A Terrible Loss
CHAPTER 1
There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely girlruler of the Fairyland of Oz, was lost. She had completely disappeared.Not one of her subjects--not even her closest friends--knew what hadbecome of her.
It was Dorothy who first discovered it. Dorothy was a little Kansas girlwho had come to the Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightfulsuite of rooms in Ozma's royal palace, just because Ozma loved Dorothyand wanted her to live as near her as possible, so the two girls mightbe much together.
Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had beenwelcomed to Oz and lived in the royal palace. There was another namedBetsy Bobbin, whose adventures had led her to seek refuge with Ozma, andstill another named Trot, who had been invited, together with herfaithful companion, Cap'n Bill, to make her home in this wonderfulfairyland. The three girls all had rooms in the palace and were greatchums; but Dorothy was the dearest friend of their gracious Ruler andonly she at any hour dared to seek Ozma in her royal apartments. ForDorothy had lived in Oz much longer than the other girls and had beenmade a Princess of the realm.
Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger, yet thethree were near enough of an age to become great playmates and to havenice times together. It was while the three were talking together onemorning in Dorothy's room that Betsy proposed they make a journey intothe Munchkin Country, which was one of the four great countries of theLand of Oz ruled by Ozma.
"I've never been there yet," said Betsy Bobbin, "but the Scarecrowonce told me it is the prettiest country in all Oz."
"I'd like to go, too," added Trot.
"All right," said Dorothy, "I'll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she will letus take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be much nicer for usthan having to walk all the way. This Land of Oz is a pretty big place,when you get to all the edges of it."
So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace untilshe came to the royal suite, which filled all the front of the secondfloor. In a little waiting room sat Ozma's maid, Jellia Jamb, who wasbusily sewing.
"Is Ozma up yet?" inquired Dorothy.
"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word fromher this morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her breakfast,and it is far past her usual time for them."
"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.
"Yes," agreed the maid; "but of course no harm could have happened toher. No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz and Ozma is herself apowerful fairy, and she has no enemies, so far as we know. Therefore Iam not at all worried about her, though I must admit her silence isunusual."
"Perhaps," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or she may bereading, or working out some new sort of magic to do good to herpeople."
"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I haven'tdared disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a privilegedcharacter, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't mind at all if youwent in to see her."
"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer chambershe went in. All was still here. She walked into another room, which wasOzma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery richly broideredwith threads of pure gold, the girl entered the sleeping-room of thefairy Ruler of Oz. The bed of ivory and gold was vacant; the room wasvacant; not a trace of Ozma was to be found.
Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happenedto her friend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other roomsof the suite. She went into the music room, the library, the laboratory,the bath, the wardrobe and even into the great throne room, whichadjoined the royal suite, but in none of these places could she findOzma.
So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, JelliaJamb, and said:
"She isn't in her rooms now, so she must have gone out."
"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her,"replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."
"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy.
"Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to be alittle uneasy.
So they went into the corridors and there Dorothy almost stumbled over aqueer girl who was dancing lightly along the passage.
"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called. "Have you seen Ozma this morning?"
"Not I!" replied the queer girl, dancing nearer. "I lost both my eyes ina tussle with the Woozy, last night, for the creature scraped 'em bothoff my face with his square paws. So I put the eyes in my pocket andthis morning Button-Bright led me to Aunt Em, who sewed 'em on again. SoI've seen nothing at all to-day, except during the last five minutes. Soof course I haven't seen Ozma."
"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, whichwere merely two round black buttons sewed upon the girl's face.
There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed curious toone seeing her for the first time. She was commonly called "ThePatchwork Girl," because her body and limbs were made from a gay-coloredpatchwork quilt which had been cut into shape and stuffed with cotton.Her head was a round ball stuffed in the same manner and fastened to hershoulders. For hair she had a mass of brown yarn and to make a nose forher a part of the cloth had been pulled out into the shape of a knob andtied with a string to hold it in place. Her mouth had been carefullymade by cutting a slit in the proper place and lining it with red silk,adding two rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of red flannel for atongue.
In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically aliveand had proved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of the manyquaint characters who inhabit the astonishing Fairyland of Oz. Indeed,Scraps was a general favorite, although she was rather flighty anderratic and did and said many things that surprised her friends. She wasseldom still, but loved to dance, to turn handsprings and somersaults,to climb trees and to indulge in many other active sports.
"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she isn't inher rooms and I want to ask her a question."
"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than yoursand they can see farther."
"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy. "But come along, if you like."
Together they searched all through the great palace and even to thefarthest limits of the palace grounds, which were quite extensive, butnowhere could they find a trace of Ozma. When Dorothy returned to whereBetsy and Trot awaited her, the little girl's face was rather solemn andtroubled, for never before had Ozma gone away without telling herfriends where she was going, or without an escort that befitted herroyal state.
She was gone, however, and none had seen her go. Dorothy had met andquestioned the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Cap'nBill, and even the wise and powerful Wizard of Oz, but not one of themhad seen Ozma since she parted with her friends the evening before andhad gone to her own rooms.
"She didn't say anything las' night about going anywhere," observedlittle Trot.
"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy. "UsuallyOzma lets us know of everything she does."
"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin. "That willtell us where she is, in just one second."
"Of course!" cried Dorothy. "Why didn't I think of that before?" and atonce the three girls hurried away to Ozma's boudoir, where the MagicPicture always hung.
This wonderful Magic Picture was one of the royal Ozma's greatesttreasures. There was a large gold frame, in the center of which was abluish-gray canvas on which various scenes constantly appeared anddisappeared. If one who stood before it wished to see what anyperson--anywhere in the world--was doing, it was only necessary to makethe wish and the scene in the Magic Picture would shift to the scenewhere that person was and show exactly what he or she was then engagedin doing. So the girls knew it would be easy for them to wish to seeOzma, and from the picture they could quickly learn where she was.
Dorothy a
dvanced to the place where the picture was usually protected bythick satin curtains, and pulled the draperies aside. Then she stared inamazement, while her two friends uttered exclamations ofdisappointment.
The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind thecurtains showed where it had formerly hung.
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