TROUBLE WITH THE TOTTENHOTS
CHAP. 19
A day's journey from the Emerald City brought the little band ofadventurers to the home of Jack Pumpkinhead, which was a house formedfrom the shell of an immense pumpkin. Jack had made it himself and wasvery proud of it. There was a door, and several windows, and through thetop was stuck a stovepipe that led from a small stove inside. The doorwas reached by a flight of three steps and there was a good floor onwhich was arranged some furniture that was quite comfortable.
It is certain that Jack Pumpkinhead might have had a much finer house tolive in had he wanted it, for Ozma loved the stupid fellow, who had beenher earliest companion; but Jack preferred his pumpkin house, as itmatched himself very well, and in this he was not so stupid, after all.
The body of this remarkable person was made of wood, branches of treesof various sizes having been used for the purpose. This wooden frameworkwas covered by a red shirt--with white spots in it--blue trousers, ayellow vest, a jacket of green-and-gold and stout leather shoes. Theneck was a sharpened stick on which the pumpkin head was set, and theeyes, ears, nose and mouth were carved on the skin of the pumpkin, verylike a child's jack-o'-lantern.
The house of this interesting creation stood in the center of a vastpumpkin-field, where the vines grew in profusion and bore pumpkins ofextraordinary size as well as those which were smaller. Some of thepumpkins now ripening on the vines were almost as large as Jack's house,and he told Dorothy he intended to add another pumpkin to his mansion.
The travelers were cordially welcomed to this quaint domicile andinvited to pass the night there, which they had planned to do. ThePatchwork Girl was greatly interested in Jack and examined himadmiringly.
"You are quite handsome," she said; "but not as really beautiful as theScarecrow."
Jack turned, at this, to examine the Scarecrow critically, and his oldfriend slyly winked one painted eye at him.
"There is no accounting for tastes," remarked the Pumpkinhead, with asigh. "An old crow once told me I was very fascinating, but of coursethe bird might have been mistaken. Yet I have noticed that the crowsusually avoid the Scarecrow, who is a very honest fellow, in his way,but stuffed. I am not stuffed, you will observe; my body is good solidhickory."
"I adore stuffing," said the Patchwork Girl.
"Well, as for that, my head is stuffed with pumpkin-seeds," declaredJack. "I use them for brains, and when they are fresh I am intellectual.Just now, I regret to say, my seeds are rattling a bit, so I must soonget another head."
"Oh; do you change your head?" asked Ojo.
"To be sure. Pumpkins are not permanent, more's the pity, and in timethey spoil. That is why I grow such a great field of pumpkins--that Imay select a new head whenever necessary."
"Who carves the faces on them?" inquired the boy.
"I do that myself. I lift off my old head, place it on a table beforeme, and use the face for a pattern to go by. Sometimes the faces I carveare better than others--more expressive and cheerful, you know--but Ithink they average very well."
Before she had started on the journey Dorothy had packed a knapsack withthe things she might need, and this knapsack the Scarecrow carriedstrapped to his back. The little girl wore a plain gingham dress and achecked sunbonnet, as she knew they were best fitted for travel. Ojoalso had brought along his basket, to which Ozma had added a bottle of"Square Meal Tablets" and some fruit. But Jack Pumpkinhead grew a lot ofthings in his garden besides pumpkins, so he cooked for them a finevegetable soup and gave Dorothy, Ojo and Toto, the only ones who foundit necessary to eat, a pumpkin pie and some green cheese. For beds theymust use the sweet dried grasses which Jack had strewn along one side ofthe room, but that satisfied Dorothy and Ojo very well. Toto, of course,slept beside his little mistress.
The Scarecrow, Scraps and the Pumpkinhead were tireless and had no needto sleep, so they sat up and talked together all night; but they stayedoutside the house, under the bright stars, and talked in low tones so asnot to disturb the sleepers. During the conversation the Scarecrowexplained their quest for a dark well, and asked Jack's advice where tofind it.
The Pumpkinhead considered the matter gravely.
"That is going to be a difficult task," said he, "and if I were you I'dtake any ordinary well and enclose it, so as to make it dark."
"I fear that wouldn't do," replied the Scarecrow. "The well must benaturally dark, and the water must never have seen the light of day, forotherwise the magic charm might not work at all."
"How much of the water do you need?" asked Jack.
"A gill."
"How much is a gill?"
"Why--a gill is a gill, of course," answered the Scarecrow, who did notwish to display his ignorance.
"I know!" cried Scraps. "Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch--"
"No, no; that's wrong," interrupted the Scarecrow. "There are two kindsof gills, I think; one is a girl, and the other is--"
"A gillyflower," said Jack.
"No; a measure."
"How big a measure?"
"Well, I'll ask Dorothy."
So next morning they asked Dorothy, and she said:
"I don't just know how much a gill is, but I've brought along a goldflask that holds a pint. That's more than a gill, I'm sure, and theCrooked Magician may measure it to suit himself. But the thing that'sbothering us most, Jack, is to find the well."
Jack gazed around the landscape, for he was standing in the doorway ofhis house.
"This is a flat country, so you won't find any dark wells here," saidhe. "You must go into the mountains, where rocks and caverns are."
"And where is that?" asked Ojo.
"In the Quadling Country, which lies south of here," replied theScarecrow. "I've known all along that we must go to the mountains."
"So have I," said Dorothy.
"But--goodness me!--the Quadling Country is full of dangers," declaredJack. "I've never been there myself, but--"
"I have," said the Scarecrow. "I've faced the dreadful Hammerheads,which have no arms and butt you like a goat; and I've faced the FightingTrees, which bend down their branches to pound and whip you, and hadmany other adventures there."
"It's a wild country," remarked Dorothy, soberly, "and if we go therewe're sure to have troubles of our own. But I guess we'll have to go, ifwe want that gill of water from the dark well."
So they said good-bye to the Pumpkinhead and resumed their travels,heading now directly toward the South Country, where mountains and rocksand caverns and forests of great trees abounded. This part of the Landof Oz, while it belonged to Ozma and owed her allegiance, was so wildand secluded that many queer peoples hid in its jungles and lived intheir own way, without even a knowledge that they had a Ruler in theEmerald City. If they were left alone, these creatures never troubledthe inhabitants of the rest of Oz, but those who invaded their domainsencountered many dangers from them.
It was a two days' journey from Jack Pumpkinhead's house to the edge ofthe Quadling Country, for neither Dorothy nor Ojo could walk very fastand they often stopped by the wayside to rest. The first night theyslept on the broad fields, among the buttercups and daisies, and theScarecrow covered the children with a gauze blanket taken from hisknapsack, so they would not be chilled by the night air. Toward eveningof the second day they reached a sandy plain where walking wasdifficult; but some distance before them they saw a group of palm trees,with many curious black dots under them; so they trudged bravely on toreach that place by dark and spend the night under the shelter of thetrees.
The black dots grew larger as they advanced and although the light wasdim Dorothy thought they looked like big kettles turned upside down.Just beyond this place a jumble of huge, jagged rocks lay scattered,rising to the mountains behind them.
Our travelers preferred to attempt to climb these rocks by daylight, andthey realized that for a time this would be their last night on theplains.
Twilight had fallen by the time they came to the trees, beneathwh
ich were the black, circular objects they had marked from adistance. Dozens of them were scattered around and Dorothy bent nearto one, which was about as tall as she was, to examine it moreclosely. As she did so the top flew open and out popped a smallcreature, rising its length into the air and then plumping down uponthe ground just beside the little girl. Another and another poppedout of the circular, pot-like dwelling, while from all the otherblack objects came popping more creatures--very like jumping-jackswhen their boxes are unhooked--until fully a hundred stood gatheredaround our little group of travelers.
By this time Dorothy had discovered they were people, tiny and curiouslyformed, but still people. Their hair stood straight up, like wires, andwas brilliant scarlet in color. Their bodies were bare except for skinsfastened around their waists and they wore bracelets on their ankles andwrists, and necklaces, and great pendant earrings.
Toto crouched beside his mistress and wailed as if he did not like thesestrange creatures a bit. Scraps began to mutter something about"hoppity, poppity, jumpity, dump!" but no one paid any attention to her.Ojo kept close to the Scarecrow and the Scarecrow kept close to Dorothy;but the little girl turned to the queer creatures and asked:
"Who are you?"
They answered this question all together, in a sort of chanting chorus,the words being as follows:
"We're the jolly Tottenhots; We do not like the day, But in the night 'tis our delight To gambol, skip and play.
"We hate the sun and from it run, The moon is cool and clear, So on this spot each Tottenhot Waits for it to appear.
"We're ev'ry one chock full of fun, And full of mischief, too; But if you're gay and with us play We'll do no harm to you."
"Glad to meet you, Tottenhots," said the Scarecrow solemnly. "But youmustn't expect us to play with you all night, for we've traveled allday and some of us are tired."
"And we never gamble," added the Patchwork Girl. "It's against the Law."
These remarks were greeted with shouts of laughter by the impishcreatures and one seized the Scarecrow's arm and was astonished to findthe straw man whirl around so easily. So the Tottenhot raised theScarecrow high in the air and tossed him over the heads of the crowd.Some one caught him and tossed him back, and so with shouts of glee theycontinued throwing the Scarecrow here and there, as if he had been abasket-ball.
Presently another imp seized Scraps and began to throw her about, in thesame way. They found her a little heavier than the Scarecrow but stilllight enough to be tossed like a sofa-cushion, and they were enjoyingthe sport immensely when Dorothy, angry and indignant at the treatmenther friends were receiving, rushed among the Tottenhots and beganslapping and pushing them, until she had rescued the Scarecrow and thePatchwork Girl and held them close on either side of her. Perhaps shewould not have accomplished this victory so easily had not Toto helpedher, barking and snapping at the bare legs of the imps until they wereglad to flee from his attack. As for Ojo, some of the creatures hadattempted to toss him, also, but finding his body too heavy they threwhim to the ground and a row of the imps sat on him and held him fromassisting Dorothy in her battle.
The little folks were much surprised at being attacked by the girl andthe dog, and one or two who had been slapped hardest began to cry. Thensuddenly they gave a shout, all together, and disappeared in a flashinto their various houses, the tops of which closed with a series ofpops that sounded like a bunch of firecrackers being exploded.
The adventurers now found themselves alone, and Dorothy asked anxiously:
"Is anybody hurt?"
"Not me," answered the Scarecrow. "They have given my straw a goodshaking up and taken all the lumps out of it. I am now in splendidcondition and am really obliged to the Tottenhots for their kindtreatment."
"I feel much the same way," said Scraps. "My cotton stuffing had saggeda good deal with the day's walking and they've loosened it up until Ifeel as plump as a sausage. But the play was a little rough and I'd hadquite enough of it when you interfered."
"Six of them sat on me," said Ojo, "but as they are so little theydidn't hurt me much."
Just then the roof of the house in front of them opened and a Tottenhotstuck his head out, very cautiously, and looked at the strangers.
"Can't you take a joke?" he asked, reproachfully; "haven't you any funin you at all?"
"If I had such a quality," replied the Scarecrow, "your people wouldhave knocked it out of me. But I don't bear grudges. I forgive you."
"So do I," added Scraps. "That is, if you behave yourselves after this."
"It was just a little rough-house, that's all," said the Tottenhot. "Butthe question is not if _we_ will behave, but if _you_ will behave? Wecan't be shut up here all night, because this is our time to play; nordo we care to come out and be chewed up by a savage beast or slapped byan angry girl. That slapping hurts like sixty; some of my folks arecrying about it. So here's the proposition: you let us alone and we'lllet you alone."
"You began it," declared Dorothy.
"Well, you ended it, so we won't argue the matter. May we come outagain? Or are you still cruel and slappy?"
"Tell you what we'll do," said Dorothy. "We're all tired and want tosleep until morning. If you'll let us get into your house, and staythere until daylight, you can play outside all you want to."
"That's a bargain!" cried the Tottenhot eagerly, and he gave a queerwhistle that brought his people popping out of their houses on allsides. When the house before them was vacant, Dorothy and Ojo leanedover the hole and looked in, but could see nothing because it was sodark. But if the Tottenhots slept there all day the children thoughtthey could sleep there at night, so Ojo lowered himself down and foundit was not very deep.
"There's a soft cushion all over," said he. "Come on in."
Dorothy handed Toto to the boy and then climbed in herself. After hercame Scraps and the Scarecrow, who did not wish to sleep but preferredto keep out of the way of the mischievous Tottenhots.
There seemed no furniture in the round den, but soft cushions werestrewn about the floor and these they found made very comfortable beds.They did not close the hole in the roof but left it open to admit air.It also admitted the shouts and ceaseless laughter of the impishTottenhots as they played outside, but Dorothy and Ojo, being weary fromtheir journey, were soon fast asleep.
Toto kept an eye open, however, and uttered low, threatening growlswhenever the racket made by the creatures outside became too boisterous;and the Scarecrow and the Patchwork Girl sat leaning against the walland talked in whispers all night long. No one disturbed the travelersuntil daylight, when in popped the Tottenhot who owned the place andinvited them to vacate his premises.
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