第 十三 章 · The Nome King Laughs

. The Nome King Laughs

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.