FANTASTICAL ADVENTURES – L. Frank Baum Edition (Childhood Essentials Library). Лаймен Фрэнк Баум

which had been in his satchel, and by its aid the little girl clearly saw the opening.

      “Where does it lead to?” she asked.

      “That I cannot tell,” said the Wizard; “but we cannot now be far below the earth’s surface, and that entrance may lead to another stairway that will bring us on top of our world again, where we belong. So, if we had the wings, and could escape the Gargoyles, we might fly to that rock and be saved.”

      “I’ll get you the wings,” said Zeb, who had thoughtfully listened to all this. “That is, if the kitten will show me where they are.”

      “But how can you get down?” enquired the girl, wonderingly.

      For answer Zeb began to unfasten Jim’s harness, strap by strap, and to buckle one piece to another until he had made a long leather strip that would reach to the ground.

      “I can climb down that, all right,” he said.

      “No you can’t,” remarked Jim, with a twinkle in his round eyes. “You may GO down, but you can only CLIMB up.”

      “Well, I’ll climb up when I get back, then,” said the boy, with a laugh. “Now, Eureka, you’ll have to show me the way to those wings.”

      “You must be very quiet,” warned the kitten; “for if you make the least noise the Gargoyles will wake up. They can hear a pin drop.”

      “I’m not going to drop a pin,” said Zeb.

      He had fastened one end of the strap to a wheel of the buggy, and now he let the line dangle over the side of the house.

      “Be careful,” cautioned Dorothy, earnestly.

      “I will,” said the boy, and let himself slide over the edge.

      The girl and the Wizard leaned over and watched Zeb work his way carefully downward, hand over hand, until he stood upon the ground below. Eureka clung with her claws to the wooden side of the house and let herself down easily. Then together they crept away to enter the low doorway of a neighboring dwelling.

      The watchers waited in breathless suspense until the boy again appeared, his arms now full of the wooden wings.

      When he came to where the strap was hanging he tied the wings all in a bunch to the end of the line, and the Wizard drew them up. Then the line was let down again for Zeb to climb up by. Eureka quickly followed him, and soon they were all standing together upon the platform, with eight of the much prized wooden wings beside them.

      The boy was no longer sleepy, but full of energy and excitement. He put the harness together again and hitched Jim to the buggy. Then, with the Wizard’s help, he tried to fasten some of the wings to the old cab-horse.

      This was no easy task, because half of each one of the hinges of the wings was missing, it being still fastened to the body of the Gargoyle who had used it. However, the Wizard went once more to his satchel—which seemed to contain a surprising variety of odds and ends—and brought out a spool of strong wire, by means of which they managed to fasten four of the wings to Jim’s harness, two near his head and two near his tail. They were a bit wiggley, but secure enough if only the harness held together.

      The other four wings were then fastened to the buggy, two on each side, for the buggy must bear the weight of the children and the Wizard as it flew through the air.

      These preparations had not consumed a great deal of time, but the sleeping Gargoyles were beginning to wake up and move around, and soon some of them would be hunting for their missing wings. So the prisoners resolved to leave their prison at once.

      They mounted into the buggy, Dorothy holding Eureka safe in her lap. The girl sat in the middle of the seat, with Zeb and the Wizard on each side of her. When all was ready the boy shook the reins and said:

      “Fly away, Jim!”

      “Which wings must I flop first?” asked the cab-horse, undecidedly.

      “Flop them all together,” suggested the Wizard.

      “Some of them are crooked,” objected the horse.

      “Never mind; we will steer with the wings on the buggy,” said Zeb. “Just you light out and make for that rock, Jim; and don’t waste any time about it, either.”

      So the horse gave a groan, flopped its four wings all together, and flew away from the platform. Dorothy was a little anxious about the success of their trip, for the way Jim arched his long neck and spread out his bony legs as he fluttered and floundered through the air was enough to make anybody nervous. He groaned, too, as if frightened, and the wings creaked dreadfully because the Wizard had forgotten to oil them; but they kept fairly good time with the wings of the buggy, so that they made excellent progress from the start. The only thing that anyone could complain of with justice was the fact that they wobbled first up and then down, as if the road were rocky instead of being as smooth as the air could make it.

      The main point, however, was that they flew, and flew swiftly, if a bit unevenly, toward the rock for which they had headed.

      Some of the Gargoyles saw them, presently, and lost no time in collecting a band to pursue the escaping prisoners; so that when Dorothy happened to look back she saw them coming in a great cloud that almost darkened the sky.

      13. The Den of the Dragonettes

       Table of Contents

      Our friends had a good start and were able to maintain it, for with their eight wings they could go just as fast as could the Gargoyles. All the way to the great rock the wooden people followed them, and when Jim finally alighted at the mouth of the cavern the pursuers were still some distance away.

      “But, I’m afraid they’ll catch us yet,” said Dorothy, greatly excited.

      “No; we must stop them,” declared the Wizard. “Quick Zeb, help me pull off these wooden wings!”

      They tore off the wings, for which they had no further use, and the Wizard piled them in a heap just outside the entrance to the cavern. Then he poured over them all the kerosene oil that was left in his oil-can, and lighting a match set fire to the pile.

      The flames leaped up at once and the bonfire began to smoke and roar and crackle just as the great army of wooden Gargoyles arrived. The creatures drew back at once, being filled with fear and horror; for such as dreadful thing as a fire they had never before known in all the history of their wooden land.

      Inside the archway were several doors, leading to different rooms built into the mountain, and Zeb and the Wizard lifted these wooden doors from their hinges and tossed them all on the flames.

      “That will prove a barrier for some time to come,” said the little man, smiling pleasantly all over his wrinkled face at the success of their stratagem. “Perhaps the flames will set fire to all that miserable wooden country, and if it does the loss will be very small and the Gargoyles never will be missed. But come, my children; let us explore the mountain and discover which way we must go in order to escape from this cavern, which is getting to be almost as hot as a bake-oven.”

      To their disappointment there was within this mountain no regular flight of steps by means of which they could mount to the earth’s surface. A sort of inclined tunnel led upward for a way, and they found the floor of it both rough and steep. Then a sudden turn brought them to a narrow gallery where the buggy could not pass. This delayed and bothered them for a while, because they did not wish to leave the buggy behind them. It carried their baggage and was useful to ride in wherever there were good roads, and since it had accompanied them so far in their travels they felt it their duty to preserve it. So Zeb and the Wizard set to work and took off the wheels and the top, and then they put the buggy edgewise, so it would take up the smallest space. In this position they managed, with the aid of the patient cab-horse, to drag the vehicle through the narrow part of the passage. It was not a great distance, fortunately, and when the path