| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| 1 | 33 | 66 | 99 | 132 |
|
www.freeclassicebooks.com
shuffling of feet, and Blink, the Scarecrow's gentlemanly housekeeper, came
running down the stairs.
"
"
Where's the Scarecrow?" asked Dorothy anxiously. "Isn't he here?"
Here! Isn't he there? Isn't he in the Emerald City?" gasped the little Winkie,
putting his specs on upside down.
"No--at least, I don't think so. Oh, dear, I just felt that something had
happened to him!" wailed Dorothy, sinking into an ebony armchair and
fanning herself with a silk sofa cushion.
"Now don't be alarmed." The Cowardly Lion rushed to Dorothy's side and
knocked three vases and a clock off a little table, just to show how calm he
was. "Think of his brains! The Scarecrow has never come to harm yet, and
all we have to do is to return to the Emerald City and look in Ozma's Magic
Picture. Then, when we know where he is, we can go and find him and tell
him about our little adoption plan," he added, looking hopefully at Dorothy.
"
The Scarecrow himself couldn't have spoken more sensibly," observed Blink
with a great sigh of relief, and even Dorothy felt better.
In Ozma's palace, as many of you know, there is a Magic Picture, and when
Ozma or Dorothy want to see any of their friends, they have merely to wish
to see them, and instantly the picture shows the person wished for and
exactly what he is doing at that certain time.
"
Of course!" sighed Dorothy. "Why didn't I think of it myself?"
"
Better have some lunch before you start back," suggested Blink, and
bustling about had soon set out an appetizing repast. Dorothy was too busy
worrying about the Scarecrow to have much appetite, but the Cowardly Lion
swallowed seventeen roasts and a bucket of corn syrup.
"
To give me courage!" he explained to Dorothy, licking his chops. "There's
nothing that makes me so cowardly as an empty stomach!"
It was quite late in the afternoon before they could get away. Blink insisted
on putting up a lunch, and it took some time to make enough sandwiches
for the Cowardly Lion. But at last it was ready and packed into an old hat
box belonging to Mops, the Scarecrow's cook. Then Dorothy, balancing the
box carefully on her lap, climbed on the Cowardly Lion's back, and assuring
Blink that they would return in a few days with his master, they bade him
farewell. Blink almost spoiled things by bursting into tears, but he managed
to restrain himself long enough to say goodbye, and Dorothy and the
2
5
Page
Quick Jump
|