For a while the enemy hesitated
to renew the attack. Then a
few of them advanced until
another shot from the Wizard's
revolver made them retreat.
"That's fine," said Zeb. "We've
got 'em on the run now, sure
enough."
"But only for a time," replied
the Wizard, shaking his head
gloomily. "These revolvers
are good for six shots each,
but when those are gone we
shall be helpless."
The Gargoyles seemed to realize
this, for they sent a few of
their band time after time
to attack the strangers and
draw the fire from the little
man's revolvers. In this way
none of them was shocked by
the dreadful report more than
once, for the main band kept
far away and each time a new
company was sent into the battle.
When the Wizard had fired all
of his twelve bullets he had
caused no damage to the enemy
except to stun a few by the
noise, and so he as no nearer
to victory than in the beginning
of the fray.
"What shall we do now?" asked
Dorothy, anxiously.
"Let's yell--all together," said
Zeb.
"And fight at the same time," added
the Wizard. "We will get near
Jim, so that he can help us,
and each one must take some
weapon and do the best he can.
I'll use my sword, although
it isn't much account in this
affair. Dorothy must take her
parasol and open it suddenly
when the wooden folks attack
her. I haven't anything for
you, Zeb."
"I'll use the king," said
the boy, and pulled his prisoner
out of the buggy. The bound
Gargoyle's arms extended far
out beyond its head, so by
grasping its wrists Zeb found
the king made a very good club.
The boy was strong for one
of his years, having always
worked upon a farm; so he was
likely to prove more dangerous
to the enemy than the Wizard.
When
the next
company
of Gargoyles
advanced,
our adventurers
began yelling as if they had
gone mad. Even the kitten gave
a dreadfully shrill scream
and at the same time Jim the
cab-horse neighed loudly. This
daunted the enemy for a time,
but the defenders were soon
out of breath. Perceiving this,
as well as the fact that there
were no more of the awful "bangs" to
come from the revolvers, the
Gargoyles advanced in a swarm
as thick as bees, so that the
air was filled with them.
Dorothy squatted upon the
ground and put up her parasol,
which nearly covered her and
proved a great protection.
The Wizard's sword-blade snapped
into a dozen pieces at the
first blow he struck against
the wooden people. Zeb pounded
away with the Gargoyle he was
using as a club until he had
knocked down dozens of foes;
but at the last they clustered
so thickly about him that he
no longer had room in which
to swing his arms. The horse
performed some wonderful kicking
and even Eureka assisted when
she leaped bodily upon the
Gargoyles and scratched and
bit at them like a wild-cat.
But all this bravery amounted
to nothing at all. The wooden
things wound their long arms
around Zeb and the Wizard and
held them fast. Dorothy was
captured in the same way, and
numbers of the Gargoyles clung
to Jim's legs, so weighting
him down that the poor beast
was helpless. Eureka made a
desperate dash to escape and
scampered along the ground
like a streak; but a grinning
Gargoyle flew after her and
grabbed her before she had
gone very far.
All of them expected nothing
less than instant death; but
to their surprise the wooden
creatures flew into the air
with them and bore them far
away, over miles and miles
of wooden country, until they
came to a wooden city. The
houses of this city had many
corners, being square and six-sided
and eight-sided. They were
tower-like in shape and the
best of them seemed old and
weather-worn; yet all were
strong and substantial.
To one of these houses which
had neither doors nor windows,
but only one broad opening
far up underneath the roof,
the prisoners were brought
by their captors. The Gargoyles
roughly pushed them into the
opening, where there was a
platform, and then flew away
and left them. As they had
no wings the strangers could
not fly away, and if they jumped
down from such a height they
would surely be killed. The
creatures had sense enough
to reason that way, and the
only mistake they made was
in supposing the earth people
were unable to overcome such
ordinary difficulties.
Jim was brought with the
others, although it took a
good many Gargoyles to carry
the big beast through the air
and land him on the high platform,
and the buggy was thrust in
after him because it belonged
to the party and the wooden
folks had no idea what it was
used for or whether it was
alive or not. When Eureka's
captor had thrown the kitten
after the others the last Gargoyle
silently disappeared, leaving
our friends to breathe freely
once more.
"What an awful fight!" said
Dorothy, catching her breath
in little gasps.
"Oh, I don't know," purred
Eureka, smoothing her ruffled
fur with her paw; "we didn't
manage to hurt anybody, and
nobody managed to hurt us."
"Thank goodness we are together
again, even if we are prisoners," sighed
the little girl.
"I wonder why they didn't
kill us on the spot," remarked
Zeb, who had lost his king
in the struggle.
"They are probably keeping
us for some ceremony," the
Wizard answered, reflectively; "but
there is no doubt they intend
to kill us as dead as possible
in a short time."
"As dead as poss'ble would
be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked
Dorothy.
"Yes,
my dear.
But we
have no
need to
worry about
that
just now. Let us examine our
prison and see what it is like."
The space underneath the
roof, where they stood, permitted
them to see on all sides of
the tall building, and they
looked with much curiosity
at the city spread out beneath
them. Everything visible was
made of wood, and the scene
seemed stiff and extremely
unnatural.
From their platform a stair
descended into the house, and
the children and the Wizard
explored it after lighting
a lantern to show them the
way. Several stories of empty
rooms rewarded their search,
but nothing more; so after
a time they came back to the
platform again. Had there been
any doors or windows in the
lower rooms, or had not the
boards of the house been so
thick and stout, escape could
have been easy; but to remain
down below was like being in
a cellar or the hold of a ship,
and they did not like the darkness
or the damp smell.
In this country, as in all
others they had visited underneath
the earth's surface, there
was no night, a constant and
strong light coming from some
unknown source. Looking out,
they could see into some of
the houses near them, where
there were open windows in
abundance, and were able to
mark the forms of the wooden
Gargoyles moving about in their
dwellings.
"This seems to be their time
of rest," observed the Wizard. "All
people need rest, even if they
are made of wood, and as there
is no night here they select
a certain time of the day in
which to sleep or doze."
"I feel sleepy myself," remarked
Zeb, yawning.
"Why, where's Eureka?" cried
Dorothy, suddenly.
They all looked around, but
the kitten was no place to
be seen.
"She's gone out for a walk," said
Jim, gruffly.
"Where? On the roof?" asked
the girl.
"No;
she just
dug her
claws into
the wood
and climbed
down
the sides of this house to
the ground."
"She couldn't climb DOWN,
Jim," said Dorothy. "To climb
means to go up."
"Who said so?" demanded
the horse.
"My
school-teacher
said so;
and she knows a lot, Jim."
"To 'climb down' is sometimes
used as a figure of speech," remarked
the Wizard.
"Well, this was a figure
of a cat," said Jim, "and she
WENT down, anyhow, whether
she climbed or crept."
"Dear me! how careless Eureka
is," exclaimed the girl, much
distressed. "The Gurgles will
get her, sure!"
"Ha, ha!" chuckled the old
cab-horse; "they're not 'Gurgles,'
little maid; they're Gargoyles."
"Never
mind; they'll
get Eureka,
whatever
they're
called."
"No they won't," said
the voice
of the
kitten,
and Eureka
herself crawled over the edge
of the platform and sat down
quietly upon the floor.
"Wherever have you been,
Eureka?" asked Dorothy, sternly.
"Watching
the wooden
folks.
They're
too funny
for anything,
Dorothy. Just now they are
all going to bed, and--what
do you think?--they unhook
the hinges of their wings and
put them in a corner until
they wake up again."
"What,
the hinges?"
"No;
the wings."
"That," said Zeb, "explains
why this house is used by them
for a prison. If any of the
Gargoyles act badly, and have
to be put in jail, they are
brought here and their wings
unhooked and taken away from
them until they promise to
be good."
The Wizard had listened intently
to what Eureka had said.
"I wish we had some of those
loose wings," he said.
"Could we fly with them?" asked
Dorothy.
"I
think so.
If the
Gargoyles
can unhook the wings then the
power to fly lies in the wings
themselves, and not in the
wooden bodies of the people
who wear them. So, if we had
the wings, we could probably
fly as well as they do--as
least while we are in their
country and under the spell
of its magic."
"But how would it help us
to be able to fly?" questioned
the girl.
"Come here," said the little
man, and took her to one of
the corners of the building. "Do
you see that big rock standing
on the hillside yonder?" he
continued, pointing with his
finger.
"Yes; it's a good way off,
but I can see it," she replied.
"Well,
inside
that rock,
which reaches up into the clouds,
is an archway very much like
the one we entered when we
climbed the spiral stairway
from the Valley of Voe. I'll
get my spy-glass, and then
you can see it more plainly."
He fetched a small but powerful
telescope, 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.
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