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

      The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.

      “I—I don’t s-s-see anything funny—‘bout it!” he stammered.

      Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of voice:

      “Well, that’s better!”

      Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.

      “Can your horse talk?” she asked.

      “Never knew him to, before,” replied the boy.

      “Those were the first words I ever said,” called out the horse, who had overheard them, “and I can’t explain why I happened to speak then. This is a nice scrape you’ve got me into, isn’t it?”

      “As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves,” answered Dorothy, cheerfully. “But never mind; something will happen pretty soon.”

      “Of course,” growled the horse, “and then we shall be sorry it happened.”

      Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.

      Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes, and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded. There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing rays so that the boy and girl could open their eyes again.

      “We’ve got to come to the bottom some time,” remarked Zeb, with a deep sigh. “We can’t keep falling forever, you know.”

      “Of course not,” said Dorothy. “We are somewhere in the middle of the earth, and the chances are we’ll reach the other side of it before long. But it’s a big hollow, isn’t it?”

      “Awful big!” answered the boy.

      “We’re coming to something now,” announced the horse.

      At this they both put their heads over the side of the buggy and looked down. Yes; there was land below them; and not so very far away, either. But they were floating very, very slowly—so slowly that it could no longer be called a fall—and the children had ample time to take heart and look about them.

      They saw a landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very like those upon the earth’s surface; but all the scene was splendidly colored by the variegated lights from the six suns. Here and there were groups of houses that seemed made of clear glass, because they sparkled so brightly.

      “I’m sure we are in no danger,” said Dorothy, in a sober voice. “We are falling so slowly that we can’t be dashed to pieces when we land, and this country that we are coming to seems quite pretty.”

      “We’ll never get home again, though!” declared Zeb, with a groan.

      “Oh, I’m not so sure of that,” replied the girl. “But don’t let us worry over such things, Zeb; we can’t help ourselves just now, you know, and I’ve always been told it’s foolish to borrow trouble.”

      The boy became silent, having no reply to so sensible a speech, and soon both were fully occupied in staring at the strange scenes spread out below them. They seemed to be falling right into the middle of a big city which had many tall buildings with glass domes and sharp-pointed spires. These spires were like great spear-points, and if they tumbled upon one of them they were likely to suffer serious injury.

      Jim the horse had seen these spires, also, and his ears stood straight up with fear, while Dorothy and Zeb held their breaths in suspense. But no; they floated gently down upon a broad, flat roof, and came to a stop at last.

      When Jim felt something firm under his feet the poor beast’s legs trembled so much that he could hardly stand; but Zeb at once leaped out of the buggy to the roof, and he was so awkward and hasty that he kicked over Dorothy’s bird-cage, which rolled out upon the roof so that the bottom came off. At once a pink kitten crept out of the upset cage, sat down upon the glass roof, and yawned and blinked its round eyes.

      “Oh,” said Dorothy. “There’s Eureka.”

      “First time I ever saw a pink cat,” said Zeb.

      “Eureka isn’t pink; she’s white. It’s this queer light that gives her that color.”

      “Where’s my milk?” asked the kitten, looking up into Dorothy’s face. “I’m ‘most starved to death.”

      “Oh, Eureka! Can you talk?”

      “Talk! Am I talking? Good gracious, I believe I am. Isn’t it funny?” asked the kitten.

      “It’s all wrong,” said Zeb, gravely. “Animals ought not to talk. But even old Jim has been saying things since we had our accident.”

      “I can’t see that it’s wrong,” remarked Jim, in his gruff tones. “At least, it isn’t as wrong as some other things. What’s going to become of us now?”

      “I don’t know,” answered the boy, looking around him curiously.

      The houses of the city were all made of glass, so clear and transparent that one could look through the walls as easily as through a window. Dorothy saw, underneath the roof on which she stood, several rooms used for rest chambers, and even thought she could make out a number of queer forms huddled into the corners of these rooms.

      The roof beside them had a great hole smashed through it, and pieces of glass were lying scattered in every direction. A nearby steeple had been broken off short and the fragments lay heaped beside it. Other buildings were cracked in places or had corners chipped off from them; but they must have been very beautiful before these accidents had happened to mar their perfection. The rainbow tints from the colored suns fell upon the glass city softly and gave to the buildings many delicate, shifting hues which were very pretty to see.

      But not a sound had broken the stillness since the strangers had arrived, except that of their own voices. They began to wonder if there were no people to inhabit this magnificent city of the inner world.

      Suddenly a man appeared through a hole in the roof next to the one they were on and stepped into plain view. He was not a very large man, but was well formed and had a beautiful face—calm and serene as the face of a fine portrait. His clothing fitted his form snugly and was gorgeously colored in brilliant shades of green, which varied as the sunbeams touched them but was not wholly influenced by the solar rays.

      The man had taken a step or two across the glass roof before he noticed the presence of the strangers; but then he stopped abruptly. There was no expression of either fear or surprise upon his tranquil face, yet he must have been both astonished and afraid; for after his eyes had rested upon the ungainly form of the horse for a moment he walked rapidly to the furthest edge of the roof, his head turned back over his shoulder to gaze at the strange animal.

      “Look out!” cried Dorothy, who noticed that the beautiful man did not look where he was going; “be careful, or you’ll fall off!”

      But he paid no attention to her warning. He reached the edge of the tall roof, stepped one foot out into the air, and walked into space as calmly as if he were on firm ground.

      The girl, greatly astonished, ran to lean over the edge of the roof, and saw the man walking rapidly through the air toward the ground. Soon he reached the street and disappeared through a glass doorway into one of the glass buildings.

      “How