Back Aa

Cowardly Lion of Oz

<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus61.jpg" width-obs="570" height-obs="500" alt=""/></div> <h2>Chapter 14</h2> Flying in a Deluge "Let's find Dorothy," shouted Bob. It was necessary to shout, for Nick's snores rattled in their ears like a series of explosions. The Cowardly Lion and Notta looked doubtfully at each other. They were not sure that Mustafa's magic ring would allow them to proceed toward the Emerald City. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus62.jpg" width-obs="650" height-obs="451" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "We'll try it," shouted Notta. "Which way is it?" "I don't know," roared the Cowardly Lion. "Let's fly up and look around till I see a familiar landmark. So Notta pressed all the buttons necessary to start the bus, and up they went with such a rush that Bob almost lost his cap and the Cowardly Lion's mane waved like a flag. Bob put both fingers in his ears, for with Nick's snores and the whir of the feather wheels the noise was deafening. When they were about a hundred feet above ground, Notta slowed the bus down and ran it gently and evenly over the pleasant blue fields and forests of the Munchkins. Bob, slipping into the seat beside Snorer, put his nose, which had fallen off his ear, back on its hook. Immediately Snorer awoke and stamped his foot, but in a wink he was asleep again and Bob watched in open-eyed wonder, for snoring in his own ear wakened him about every three minutes, and when he wakened he stamped, so that between snoring and stamping the noise was worse than ever. "I wish our friend was not such a loud sleeper," growled the Cowardly Lion. "I can't even hear my own heart beat. Say, was that thunder or Snorer?" "Thunder," quavered Notta anxiously. "See how dark it's growing! Let's go down!" "It's raining," cried Bob Up in the same breath. Notta touched the button marked "Faster," and was about to press the one marked "Down," when a blinding flash of lightning zig-zagged across their path. The Cowardly Lion, with a roar of terror, dashed under the last seat of the bus, dragging Notta with him. In his clutch to save himself the clown pressed the button marked "Turn," so that the Flyaboutabus not only increased its speed but churned 'round and 'round till the four occupants were almost knocked senseless. To make matters worse, the rain came down in perfect torrents. Snorer, awakened by the awful clamor, put his wing around Bob and clutched the arm of the seat with his curling claws. Even so they were shaken up and down till Bob's teeth chattered and nearly drowned by the storm. Notta and the Cowardly Lion in the bottom of the bus were faring even worse. Every time the clown scrambled to his feet, the Cowardly Lion, terrified by a new flash of lightning, would spring in another direction and, tied to him by the stout rope, Notta would be dragged along. "Help! Help! I'm drowning," gurgled Notta after the eighth fall. A sudden flash of lightning showed Snorer that the Flyaboutabus was more than half full of water, and Notta lying entirely immersed. "Bob," cried Nick, "can you hold on a minute by yourself?" Bob nodded his head and with closed eyes grasped the side of the bus. He did not dare open his eyes, for flying in a circle had made him dreadfully dizzy. Snorer sidled cautiously to the edge of the seat and with a little spring jumped on the Cowardly Lion's back. The big beast was trembling like a runaway race horse, and the beating of his heart shook Snorer up and down. But holding on to his mane with one claw, he felt about in the water till his other one fastened in the belt of Notta's baggy suit. Then he pulled with all his might till, dripping and breathless, the poor clown lay across the Cowardly Lion's back. "Climb on the seat," directed Nick sternly. "Do you want to drown the most beautiful person in Oz?" With shaking legs the Cowardly Lion obeyed, Nick holding Notta safely in place, and when they were both on the seat he begged the lion, with tears in his eyes, to control himself. The Cowardly Lion, catching a glimpse of poor Notta, and realizing for the first time what he had done, wept with embarrassment. "This is what comes of being tied to a coward," he roared dismally, "but someone clapped me on the back." "It was a thunderclap," chattered Snorer. "Just close your eyes and hang together, and Bob and I will do the same." Hastily he flew back to the little boy, who was rolling and slipping around on the wet seat. Notta, wise from past experiences, fastened his arms tightly around the Cowardly Lion's neck. "Divided we fall, together we stand," he panted weakly. "If you're going to jump give me a signal, won't you?" The Cowardly Lion made no answer but just dug his claws into the seat and closed his eyes tighter. The wind whistled shrilly in their ears, the rain pelted mercilessly upon their heads and the bus tumbled and tossed through the air like a rudderless ship. Suddenly Snorer, who was less affected by the motion of the bus than the others, felt water on his feet. "Somebody bail out the boat," he shrieked in real terror, "it's sinking!" And so it was. The feather wheels, wet and draggled by the rain, moved slower and slower, and the bus was now so full of water that every time it lurched sideways the luckless voyagers were submerged. It was like flying in a very deep and dangerous tub. "I never expected to be drowned in the air," screamed Notta. "Shall we jump overboard?" "Do you want to be dashed to pieces?" shouted Nick in reply. "Hold on to the sides." He called more directions, but the fury of the storm drowned even his shrill voice, and each found he had enough to do to keep from being washed over the edge. The water rose higher and higher and the bus sank lower and lower. With eyes closed, and only their heads above water, the four clung grimly to the feathery edges. When the bus finally struck the ground it did so with such force that they all let go and fell back into the water. The Cowardly Lion sprang out first, pulling Notta along with him. Then, realizing Bob was still struggling in the water, he impulsively sprang back, seized the little boy in his teeth and jumped out again. A shout from Snorer made him pause. Notta was bumping along on the end of the rope like a big bag of clothes. "You've killed him," wailed Nick angrily. But just then, with a watery sigh, the clown opened his eyes. Immediately he began fumbling in his chest pocket. "What are you trying to do?" screamed Snorer. "My disguise," choked the clown. "I must put on my disguise—first disguise, then joke and run, you know!" "You don't need any disguise," wailed the Cowardly Lion remorsefully. "You look like almost anyone." "I feel the same way," coughed the clown. "Am I dashed or drowned or both?" "Neither," croaked Snorer sorrowfully. "Only tied to a very forgetful friend." The disguises, concealed in various parts of Notta's apparel, were dragged down in disfiguring lumps about his knees. There were four bumps on his forehead and one was coming on the back of his head. Bob, though shivering and wet, was otherwise unhurt, so he and Nick helped Notta to the Cowardly Lion's back, and, dripping and shaken, the air-wrecked party started toward a little hut near which they had fallen. "Where's the Fallaboutabus?" muttered Notta thickly, as the Cowardly Lion stumbled over the sill. "I don't care where it is," groaned the lion. "I hope it's busted. I'm against flying in all its branches." He dropped panting on the hearth, and Notta did not even move from his back. The hut evidently belonged to some thrifty woodcutter. It was quite neat and comfortable and there was a fire all ready to light. Bob, feeling very important, started a cheerful blaze, and though the rain still rattled on the roof, inside it was quite cozy and comfortable. Notta, with Bob's help, took out all of his disguises, and the three that had already been used he hung out in full view. But the clown was so down-hearted when Bob started to shake out the others, and seemed to attach so much importance to keeping them secret, that Snorer, without unrolling them, carried them into the next room and hung them on hooks to dry. Notta was quite thin and fallen without them, but when his suit had dried and he had powdered his nose with some of the woodcutter's flour he felt quite restored, and it was not until then that he discovered his feathers were gone. With a little shout he looked at the Cowardly Lion and Bob. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus63.jpg" width-obs="650" height-obs="453" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "We've all shed our feathers," he cried exultantly. "They must have washed away." The Cowardly Lion was so pleased that he jumped for joy, and started to run and look in the woodcutter's mirror, upsetting Notta as usual. "It's because you're no longer unish," explained Snorer wisely, as Notta scrambled to his feet and hastened to accompany the lion to the mirror. "When you both stopped planning unwise and unfair things the feathers just naturally dropped out, and Bob's followed suit, for there isn't an unish bone in that boy's body," continued Snorer, rolling his eyes knowingly. "And now that we've all decided to stick together everything will be as happy as possible." "We don't stick together very well," sighed the Cowardly Lion, hanging his head. "Did I hurt you, Notta, old fellow?" "Not much," said the clown, "but I'll have to use more padding if you are going to be so impetuous." Being tied to a Cowardly Lion was proving even worse than he had expected. The Cowardly Lion himself felt uncomfortable and ill at ease. "See here," he rumbled, as they gathered round the fire again, "I think we had better separate. I'll go on to Mudge and you three go to the Emerald City for help." "No," objected Notta, wrinkling his poor bumped forehead, "let's stick together a bit longer, for I don't know the way to the Emerald City, and the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions might tear you to pieces before we got back. Traveling in this country is dreadfully uncertain. Why, we don't even know where we are now!" <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus64.jpg" width-obs="650" height-obs="454" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> "But the sun's out," cried Bob, running to the window. "Let's see if the Flyaboutabus is still around." The Cowardly Lion started at once to run toward the door, but Notta, with a flying leap jumped on his back and thus avoided another fall. The bus was full of water, but the feather wheels, already somewhat drier, were slowly revolving. As they drew nearer the bus began to run 'round in circles, spraying water in every direction. "I'll stop it," volunteered Snorer and, swooping down over the wheel, quickly pushed the button marked "Stop." Then Notta and the Cowardly Lion, shoving with all their strength, turned the huge bus over on its side so the water could run out. After this they went back to the hut to fetch the clown's disguises, and then they all sat down under a tree and waited for the bus to dry. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus65.jpg" width-obs="650" height-obs="455" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> Just beyond a little fringe of trees they could see the roofs of a small city, and Snorer, sensibly enough, proposed that they run the bus into the city and inquire of its inhabitants just where they were. "Though as far as I can make out," finished Nick, "if we move toward Mudge all will be well, but if we take any other direction this beautiful person," he pointed his claw at Notta, "will turn blue." "Regular signals, aren't we, Bob?" The clown thoughtlessly turned a handspring, but the short rope spoiled it and the Cowardly Lion was quite choked. "We don't twin very well, old fellow, do we?" sighed Notta. "But let's see which is the way to Mudge, for it seems that to Mudge we must trudge." Hopping on the Cowardly Lion's back he waved him to the left, but at the first step both Notta and Bob turned quite blue. "Try the right," suggested the clown, pulling the lion's right ear. So the Cowardly Lion pranced to the right, but had not gone a dozen steps before Bob and Notta were bluer than ever. "Back!" directed Notta, swinging around and seizing the lion's tail. But their blueness only increased. "Straight ahead then," cried Notta, standing up and waving his arms. So the Cowardly Lion obligingly trotted a few paces straight ahead, and as Bob and the clown promptly turned back to their natural complexions, they concluded that straight ahead was the road to Mudge. Bob could hardly help feeling pleased that it also led toward the strange city, for Bob was very curious about Oz and its singular peoples, and the little fellow was enjoying every minute of his adventures. Even the wreck and the thunderstorm had given him a new kind of thrill. "We must all think of a way to outwit Mustafa," said Notta, as they took their places in the Flyaboutabus. "But until we do I shall simply follow my usual rules." So saying, he untied, for a moment, the rope that bound him to the Cowardly Lion and stepped into another of his disguises. This was almost the strangest of the lot. It covered him all but the feet, and in place of their jolly companion stood a huge goggle-eyed fish. The fish skin buttoned down the front, and Notta's arms protruded under the fins, but he was unable to sit down. This, however, he bore quite cheerfully and, standing up very straight and stiff, seized the wheel of the Flyaboutabus, pressed the button marked "Go," and away they did go in a series of bumps and bounces, for the feathery vehicle could not seem to keep its wheels on the ground. <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illusc7.jpg" width-obs="361" height-obs="500" alt=""/> <div class="caption"> Notta disguised as a huge fish </div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> "Too bad you did not put on that rig during the storm," chuckled Nick, hanging on with both claws. "Then you could have swum to earth. But what good is it now?" "Just you wait," promised Notta confidently. "When these people, whoever they are, see a fish walking about on dry land, they will do just as I ask them to. You see!" Nick looked rather nervous as he adjusted his nose, and the Cowardly Lion shook his head doubtfully. "But he cannot help his disguises any more than Nick can help his snoring, or I, my cowardice," whispered the big beast huskily to Bob. Bob Up said nothing, but he always felt uncomfortable when Notta put on one of his queer costumes. The bus was bouncing and jerking so crazily that conversation was now impossible. As they came nearer and nearer to the strange city, it became at once apparent that it was unlike any city or town any of them had ever seen or visited. Even the Cowardly Lion, old Oz adventurer that he was and accustomed to unusual sights and places, gave a snort of surprise as the Flyaboutabus rushed through the glittering glass gates. <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.