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they advanced.
"Thank goodness we're nearly there!" panted the little Wizard.
Jim, who was in advance, saw the last stair before him and stuck his head above the
rocky sides of the stairway. Then he halted, ducked down and began to back up, so that
he nearly fell with the buggy onto the others.
"Let's go down again!" he said, in his hoarse voice.
"Nonsense!" snapped the tired Wizard. "What's the matter with you, old man?"
"Everything," grumbled the horse. "I've taken a look at this place, and it's no fit country
for real creatures to go to. Everything's dead, up there--no flesh or blood or growing thing
anywhere."
"Never mind;. we can't turn back," said Dorothy; "and we don't intend to stay there,
anyhow."
"It's dangerous," growled Jim, in a stubborn tone.
"See here, my good steed," broke in the Wizard, "little Dorothy and I have been in many
queer countries in our travels, and always escaped without harm. We've even been to the
marvelous Land of Oz--haven't we, Dorothy?--so we don't much care what the Country
of the Gargoyles is like. Go ahead, Jim, and whatever happens we'll make the best of it."
"All right," answered the horse; "this is your excursion, and not mine; so if you get into
trouble don't blame me."
With this speech he bent forward and dragged the buggy up the remaining steps. The
others followed and soon they were all standing upon a broad platform and gazing at the
most curious and startling sight their eyes had ever beheld.
"The Country of the Gargoyles is all wooden!" exclaimed Zeb; and so it was. The ground
was sawdust and the pebbles scattered around were hard knots from trees, worn smooth
in course of time. There were odd wooden houses, with carved wooden flowers in the
front yards. The tree-trunks were of coarse wood, but the leaves of the trees were
shavings. The patches of grass were splinters of wood, and where neither grass nor
sawdust showed was a solid wooden flooring. Wooden birds fluttered among the trees
and wooden cows were browsing upon the wooden grass; but the most amazing things of
all were the wooden people--the creatures known as Gargoyles.
These were very numerous, for the place was thickly inhabited, and a large group of the
queer people clustered near, gazing sharply upon the strangers who had emerged from the
long spiral stairway.
The Gargoyles were very small of stature, being less than three feet in height. Their
bodies were round, their legs short and thick and their arms extraordinarily long and
stout. Their heads were too big for their bodies and their faces were decidedly ugly to
look upon. Some had long, curved noses and chins, small eyes and wide, grinning
mouths. Others had flat noses, protruding eyes, and ears that were shaped like those of an
elephant. There were many types, indeed, scarcely two being alike; but all were equally
disagreeable in appearance. The tops of their heads had no hair, but were carved into a
variety of fantastic shapes, some having a row of points or balls around the top, others
designs resembling flowers or vegetables, and still others having squares that looked like
waffles cut criss-cross on their heads. They all wore short wooden wings which were
fastened to their wooden bodies by means of wooden hinges with wooden screws, and
with these wings they flew swiftly and noiselessly here and there, their legs being of little
use to them.
This noiseless motion was one of the most peculiar things about the Gargoyles. They
made no sounds at all, either in flying or trying to speak, and they conversed mainly by
means of quick signals made with their wooden fingers or lips. Neither was there any
sound to be heard anywhere throughout the wooden country. The birds did not sing, nor
did the cows moo; yet there was more than ordinary activity everywhere.
The group of these queer creatures which was discovered clustered near the stairs at first
remained staring and motionless, glaring with evil eyes at the intruders who had so
suddenly appeared in their land. In turn the Wizard and the children, the horse and the
kitten, examined the Gargoyles with the same silent attention.
"There's going to be trouble, I'm sure," remarked the horse. "Unhitch those tugs, Zeb, and
set me free from the buggy, so I can fight comfortably."
"Jim's right," sighed the Wizard. "There's going to be trouble, and my sword isn't stout
enough to cut up those wooden bodies--so I shall have to get out my revolvers."
He got his satchel from the buggy and, opening it, took out two deadly looking revolvers
that made the children shrink back in alarm just to look at.
"What harm can the Gurgles do?" asked Dorothy. "They have no weapons to hurt us
with."
"Each of their arms is a wooden club," answered the little man, "and I'm sure the
creatures mean mischief, by the looks of their eyes. Even these revolvers can merely
succeed in damaging a few of their wooden bodies, and after that we will be at their
mercy."
"But why fight at all, in that case?" asked the girl.
"So I may die with a clear conscience," returned the Wizard, gravely. "It's every man's
duty to do the best he knows how; and I'm going to do it."
"Wish I had an axe," said Zeb, who by now had unhitched the horse.
"If we had known we were coming we might have brought along several other useful
things," responded the Wizard. "But we dropped into this adventure rather unexpectedly."
The Gargoyles had backed away a distance when they heard the sound of talking, for
although our friends had spoken in low tones their words seemed loud in the silence [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]