In a moment the King returned
to his throne and relighted his
pipe, and the rest of the little
band of adventurers settled themselves
for another long wait. They were
greatly disheartened by the failure
of their girl Ruler, and the
knowledge that she was now an
ornament in the Nome King's palace--a
dreadful, creepy place in spite
of all its magnificence. Without
their little leader they did
not know what to do next, and
each one, down to the trembling
private of the army, began to
fear he would soon be more ornamental
than useful.
Suddenly the Nome King began
laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha!
He, he, he! Ho, ho, ho!"
"What's happened?" asked
the Scarecrow.
"Why, your friend, the Tin
Woodman, has become the funniest
thing you can imagine," replied
the King, wiping the tears of
merriment from his eyes. "No
one would ever believe he could
make such an amusing ornament.
Next!"
They gazed at each other with
sinking hearts. One of the generals
began to weep dolefully.
"What are you crying for?" asked
the Scarecrow, indignant at such
a display of weakness.
"He owed me six weeks back
pay," said the general, "and
I hate to lose him."
"Then you shall go and find
him," declared the Scarecrow.
"Me!" cried
the general, greatly alarmed.
"Certainly.
It is your duty to follow your
commander. March!"
"I won't," said the general. "I'd
like to, of course; but I just
simply WON'T."
The Scarecrow looked enquiringly
at the Nome King.
"Never mind," said the jolly
monarch. "If he doesn't care
to enter the palace and make
his guesses I'll throw him into
one of my fiery furnaces."
"I'll go!--of course I'm going," yelled
the general, as quick as scat. "Where
is the entrance--where is it?
Let me go at once!"
So the Nome King escorted him
into the palace, and again returned
to await the result. What the
general did, no one can tell;
but it was not long before the
King called for the next victim,
and a colonel was forced to try
his fortune.
Thus, one after another, all
of the twenty-six officers filed
into the palace and made their
guesses-- and became ornaments.
Meantime the King ordered refreshments
to be served to those waiting,
and at his command a rudely shaped
Nome entered, bearing a tray.
This Nome was not unlike the
others that Dorothy had seen,
but he wore a heavy gold chain
around his neck to show that
he was the Chief Steward of the
Nome King, and he assumed an
air of much importance, and even
told his majesty not to eat too
much cake late at night, or he
would be ill.
Dorothy, however, was hungry,
and she was not afraid of being
ill; so she ate several cakes
and found them good, and also
she drank a cup of excellent
coffee made of a richly flavored
clay, browned in the furnaces
and then ground fine, and found
it most refreshing and not at
all muddy.
Of all the party which had
started upon this adventure,
the little Kansas girl was now
left alone with the Scarecrow,
Tiktok, and the private for counsellors
and companions. Of course the
Cowardly Lion and the Hungry
Tiger were still there, but they,
having also eaten some of the
cakes, had gone to sleep at one
side of the cave, while upon
the other side stood the Sawhorse,
motionless and silent, as became
a mere thing of wood. Billina
had quietly walked around and
picked up the crumbs of cake
which had been scattered, and
now, as it was long after bed-time,
she tried to find some dark place
in which to go to sleep.
Presently the hen espied a
hollow underneath the King's
rocky throne, and crept into
it unnoticed. She could still
hear the chattering of those
around her, but it was almost
dark underneath the throne, so
that soon she had fallen fast
asleep.
"Next!" called
the King, and the private,
whose turn it was
to enter the fatal palace, shook
hands with Dorothy and the Scarecrow
and bade them a sorrowful good-bye,
and passed through the rocky
portal.
They waited a long time, for
the private was in no hurry to
become an ornament and made his
guesses very slowly. The Nome
King, who seemed to know, by
some magical power, all that
took place in his beautiful rooms
of his palace, grew impatient
finally and declared he would
sit up no longer.
"I love ornaments," said he, "but
I can wait until tomorrow to
get more of them; so, as soon
as that stupid private is transformed,
we will all go to bed and leave
the job to be finished in the
morning."
"Is it so very late?" asked
Dorothy.
"Why, it is after midnight," said
the King, "and that strikes me
as being late enough. There is
neither night nor day in my kingdom,
because it is under the earth's
surface, where the sun does not
shine. But we have to sleep,
just the same as the up-stairs
people do, and for my part I'm
going to bed in a few minutes."
Indeed, it was not long after
this that the private made his
last guess. Of course he guessed
wrongly, and of course he at
once became an ornament. So the
King was greatly pleased, and
clapped his hands to summon his
Chief Steward.
"Show these guests to some
of the sleeping apartments," he
commanded, "and be quick about
it, too, for I'm dreadfully sleepy
myself."
"You've no business to sit
up so late," replied the Steward,
gruffly. "You'll be as cross
as a griffin tomorrow morning."
His Majesty made no answer
to this remark, and the Chief
Steward led Dorothy through another
doorway into a long hall, from
which several plain but comfortable
sleeping rooms opened. The little
girl was given the first room,
and the Scarecrow and Tiktok
the next--although they never
slept--and the Lion and the Tiger
the third. The Sawhorse hobbled
after the Steward into a fourth
room, to stand stiffly in the
center of it until morning. Each
night was rather a bore to the
Scarecrow, Tiktok and the Sawhorse;
but they had learned from experience
to pass the time patiently and
quietly, since all their friends
who were made of flesh had to
sleep and did not like to be
disturbed.
When the Chief Steward had
left them alone the Scarecrow
remarked, sadly:
"I am in great
sorrow over the loss of my
old comrade, the
Tin Woodman. We have had many
dangerous adventures together,
and escaped them all, and now
it grieves me to know he has
become an ornament, and is lost
to me forever."
"He was al-ways an or-na-ment
to so-ci-e-ty," said Tiktok.
"True; but now the Nome King
laughs at him, and calls him
the funniest ornament in all
the palace. It will hurt my poor
friend's pride to be laughed
at," continued the Scarecrow,
sadly.
"We will make rath-er ab-surd
or-na-ments, our-selves, to-mor-row," observed
the machine, in his monotonous
voice.
Just then Dorothy ran into
their room, in a state of great
anxiety, crying:
"Where's Billina?
Have you seen Billina? Is she
here?"
"No," answered
the Scarecrow.
"Then what has become of her?" asked
the girl.
"Why, I thought she was with
you," said the Scarecrow. "Yet
I do not remember seeing the
yellow hen since she picked up
the crumbs of cake."
"We must have left her in the
room where the King's throne
is," decided Dorothy, and at
once she turned and ran down
the hall to the door through
which they had entered. But it
was fast closed and locked on
the other side, and the heavy
slab of rock proved to be so
thick that no sound could pass
through it. So Dorothy was forced
to return to her chamber.
The Cowardly Lion stuck his
head into her room to try to
console the girl for the loss
of her feathered friend.
"The yellow hen is well able
to take care of herself," said
he; "so don't worry about her,
but try to get all the sleep
you can. It has been a long and
weary day, and you need rest."
"I'll prob'ly get lots of rest
tomorrow, when I become an orn'ment," said
Dorothy, sleepily. But she lay
down upon her couch, nevertheless,
and in spite of all her worries
was soon in the land of dreams.
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