Baum, L Frank - Oz 36 by Baum L Frank

Author:Baum, L Frank
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER 13

Winning Their Way

BUCKY lay flat on the grass for a long-needed sleep.

The Gabooches, who never closed an eye, perched on the rail like sentinels keeping guard.

Sun-up, next morning, found them all eager to be on their way. A hurried glance at the lining of the pirate's coat showed them exactly where they were in the yellow land of the Winkies.

The water in the little lake into which they had splashed the night before was like liquid gold. It flowed into a prim little river.

This stream ran through a stiff as starch country with here and there a house set on the top of a hill.

It was not a wide river-just wide enough for Davy to swim through without touching either side. The banks were well kept and straight as a ruler, without the slightest hint of a curve. When the river turned, it turned in an exact right angle.

Placed close to the edge was a severe looking sign painted with yellow letters:

NO CONNECTION WITH ANY OTHER RIVER

Fishing Drinking

Bathing and Boating

FORBIDDEN BY LAW

No bridges or tides allowed

Drowning on Thesdays only

DO NOT CROSS ME.

Proceeding at an even speed, the whale was so filled with good-feeling that he paid no attention to the sign.

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"What a whale of a place!" he kept repeating as they passed long lines of formal trees leading up to stiff, orderly houses.

Never before had Bucky seen such odd landscapes.

Looking at the scenery, he forgot to keep an eye on Davy's course. So, it happened that he suddenly found himself surrounded by a patch of high, waving cat-tails. They were tough and lashed angrily across the deck at Bucky, who caught one, and yanked it by the roots from the water and dropped it on the river bank.

"Meow-" complained the root and stretched itself into a lazy old cat that licked itself dry before it spoke to Bucky. "Go on, finish the job. They usually do,"

it purred, "and please be quick about it."

Bucky pulled up two more cats and dropped them beside the first one. He continued to pull cat-tails until his arms ached, placing them side by side along the grassy bank.

In this way he cleared a passage and hardly had Davy slipped through before all the cats jumped back into the river, leaving only their waving tails showing.

The very last cat glared at them. She seemed annoyed.

"Some people ought to learn to leave other people alone," she remarked as she dived into the water and disappeared.

Bucky was perplexed by this but the Flummux returned the cat's stare and was about to answer her, but hesitated so long that the cat was gone.

"Do you want to know what I think?" she whispered to Bucky. "I think those cat-tails are people under enchantment-put there by some wicked witch-That's what I think!"

The river flowed along, straight and self-satisfied.

Bucky was thinking hard.

"Do you believe this witch stuff?" he asked the Flummux.

"Why shouldn't I believe it? Why shouldn't

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