The shaggy man got up and
felt of himself to see if he
was hurt; but he was not. One
of the heads had struck his
breast and the other his left
shoulder; yet though they had
knocked him down, the heads
were not hard enough to bruise
him.
"Come on," he said firmly; "we've
got to get out of here some
way," and forward he started
again.
The Scoodlers began yelling
and throwing their heads in
great numbers at our frightened
friends. The shaggy man was
knocked over again, and so
was Button-Bright, who kicked
his heels against the ground
and howled as loud as he could,
although he was not hurt a
bit. One head struck Toto,
who first yelped and then grabbed
the head by an ear and started
running away with it.
The Scoodlers who had thrown
their heads began to scramble
down and run to pick them up,
with wonderful quickness; but
the one whose head Toto had
stolen found it hard to get
it back again. The head couldn't
see the body with either pair
of its eyes, because the dog
was in the way, so the headless
Scoodler stumbled around over
the rocks and tripped on them
more than once in its effort
to regain its top. Toto was
trying to get outside the rocks
and roll the head down the
hill; but some of the other
Scoodlers came to the rescue
of their unfortunate comrade
and pelted the dog with their
own heads until he was obliged
to drop his burden and hurry
back to Dorothy.
The little girl and the Rainbow's
Daughter had both escaped the
shower of heads, but they saw
now that it would be useless
to try to run away from the
dreadful Scoodlers.
"We may as well submit," declared
the shaggy man, in a rueful
voice, as he got upon his feet
again. He turned toward their
foes and asked:
"What
do you
want us
to do?"
"Come!" they cried, in a
triumphant chorus, and at once
sprang from the rocks and surrounded
their captives on all sides.
One funny thing about the Scoodlers
was they could walk in either
direction, coming or going,
without turning around; because
they had two faces and, as
Dorothy said, "two front sides," and
their feet were shaped like
the letter T upside down. They
moved with great rapidity and
there was something about their
glittering eyes and contrasting
colors and removable heads
that inspired the poor prisoners
with horror, and made them
long to escape.
But the creatures led their
captives away from the rocks
and the road, down the hill
by a side path until they came
before a low mountain of rock
that looked like a huge bowl
turned upside down. At the
edge of this mountain was a
deep gulf--so deep that when
you looked into it there was
nothing but blackness below.
Across the gulf was a narrow
bridge of rock, and at the
other end of the bridge was
an arched opening that led
into the mountain.
Over this bridge the Scoodlers
led their prisoners, through
the opening into the mountain,
which they found to be an immense
hollow dome lighted by several
holes in the roof. All around
the circular space were built
rock houses, set close together,
each with a door in the front
wall. None of these houses
was more than six feet wide,
but the Scoodlers were thin
people sidewise and did not
need much room. So vast was
the dome that there was a large
space in the middle of the
cave, in front of all these
houses, where the creatures
might congregate as in a great
hall.
It made Dorothy shudder to
see a huge iron kettle suspended
by a stout chain in the middle
of the place, and underneath
the kettle a great heap of
kindling wood and shavings,
ready to light.
"What's that?" asked
the shaggy
man, drawing
back as
they approached this place,
so that they were forced to
push him forward.
"The Soup Kettle!" yelled
the Scoodlers, and then they
shouted in the next breath:
"We're
hungry!"
Button-Bright, holding Dorothy's
hand in one chubby fist and
Polly's hand in the other,
was so affected by this shout
that he began to cry again,
repeating the protest:
"Don't
want to
be soup,
I don't!"
"Never mind," said the shaggy
man, consolingly; "I ought
to make enough soup to feed
them all, I'm so big; so I'll
ask them to put me in the kettle
first."
"All right," said
Button-Bright,
more cheerfully.
But the Scoodlers were not
ready to make soup yet. They
led the captives into a house
at the farthest side of the
cave--a house somewhat wider
than the others.
"Who lives here?" asked
the Rainbow's
Daughter.
The Scoodlers
nearest her replied:
"The
Queen."
It made Dorothy hopeful to
learn that a woman ruled over
these fierce creatures, but
a moment later they were ushered
by two or three of the escort
into a gloomy, bare room--and
her hope died away.
For the Queen of the Scoodlers
proved to be much more dreadful
in appearance than any of her
people. One side of her was
fiery red, with jet-black hair
and green eyes and the other
side of her was bright yellow,
with crimson hair and black
eyes. She wore a short skirt
of red and yellow and her hair,
instead of being banged, was
a tangle of short curls upon
which rested a circular crown
of silver--much dented and
twisted because the Queen had
thrown her head at so many
things so many times. Her form
was lean and bony and both
her faces were deeply wrinkled.
"What have we here?" asked
the Queen sharply, as our friends
were made to stand before her.
"Soup!" cried
the guard
of Scoodlers,
speaking
together.
"We're not!" said Dorothy,
indignantly; "we're nothing
of the sort."
"Ah, but you will be soon," retorted
the Queen, a grim smile making
her look more dreadful than
before.
"Pardon me, most beautiful
vision," said the shaggy man,
bowing before the queen politely. "I
must request your Serene Highness
to let us go our way without
being made into soup. For I
own the Love Magnet, and whoever
meets me must love me and all
my friends."
"True," replied the Queen. "We
love you very much; so much
that we intend to eat your
broth with real pleasure. But
tell me, do you think I am
so beautiful?"
"You won't be at all beautiful
if you eat me," he said, shaking
his head sadly. "Handsome is
as handsome does, you know."
The Queen turned to Button-Bright.
"Do YOU think I'm beautiful?" she
asked.
"No," said the boy; "you're
ugly."
"I think you're a fright," said
Dorothy.
"If you could see yourself
you'd be terribly scared," added
Polly.
The Queen scowled at them
and flopped from her red side
to her yellow side.
"Take them away," she commanded
the guard, "and at six o'clock
run them through the meat chopper
and start the soup kettle boiling.
And put plenty of salt in the
broth this time, or I'll punish
the cooks severely."
"Any onions, your Majesty?" asked
one of the guard.
"Plenty
of onions
and garlic
and a dash of red pepper. Now,
go!"
The Scoodlers led the captives
away and shut them up in one
of the houses, leaving only
a single Scoodler to keep guard.
The place was a sort of store-house;
containing bags of potatoes
and baskets of carrots, onions
and turnips.
"These," said their guard,
pointing to the vegetables, "we
use to flavor our soups with."
The prisoners were rather
disheartened by this time,
for they saw no way to escape
and did not know how soon it
would be six o'clock and time
for the meatchopper to begin
work. But the shaggy man was
brave and did not intend to
submit to such a horrid fate
without a struggle.
"I'm going to fight for our
lives," he whispered to the
children, "for if I fail we
will be no worse off than before,
and to sit here quietly until
we are made into soup would
be foolish and cowardly."
The Scoodler on guard stood
near the doorway, turning first
his white side toward them
and then his black side, as
if he wanted to show to all
of his greedy four eyes the
sight of so many fat prisoners.
The captives sat in a sorrowful
group at the other end of the
room--except Polychrome, who
danced back and forth in the
little place to keep herself
warm, for she felt the chill
of the cave. Whenever she approached
the shaggy man he would whisper
something in her ear, and Polly
would nod her pretty head as
if she understood.
The shaggy man told Dorothy
and Button-Bright to stand
before him while he emptied
the potatoes out of one of
the sacks. When this had been
secretly done, little Polychrome,
dancing near to the guard,
suddenly reached out her hand
and slapped his face, the next
instant whirling away from
him quickly to rejoin her friends.
The angry Scoodler at once
picked off his head and hurled
it at the Rainbow's Daughter;
but the shaggy man was expecting
that, and caught the head very
neatly, putting it in the sack,
which he tied at the mouth.
The body of the guard, not
having the eyes of its head
to guide it, ran here and there
in an aimless manner, and the
shaggy man easily dodged it
and opened the door. Fortunately,
there was no one in the big
cave at that moment, so he
told Dorothy and Polly to run
as fast as they could for the
entrance, and out across the
narrow bridge.
"I'll carry Button-Bright," he
said, for he knew the little
boy's legs were too short to
run fast.
Dorothy picked up Toto and
then seized Polly's hand and
ran swiftly toward the entrance
to the cave. The shaggy man
perched Button-Bright on his
shoulders and ran after them.
They moved so quickly and their
escape was so wholly unexpected
that they had almost reached
the bridge when one of the
Scoodlers looked out of his
house and saw them.
The creature raised a shrill
cry that brought all of its
fellows bounding out of the
numerous doors, and at once
they started in chase. Dorothy
and Polly had reached the bridge
and crossed it when the Scoodlers
began throwing their heads.
One of the queer missiles struck
the shaggy man on his back
and nearly knocked him over;
but he was at the mouth of
the cave now, so he set down
Button-Bright and told the
boy to run across the bridge
to Dorothy.
Then the shaggy man turned
around and faced his enemies,
standing just outside the opening,
and as fast as they threw their
heads at him he caught them
and tossed them into the black
gulf below. The headless bodies
of the foremost Scoodlers kept
the others from running close
up, but they also threw their
heads in an effort to stop
the escaping prisoners. The
shaggy man caught them all
and sent them whirling down
into the black gulf. Among
them he noticed the crimson
and yellow head of the Queen,
and this he tossed after the
others with right good will.
Presently every Scoodler
of the lot had thrown its head,
and every head was down in
the deep gulf, and now the
helpless bodies of the creatures
were mixed together in the
cave and wriggling around in
a vain attempt to discover
what had become of their heads.
The shaggy man laughed and
walked across the bridge to
rejoin his companions.
"It's lucky I learned to
play base-ball when I was young," he
remarked, "for I caught all
those heads easily and never
missed one. But come along,
little ones; the Scoodlers
will never bother us or anyone
else any more."
Button-Bright
was still
frightened
and kept insisting, "I don't
want to be soup!" for the victory
had been gained so suddenly
that the boy could not realize
they were free and safe. But
the shaggy man assured him
that all danger of their being
made into soup was now past,
as the Scoodlers would be unable
to eat soup for some time to
come.
So now, anxious to get away
from the horrid gloomy cave
as soon as possible, they hastened
up the hillside and regained
the road just beyond the place
where they had first met the
Scoodlers; and you may be sure
they were glad to find their
feet on the old familiar path
again.
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