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after the others of the party were fast asleep.
Chapter Twelve
The Giant Porcupine
Next morning they started out bright and early to
follow the road of yellow bricks toward the
Emerald City. The little Munchkin boy was
beginning to feel tired from the long walk, and he
had a great many things to think of and consider
besides the events of the journey. At the
wonderful Emerald City, which he would presently
reach, were so many strange and curious people
that he was half afraid of meeting them and
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wondered if they would prove friendly and kind.
Above all else, he could not drive from his mind
the important errand on which he had come, and he
was determined to devote every energy to finding
the things that were necessary to prepare
the magic recipe. He believed that until dear
Unc Nunkie was restored to life he could feel
no joy in anything, and often he wished that
Unc could be with him, to see all the astonishing
things Ojo was seeing. But alas Unc Nunkie was now
a marble statue in the house of the Crooked
Magician and Ojo must not falter in his efforts to
save him.
The country through which they were passing was
still rocky and deserted, with here and there a
bush or a tree to break the dreary landscape. Ojo
noticed one tree, especially, because it had such
long, silky leaves and was so beautiful in shape.
As he approached it he studied the tree earnestly,
wondering if any fruit grew on it or if it bore
pretty flowers.
Suddenly he became aware that he had been
looking at that tree a long time--at least for
five minutes--and it had remained in the same
position, although the boy had continued to
walk steadily on. So he stopped short. and when
he stopped, the tree and all the landscape, as
well as his companions, moved on before him
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and left him far behind.
Ojo uttered such a cry of astonishment that
it aroused the Shaggy Man, who also halted.
The others then stopped, too, and walked back
to the boy.
"What's wrong?" asked the Shaggy Man.
"Why, we're not moving forward a bit, no
matter how fast we walk," declared Ojo. "Now
that we have stopped, we are moving backward!
Can't you see? Just notice that rock."
Scraps looked down at her feet and said:
"The yellow bricks are not moving."
"But the whole road is," answered Ojo.
"True; quite true," agreed the Shaggy Man.
"I know all about the tricks of this road, but I
have been thinking of something else and didn't
realize where we were."
"It will carry us back to where we started
from," predicted Ojo, beginning to be nervous.
"No," replied the Shaggy Man; "it won't do
that, for I know a trick to beat this tricky road.
I've traveled this way before, you know. Turn
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around, all of you, and walk backward."
"What good will that do?" asked the cat.
"You'll find out, if you obey me," said the
Shaggy Man.
So they all turned their backs to the direction
in which they wished to go and began walking
backward. In an instant Ojo noticed they were
gaining ground and as they proceeded in this
curious way they soon passed the tree which had
first attracted his attention to their difficulty.
"How long must we keep this up, Shags?"
asked Scraps, who was constantly tripping and
tumbling down, only to get up again with a
laugh at her mishap.
"Just a little way farther," replied the Shaggy
Man.
A few minutes later he called to them to turn
about quickly and step forward, and as they
obeyed the order they found themselves treading
solid ground.
"That task is well over," observed the Shaggy
Man. "It's a little tiresome to walk backward, but
that is the only way to pass this part of the
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road, which has a trick of sliding back and
carrying with it anyone who is walking upon it."
With new courage and energy they now
trudged forward and after a time came to a
place where the road cut through a low hill,
leaving high banks on either side of it. They
were traveling along this cut, talking together,
when the Shaggy Man seized Scraps with one
arm and Ojo with another and shouted: "Stop!"
"What's wrong now?" asked the Patchwork Girl.
"See there!" answered the Shaggy Man, pointing
with his finger.
Directly in the center of the road lay a
motionless object that bristled all over with
sharp quills, which resembled arrows. The body was
as big as a ten-bushel basket, but the projecting [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]