บทที่ บทที่ 8 · Queen Coo-ee-oh

. Queen Coo-ee-oh

Princess Ozma considered the situation gravely. Then she tied her

handkerchief to her wand and, standing at the water's edge, waved the

handkerchief like a flag, as a signal. For a time they could observe no

response.

"I don't see what good that will do," said Dorothy. "Even if the

Skeezers are on that island and see us, and know we're friends, they

haven't any boats to come and get us."

But the Skeezers didn't need boats, as the girls soon discovered. For

on a sudden an opening appeared at the base of the palace and from the

opening came a slender shaft of steel, reaching out slowly but steadily

across the water in the direction of the place where they stood. To the

girls this steel arrangement looked like a triangle, with the base

nearest the water. It came toward them in the form of an arch,

stretching out from the palace wall until its end reached the bank and

rested there, while the other end still remained on the island.

Then they saw that it was a bridge, consisting of a steel footway just

broad enough to walk on, and two slender guide rails, one on either

side, which were connected with the footway by steel bars. The bridge

looked rather frail and Dorothy feared it would not bear their weight,

but Ozma at once called, "Come on!" and started to walk across, holding

fast to the rail on either side. So Dorothy summoned her courage and

followed after. Before Ozma had taken three steps she halted and so

forced Dorothy to halt, for the bridge was again moving and returning

to the island.

"We need not walk after all," said Ozma. So they stood still in their

places and let the steel bridge draw them onward. Indeed, the bridge

drew them well into the glass-domed building which covered the island,

and soon they found themselves standing in a marble room where two

handsomely dressed young men stood on a platform to receive them.

Ozma at once stepped from the end of the bridge to the marble platform,

followed by Dorothy, and then the bridge disappeared with a slight

clang of steel and a marble slab covered the opening from which it had

emerged.

The two young men bowed profoundly to Ozma, and one of them said:

"Queen Coo-ee-oh bids you welcome, O Strangers. Her Majesty is waiting

to receive you in her palace."

"Lead on," replied Ozma with dignity.

But instead of "leading on," the platform of marble began to rise,

carrying them upward through a square hole above which just fitted it.

A moment later they found themselves within the great glass dome that

covered almost all of the island.

Within this dome was a little village, with houses, streets, gardens

and parks. The houses were of colored marbles, prettily designed, with

many stained-glass windows, and the streets and gardens seemed well

cared for. Exactly under the center of the lofty dome was a small park

filled with brilliant flowers, with an elaborate fountain, and facing

this park stood a building larger and more imposing than the others.

Toward this building the young men escorted Ozma and Dorothy.

On the streets and in the doorways or open windows of the houses were

men, women and children, all richly dressed. These were much like other

people in different parts of the Land of Oz, except that instead of

seeming merry and contented they all wore expressions of much solemnity

or of nervous irritation. They had beautiful homes, splendid clothes,

and ample food, but Dorothy at once decided something was wrong with

their lives and that they were not happy. She said nothing, however,

but looked curiously at the Skeezers.

At the entrance of the palace Ozma and Dorothy were met by two other

young men, in uniform and armed with queer weapons that seemed about

halfway between pistols and guns, but were like neither. Their

conductors bowed and left them, and the two in uniforms led the girls

into the palace.

In a beautiful throne room, surrounded by a dozen or more young men and

women, sat the Queen of the Skeezers, Coo-ee-oh. She was a girl who

looked older than Ozma or Dorothy--fifteen or sixteen, at least--and

although she was elaborately dressed as if she were going to a ball she

was too thin and plain of feature to be pretty. But evidently Queen

Coo-ee-oh did not realize this fact, for her air and manner betrayed

her as proud and haughty and with a high regard for her own importance.

Dorothy at once decided she was "snippy" and that she would not like

Queen Coo-ee-oh as a companion.

The Queen's hair was as black as her skin was white and her eyes were

black, too. The eyes, as she calmly examined Ozma and Dorothy, had a

suspicious and unfriendly look in them, but she said quietly:

"I know who you are, for I have consulted my Magic Oracle, which told

me that one calls herself Princess Ozma, the Ruler of all the Land of

Oz, and the other is Princess Dorothy of Oz, who came from a country

called Kansas. I know nothing of the Land of Oz, and I know nothing of

Kansas."

"Why, this is the Land of Oz!" cried Dorothy. "It's a part of the Land

of Oz, anyhow, whether you know it or not."

"Oh, in-deed!" answered Queen Coo-ee-oh, scornfully. "I suppose you

will claim next that this Princess Ozma, ruling the Land of Oz, rules

me!"

"Of course," returned Dorothy. "There's no doubt of it."

The Queen turned to Ozma.

"Do you dare make such a claim?" she asked.

By this time Ozma had made up her mind as to the character of this

haughty and disdainful creature, whose self-pride evidently led her to

believe herself superior to all others.

"I did not come here to quarrel with your Majesty," said the girl Ruler

of Oz, quietly. "What and who I am is well established, and my

authority comes from the Fairy Queen Lurline, of whose band I was a

member when Lurline made all Oz a Fairyland. There are several

countries and several different peoples in this broad land, each of

which has its separate rulers, Kings, Emperors and Queens. But all

these render obedience to my laws and acknowledge me as the supreme

Ruler."

"If other Kings and Queens are fools that does not interest me in the

least," replied Coo-ee-oh, disdainfully. "In the Land of the Skeezers I

alone am supreme. You are impudent to think I would defer to you--or to

anyone else."

"Let us not speak of this now, please," answered Ozma. "Your island is

in danger, for a powerful foe is preparing to destroy it."

"Pah! The Flatheads. I do not fear them."

"Their Supreme Dictator is a Sorcerer."

"My magic is greater than his. Let the Flatheads come! They will never

return to their barren mountain-top. I will see to that."

Ozma did not like this attitude, for it meant that the Skeezers were

eager to fight the Flatheads, and Ozma's object in coming here was to

prevent fighting and induce the two quarrelsome neighbors to make

peace. She was also greatly disappointed in Coo-ee-oh, for the reports

of Su-dic had led her to imagine the Queen more just and honorable than

were the Flatheads. Indeed Ozma reflected that the girl might be better

at heart than her self-pride and overbearing manner indicated, and in

any event it would be wise not to antagonize her but to try to win her

friendship.

"I do not like wars, your Majesty," said Ozma. "In the Emerald City,

where I rule thousands of people, and in the countries near to the

Emerald City, where thousands more acknowledge my rule, there is no

army at all, because there is no quarreling and no need to fight. If

differences arise between my people, they come to me and I judge the

cases and award justice to all. So, when I learned there might be war

between two faraway people of Oz, I came here to settle the dispute and

adjust the quarrel."

"No one asked you to come," declared Queen Coo-ee-oh. "It is my

business to settle this dispute, not yours. You say my island is a part

of the Land of Oz, which you rule, but that is all nonsense, for I've

never heard of the Land of Oz, nor of you. You say you are a fairy, and

that fairies gave you command over me. I don't believe it! What I do

believe is that you are an impostor and have come here to stir up

trouble among my people, who are already becoming difficult to manage.

You two girls may even be spies of the vile Flatheads, for all I know,

and may be trying to trick me. But understand this," she added, proudly

rising from her jeweled throne to confront them, "I have magic powers

greater than any fairy possesses, and greater than any Flathead

possesses. I am a Krumbic Witch--the only Krumbic Witch in the

world--and I fear the magic of no other creature that exists! You say

you rule thousands. I rule one hundred and one Skeezers. But every one

of them trembles at my word. Now that Ozma of Oz and Princess Dorothy

are here, I shall rule one hundred and three subjects, for you also

shall bow before my power. More than that, in ruling you I also rule

the thousands you say you rule."

Dorothy was very indignant at this speech.

"I've got a pink kitten that sometimes talks like that," she said, "but

after I give her a good whipping she doesn't think she's so high and

mighty after all. If you only knew who Ozma is you'd be scared to death

to talk to her like that!"

Queen Coo-ee-oh gave the girl a supercilious look. Then she turned

again to Ozma.

"I happen to know," said she, "that the Flatheads intend to attack us

tomorrow, but we are ready for them. Until the battle is over, I shall

keep you two strangers prisoners on my island, from which there is no

chance for you to escape."

She turned and looked around the band of courtiers who stood silently

around her throne.

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