The Road to Oz Page 11

  Escaping the Soup-kettle

  The shaggy man got up and felt of himself to see if he was hurt; but hewas not. One of the heads had struck his breast and the other his leftshoulder; yet though they had knocked him down the heads were not hardenough to bruise him.

  "Come on," he said, firmly; "we've got to get out of here some way," andforward he started again.

  The Scoodlers began yelling and throwing their heads in great numbers atour frightened friends. The shaggy man was knocked over again, and sowas Button-Bright, who kicked his heels against the ground and howled asloud as he could, although he was not hurt a bit. One head struck Toto,who first yelped and then grabbed the head by an ear and started runningaway with it.

  The Scoodlers who had thrown their heads began to scramble down and runto pick them up, with wonderful quickness; but the one whose head Totohad stolen found it hard to get it back again. The head couldn't see thebody with either pair of its eyes, because the dog was in the way, sothe headless Scoodler stumbled around over the rocks and tripped on themmore than once in its effort to regain its top. Toto was trying to getoutside the rocks and roll the head down the hill; but some of the otherScoodlers came to the rescue of their unfortunate comrade and pelted thedog with their own heads until he was obliged to drop his burden andhurry back to Dorothy.

  The little girl and the Rainbow's Daughter had both escaped the showerof heads, but they saw now that it would be useless to try to run awayfrom the dreadful Scoodlers.

  "We may as well submit," declared the shaggy man, in a rueful voice, ashe got upon his feet again. He turned toward their foes and asked:

  "What do you want us to do?"

  "Come!" they cried, in a triumphant chorus, and at once sprang from therocks and surrounded their captives on all sides. One funny thing aboutthe Scoodlers was they could walk in either direction, coming or going,without turning around; because they had two faces and, as Dorothysaid, "two front sides," and their feet were shaped like the letter Tupside down (_|_). They moved with great rapidity and there wassomething about their glittering eyes and contrasting colors andremovable heads that inspired the poor prisoners with horror, and madethem long to escape.

  But the creatures led their captives away from the rocks and the road,down the hill by a side path until they came before a low mountain ofrock that looked like a huge bowl turned upside down. At the edge ofthis mountain was a deep gulf--so deep that when you looked into itthere was nothing but blackness below. Across the gulf was a narrowbridge of rock, and at the other end of the bridge was an arched openingthat led into the mountain.

  Over this bridge the Scoodlers led their prisoners, through the openinginto the mountain, which they found to be an immense hollow dome lightedby several holes in the roof. All around the circular space were builtrock houses, set close together, each with a door in the front wall.None of these houses was more than six feet wide, but the Scoodlers werethin people sidewise and did not need much room. So vast was the domethat there was a large space in the middle of the cave, in front of allthese houses, where the creatures might congregate as in a great hall.

  It made Dorothy shudder to see a huge iron kettle suspended by a stoutchain in the middle of the place, and underneath the kettle a great heapof kindling wood and shavings, ready to light.

  "What's that?" asked the shaggy man, drawing back as they approachedthis place, so that they were forced to push him forward.

  "The Soup Kettle!" yelled the Scoodlers; and then they shouted in thenext breath:

  "We're hungry!"

  Button-Bright, holding Dorothy's hand in one chubby fist and Polly'shand in the other, was so affected by this shout that he began to cryagain, repeating the protest:

  "Don't want to be soup, I don't!"

  "Never mind," said the shaggy man, consolingly; "I ought to make enoughsoup to feed them all, I'm so big; so I'll ask them to put me in thekettle first."

  "All right," said Button-Bright, more cheerfully.

  But the Scoodlers were not ready to make soup yet. They led the captivesinto a house at the farthest side of the cave--a house somewhat widerthan the others.

  "Who lives here?" asked the Rainbow's Daughter. The Scoodlers nearesther replied:

  "The Queen."

  It made Dorothy hopeful to learn that a woman ruled over these fiercecreatures, but a moment later they were ushered by two or three of theescort into a gloomy, bare room--and her hope died away.

  For the Queen of the Scoodlers proved to be much more dreadful inappearance than any of her people. One side of her was fiery red, withjet-black hair and green eyes and the other side of her was brightyellow, with crimson hair and black eyes. She wore a short skirt of redand yellow and her hair, instead of being banged, was a tangle of shortcurls upon which rested a circular crown of silver--much dented andtwisted because the Queen had thrown her head at so many things so manytimes. Her form was lean and bony and both her faces were deeplywrinkled.

  "What have we here?" asked the Queen, sharply, as our friends were madeto stand before her.

  "Soup!" cried the guard of Scoodlers, speaking together.

  "We're not!" said Dorothy, indignantly; "we're nothing of the sort."

  "Ah, but you will be soon," retorted the Queen, a grim smile making herlook more dreadful than before.

  "Pardon me, most beautiful vision," said the shaggy man, bowing beforethe queen politely. "I must request your Serene Highness to let us goour way without being made into soup. For I own the Love Magnet, andwhoever meets me must love me and all my friends."

  "True," replied the Queen. "We love you very much; so much that weintend to eat your broth with real pleasure. But tell me, do you think Iam so beautiful?"

  "You won't be at all beautiful if you eat me," he said, shaking his headsadly. "Handsome is as handsome does, you know."

  The Queen turned to Button-Bright.

  "Do _you_ think I'm beautiful?" she asked.

  "No," said the boy; "you're ugly."

  "_I_ think you're a fright," said Dorothy.

  "If you could see yourself you'd be terribly scared," added Polly.

  The Queen scowled at them and flopped from her red side to her yellowside.

  "Take them away," she commanded the guard, "and at six o'clock run themthrough the meat chopper and start the soup kettle boiling. And putplenty of salt in the broth this time, or I'll punish the cooksseverely."

  "Any onions, your Majesty?" asked one of the guard.

  "Plenty of onions and garlic and a dash of red pepper. Now, go!"

  The Scoodlers led the captives away and shut them up in one of thehouses, leaving only a single Scoodler to keep guard.

  The place was a sort of store-house; containing bags of potatoes andbaskets of carrots, onions, and turnips.

  "These," said their guard, pointing to the vegetables, "we use to flavorour soups with."

  The prisoners were rather disheartened by this time, for they saw no wayto escape and did not know how soon it would be six o'clock and time forthe meat-chopper to begin work. But the shaggy man was brave and did notintend to submit to such a horrid fate without a struggle.

  "I'm going to fight for our lives," he whispered to the children, "forif I fail we will be no worse off than before, and to sit here quietlyuntil we are made into soup would be foolish and cowardly."

  The Scoodler on guard stood near the doorway, turning first his whiteside toward them and then his black side, as if he wanted to show to allof his greedy four eyes the sight of so many fat prisoners. The captivessat in a sorrowful group at the other end of the room--exceptPolychrome, who danced back and forth in the little place to keepherself warm, for she felt the chill of the cave. Whenever sheapproached the shaggy man he would whisper something in her ear, andPolly would nod her pretty head as if she understood.

  The shaggy man told Dorothy and Button-Bright to stand before him whilehe emptied the potatoes out of one of the sacks. When this had beensecretly done little Polychrome, dancing near to the gu
ard, suddenlyreached out her hand and slapped his face, the next instant whirlingaway from him quickly to rejoin her friends.

  The angry Scoodler at once picked off his head and hurled it at theRainbow's Daughter; but the shaggy man was expecting that, and caughtthe head very neatly, putting it in the sack, which he tied at themouth. The body of the guard, not having the eyes of its head to guideit, ran here and there in an aimless manner, and the shaggy man easilydodged it and opened the door. Fortunately there was no one in the bigcave at that moment, so he told Dorothy and Polly to run as fast as theycould for the entrance, and out across the narrow bridge.

  THE SHAGGY MAN CAUGHT THE HEADS AND TOSSED THEM INTO THEGULF BELOW]

  "I'll carry Button-Bright," he said, for he knew the little boy's legswere too short to run fast.

  Dorothy picked up Toto, and then seized Polly's hand and ran swiftlytoward the entrance to the cave. The shaggy man perched Button-Bright onhis shoulders and ran after them. They moved so quickly and their escapewas so wholly unexpected that they had almost reached the bridge whenone of the Scoodlers looked out of his house and saw them.

  The creature raised a shrill cry that brought all its fellows boundingout of the numerous doors, and at once they started in chase. Dorothyand Polly had reached the bridge and crossed it when the Scoodlers beganthrowing their heads. One of the queer missiles struck the shaggy man onhis back and nearly knocked him over; but he was at the mouth of thecave now, so he set down Button-Bright and told the boy to run acrossthe bridge to Dorothy.

  Then the shaggy man turned around and faced his enemies, standing justoutside the opening, and as fast as they threw their heads at him hecaught them and tossed them into the black gulf below. The headlessbodies of the foremost Scoodlers kept the others from running close up,but they also threw their heads in an effort to stop the escapingprisoners. The shaggy man caught them all and sent them whirling downinto the black gulf. Among them he noticed the crimson and yellow headof the Queen, and this he tossed after the others with right good will.

  Presently every Scoodler of the lot had thrown its head, and every headwas down in the deep gulf, and now the helpless bodies of the creatureswere mixed together in the cave and wriggling around in a vain attemptto discover what had become of their heads. The shaggy man laughed andwalked across the bridge to rejoin his companions.

  "It's lucky I learned to play base-ball when I was young," he remarked,"for I caught all those heads easily, and never missed one. But comealong, little ones; the Scoodlers will never bother us or anyone elseany more."

  Button-Bright was still frightened and kept insisting, "I don't want tobe soup!" for the victory had been gained so suddenly that the boy couldnot realize they were free and safe. But the shaggy man assured him thatall danger of their being made into soup was now past, as the Scoodlerswould be unable to eat soup for some time to come.

  So now, anxious to get away from the horrid gloomy cave as soon aspossible, they hastened up the hillside and regained the road justbeyond the place where they had first met the Scoodlers; and you may besure they were glad to find their feet on the old familiar path again.