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Lost King of Oz

<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illusch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <h2>CHAPTER 19</h2> The Wizard Takes a Hand <hr class="chap" /> The people clinging to the roof of the palace were no more puzzled and alarmed than the ones rattling around beneath the roof. To understand all of these strange and confusing events, we must go back to Mombi's incantation. Mombi, you see, had used the magic formula without the King's robe. Indeed, Mombi had forgotten that part of the transformation entirely, and in consequence the great disaster predicted by the Fairy Queen Lurline had occurred. When the palace had sunk so suddenly into the earth, Dorothy and her companions had been too startled to even move. But when it finally settled down and things grew quiet again, Dorothy, feeling her way cautiously, pressed a small radio button in the wall. Fortunately the lighting system had not been thrown out of order and, as the emerald lamps flooded the throne room with their reassuring glow, everyone gave a sigh of relief. Kabumpo had wound his trunk around one of the palace pillars and closed his eyes. Now he let go and looked fearfully around him. Mombi had rolled into a corner and Pajuka lay flat on his back with his feet in the air. Tora's ears had flown off from the shock, carrying his spectacles with them, and the poor tailor was uncertainly groping his way toward the door. Snip, who suffered nothing worse than a bump over the eye, ran hastily to his assistance, leading him gently to a large arm chair. Sinking into its comfortable depths, Tora pulled out a red handkerchief and began mopping first his cheeks and then his brow and muttering unintelligibly to himself. Humpy was sprawled on the floor, his crown jammed down over his nose and his head resting on the last step of the dais. As Dorothy ran to help him up, he made a feeble gesture of protest. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus1ch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "The kingdom has fallen," puffed the dummy indignantly, "and that lets me out. If this is the way you treat your sovereigns, I'm through. I resign! I abdicate. Let me be the bell boy, or the furnace man. Why even in the movies I have never been treated like this. It's a crime. It's an outrage!" coughed Humpy, struggling to a sitting position and trying to pry his crown upward. "Now Humpy," began Dorothy reprovingly, "you're talking like a dummy instead of a King. Just wait—" "I am a dummy," insisted the poor fellow, feeling of himself to make sure. "Has that old wretch changed me one hair's breadth by her villainous magic? Oh, to think I should have sunk so low!" "She's a fraud," hissed Pajuka, who had also picked himself up. "Woman, how dare you sink the castle in this shocking and informal manner? Where are we and what is to become of his Majesty?" "Look out, she's trying to get away," warned Snip. The little button boy was right, for at each question Mombi was creeping nearer to the door. "No you don't!" shrilled Kabumpo, snatching her back with his trunk. "I'll teach you to sink elephants like a ship and play such tricks upon the King!" He began shaking her backward and forward till her very bones rattled. "Undo this mischief at once. Give me back my own shape. Restore the King!" screamed Pajuka, flapping his wings in Mombi's face. "Raise up this castle or I'll step on you!" promised Kabumpo furiously. Mombi looked pleadingly at Dorothy and Snip, but the little boy and girl felt now that any punishment was too good for the old witch. "Give me time," muttered Mombi, casting uneasy glances from one to the other. "The formula should have restored the King, but something went wrong. I must have more time." "Here, take it." Stumbling across the room, Humpy pressed a dollar watch into the old witch's hands. "Here's all the time in the world," said the dummy dolefully, "but don't ask me to be King again. Let Kabumpo sit on the throne and see how he likes it." Turning his back upon the company, Humpy began to run after Tora's ears. Fastened together by the tailor's spectacles, they were flapping wildly around the apartment. Pajuka groaned and covered his eyes with his wing, for the honest goose could not bear to see his old master conducting himself so foolishly. "Well, what shall I do with her?" Kabumpo shook Mombi again and snapped his eyes angrily at Dorothy. "She got us into this trouble and now she must get us out," decided the little girl wisely. "Do you think you can?" The old witch nodded and, at a sign from Dorothy, Kabumpo let her go, at the same time keeping a close guard upon her. Mombi, it must be confessed, was as surprised at the fall of the castle as anyone else, nor could she account for the failure of the magic formula. Hemmed in a corner by the gigantic Kabumpo, she began mumbling in magic and making queer passes in the air just to gain time. Dorothy watched anxiously, but Snip, who had already had an idea of his own, tiptoed across the room and picked up Mombi's basket. In a sudden flash Snip recalled the skyward flight of the cats in Catty Corners. Was there any more of the marvelous baking powder? Tumbling everything out of the basket, Snip fumbled hurriedly among its contents and with a little cry of triumph found what he was looking for—a small purple can of the magical powder. And, better still, printed in Mombi's crooked writing, were the directions for its use. This is what Snip read: <div class="blockquot"> "To raise hair—one drop in water. "To raise the roof—one pinch down the chimney. "To raise the rent—five teaspoons full in vinegar. "To raise a castle or city empty entire contents of can on spot desired. Sprinkle with water and count ten." </div> Seizing a flower vase from a nearby stand, Snip dumped out the powder and moistened it from the vase. Then, hardly daring to think what would happen, the little button boy began to count. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus2ch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> With a roar as sudden and frightful as when it had fallen, the castle shot upward, gaining speed as it went, up, up, up, till the dark earth was left far below and the massive structure stood on its rightful foundations again. How Ozma and her friends were caught upon its roof, we already know, for Snip had set off the powder, just as the Little Queen flung herself upon the grass to weep. While the Scarecrow, with a long ladder from the garden, was helping those on the roof to get down, Snip was hurrying around the throne room helping those inside to get up, for the final jar as the castle settled had knocked everyone over—even Kabumpo. "Is this exciting enough for you?" asked Dorothy, crawling out from beneath a sofa. The Elegant Elephant groaned, but made no attempt to arise, and Dorothy, rushing over to Mombi, dragged her hurriedly to her feet. "Now that you've raised the castle," puffed the little girl determinedly, "suppose you transform the King and Pajuka!" "Mombi didn't raise the castle, I did it myself!" cried Snip delightedly. "You did!" gasped Kabumpo, rolling over in astonishment. "How?" Snip held up the empty can and, while Mombi glowered angrily, he explained his use of the marvelous baking powder. Tora's ears were still off so the poor tailor was as bewildered as ever, but Snip nodded to him encouragingly and had just finished his recital when the door in the hall burst open and Ozma, in a perfect flutter of excitement, swept into the throne room—Ozma and everyone who had accompanied her to Morrow. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus3ch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "The King!" gasped Ozma faintly, for she was rather short of breath. "Where is the King?" Her glance travelled in alarm from Mombi to Pajuka. The goose was waddling after Humpy. Paying no attention to the rise of the castle, the dummy was mounted on a chair in a last effort to capture Tora's ears. "Dorothy," wailed the sorely tried and tired little fairy, "where is my father?" "Here! Here!" honked Pajuka, doing his best to make Humpy turn 'round. "This is the King of Oz!" Dorothy, astonished though she was by Ozma's sudden entry, hastened to break the shock of her disappointment. "You must remember," she explained hastily, "he is not quite himself!" "He's bewitched—we're all bewitched!" groaned the goose, flapping his wings despairingly. "Well, who hit me with the castle?" demanded Scraps, staring around indignantly. "I told you the King was a dunce!" The little girls, Sir Hokus and the Wizard were regarding the stuffed man's actions with horror and dismay. "Are you my father?" faltered Ozma, approaching the dummy timidly. "Why, where have you been all these years?" "In the pictures," answered Humpy in a matter-of-fact voice. With a final snatch he had captured the tailor's ears and was more interested in them than in his daughter. "I double for the stars, my dear. I fall and die and all that sort of thing. Ask Dorothy, she knows all about me." "He's been leading a double life," murmured the Scarecrow, looking solemnly at Sir Hokus of Pokes. Then, facing the King, he asked frankly, "Are you a dub or a double?" "He's bewitched, I tell you," puffed Pajuka, trying to get some attention. "Make her disenchant us!" He shot his neck angrily in Mombi's direction and immediately everyone's attention was directed to the old witch, whom the Elegant Elephant still guarded in the corner. "Why, there's Kabumpo!" cried Ozma and then, catching her first glimpse of the tailor without ears, she sank limply into a chair and began to fan herself with a doily. "Everything, everything's so queer," murmured the little Queen, looking appealingly at Betsy and Trot. "Fetch the Green Book of Magic from the library," ordered the Wizard, giving Sir Hokus a push. "Fetch the book and I will put an end to this nonsense!" Sir Hokus made haste to obey and, before Dorothy could explain all that had happened or introduce her friends, the Knight came back with the green book. "Here, give me my ears," cried the tailor, who had missed most of the excitement. Snatching them from Humpy, he clapped them quickly in place and turned toward the Wizard. The Wizard looked slightly cross-eyed from astonishment, but swallowing quickly and, determined not to delay the King's restoration another minute, began to flip over the leaves of the book. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus4ch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "This is it, Incantation No. 980!" panted the little man joyfully. "Two ought to be eaten before seven." "That's not an incantation, that's Humpy's number," cried Dorothy, pulling out the white tag on the dummy's collar. "Why, that's what Mombi tried," put in Snip anxiously. "Look out! Something else awful will happen!" But the Wizard waved them impatiently aside and, throwing the royal robe he had carried all the way from Morrow about Humpy's shoulders, pushed him down upon the throne. "All but seven leave the room," he ordered crisply and after a short delay the order was carried out. The seven who remained watched tensely as the Wizard approached the stuffed King. Popping two small crackers into his mouth, he gazed fixedly at the dummy. "I command you to assume your natural shape," choked the Wizard, throwing up his arms impressively. "The King's himself! Long live the King!" shrieked Pajuka, falling flat upon his bill. Everyone crowded forward to see what happened to Humpy—but the dummy remained as he was. "Why he's not changed at all," cried Scraps scornfully, and the Patch Work Girl was perfectly right. Except for a slight slump to the left, Humpy had not even changed his position. "Two ought to be eaten before seven! Two ought to be eaten before seven!" muttered the Wizard, beginning to pace anxiously up and down. "Two what?" asked Snip. "Are you sure you've eaten the right thing? Mombi swallowed buttons." "Well, I'm no ostrich and the foot note says two of anything," answered the little man, keeping his place in the book with his forefinger and gazing at the dummy in exasperation. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus5ch19.jpg" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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