Ozma of Oz Page 4

  Letters in the Sand

  Walking a little way back from the water's edge, toward the grove oftrees, Dorothy came to a flat stretch of white sand that seemed to havequeer signs marked upon its surface, just as one would write upon sandwith a stick.

  "What does it say?" she asked the yellow hen, who trotted along besideher in a rather dignified fashion.

  "How should I know?" returned the hen. "I cannot read."

  "Oh! Can't you?"

  "Certainly not; I've never been to school, you know."

  "Well, I have," admitted Dorothy; "but the letters are big and farapart, and it's hard to spell out the words."

  But she looked at each letter carefully, and finally discovered thatthese words were written in the sand:

  "BEWARE THE WHEELERS!"

  "That's rather strange," declared the hen, when Dorothy had read aloudthe words. "What do you suppose the Wheelers are?"

  "Folks that wheel, I guess. They must have wheelbarrows, or baby-cabs orhand-carts," said Dorothy.

  "Perhaps they're automobiles," suggested the yellow hen. "There is noneed to beware of baby-cabs and wheelbarrows; but automobiles aredangerous things. Several of my friends have been run over by them."

  "It can't be auto'biles," replied the girl, "for this is a new, wildcountry, without even trolley-cars or tel'phones. The people here havn'tbeen discovered yet, I'm sure; that is, if there _are_ any people. So Idon't b'lieve there _can_ be any auto'biles, Billina."

  "Perhaps not," admitted the yellow hen. "Where are you going now?"

  "Over to those trees, to see if I can find some fruit or nuts," answeredDorothy.

  She tramped across the sand, skirting the foot of one of the littlerocky hills that stood near, and soon reached the edge of the forest.

  At first she was greatly disappointed, because the nearer trees were allpunita, or cotton-wood or eucalyptus, and bore no fruit or nuts at all.But, bye and bye, when she was almost in despair, the little girl cameupon two trees that promised to furnish her with plenty of food.

  One was quite full of square paper boxes, which grew in clusters on allthe limbs, and upon the biggest and ripest boxes the word "Lunch" couldbe read, in neat raised letters. This tree seemed to bear all the yeararound, for there were lunch-box blossoms on some of the branches, andon others tiny little lunch-boxes that were as yet quite green, andevidently not fit to eat until they had grown bigger.

  The leaves of this tree were all paper napkins, and it presented a verypleasing appearance to the hungry little girl.

  But the tree next to the lunch-box tree was even more wonderful, for itbore quantities of tin dinner-pails, which were so full and heavy thatthe stout branches bent underneath their weight. Some were small anddark-brown in color; those larger were of a dull tin color; but thereally ripe ones were pails of bright tin that shone and glistenedbeautifully in the rays of sunshine that touched them.

  Dorothy was delighted, and even the yellow hen acknowledged that she wassurprised.

  The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one of the nicest andbiggest lunch-boxes, and then she sat down upon the ground and eagerlyopened it. Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a hamsandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a slice of new cheese and anapple. Each thing had a separate stem, and so had to be picked off theside of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be delicious, and she ateevery bit of luncheon in the box before she had finished.

  "A lunch isn't zactly breakfast," she said to Billina, who sat besideher curiously watching. "But when one is hungry one can eat even supperin the morning, and not complain."

  "I hope your lunch-box was perfectly ripe," observed the yellow hen, in aanxious tone. "So much sickness is caused by eating green things."

  THE LITTLE GIRL PICKED ONE OF THE LUNCH-BOXES]

  "Oh, I'm sure it was ripe," declared Dorothy, "all, that is, 'cept thepickle, and a pickle just _has_ to be green, Billina. But everythingtasted perfectly splendid, and I'd rather have it than a church picnic.And now I think I'll pick a dinner-pail, to have when I get hungryagain, and then we'll start out and 'splore the country, and see wherewe are."

  "Havn't you any idea what country this is?" inquired Billina.

  "None at all. But listen: I'm quite sure it's a fairy country, or suchthings as lunch-boxes and dinner-pails wouldn't be growing upon trees.Besides, Billina, being a hen, you wouldn't be able to talk in anyciv'lized country, like Kansas, where no fairies live at all."

  "Perhaps we're in the Land of Oz," said the hen, thoughtfully.

  "No, that can't be," answered the little girl; "because I've been to theLand of Oz, and it's all surrounded by a horrid desert that no one cancross."

  "Then how did you get away from there again?" asked Billina.

  "I had a pair of silver shoes, that carried me through the air; but Ilost them," said Dorothy.

  "Ah, indeed," remarked the yellow hen, in a tone of unbelief.

  "Anyhow," resumed the girl, "there is no seashore near the Land of Oz,so this must surely be some other fairy country."

  While she was speaking she selected a bright and pretty dinner-pailthat seemed to have a stout handle, and picked it from its branch. Then,accompanied by the yellow hen, she walked out of the shadow of the treestoward the sea-shore.

  They were part way across the sands when Billina suddenly cried, in avoice of terror:

  "What's that?"

  Dorothy turned quickly around, and saw coming out of a path that ledfrom between the trees the most peculiar person her eyes had everbeheld.

  It had the form of a man, except that it walked, or rather rolled, uponall fours, and its legs were the same length as its arms, giving themthe appearance of the four legs of a beast. Yet it was no beast thatDorothy had discovered, for the person was clothed most gorgeously inembroidered garments of many colors, and wore a straw hat perchedjauntily upon the side of its head. But it differed from human beings inthis respect, that instead of hands and feet there grew at the end ofits arms and legs round wheels, and by means of these wheels it rolledvery swiftly over the level ground. Afterward Dorothy found that theseodd wheels were of the same hard substance that our finger-nails andtoe-nails are composed of, and she also learned that creatures of thisstrange race were born in this queer fashion. But when our little girlfirst caught sight of the first individual of a race that was destinedto cause her a lot of trouble, she had an idea that thebrilliantly-clothed personage was on roller-skates, which were attachedto his hands as well as to his feet.

  "Run!" screamed the yellow hen, fluttering away in great fright. "It's aWheeler!"

  "IT'S A WHEELER!"]

  "A Wheeler?" exclaimed Dorothy. "What can that be?"

  "Don't you remember the warning in the sand: 'Beware the Wheelers'? Run,I tell you--run!"

  So Dorothy ran, and the Wheeler gave a sharp, wild cry and came afterher in full chase.

  Looking over her shoulder as she ran, the girl now saw a greatprocession of Wheelers emerging from the forest--dozens and dozens ofthem--all clad in splendid, tight-fitting garments and all rollingswiftly toward her and uttering their wild, strange cries.

  "They're sure to catch us!" panted the girl, who was still carrying theheavy dinner-pail she had picked. "I can't run much farther, Billina."

  "Climb up this hill,--quick!" said the hen; and Dorothy found she wasvery near to the heap of loose and jagged rocks they had passed on theirway to the forest. The yellow hen was even now fluttering among therocks, and Dorothy followed as best she could, half climbing and halftumbling up the rough and rugged steep.

  She was none too soon, for the foremost Wheeler reached the hill amoment after her; but while the girl scrambled up the rocks the creaturestopped short with howls of rage and disappointment.

  Dorothy now heard the yellow hen laughing, in her cackling, henny way.

  "Don't hurry, my dear," cried Billina. "They can't follow us among theserocks, so we're safe enough now."

  Dorothy stopped at once and sat
down upon a broad boulder, for she wasall out of breath.

  The rest of the Wheelers had now reached the foot of the hill, but itwas evident that their wheels would not roll upon the rough and jaggedrocks, and therefore they were helpless to follow Dorothy and the hen towhere they had taken refuge. But they circled all around the littlehill, so the child and Billina were fast prisoners and could not comedown without being captured.

  Then the creatures shook their front wheels at Dorothy in a threateningmanner, and it seemed they were able to speak as well as to make theirdreadful outcries, for several of them shouted:

  "We'll get you in time, never fear! And when we do get you, we'll tearyou into little bits!"

  "Why are you so cruel to me?" asked Dorothy. "I'm a stranger in yourcountry, and have done you no harm."

  "No harm!" cried one who seemed to be their leader. "Did you not pickour lunch-boxes and dinner-pails? Have you not a stolen dinner-pailstill in your hand?"

  "I only picked one of each," she answered. "I was hungry, and I didn'tknow the trees were yours."

  "That is no excuse," retorted the leader, who was clothed in a mostgorgeous suit. "It is the law here that whoever picks a dinner-pailwithout our permission must die immediately."

  "Don't you believe him," said Billina. "I'm sure the trees do not belongto these awful creatures. They are fit for any mischief, and it's myopinion they would try to kill us just the same if you hadn't picked adinner-pail."

  "I think so, too," agreed Dorothy. "But what shall we do now?"

  "Stay where we are," advised the yellow hen. "We are safe from theWheelers until we starve to death, anyhow; and before that time comes agood many things can happen."