and the bearsinvis'ble, who knows that they really ate him up?"

  "The Champion had killed eleven bears in his time," returned the unseenman; "and we know this is true because when any creature is dead theinvisible charm of the dama-fruit ceases to be active, and the slainone can be plainly seen by all eyes. When the Champion killed a beareveryone could see it; and when the bears killed the Champion we allsaw several pieces of him scattered about, which of course disappearedagain when the bears devoured them."

  They now bade farewell to the kind but unseen people of the cottage,and after the man had called their attention to a high, pyramid-shapedmountain on the opposite side of the Valley, and told them how totravel in order to reach it, they again started upon their journey.

  They followed the course of a broad stream and passed several morepretty cottages; but of course they saw no one, nor did any one speakto them. Fruits and flowers grew plentifully all about, and there weremany of the delicious damas that the people of Voe were so fond of.

  About noon they stopped to allow Jim to rest in the shade of a prettyorchard, and while they plucked and
ate some of the cherries and plumsthat grew there a soft voice suddenly said to them:

  "There are bears near by. Be careful."

  The Wizard got out his sword at once, and Zeb grabbed the horse-whip.Dorothy climbed into the buggy, although Jim had been unharnessed fromit and was grazing some distance away.

  The owner of the unseen voice laughed lightly and said:

  "You cannot escape the bears that way."

  "How CAN we 'scape?" asked Dorothy, nervously, for an unseen danger isalways the hardest to face.

  "You must take to the river," was the reply. "The bears will notventure upon the water."

  "But we would be drowned!" exclaimed the girl.

  "Oh, there is no need of that," said the voice, which from its gentletones seemed to belong to a young girl. "You are strangers in theValley of Voe, and do not seem to know our ways; so I will try to saveyou."

  The next moment a broad-leaved plant was jerked from the ground whereit grew and held suspended in the air before the Wizard.

  "Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles of allyour feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water withoutsinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not know, andwe people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we travel, and soescape our enemies."

  "Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a leaf uponthe soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The girl took aleaf and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest of the plantwas handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own feet, carefullyrubbed it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon the tires of thebuggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task when a lowgrowling was suddenly heard and the horse began to jump around and kickviciously with his heels.

  "Quick! To the water or you are lost!" cried their unseen friend, andwithout hesitation the Wizard drew the buggy down the bank and out uponthe broad river, for Dorothy was still seated in it with Eureka in herarms. They did not sink at all, owing to the virtues of the strangeplant they had used, and when the buggy was in the middle of the streamthe Wizard returned to the bank to assist Zeb and Jim.

  The horse was plunging madly about, and two or three deep gashesappeared upon its flanks, from which the blood flowed freely.

  "Run for the river!" shouted the Wizard, and Jim quickly freed himselffrom his unseen tormenters by a few vicious kicks and then obeyed. Assoon as he trotted out upon the surface of the river he found himselfsafe from pursuit, and Zeb was already running across the water towardDorothy.

  As the little Wizard turned to follow them he felt a hot breath againsthis cheek and heard a low, fierce growl. At once he began stabbing atthe air with his sword, and he knew that he had struck some substancebecause when he drew back the blade it was dripping with blood. Thethird time that he thrust out the weapon there was a loud roar and afall, and suddenly at his feet appeared the form of a great red bear,which was nearly as big as the horse and much stronger and fiercer.The beast was quite dead from the sword thrusts, and after a glance atits terrible claws and sharp teeth the little man turned in a panic andrushed out upon the water, for other menacing growls told him morebears were near.

  On the river, however, the adventurers seemed to be perfectly safe.Dorothy and the buggy had floated slowly down stream with the currentof the water, and the others made haste to join her. The Wizard openedhis satchel and got out some sticking-plaster with which he mended thecuts Jim had received from the claws of the bears.

  "I think we'd better stick to the river, after this," said Dorothy."If our unknown friend hadn't warned us, and told us what to do, wewould all be dead by this time."

  "That is true," agreed the Wizard, "and as the river seems to beflowing in the direction of the Pyramid Mountain it will be the easiestway for us to travel."

  Zeb hitched Jim to the buggy again, and the horse trotted along anddrew them rapidly over the smooth water. The kitten was at firstdreadfully afraid of getting wet, but Dorothy let her down and soonEureka was frisking along beside the buggy without being scared a bit.Once a little fish swam too near the surface, and the kitten grabbed itin her mouth and ate it up as quick as a wink; but Dorothy cautionedher to be careful what she ate in this valley of enchantments, and nomore fishes were careless enough to swim within reach.

  After a journey of several hours they came to a point where the rivercurved, and they found they must cross a mile or so of the Valleybefore they came to the Pyramid Mountain. There were few houses inthis part, and few orchards or flowers; so our friends feared theymight encounter more of the savage bears, which they had learned todread with all their hearts.

  "You'll have to make a dash, Jim," said the Wizard, "and run as fast asyou can go."

  "All right," answered the horse; "I'll do my best. But you mustremember I'm old, and my dashing days are past and gone."

  All three got into the buggy and Zeb picked up the reins, though Jimneeded no guidance of any sort. The horse was still smarting from thesharp claws of the invisible bears, and as soon as he was on land andheaded toward the mountain the thought that more of those fearsomecreatures might be near acted as a spur and sent him galloping along ina way that made Dorothy catch her breath.

  Then Zeb, in a spirit of mischief, uttered a growl like that of thebears, and Jim pricked up his ears and fairly flew. His boney legsmoved so fast they could scarcely be seen, and the Wizard clung fast tothe seat and yelled "Whoa!" at the top of his voice.

  "I--I'm 'fraid he's--he's running away!" gasped Dorothy.

  "I KNOW he is," said Zeb; "but no bear can catch him if he keeps upthat gait--and the harness or the buggy don't break."

  Jim did not make a mile a minute; but almost before they were aware ofit he drew up at the foot of the mountain, so suddenly that the Wizardand Zeb both sailed over the dashboard and landed in the softgrass--where they rolled over several times before they stopped.Dorothy nearly went with them, but she was holding fast to the ironrail of the seat, and that saved her. She squeezed the kitten, though,until it screeched; and then the old cab-horse made several curioussounds that led the little girl to suspect he was laughing at them all.