The Essential Works of L. Frank Baum. L. Frank Baum

eyes and could put her head close to the various pieces that lay scattered around. She would examine the Lord High Chigglewitz and see which piece of him was next needed, and then hunt around until she found it. So before an hour had passed old Larry was standing complete before them.

      “I congratulate you, my friends,” he said, speaking in a cheerful voice. “You are certainly the cleverest people who ever visited us. I was never matched together so quickly in my life. I’m considered a great puzzle, usually.”

      “Well,” said Dorothy, “there used to be a picture puzzle craze in Kansas, and so I’ve had some ‘sperience matching puzzles. But the pictures were flat, while you are round, and that makes you harder to figure out.”

      “Thank you, my dear,” replied old Larry, greatly pleased. “I feel highly complimented. Were I not a really good puzzle, there would be no object in my scattering myself.”

      “Why do you do it?” asked Aunt Em, severely. “Why don’t you behave yourself, and stay put together?”

      The Lord High Chigglewitz seemed annoyed by this speech; but he replied, politely:

      “Madam, you have perhaps noticed that every person has some peculiarity. Mine is to scatter myself. What your own peculiarity is I will not venture to say; but I shall never find fault with you, whatever you do.”

      “Now you’ve got your diploma, Em,” said Uncle Henry, with a laugh, “and I’m glad of it. This is a queer country, and we may as well take people as we find them.”

      “If we did, we’d leave these folks scattered,” she returned, and this retort made everybody laugh good-naturedly.

      Just then Omby Amby found a hand with a knitting needle in it, and they decided to put Grandmother Gnit together. She proved an easier puzzle than old Larry, and when she was completed they found her a pleasant old lady who welcomed them cordially. Dorothy told her how the kangaroo had lost her mittens, and Grandmother Gnit promised to set to work at once and make the poor animal another pair.

      Then the cook came to call them to dinner, and they found an inviting meal prepared for them. The Lord High Chigglewitz sat at the head of the table and Grandmother Gnit at the foot, and the guests had a merry time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

      After dinner they went out into the yard and matched several other people together, and this work was so interesting that they might have spent the entire day at Fuddlecumjig had not the Wizard suggested that they resume their journey.

      “But I don’t like to leave all these poor people scattered,” said Dorothy, undecided what to do.

      “Oh, don’t mind us, my dear,” returned old Larry. “Every day or so some of the Gillikins, or Munchkins, or Winkies come here to amuse themselves by matching us together, so there will be no harm in leaving these pieces where they are for a time. But I hope you will visit us again, and if you do you will always be welcome, I assure you.”

      “Don’t you ever match each other?” she inquired.

      “Never; for we are no puzzles to ourselves, and so there wouldn’t be any fun in it.”

      They now said goodbye to the queer Fuddles and got into their wagon to continue their journey.

      “Those are certainly strange people,” remarked Aunt Em, thoughtfully, as they drove away from Fuddlecumjig, “but I really can’t see what use they are, at all.”

      “Why, they amused us all for several hours,” replied the Wizard. “That is being of use to us, I’m sure.”

      “I think they’re more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg,” declared Uncle Henry, soberly. “For my part, I’m glad we visited the Fuddles.”

      13. How the General Talked to the King

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      When General Guph returned to the cavern of the Nome King his Majesty asked:

      “Well, what luck? Will the Whimsies join us?”

      “They will,” answered the General. “They will fight for us with all their strength and cunning.”

      “Good!” exclaimed the King. “What reward did you promise them?”

      “Your Majesty is to use the Magic Belt to give each Whimsie a large, fine head, in place of the small one he is now obliged to wear.”

      “I agree to that,” said the King. “This is good news, Guph, and it makes me feel more certain of the conquest of Oz.”

      “But I have other news for you,” announced the General.

      “Good or bad?”

      “Good, your Majesty.”

      “Then I will hear it,” said the King, with interest.

      “The Growleywogs will join us.”

      “No!” cried the astonished King.

      “Yes, indeed,” said the General. “I have their promise.”

      “But what reward do they demand?” inquired the King, suspiciously, for he knew how greedy the Growleywogs were.

      “They are to take a few of the Oz people for their slaves,” replied Guph. He did not think it necessary to tell Roquat that the Growleywogs demanded twenty thousand slaves. It would be time enough for that when Oz was conquered.

      “A very reasonable request, I’m sure,” remarked the King. “I must congratulate you, Guph, upon the wonderful success of your journey.”

      “But that is not all,” said the General, proudly.

      The King seemed astonished. “Speak out, sir!” he commanded.

      “I have seen the First and Foremost Phanfasm of the Mountain of Phantastico, and he will bring his people to assist us.”

      “What!” cried the King. “The Phanfasms! You don’t mean it, Guph!”

      “It is true,” declared the General, proudly.

      The King became thoughtful, and his brows wrinkled.

      “I’m afraid, Guph,” he said rather anxiously, “that the First and Foremost may prove as dangerous to us as to the Oz people. If he and his terrible band come down from the mountain they may take the notion to conquer the Nomes!”

      “Pah! That is a foolish idea,” retorted Guph, irritably, but he knew in his heart that the King was right. “The First and Foremost is a particular friend of mine, and will do us no harm. Why, when I was there, he even invited me into his house.”

      The General neglected to tell the King how he had been jerked into the hut of the First and Foremost by means of the brass hoop. So Roquat the Red looked at his General admiringly and said:

      “You are a wonderful Nome, Guph. I’m sorry I did not make you my General before. But what reward did the First and Foremost demand?”

      “Nothing at all,” answered Guph. “Even the Magic Belt itself could not add to his powers of sorcery. All the Phanfasms wish is to destroy the Oz people, who are good and happy. This pleasure will amply repay them for assisting us.”

      “When will they come?” asked Roquat, half fearfully.

      “When the tunnel is completed,” said the General.

      “We are nearly halfway under the desert now,” announced the King; “and that is fast work, because the tunnel has to be drilled through solid rock. But after we have passed the desert it will not take us long to extend the tunnel to the walls of the Emerald City.”

      “Well, whenever you are ready, we shall be joined by the Whimsies, the Growleywogs and the Phanfasms,” said Guph; “so the conquest of