The Royal Book of Oz Read online

  CHAPTER 6

  SINGING THEIR WAY OUT OF POKES

  Taking a deep breath, Sir Hokus, the Cowardly Lion and Dorothy burstout of the hall singing at the top of their voices.

  "Three blind mice--!" sang Dorothy.

  "Across the plain!" shouted Sir Hokus.

  "I am the Cowardly Lion of Oz!" roared the lion.

  The Pokes were so taken aback at the horrid sounds that they ranscurrying right and left. In another minute the three were out of thecastle and singing their way through the gloomy garden. Dorothy stuckto the Three Blind Mice. Sir Hokus sang verse after verse of an oldEnglish ballad, and the Cowardly Lion roared and gurgled a song ofhis own making, which, considering it was a first attempt, was not sobad:

  I am the Cowardly Lion of Oz! Be good! Begone! Beware! Becoz When I am scared full fierce I be; Br--rah--grr--ruff, look out for me!

  The Pokes stumbled this way and that, and all went well until theyrushed into a company of Pokes who were playing croquet. The slownesswith which they raised their mallets fascinated Dorothy, and shestopped to watch them in spite of herself.

  "Don't stop! Sing!" growled the Cowardly Lion in the middle of aline. To make up for lost time, Dorothy closed her eyes and sangharder than ever, but alas! next instant she fell over a wicket,which so deprived her of breath that she could barely scramble up,let alone sing. As soon as she stopped singing, the Pokes paused intheir flight, and as soon as they paused Dorothy began to gape.Singing for dear life, Sir Hokus jerked Dorothy by the arm, and theCowardly Lion roared so loud that the Pokes covered their ears andbegan backing away.

  "There was a Knight! Come on, come on!" sang Sir Hokus, and Dorothycame, and in a few minutes was able to take up the "Three Blind Mice"again. But running and singing at the same time is not an easy task.And running through Pokes is like trying to run through water. (Youknow how hard that is?)

  "Three Blind Mice--uh--hah--Three Blind--Mice--uh-hah--I can't singanother note! Thu--ree--!" gasped poor Dorothy, stumbling along,while the Cowardly Lion was puffing like an engine. The Pokes in thegarden had recovered from their first alarm and were following at asafe distance. The gates of the city were only a short distance off,but it seemed to Dorothy that she could not go another step.

  A large group of Pokes had gathered at the gates, and unless theycould sing their way through, they would fall asleep and be carriedignominiously back to the castle.

  "Now!" wheezed Sir Hokus, "Remember, it is for the Scarecrow!" All ofthem swallowed, took a deep breath, and put their last remainingstrength into their voices. But a wily Poke who had stuffed somecotton in his ears now approached pushing a little cart.

  "Take--!" he drawled, and before Dorothy realized what she was doing,she had accepted a cone from the Poke.

  "Hah, hoh, hum! Why, it's hokey pokey!" spluttered Dorothy, and witha deep sigh of delight she took a large bite of the pink ice cream.How cool it felt on her dry throat! She opened her mouth for a secondtaste, yawned terrifically, and fell with a thud to the stonepavement.

  "Dorothy!" wailed Sir Hokus, stopping short in his song and bendingover the little girl. The poor Cowardly Lion gave a gulp of despairand began running around the two, roaring and singing in a chokedvoice. The Pokes nodded to each other in a pleased fashion, and theChief Poker started cautiously toward them with a long, thick rope.The Cowardly Lion redoubled his efforts. Then, seeing Sir Hokus aboutto fall, he jumped on the Knight with all his strength. Down crashedSir Hokus, his armor clanging against the stones that paved thegateway.

  "Sing!" roared the Cowardly Lion, glaring at him fiercely. The fallwakened the poor Knight, but he had not the strength to rise. Sittingon the hard stones and looking reproachfully at the Cowardly Lion, hebegan his ballad in a half-hearted fashion. The Cowardly Lion's heartwas like to burst between lack of breath and fear, but making onelast tremendous effort and still roaring his song, he bounded at theChief Poker, seized the rope, and was back before the stupid creaturehad time to yawn.

  "Tie it around your waist; take Dorothy in your arms!" gasped theCowardly Lion out of the corner of his mouth. Sir Hokus, thoughcompletely dazed, had just enough presence of mind to obey, and thenext minute the Cowardly Lion, growling between his teeth like a goodfellow, was dashing through the group of Pokes, the other end of therope in his mouth.

  Bumpety bump--bump--bump! Bangety-bang-bang! went Sir Hokus over thecobbles, holding his helmet with one hand and Dorothy fast in theother arm. The Pokes fell this way and that, and such was thedetermination of the Cowardly Lion that he never stopped till he wasout of the gate and halfway up the rough road they had so recentlytraveled. Then with a mighty sigh, he dropped the rope, rolled overand over down the hill, and lay panting with exhaustion at thebottom.

  The bumping over the cobbles had wakened Sir Hokus thoroughly.Indeed, the poor Knight was black and blue, and his armor dented andscraped frightfully in important places.

  Dorothy, considerably shaken, opened her eyes and began feeblysinging "Three Blind Mice."

  "No need," puffed Sir Hokus, lifting her off his lap and risingstiffly.

  "Yon noble beast has rescued us."

  "Won't the Pokes come up here?" asked Dorothy, staring around a bitdizzily.

  "They cannot live out of the kingdom," said the Knight, and Dorothydrew a big sigh of relief. Sir Hokus, however, was looking verygrave.

  "I have failed on my first adventure. Had it not been for theCowardly Lion, we would now be prisoners in Pokes," he murmuredsadly. Then he unfastened the plume from his helmet. "It beseemeth menot to wear it," sighed the Knight mournfully, and though Dorothytried her best to comfort him, he refused to put it back. Finally,she fastened the plume to her dress, and they went down to theCowardly Lion.

  There was a little spring nearby, and after they had poured sixhelmets of water over his head, the lion opened his eyes. "Been in agood many fights," gasped the lion, "but I never fought one likethis. Singing, bah!"

  "Noble Sir, how can I ever repay you?" faltered the Knight. "Alas,that I have failed in the hour of trial!"

  "Why, it wasn't a question of courage at all," rumbled the CowardlyLion, greatly embarrassed. "I had the loudest voice and the mostbreath, that's all! You got the rough end of it." Sir Hokus lookedruefully at his armor. The back was entirely squashed.

  "Never mind!" said the Knight bravely. "It is the front one presentsto the foe."

  "Now you're talking like a real Knight," said Dorothy. "A while agoyou said, 'Yon' and 'beseemeth,' and first thing you know the talkwill all come back to you." Sir Hokus' honest face shone withpleasure.

  "Odds bludgeons and truncheons! The little maid is right!" heexclaimed, striking an attitude. "And once it does, the rest will beeasy."

  "Don't say rest to me," begged the Cowardly Lion, getting slowly tohis feet. "Hah, hoh, hum! Just to think of it makes me yawn. Nowdon't you think we had better start off?"

  "If you're rested," began Dorothy. The Cowardly Lion put his paw overhis ear and looked so comical that both Dorothy and Sir Hokus laughedheartily.

  "If you're ready," amended Dorothy, and the three adventurers startedup the steep road. "The first thing to do," said the little girl, "isto get back to the Emerald City as quickly as we can."

  At this very minute Glinda, the Good Sorceress of Oz, in her palacein the Quadling Country, was puzzling over an entry in the MagicRecord Book. This book tells everything that is happening in theworld and out, and while it does not give details, it is a veryuseful possession.

  "The Emperor of the Silver Islands," read Glinda, "has returned tohis people."

  "Now who is the Emperor of the Silver Islands?" she asked herself.She puzzled about it for a long while, and then, deciding that it hadnothing to do with the Fairy Kingdom of Oz, she closed the book andwent for a walk in the palace garden.

  Dorothy and Sir Hokus and the Cowardly Lion had meanwhile reached thefirst sign in the dim forest, the sign directing travelers to Pokes.Two roads branched out through the for
est, and after much debatingthey took the wider.

  "Do you 'spose this leads to the Emerald City?" asked Cowardly Liondubiously.

  "Time will tell, time will tell," said Sir Hokus cheerfully.

  "Yes," murmured the Cowardly Lion, "time will tell. But what?"