The Magic of Oz Page 12

  Stuck Fast

  CHAPTER 10

  The day was nearly gone when, at last, the raft was ready.

  "It ain't so very big," said the old sailor, "but I don't weigh much,an' you, Trot, don't weigh half as much as I do, an' the glass pussydon't count."

  "But it's safe, isn't it?" inquired the girl.

  "Yes; it's good enough to carry us to the island an' back again, an'that's about all we can expect of it."

  Saying this, Cap'n Bill pushed the raft into the water, and when it wasafloat, stepped upon it and held out his hand to Trot, who quicklyfollowed him. The Glass Cat boarded the raft last of all.

  The sailor had cut a long pole, and had also whittled a flat paddle, andwith these he easily propelled the raft across the river. As theyapproached the island, the Wonderful Flower became more plainly visible,and they quickly decided that the Glass Cat had not praised it toohighly. The colors of the flowers that bloomed in quick succession werestrikingly bright and beautiful, and the shapes of the blossoms werevaried and curious. Indeed, they did not resemble ordinary flowers atall.

  So intently did Trot and Cap'n Bill gaze upon the Golden Flower pot thatheld the Magic Flower that they scarcely noticed the island itself untilthe raft beached upon its sands. But then the girl exclaimed: "How funnyit is, Cap'n Bill, that nothing else grows here excep' the MagicFlower."

  Then the sailor glanced at the island and saw that it was all bareground, without a weed, a stone or a blade of grass. Trot, eager toexamine the Flower closer, sprang from the raft and ran up the bankuntil she reached the Golden Flowerpot. Then she stood beside itmotionless and filled with wonder. Cap'n Bill joined her, coming moreleisurely, and he, too, stood in silent admiration for a time.

  "Ozma will like this," remarked the Glass Cat, sitting down to watch theshifting hues of the flowers. "I'm sure she won't have as fine abirthday present from anyone else."

  "Do you s'pose it's very heavy, Cap'n? And can we get it home withoutbreaking it?" asked Trot anxiously.

  "Well, I've lifted many bigger things than that," he replied; "but let'ssee what it weighs."

  He tried to take a step forward, but could not lift his meat foot fromthe ground. His wooden leg seemed free enough, but the other would notbudge.

  "I seem stuck, Trot," he said, with a perplexed look at his foot. "Itain't mud, an' it ain't glue, but somethin's holdin' me down."

  The girl attempted to lift her own feet, to go nearer to her friend, butthe ground held them as fast as it held Cap'n Bill's foot. She tried toslide them, or to twist them around, but it was no use; she could notmove either foot a hair's breadth.

  "This is funny!" she exclaimed. "What do you 'spose has happened to us,Cap'n Bill?"

  "I'm tryin' to make out," he answered. "Take off your shoes, Trot.P'raps it's the leather soles that's stuck to the ground."

 

  She leaned down and unlaced her shoes, but found she could not pull herfeet out of them. The Glass Cat, which was walking around as naturallyas ever, now said:

  "Your foot has got roots to it, Cap'n, and I can see the roots goinginto the ground, where they spread out in all directions. It's the sameway with Trot. That's why you can't move. The roots hold you fast."

  Cap'n Bill was rather fat and couldn't see his own feet very well, buthe squatted down and examined Trot's feet and decided that the Glass Catwas right.

  "This is hard luck," he declared, in a voice that showed he was uneasyat the discovery. "We're pris'ners, Trot, on this funny island, an' I'dlike to know how we're ever goin' to get loose, so's we can get homeagain."

  "Now I know why the Kalidah laughed at us," said the girl, "and why hesaid none of the beasts ever came to this island. The horrid creatureknew we'd be caught, and wouldn't warn us."

  In the meantime, the Kalidah, although pinned fast to the earth by Cap'nBill's stake, was facing the island, and now the ugly expression whichpassed over its face when it defied and sneered at Cap'n Bill and Trot,had changed to one of amusement and curiosity. When it saw theadventurers had actually reached the island and were standing beside theMagic Flower, it heaved a breath of satisfaction--a long, deep breaththat swelled the deep chest until the beast could feel the stake thatheld him move a little, as if withdrawing itself from the ground.

  "Ah ha!" murmured the Kalidah, "a little more of this will set me freeand allow me to escape!"

  So he began breathing as hard as he could, puffing out his chest as muchas possible with each indrawing breath, and by doing this he managed toraise the stake with each powerful breath, until at last theKalidah--using the muscles of his four legs as well as his deepbreaths--found itself free of the sandy soil. The stake was stickingright through him, however, so he found a rock deeply set in the bankand pressed the sharp point of the stake upon the surface of this rockuntil he had driven it clear through his body. Then, by getting thestake tangled among some thorny bushes, and wiggling his body, hemanaged to draw it out altogether.

  "There!" he exclaimed, "except for those two holes in me, I'm as good asever; but I must admit that that old wooden-legged fellow saved bothhimself and the girl by making me a prisoner."

  Now the Kalidahs, although the most disagreeable creatures in the Landof Oz, were nevertheless magical inhabitants of a magical Fairyland, andin their natures a certain amount of good was mingled with the evil.This one was not very revengeful, and now that his late foes were indanger of perishing, his anger against them faded away.

  "Our own Kalidah King," he reflected, "has certain magical powers of hisown. Perhaps he knows how to fill up these two holes in my body."

  So without paying any more attention to Trot and Cap'n Bill than theywere paying to him, he entered the forest and trotted along a secretpath that led to the hidden lair of all the Kalidahs.

  While the Kalidah was making good its escape Cap'n Bill took his pipefrom his pocket and filled it with tobacco and lighted it. Then, as hepuffed out the smoke, he tried to think what could be done.

  "The Glass Cat seems all right," he said, "an' my wooden leg didn't takeroots and grow, either. So it's only flesh that gets caught."

  "It's magic that does it, Cap'n!"

  "I know, Trot, and that's what sticks me. We're livin' in a magiccountry, but neither of us knows any magic an' so we can't helpourselves."

  "Couldn't the Wizard of Oz help us--or Glinda the Good?" asked thelittle girl.

  "Ah, now we're beginnin' to reason," he answered. "I'd probably thoughto' that, myself, in a minute more. By good luck the Glass Cat is free,an' so it can run back to the Emerald City an' tell the Wizard about ourfix, an' ask him to come an' help us get loose."

  "Will you go?" Trot asked the cat, speaking very earnestly.

  "I'm no messenger, to be sent here and there," asserted the curiousanimal in a sulky tone of voice.

  "Well," said Cap'n Bill, "you've got to go home, anyhow, 'cause youdon't want to stay here, I take it. And, when you get home, it wouldn'tworry you much to tell the Wizard what's happened to us."

  "That's true," said the cat, sitting on its haunches and lazily washingits face with one glass paw. "I don't mind telling the Wizard--when Iget home."

  "Won't you go now?" pleaded Trot. "We don't want to stay here any longerthan we can help, and everybody in Oz will be interested in you, andcall you a hero, and say nice things about you because you helped yourfriends out of trouble."

  That was the best way to manage the Glass Cat, which was so vain that itloved to be praised.

  "I'm going home right away," said the creature, "and I'll tell theWizard to come and help you."

  Saying this, it walked down to the water and disappeared under thesurface. Not being able to manage the raft alone, the Glass Cat walkedon the bottom of the river as it had done when it visited the islandbefore, and soon they saw it appear on the farther bank and trot intothe forest, where it was quickly lost to sight among the trees.

  The
n Trot heaved a deep sigh.

  "Cap'n," said she, "we're in a bad fix. There's nothing here to eat, andwe can't even lie down to sleep. Unless the Glass Cat hurries, and theWizard hurries, I don't know what's going to become of us!"