When they came to the signpost,
there, to their joy, were the
tents of the Wizard pitched beside
the path and the kettle bubbling
merrily over the fire. The Shaggy
Man and Omby Amby were gathering
firewood while Uncle Henry and
Aunt Em sat in their camp chairs
talking with
the Wizard.
They all ran
forward to greet Dorothy, as
she approached, and
Aunt Em exclaimed: "Goodness
gracious, child! Where have you
been?"
"You've played hookey the whole
day," added the Shaggy Man, reproachfully.
"Well, you see, I've been lost," explained
the little girl, "and I've tried
awful hard to find the way back
to you, but just couldn't do
it."
"Did you wander in the forest
all day?" asked Uncle Henry.
"You must be a'most starved!" said
Aunt Em.
"No," said Dorothy, "I'm
not hungry. I had a wheelbarrow
and
a piano for breakfast, and lunched
with a King."
"Ah!" exclaimed the Wizard,
nodding with a bright smile. "So
you've been having adventures
again."
"She's stark crazy!" cried
Aunt Em. "Whoever heard of eating
a wheelbarrow?"
"It wasn't very big," said
Dorothy; "and it had a zuzu wheel."
"And I ate the crumbs," said
Billina, soberly.
"Sit down and tell us about
it," begged the Wizard. "We've
hunted for you all day, and at
last I noticed your footsteps
in this path--and the tracks
of Billina. We found the path
by accident, and seeing it only
led to two places I decided you
were at either one or the other
of those places. So we made camp
and waited for you to return.
And now, Dorothy, tell us where
you have been--to Bunbury or
to Bunnybury?"
"Why, I've been to both," she
replied; "but first I went to
Utensia, which isn't on any path
at all."
She then sat down and related
the day's adventures, and you
may be sure Aunt Em and Uncle
Henry were much astonished at
the story.
"But after seeing the Cuttenclips
and the Fuddles," remarked her
uncle, "we ought not to wonder
at anything in this strange country."
"Seems like the only common
and ordinary folks here are ourselves," rejoined
Aunt Em, diffidently.
"Now that we're together again,
and one reunited party," observed
the Shaggy Man, "what are we
to do next?"
"Have some supper and a night's
rest," answered the Wizard promptly, "and
then proceed upon our journey."
"Where to?" asked
the Captain General.
"We haven't visited the Rigmaroles
or the Flutterbudgets yet," said
Dorothy. "I'd like to see them--wouldn't
you?"
"They don't sound very interesting," objected
Aunt Em. "But perhaps they are."
"And then," continued the little
Wizard, "we will call upon the
Tin Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead
and our old friend the Scarecrow,
on our way home."
"That will be nice!" cried
Dorothy, eagerly.
"Can't say THEY sound very
interesting, either," remarked
Aunt Em.
"Why, they're the best friends
I have!" asserted the little
girl, "and you're sure to like
them, Aunt Em, 'cause EVER'body
likes them."
By this time twilight was approaching,
so they ate the fine supper which
the Wizard magically produced
from the kettle and then went
to bed in the cozy tents.
They were all up bright and
early next morning, but Dorothy
didn't venture to wander from
the camp again for fear of more
accidents.
"Do you know where there's
a road?" she asked the little
man.
"No, my dear," replied the
Wizard; "but I'll find one."
After breakfast he waved his
hand toward the tents and they
became handkerchiefs again, which
were at once returned to the
pockets of their owners. Then
they all climbed into the red
wagon and the Sawhorse inquired:
"Which way?"
"Never mind which way," replied
the Wizard. "Just go as you please
and you're sure to be right.
I've enchanted the wheels of
the wagon, and they will roll
in the right direction, never
fear."
As the Sawhorse started away
through the trees Dorothy said:
"If we had
one of those new-fashioned
airships we could float away
over the top of the forest, and
look down and find just the places
we want."
"Airship? Pah!" retorted the
little man, scornfully. "I hate
those things, Dorothy, although
they are nothing new to either
you or me. I was a balloonist
for many years, and once my balloon
carried me to the Land of Oz,
and once to the Vegetable Kingdom.
And once Ozma had a Gump that
flew all over this kingdom and
had sense enough to go where
it was told to--which airships
won't do. The house which the
cyclone brought to Oz all the
way from Kansas, with you and
Toto in it--was a real airship
at the time; so you see we've
got plenty of experience flying
with the birds."
"Airships are not so bad, after
all," declared Dorothy. "Some
day they'll fly all over the
world, and perhaps bring people
even to the Land of Oz."
"I must speak to Ozma about
that," said the Wizard, with
a slight frown. "It wouldn't
do at all, you know, for the
Emerald City to become a way-station
on an airship line."
"No," said Dorothy, "I
don't s'pose it would. But
what can
we do to prevent it?"
"I'm working out a magic recipe
to fuddle men's brains, so they'll
never make an airship that will
go where they want it to go," the
Wizard confided to her. "That
won't keep the things from flying,
now and then, but it'll keep
them from flying to the Land
of Oz."
Just then the Sawhorse drew
the wagon out of the forest and
a beautiful landscape lay spread
before the travelers' eyes. Moreover,
right before them was a good
road that wound away through
the hills and valleys.
"Now," said the Wizard, with
evident delight, "we are on the
right track again, and there
is nothing more to worry about."
"It's a foolish thing to take
chances in a strange country," observed
the Shaggy Man. "Had we kept
to the roads we never would have
been lost. Roads always lead
to some place, else they wouldn't
be roads."
"This road," added the Wizard, "leads
to Rigmarole Town. I'm sure of
that because I enchanted the
wagon wheels."
Sure enough, after riding along
the road for an hour or two they
entered a pretty valley where
a village was nestled among the
hills. The houses were Munchkin
shaped, for they were all domes,
with windows wider than they
were high, and pretty balconies
over the front doors.
Aunt Em was
greatly relieved to find this
town "neither paper
nor patch-work," and the only
surprising thing about it was
that it was so far distant from
all other towns.
As the Sawhorse drew the wagon
into the main street the travelers
noticed that the place was filled
with people, standing in groups
and seeming to be engaged in
earnest conversation. So occupied
with themselves were the inhabitants
that they scarcely noticed the
strangers at all. So the Wizard
stopped a boy and asked:
"Is this Rigmarole
Town?"
"Sir," replied the boy, "if
you have traveled very much you
will have noticed that every
town differs from every other
town in one way or another and
so by observing the methods of
the people and the way they live
as well as the style of their
dwelling places it ought not
to be a difficult thing to make
up your mind without the trouble
of asking questions whether the
town bears the appearance of
the one you intended to visit
or whether perhaps having taken
a different road from the one
you should have taken you have
made an error in your way and
arrived at some point where--"
"Land sakes!" cried Aunt Em,
impatiently; "what's all this
rigmarole about?"
"That's it!" said the Wizard,
laughing merrily. "It's a rigmarole
because the boy is a Rigmarole
and we've come to Rigmarole Town."
"Do they all talk like that?" asked
Dorothy, wonderingly.
"He might have said 'yes' or
'no' and settled the question," observed
Uncle Henry.
"Not here," said Omby Amby. "I
don't believe the Rigmaroles
know what 'yes' or 'no' means."
While the boy had been talking
several other people had approached
the wagon and listened intently
to his speech. Then they began
talking to one another in long,
deliberate speeches, where many
words were used but little was
said. But when the strangers
criticized them so frankly one
of the women, who had no one
else to talk to, began an address
to them, saying:
"It is the
easiest thing in the world
for a person to say
'yes' or 'no' when a question
that is asked for the purpose
of gaining information or satisfying
the curiosity of the one who
has given expression to the inquiry
has attracted the attention of
an individual who may be competent
either from personal experience
or the experience of others to
answer it with more or less correctness
or at least an attempt to satisfy
the desire for information on
the part of the one who has made
the inquiry by--"
"Dear me!" exclaimed Dorothy,
interrupting the speech. "I've
lost all track of what you are
saying."
"Don't let her begin over again,
for goodness sake!" cried Aunt
Em.
But the woman did not begin
again. She did not even stop
talking, but went right on as
she had begun, the words flowing
from her mouth in a stream.
"I'm quite sure that if we
waited long enough and listened
carefully, some of these people
might be able to tell us something,
in time," said the Wizard.
"Let's don't wait," returned
Dorothy. "I've heard of the Rigmaroles,
and wondered what they were like;
but now I know, and I'm ready
to move on."
"So am I," declared Uncle Henry; "we're
wasting time here."
"Why, we're all ready to go," said
the Shaggy Man, putting his fingers
to his ears to shut out the monotonous
babble of those around the wagon.
So the Wizard spoke to the
Sawhorse, who trotted nimbly
through the village and soon
gained the open country on the
other side of it. Dorothy looked
back, as they rode away, and
noticed that the woman had not
yet finished her speech but was
talking as glibly as ever, although
no one was near to hear her.
"If those people wrote books," Omby
Amby remarked with a smile, "it
would take a whole library to
say the cow jumped over the moon."
"Perhaps some of 'em do write
books," asserted the little Wizard. "I've
read a few rigmaroles that might
have come from this very town."
"Some of the college lecturers
and ministers are certainly related
to these people," observed the
Shaggy Man; "and it seems to
me the Land of Oz is a little
ahead of the United States in
some of its laws. For here, if
one can't talk clearly, and straight
to the point, they send him to
Rigmarole Town; while Uncle Sam
lets him roam around wild and
free, to torture innocent people."
Dorothy was thoughtful. The
Rigmaroles had made a strong
impression upon her. She decided
that whenever she spoke, after
this, she would use only enough
words to express what she wanted
to say.
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