Files did not wholly approve of this, but he was too generous to interfere. So the Rose Princess felt her way through the darkness to Shaggy’s brother and kissed him.
Ruggedo struck another match, while they all turned away.
“No,” announced the former King; “that didn’t break the charm, either. It must be the kiss of a Fairy that is required — or else my memory has failed me altogether.”
“Polly,” said Betsy, pleadingly, “won’t you try?”
“Of course I will!” answered Polychrome, with a merry laugh. “I’ve never kissed a mortal man in all the thousands of years I have existed, but I’ll do it to please our faithful Shaggy Man, whose unselfish affection for his ugly brother deserves to be rewarded.”
Even as Polychrome was speaking she tripped lightly to the side of the Ugly One and quickly touched his cheek with her lips.
“Oh, thank you — thank you!” he fervently cried. “I’ve changed, this time, I know. I can feel it! I’m different. Shaggy — dear Shaggy — I am myself again!”
Files, who was near the opening, touched the spring that released the big rock and it suddenly swung backward and let in a flood of daylight.
Everyone stood motionless, staring hard at Shaggy’s brother, who, no longer masked by the polka-dot handkerchief, met their gaze with a glad smile.
“Well,” said Shaggy Man, breaking the silence at last and drawing a long, deep breath of satisfaction, “you are no longer the Ugly One, my dear brother; but, to be entirely frank with you, the face that belongs to you is no more handsome than it ought to be.”
“I think he’s rather good looking,” remarked Betsy, gazing at the man critically.
“In comparison with what he was,” said King Kaliko, “he is really beautiful. You, who never beheld his ugliness, may not understand that; but it was my misfortune to look at the Ugly One many times, and I say again that, in comparison with what he was, the man is now beautiful.”
“All right,” returned Betsy, briskly, “we’ll take your word for it, Kaliko. And now let us get out of this tunnel and into the world again.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ruggedo Reforms
It did not take them long to regain the royal cavern of the Nome King, where Kaliko ordered served to them the nicest refreshments the place afforded.
Ruggedo had come trailing along after the rest of the party and while no one paid any attention to the old King they did not offer any objection to his presence or command him to leave them. He looked fearfully to see if the eggs were still guarding the entrance, but they had now disappeared; so he crept into the cavern after the others and humbly squatted down in a corner of the room.
There Betsy discovered him. All of the little girl’s companions were now so happy at the success of Shaggy’s quest for his brother, and the laughter and merriment seemed so general, that Betsy’s heart softened toward the friendless old man who had once been their bitter enemy, and she carried to him some of the food and drink. Ruggedo’s eyes filled with tears at this unexpected kindness. He took the child’s hand in his own and pressed it gratefully.
“Look here, Kaliko,” said Betsy, addressing the new King, “what’s the use of being hard on Ruggedo? All his magic power is gone, so he can’t do any more harm, and I’m sure he’s sorry he acted so badly to everybody.”
“Are you?” asked Kaliko, looking down at his former master.
“I am,” said Ruggedo. “The girl speaks truly. I’m sorry and I’m harmless. I don’t want to wander through the wide world, on top of the ground, for I’m a nome. No nome can ever be happy any place but underground.”
“That being the case,” said Kaliko, “I will let you stay here as long as you behave yourself; but, if you try to act badly again, I shall drive you out, as Tititi-Hoochoo has commanded, and you’ll have to wander.”
“Never fear. I’ll behave,” promised Ruggedo. “It is hard work being a King, and harder still to be a good King. But now that I am a common nome I am sure I can lead a blameless life.”
They were all pleased to hear this and to know that Ruggedo had really reformed.
“I hope he’ll keep his word,” whispered Betsy to Shaggy; “but if he gets bad again we will be far away from the Nome Kingdom and Kaliko will have to ‘tend to the old nome himself.”
Polychrome had been a little restless during the last hour or two. The lovely Daughter of the Rainbow knew that she had now done all in her power to assist her earth friends, and so she began to long for her sky home.
“I think,” she said, after listening intently, “that it is beginning to rain. The Rain King is my uncle, you know, and perhaps he has read my thoughts and is going to help me. Anyway I must take a look at the sky and make sure.”
So she jumped up and ran through the passage to the outer entrance, and they all followed after her and grouped themselves on a ledge of the mountain-side. Sure enough, dark clouds had filled the sky and a slow, drizzling rain had set in.
“It can’t last for long,” said Shaggy, looking upward, “and when it stops we shall lose the sweet little fairy we have learned to love. Alas,” he continued, after a moment, “the clouds are already breaking in the west, and — see! — isn’t that the Rainbow coming?”
Betsy didn’t look at the sky; she looked at Polychrome, whose happy, smiling face surely foretold the coming of her father to take her to the Cloud Palaces. A moment later a gleam of sunshine flooded the mountain and a gorgeous Rainbow appeared.
With a cry of gladness Polychrome sprang upon a point of rock and held out her arms. Straightway the Rainbow descended until its end was at her very feet, when with a graceful leap she sprang upon it and was at once clasped in the arms of her radiant sisters, the Daughters of the Rainbow. But Polychrome released herself to lean over the edge of the glowing arch and nod, and smile and throw a dozen kisses to her late comrades.
“Good-bye!” she called, and they all shouted “Good-bye!” in return and waved their hands to their pretty friend.
Slowly the magnificent bow lifted and melted into the sky, until the eyes of the earnest watchers saw only fleecy clouds flitting across the blue.
“I’m dreadful sorry to see Polychrome go,” said Betsy, who felt like crying; “but I s’pose she’ll be a good deal happier with her sisters in the sky palaces.”
“To be sure,” returned Shaggy, nodding gravely. “It’s her home, you know, and those poor wanderers who, like ourselves, have no home, can realize what that means to her.”
“Once,” said Betsy, “I, too, had a home. Now, I’ve only — only — dear old Hank!”
She twined her arms around her shaggy friend who was not human, and he said: “Hee-haw!” in a tone that showed he understood her mood. And the shaggy friend who was human stroked the child’s head tenderly and said: “You’re wrong about that, Betsy, dear. I will never desert you.”
“Nor I!” exclaimed Shaggy’s brother, in earnest tones.
The little girl looked up at them gratefully, and her eyes smiled through their tears.
“All right,” she said. “It’s raining again, so let’s go back into the cavern.”
Rather soberly, for all loved Polychrome and would miss her, they reentered the dominions of the Nome King.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Dorothy is Delighted
“Well,” said Queen Ann, when all were again seated in Kaliko’s royal cavern, “I wonder what we shall do next. If I could find my way back to Oogaboo I’d take my army home at once, for I’m sick and tired of these dreadful hardships.”
“Don’t you want to conquer the world?” asked Betsy.
“No; I’ve changed my mind about that,” admitted the Queen. “The world is too big for one person to conquer and I was happier with my own people in Oogaboo. I wish — Oh, how earnestly I wish — that I was back there this minute!”
“So do I!” yelled every officer in a fervent tone.
Now, it is time for the reader to know that in the
far-away Land of Oz the lovely Ruler, Ozma, had been following the adventures of her Shaggy Man, and Tik-Tok, and all the others they had met. Day by day Ozma, with the wonderful Wizard of Oz seated beside her, had gazed upon a Magic Picture in a radium frame, which occupied one side of the Ruler’s cosy boudoir in the palace of the Emerald City. The singular thing about this Magic Picture was that it showed whatever scene Ozma wished to see, with the figures all in motion, just as it was taking place. So Ozma and the Wizard had watched every action of the adventurers from the time Shaggy had met shipwrecked Betsy and Hank in the Rose Kingdom, at which time the Rose Princess, a distant cousin of Ozma, had been exiled by her heartless subjects.
When Ann and her people so earnestly wished to return to Oogaboo, Ozma was sorry for them and remembered that Oogaboo was a corner of the Land of Oz. She turned to her attendant and asked:
“Can not your magic take these unhappy people to their old home, Wizard?”
“It can, Your Highness,” replied the little Wizard.
“I think the poor Queen has suffered enough in her misguided effort to conquer the world,” said Ozma, smiling at the absurdity of the undertaking, “so no doubt she will hereafter be contented in her own little Kingdom. Please send her there, Wizard, and with her the officers and Files.”
“How about the Rose Princess?” asked the Wizard.
“Send her to Oogaboo with Files,” answered Ozma. “They have become such good friends that I am sure it would make them unhappy to separate them.”
“Very well,” said the Wizard, and without any fuss or mystery whatever he performed a magical rite that was simple and effective. Therefore those seated in the Nome King’s cavern were both startled and amazed when all the people of Oogaboo suddenly disappeared from the room, and with them the Rose Princess. At first they could not understand it at all; but presently Shaggy suspected the truth, and believing that Ozma was now taking an interest in the party he drew from his pocket a tiny instrument which he placed against his ear.
Ozma, observing this action in her Magic Picture, at once caught up a similar instrument from a table beside her and held it to her own ear. The two instruments recorded the same delicate vibrations of sound and formed a wireless telephone, an invention of the Wizard. Those separated by any distance were thus enabled to converse together with perfect ease and without any wire connection.
“Do you hear me, Shaggy Man?” asked Ozma.
“Yes, Your Highness,” he replied.
“I have sent the people of Oogaboo back to their own little valley,” announced the Ruler of Oz; “so do not worry over their disappearance.”
“That was very kind of you,” said Shaggy. “But Your Highness must permit me to report that my own mission here is now ended. I have found my lost brother, and he is now beside me, freed from the enchantment of ugliness which Ruggedo cast upon him. Tik-Tok has served me and my comrades faithfully, as you requested him to do, and I hope you will now transport the Clockwork Man back to your fairyland of Oz.”
“I will do that,” replied Ozma. “But how about yourself, Shaggy?”
“I have been very happy in Oz,” he said, “but my duty to others forces me to exile myself from that delightful land. I must take care of my new-found brother, for one thing, and I have a new comrade in a dear little girl named Betsy Bobbin, who has no home to go to, and no other friends but me and a small donkey named Hank. I have promised Betsy never to desert her as long as she needs a friend, and so I must give up the delights of the Land of Oz forever.”
He said this with a sigh of regret, and Ozma made no reply but laid the tiny instrument on her table, thus cutting off all further communication with the Shaggy Man. But the lovely Ruler of Oz still watched her magic picture, with a thoughtful expression upon her face, and the little Wizard of Oz watched Ozma and smiled softly to himself.
In the cavern of the Nome King Shaggy replaced the wireless telephone in his pocket and turning to Betsy said in as cheerful a voice as he could muster:
“Well, little comrade, what shall we do next?”
“I don’t know, I’m sure,” she answered with a puzzled face. “I’m kind of sorry our adventures are over, for I enjoyed them, and now that Queen Ann and her people are gone, and Polychrome is gone, and — dear me! — where’s Tik-Tok, Shaggy?”
“He also has disappeared,” said Shaggy, looking around the cavern and nodding wisely. “By this time he is in Ozma’s palace in the Land of Oz, which is his home.”
“Isn’t it your home, too?” asked Betsy.
“It used to be, my dear; but now my home is wherever you and my brother are. We are wanderers, you know, but if we stick together I am sure we shall have a good time.”
“Then,” said the girl, “let us get out of this stuffy, underground cavern and go in search of new adventures. I’m sure it has stopped raining.”
“I’m ready,” said Shaggy, and then they bade good-bye to King Kaliko, and thanked him for his assistance, and went out to the mouth of the passage.
The sky was now clear and a brilliant blue in color; the sun shone brightly and even this rugged, rocky country seemed delightful after their confinement underground. There were but four of them now — Betsy and Hank, and Shaggy and his brother — and the little party made their way down the mountain and followed a faint path that led toward the southwest.
During this time Ozma had been holding a conference with the Wizard, and later with Tik-Tok, whom the magic of the Wizard had quickly transported to Ozma’s palace. Tik-Tok had only words of praise for Betsy Bobbin, “who,” he said, “is al-most as nice as Dor-o-thy her-self.”
“Let us send for Dorothy,” said Ozma, and summoning her favorite maid, who was named Jellia Jamb, she asked her to request Princess Dorothy to attend her at once. So a few moments later Dorothy entered Ozma’s room and greeted her and the Wizard and Tik-Tok with the same gentle smile and simple manner that had won for the little girl the love of everyone she met.
“Did you want to see me, Ozma?” she asked.
“Yes, dear. I am puzzled how to act, and I want your advice.”
“I don’t b’lieve it’s worth much,” replied Dorothy, “but I’ll do the best I can. What is it all about, Ozma?”
“You all know,” said the girl Ruler, addressing her three friends, “what a serious thing it is to admit any mortals into this fairyland of Oz. It is true I have invited several mortals to make their home here, and all of them have proved true and loyal subjects. Indeed, no one of you three was a native of Oz. Dorothy and the Wizard came here from the United States, and Tik-Tok came from the Land of Ev. But of course he is not a mortal. Shaggy is another American, and he is the cause of all my worry, for our dear Shaggy will not return here and desert the new friends he has found in his recent adventures, because he believes they need his services.”
“Shaggy Man was always kind-hearted,” remarked Dorothy. “But who are these new friends he has found?”
“One is his brother, who for many years has been a prisoner of the Nome King, our old enemy Ruggedo. This brother seems a kindly, honest fellow, but he has done nothing to entitle him to a home in the Land of Oz.”
“Who else?” asked Dorothy.
“I have told you about Betsy Bobbin, the little girl who was shipwrecked — in much the same way you once were — and has since been following the Shaggy Man in his search for his lost brother. You remember her, do you not?”
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Dorothy. “I’ve often watched her and Hank in the Magic Picture, you know. She’s a dear little girl, and old Hank is a darling! Where are they now?”
“Look and see,” replied Ozma with a smile at her friend’s enthusiasm.
Dorothy turned to the Picture, which showed Betsy and Hank, with Shaggy and his brother, trudging along the rocky paths of a barren country.
“Seems to me,” she said, musingly, “that they’re a good way from any place to sleep, or any nice things to eat.”
“You are right,
” said Tik-Tok. “I have been in that coun-try, and it is a wil-der-ness.”
“It is the country of the nomes,” explained the Wizard, “who are so mischievous that no one cares to live near them. I’m afraid Shaggy and his friends will endure many hardships before they get out of that rocky place, unless — ”
He turned to Ozma and smiled.
“Unless I ask you to transport them all here?” she asked.
“Yes, your Highness.”
“Could your magic do that?” inquired Dorothy.
“I think so,” said the Wizard.
“Well,” said Dorothy, “as far as Betsy and Hank are concerned, I’d like to have them here in Oz. It would be such fun to have a girl playmate of my own age, you see. And Hank is such a dear little mule!”
Ozma laughed at the wistful expression in the girl’s eyes, and then she drew Dorothy to her and kissed her.
“Am I not your friend and playmate?” she asked.
Dorothy flushed.
“You know how dearly I love you, Ozma!” she cried. “But you’re so busy ruling all this Land of Oz that we can’t always be together.”
“I know, dear. My first duty is to my subjects, and I think it would be a delight to us all to have Betsy with us. There’s a pretty suite of rooms just opposite your own where she can live, and I’ll build a golden stall for Hank in the stable where the Sawhorse lives. Then we’ll introduce the mule to the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, and I’m sure they will soon become firm friends. But I cannot very well admit Betsy and Hank into Oz unless I also admit Shaggy’s brother.”
“And, unless you admit Shaggy’s brother, you will keep out poor Shaggy, whom we are all very fond of,” said the Wizard.
“Well, why not ad-mit him?” demanded Tik-Tok.
“The Land of Oz is not a refuge for all mortals in distress,” explained Ozma. “I do not wish to be unkind to Shaggy Man, but his brother has no claim on me.”
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 117