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

they were any nearer to the top of the earth than when they had started, hours before.

      “Anyhow,” said Dorothy, “we’ve ‘scaped those awful Gurgles, and that’s ONE comfort!”

      “Probably the Gargoyles are still busy trying to put out the fire,” returned the Wizard. “But even if they succeeded in doing that it would be very difficult for them to fly amongst these rocks; so I am sure we need fear them no longer.”

      Once in a while they would come to a deep crack in the floor, which made the way quite dangerous; but there was still enough oil in the lanterns to give them light, and the cracks were not so wide but that they were able to jump over them. Sometimes they had to climb over heaps of loose rock, where Jim could scarcely drag the buggy. At such times Dorothy, Zeb and the Wizard all pushed behind, and lifted the wheels over the roughest places; so they managed, by dint of hard work, to keep going. But the little party was both weary and discouraged when at last, on turning a sharp corner, the wanderers found themselves in a vast cave arching high over their heads and having a smooth, level floor.

      The cave was circular in shape, and all around its edge, near to the ground, appeared groups of dull yellow lights, two of them being always side by side. These were motionless at first, but soon began to flicker more brightly and to sway slowly from side to side and then up and down.

      “What sort of place is this?” asked the boy, trying to see more clearly through the gloom.

      “I cannot imagine, I’m sure,” answered the Wizard, also peering about.

      “Woogh!” snarled Eureka, arching her back until her hair stood straight on end; “it’s den of alligators, or crocodiles, or some other dreadful creatures! Don’t you see their terrible eyes?”

      “Eureka sees better in the dark than we can,” whispered Dorothy. “Tell us, dear, what do the creatures look like?” she asked, addressing her pet.

      “I simply can’t describe ‘em,” answered the kitten, shuddering. “Their eyes are like pie-plates and their mouths like coal-scuttles. But their bodies don’t seem very big.”

      “Where are they?” enquired the girl.

      “They are in little pockets all around the edge of this cavern. Oh, Dorothy—you can’t imagine what horrid things they are! They’re uglier than the Gargoyles.”

      “Tut-tut! be careful how you criticise your neighbors,” spoke a rasping voice near by. “As a matter of fact you are rather ugly-looking creatures yourselves, and I’m sure mother has often told us we were the loveliest and prettiest things in all the world.”

      Hearing these words our friends turned in the direction of the sound, and the Wizard held his lanterns so that their light would flood one of the little pockets in the rock.

      “Why, it’s a dragon!” he exclaimed.

      “No,” answered the owner of the big yellow eyes which were blinking at them so steadily; “you are wrong about that. We hope to grow to be dragons some day, but just now we’re only dragonettes.”

      “What’s that?” asked Dorothy, gazing fearfully at the great scaley head, the yawning mouth and the big eyes.

      “Young dragons, of course; but we are not allowed to call ourselves real dragons until we get our full growth,” was the reply. “The big dragons are very proud, and don’t think children amount to much; but mother says that some day we will all be very powerful and important.”

      “Where is your mother?” asked the Wizard, anxiously looking around.

      “She has gone up to the top of the earth to hunt for our dinner. If she has good luck she will bring us an elephant, or a brace of rhinoceri, or perhaps a few dozen people to stay our hunger.”

      “Oh; are you hungry?” enquired Dorothy, drawing back.

      “Very,” said the dragonette, snapping its jaws.

      “And—and—do you eat people?”

      “To be sure, when we can get them. But they’ve been very scarce for a few years and we usually have to be content with elephants or buffaloes,” answered the creature, in a regretful tone.

      “How old are you?” enquired Zeb, who stared at the yellow eyes as if fascinated.

      “Quite young, I grieve to say; and all of my brothers and sisters that you see here are practically my own age. If I remember rightly, we were sixty-six years old the day before yesterday.”

      “But that isn’t young!” cried Dorothy, in amazement.

      “No?” drawled the dragonette; “it seems to me very babyish.”

      “How old is your mother?” asked the girl.

      “Mother’s about two thousand years old; but she carelessly lost track of her age a few centuries ago and skipped several hundreds. She’s a little fussy, you know, and afraid of growing old, being a widow and still in her prime.”

      “I should think she would be,” agreed Dorothy. Then, after a moment’s thought, she asked: “Are we friends or enemies? I mean, will you be good to us, or do you intend to eat us?”

      “As for that, we dragonettes would love to eat you, my child; but unfortunately mother has tied all our tails around the rocks at the back of our individual caves, so that we can not crawl out to get you. If you choose to come nearer we will make a mouthful of you in a wink; but unless you do you will remain quite safe.”

      There was a regretful accent in the creature’s voice, and at the words all the other dragonettes sighed dismally.

      Dorothy felt relieved. Presently she asked:

      “Why did your mother tie your tails?”

      “Oh, she is sometimes gone for several weeks on her hunting trips, and if we were not tied we would crawl all over the mountain and fight with each other and get into a lot of mischief. Mother usually knows what she is about, but she made a mistake this time; for you are sure to escape us unless you come too near, and you probably won’t do that.”

      “No, indeed!” said the little girl. “We don’t wish to be eaten by such awful beasts.”

      “Permit me to say,” returned the dragonette, “that you are rather impolite to call us names, knowing that we cannot resent your insults. We consider ourselves very beautiful in appearance, for mother has told us so, and she knows. And we are of an excellent family and have a pedigree that I challenge any humans to equal, as it extends back about twenty thousand years, to the time of the famous Green Dragon of Atlantis, who lived in a time when humans had not yet been created. Can you match that pedigree, little girl?”

      “Well,” said Dorothy, “I was born on a farm in Kansas, and I guess that’s being just as ‘spectable and haughty as living in a cave with your tail tied to a rock. If it isn’t I’ll have to stand it, that’s all.”

      “Tastes differ,” murmured the dragonette, slowly drooping its scaley eyelids over its yellow eyes, until they looked like half-moons.

      Being reassured by the fact that the creatures could not crawl out of their rock-pockets, the children and the Wizard now took time to examine them more closely. The heads of the dragonettes were as big as barrels and covered with hard, greenish scales that glittered brightly under the light of the lanterns. Their front legs, which grew just back of their heads, were also strong and big; but their bodies were smaller around than their heads, and dwindled away in a long line until their tails were slim as a shoe-string. Dorothy thought, if it had taken them sixty-six years to grow to this size, that it would be fully a hundred years more before they could hope to call themselves dragons, and that seemed like a good while to wait to grow up.

      “It occurs to me,” said the Wizard, “that we ought to get out of this place before the mother dragon comes back.”

      “Don’t hurry,” called one of the dragonettes; “mother will be glad to meet you,