The Road to Oz. Baum Lyman Frank

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      "I mean have you ever been where there's water?"

      "Yes," said Button-Bright; "there's a well in our back yard."

      "You don't understand," cried Dorothy. "I mean, have you ever been on a big ship floating on a big ocean?"

      "Don't know," said he.

      "Then why do you wear sailor clothes?"

      "Don't know," he answered, again.

      Dorothy was in despair.

      "You're just awful stupid, Button-Bright," she said.

      "Am I?" he asked.

      "Yes, you are."

      "Why?" looking up at her with big eyes.

      She was going to say: "Don't know," but stopped herself in time.

      "That's for you to answer," she replied.

      "It's no use asking Button-Bright questions," said the shaggy man, who had been eating another apple; "but some one ought to take care of the poor little chap, don't you think? So he'd better come along with us."

      Toto had been looking with great curiosity into the hole which the boy was digging, and growing more and more excited every minute, perhaps thinking that Button-Bright was after some wild animal. The little dog began barking loudly and jumped into the hole himself, where he began to dig with his tiny paws, making the earth fly in all directions. It spattered over the boy. Dorothy seized him and raised him to his feet, brushing his clothes with her hand.

      "Stop that, Toto!" she called. "There aren't any mice or woodchucks in that hole, so don't be foolish."

      Toto stopped, sniffed at the hole suspiciously, and jumped out of it, wagging his tail as if he had done something important.

      "Well," said the shaggy man, "let's start on, or we won't get anywhere before night comes."

      "Where do you expect to get to?" asked Dorothy.

      "I'm like Button-Bright; I don't know," answered the shaggy man, with a laugh. "But I've learned from long experience that every road leads somewhere, or there wouldn't be any road; so it's likely that if we travel long enough, my dear, we will come to some place or another in the end. What place it will be we can't even guess at this moment, but we're sure to find out when we get there."

      "Why, yes," said Dorothy; "that seems reas'n'ble, Shaggy Man."

      A Queer Village

      BUTTON-BRIGHT took the shaggy man's hand willingly; for the shaggy man had the Love Magnet, you know, which was the reason Button-Bright had loved him at once. They started on, with Dorothy on one side, and Toto on the other, the little party trudging along more cheerfully than you might have supposed. The girl was getting used to queer adventures, which interested her very much. Wherever Dorothy went Toto was sure to go, like Mary's little lamb. Button-Bright didn't seem a bit afraid or worried because he was lost, and the shaggy man had no home, perhaps, and was as happy in one place as in another.

      Before long they saw ahead of them a fine big arch spanning the road, and when they came nearer they found that the arch was beautifully carved and decorated with rich colors. A row of peacocks with spread tails ran along the top of it, and all the feathers were gorgeously painted. In the center was a large fox's head, and the fox wore a shrewd and knowing expression and had large spectacles over its eyes and a small golden crown with shiny points on top of its head.

      While the travellers were looking with curiosity at this beautiful arch there suddenly marched out of it a company of soldiers – only the soldiers were all foxes dressed in uniforms. They wore green jackets and yellow pantaloons, and their little round caps and their high boots were a bright red color. Also there was a big red bow tied about the middle of each long, bushy tail. Each soldier was armed with a wooden sword having an edge of sharp teeth set in a row, and the sight of these teeth at first caused Dorothy to shudder.

      A captain marched in front of the company of fox-soldiers, his uniform embroidered with gold braid to make it handsomer than the others.

      Almost before our friends realized it the soldiers had surrounded them on all sides, and the captain was calling out in a harsh voice:

      "Surrender! You are our prisoners."

      "What's a pris'ner?" asked Button-Bright.

      "A prisoner is a captive," replied the fox-captain, strutting up and down with much dignity.

      "What's a captive?" asked Button-Bright.

      "You're one," said the captain.

      That made the shaggy man laugh.

      "Good afternoon, captain," he said, bowing politely to all the foxes and very low to their commander. "I trust you are in good health, and that your families are all well?"

      The fox-captain looked at the shaggy man, and his sharp features grew pleasant and smiling.

      "We're pretty well, thank you, Shaggy Man," said he; and Dorothy knew that the Love Magnet was working and that all the foxes now loved the shaggy man because of it. But Toto didn't know this, for he began barking angrily and tried to bite the captain's hairy leg where it showed between his red boots and his yellow pantaloons.

      "Stop, Toto!" cried the little girl, seizing the dog in her arms. "These are our friends."

      "Why, so we are!" remarked the captain in tones of astonishment. "I thought at first we were enemies, but it seems you are friends, instead. You must come with me to see King Dox."

      "Who's he?" asked Button-Bright, with earnest eyes.

      "King Dox of Foxville; the great and wise sovereign who rules over our community."

      "What's sov'rin, and what's c'u'nity?" inquired Button-Bright.

      "Don't ask so many questions, little boy."

      "Why?"

      "Ah, why, indeed?" exclaimed the captain, looking at Button-Bright admiringly. "If you don't ask questions you will learn nothing. True enough. I was wrong. You're a very clever little boy, come to think of it – very clever indeed. But now, friends, please come with me, for it is my duty to escort you at once to the royal palace."

      The soldiers marched back through the arch again, and with them marched the shaggy man, Dorothy, Toto, and Button-Bright. Once through the opening they found a fine, big city spread out before them, all the houses of carved marble in beautiful colors. The decorations were mostly birds and other fowl, such as peacocks, pheasants, turkeys, prairie-chickens, ducks, and geese. Over each doorway was carved a head representing the fox who lived in that house, this effect being quite pretty and unusual.

      As our friends marched along, some of the foxes came out on the porches and balconies to get a view of the strangers. These foxes were all handsomely dressed, the girl-foxes and women-foxes wearing gowns of feathers woven together effectively and colored in bright hues which Dorothy thought were quite artistic and decidedly attractive.

      Button-Bright stared until his eyes were big and round, and he would have stumbled and fallen more than once had not the shaggy man grasped his hand tightly. They were all interested, and Toto was so excited he wanted to bark every minute and to chase and fight СКАЧАТЬ