Chapter XVII.
How the Balloon was Launched.
For three days Dorothy heard nothing from Oz. These were sad daysfor the little girl, although her friends were all quite happy andcontented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderful thoughts inhis head; but he would not say what they were because he knew no onecould understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked abouthe felt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothyhe had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than theone he had owned when he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he wasafraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army of men or adozen of the fierce Kalidahs.
Thus each of the little party was satisfied except Dorothy, wholonged more than ever to get back to Kansas.
On the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and when sheentered the Throne Room he said, pleasantly:
"Sit down, my dear; I think I have found the way to get you out ofthis country."
"And back to Kansas?" she asked, eagerly.
"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas," said Oz; "for I haven't thefaintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to do is tocross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home."
"How can I cross the desert?" she enquired.
"Well, I'll tell you what I think," said the little man. "You see,when I came to this country it was in a balloon. You also camethrough the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the bestway to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it isquite beyond my powers to make a cyclone; but I've been thinking thematter over, and I believe I can make a balloon."
"How?" asked Dorothy.
"A balloon," said Oz, "is made of silk, which is coated with glue tokeep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the Palace, so it willbe no trouble for us to make the balloon. But in all this countrythere is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float."
"If it won't float," remarked Dorothy, "it will be of no use to us."
"True," answered Oz. "But there is another way to make it float,which is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good as gas, forif the air should get cold the balloon would come down in the desert,and we should be lost."
"We!" exclaimed the girl; "are you going with me?"
"Yes, of course," replied Oz. "I am tired of being such a humbug. If Ishould go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not aWizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them.So I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome.I'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again."
"I shall be glad to have your company," said Dorothy.
"Thank you," he answered. "Now, if you will help me sew the silktogether, we will begin to work on our balloon."
So Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the stripsof silk into proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. Firstthere was a strip of light green silk, then a strip of dark green andthen a strip of emerald green; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloonin different shades of the color about them. It took three days tosew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a bigbag of green silk more than twenty feet long.
Then Oz painted it on the inside with a coat of thin glue, to make itair-tight, after which he announced that the balloon was ready.
"But we must have a basket to ride in," he said. So he sent thesoldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket, which hefastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.
When it was all ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was goingto make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds.The news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came to seethe wonderful sight.
Oz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and thepeople gazed upon it with much curiosity. The Tin Woodman had chopped abig pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Oz held the bottomof the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arose from itwould be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled outand rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground.
Then Oz got into the basket and said to all the people in a loud voice:
"I am now going away to make a visit. While I am gone the Scarecrowwill rule over you. I command you to obey him as you would me."
The balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it tothe ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so muchlighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to riseinto the sky.
"Come, Dorothy!" cried the Wizard; "hurry up, or the balloon will flyaway."
"I can't find Toto anywhere," replied Dorothy, who did not wish toleave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark ata kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and rantoward the balloon.
She was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his handsto help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and theballoon rose into the air without her.
"Come back!" she screamed; "I want to go, too!"
"I can't come back, my dear," called Oz from the basket. "Good-bye!"
"Good-bye!" shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward towhere the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every momentfarther and farther into the sky.
And that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard,though he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all weknow. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another,
"Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us thisbeautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the WiseScarecrow to rule over us."
Still, for many days they grieved over the loss of the WonderfulWizard, and would not be comforted.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Page 17