The Wonder City of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Author:L. Frank Baum [Baum, L. Frank]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Young Adult, Oz, Fiction
Published: 2011-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

The Attack of the Chocolate Soldiers

CRASH! SPLASH! The ozoplane had landed in a

field of soft brown mush. The mush was splat

tered up through the windows, spotting Jenny's

dress.

"I smell chocolate," she said.

She looked down at her dress and picked off one

of the spots. She smelled it and then tasted it.

"It is chocolate! Where on Oz can we be?"

"We must have crashed into a chocolate star," said

Jack Pumpkinhead. He straightened his head which

had been jarred sidewise in the crash.

"It looks like fudge," said Jenny. "And it smells

and tastes like it, too."

Jack answered, "Scraps and I have never tasted

or smelled anything, and never intend to. We go

entirely by looks. Let's go out and look things over."

The three climbed out of the ozoplane. As soon

as Jenny's feet touched the surface, she began to

sink into the chocolate bog. She saw Jack sinking,

too. Scraps remained on top, for she weighed only

nine pounds.

Jenny looked around. They were in a valley of

cream chocolate, surrounded by towering cliffs of

hard chocolate with white sugar tops.

"We are trapped," said Jenny. "What could be

sweeter?"

Just then she heard, PLOP, PLOP! Something

hard was raining out of the sky into the brown ooze.

"Why, Jack, it's the shoes! Our plane fell faster

than they!" exclaimed Jenny.

Scraps darted here and there over the chocolate!

gathering up the members of Jack's Glee Club.

"It's plain to be seen'

You're no longer clean,"

said Scraps, as she tossed the shoes into the ozoplane.

The shoes at once began polishing themselves.

Jenny had sunk deeper. "It's lucky I have grown

younger," she thought, "or I'd be so heavy I'd go

in over my head."

"A dry moon or a dusty star would be better than

this sickening stuff," sniffed Jack, with a glitter in

the hollow of his eye.

"I agree," said Jenny. "Chocolate is all right in

small amounts. But this is too much of a good

thing!"

Far off, Jenny saw something moving down from

the sugary tops of the mountains. Some creatures

were coming with alarming speed. They leaped over

piles of broken chocolate and came racing into the

valley.

"Now we're in hot chocolate!" said Jenny. "As

I smell it, those are giant chocolate soldiers!"

She began to struggle to get out of the slush, but

she was held fast.

"My fairy foot no longer has any power!" she said

in dismay.

The chocolate army loomed around them, so close

now that Jenny could see how the soldiers were

made. They all looked alike, as if they had been

taken from the same mold. Each had a bulge on the

left of his nose, and a wiggly line running down

his side. Their feet could not be seen, for they were

sliding under the surface of the mush. "Why, they

look de-feeted already!" Jenny said.

They all moved together. They all acted as one

man. 'When one head turned, all heads turned.

When one spoke, all spoke together,

"Halt! Aim! Fire!" The soldiers stopped and

raised their chocolate guns. Ping! Ping! Ping!

Chocolate drops began spattering the three pris-

oners.

Jack Pumpkinhead, wiping the chocolate out of

his eyes, said, "What are they so all-fired mad

about?"

Jenny was trying hard to keep her temper down,

but in spite of herself it was rising.

"They're making a mess of things!" she said.

Scraps was the only one who was delighted with

the battle.

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