The Patchwork Girl of Oz by Lyman Frank Baum (classic romance novels .txt) đź“–
- Author: Lyman Frank Baum
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“I’m not sure; but anyhow you’ve no right to say I’m dreadful. The Scarecrow, who is a gentleman of great wisdom, thinks I’m beautiful,” retorted Scraps.
“Never mind all that,” said Dorothy. “Tell us, good Quadling, how we can get across the river.”
“I don’t know,” replied the Quadling.
“Don’t you ever cross it?” asked the girl.
“Never.”
“Don’t travelers cross it?”
“Not to my knowledge,” said he.
They were much surprised to hear this, and the man added: “It’s a pretty big river, and the current is strong. I know a man who lives on the opposite bank, for I’ve seen him there a good many years; but we’ve never spoken because neither of us has ever crossed over.”
“That’s queer,” said the Scarecrow. “Don’t you own a boat?”
The man shook his head.
“Nor a raft?”
“Where does this river go to?” asked Dorothy.
“That way,” answered the man, pointing with one hand, “it goes into the Country of the Winkies, which is ruled by the Tin Emperor, who must be a mighty magician because he’s all made of tin, and yet he’s alive. And that way,” pointing with the other hand, “the river runs between two mountains where dangerous people dwell.”
The Scarecrow looked at the water before them.
“The current flows toward the Winkie Country,” said he; “and so, if we had a boat, or a raft, the river would float us there more quickly and more easily than we could walk.”
“That is true,” agreed Dorothy; and then they all looked thoughtful and wondered what could be done.
“Why can’t the man make us a raft?” asked Ojo.
“Will you?” inquired Dorothy, turning to the Quadling.
The chubby man shook his head.
“I’m too lazy,” he said. “My wife says I’m the laziest man in all Oz, and she is a truthful woman. I hate work of any kind, and making a raft is hard work.”
“I’ll give you my em’rald ring,” promised the girl.
“No; I don’t care for emeralds. If it were a ruby, which is the color I like best, I might work a little while.”
“I’ve got some Square Meal Tablets,” said the Scarecrow. “Each one is the same as a dish of soup, a fried fish, a mutton pot-pie, lobster salad, charlotte russe and lemon jelly—all made into one little tablet that you can swallow without trouble.”
“Without trouble!” exclaimed the Quadling, much interested; “then those tablets would be fine for a lazy man. It’s such hard work to chew when you eat.”
“I’ll give you six of those tablets if you’ll help us make a raft,” promised the Scarecrow. “They’re a combination of food which people who eat are very fond of. I never eat, you know, being straw; but some of my friends eat regularly. What do you say to my offer, Quadling?”
“I’ll do it,” decided the man. “I’ll help, and you can do most of the work. But my wife has gone fishing for red eels to-day, so some of you will have to mind the children.”
Scraps promised to do that, and the children were not so shy when the Patchwork Girl sat down to play with them. They grew to like Toto, too, and the little dog allowed them to pat him on his head, which gave the little ones much joy.
There were a number of fallen trees near the house and the Quadling got his axe and chopped them into logs of equal length. He took his wife’s clothesline to bind these logs together, so that they would form a raft, and Ojo found some strips of wood and nailed them along the tops of the logs, to render them more firm. The Scarecrow and Dorothy helped roll the logs together and carry the strips of wood, but it took so long to make the raft that evening came just as it was finished, and with evening the Quadling’s wife returned from her fishing.
The woman proved to be cross and bad-tempered, perhaps because she had only caught one red eel during all the day. When she found that her husband had used her clothesline, and the logs she had wanted for firewood, and the boards she had intended to mend the shed with, and a lot of gold nails, she became very angry. Scraps wanted to shake the woman, to make her behave, but Dorothy talked to her in a gentle tone and told the Quadling’s wife she was a Princess of Oz and a friend of Ozma and that when she got back to the Emerald City she would send them a lot of things to repay them for the raft, including a new clothesline. This promise pleased the woman and she soon became more pleasant, saying they could stay the night at her house and begin their voyage on the river next morning.
This they did, spending a pleasant evening with the Quadling family and being entertained with such hospitality as the poor people were able to offer them. The man groaned a good deal and said he had overworked himself by chopping the logs, but the Scarecrow gave him two more tablets than he had promised, which seemed to comfort the lazy fellow.
Next morning they pushed the raft into the water and all got aboard. The Quadling man had to hold the log craft fast while they took their places, and the flow of the river was so powerful that it nearly tore the raft from his hands. As soon as they were all seated upon the logs he let go and away it floated and the adventurers had begun their voyage toward the Winkie Country.
The little house of the Quadlings was out of sight almost before they had cried their good-byes, and the Scarecrow said in a pleased voice: “It won’t take us long to get to the Winkie Country, at this rate.”
They had floated several miles down the stream and were enjoying the ride when suddenly the raft slowed up, stopped short, and then began to float back the way it had come.
“Why, what’s wrong?” asked Dorothy, in astonishment; but they were all just as bewildered as she was and at first no one could answer the question. Soon, however, they realized the truth: that the current of the river had reversed and the water was now flowing in the opposite direction— toward the mountains.
They began to recognize the scenes they had passed, and by and by they came in sight of the little house of the Quadlings again. The man was standing on the river bank and he called to them:
“How do you do? Glad to see you again. I forgot to tell you that the river changes its direction every little while. Sometimes it flows one way, and sometimes the other.”
They had no time to answer him, for the raft was swept past the house and a long distance on the other side of it.
“We’re going just the way we don’t want to go,” said Dorothy, “and I guess the best thing we can do is to get to land before we’re carried any farther.”
But they could not get to land. They had no oars, nor even a pole to guide the raft with. The logs which bore them floated in the middle of the stream and were held fast in that position by the strong current.
So they sat still and waited and, even while they were wondering what could be done, the raft slowed down, stopped, and began drifting the other way—in the direction it had first followed. After a time they repassed the Quadling house and the man was still standing on the bank. He cried out to them:
“Good day! Glad to see you again. I expect I shall see you a good many times, as you go by, unless you happen to swim ashore.”
By that time they had left him behind and were headed once more straight toward the Winkie Country.
“This is pretty hard luck,” said Ojo in a discouraged voice. “The Trick River keeps changing, it seems, and here we must float back and forward forever, unless we manage in some way to get ashore.”
“Can you swim?” asked Dorothy.
“No; I’m Ojo the Unlucky.”
“Neither can I. Toto can swim a little, but that won’t help us to get to shore.”
“I don’t know whether I could swim, or not,” remarked Scraps; “but if I tried it I’d surely ruin my lovely patches.”
“My straw would get soggy in the water and I would sink,” said the Scarecrow.
So there seemed no way out of their dilemma and being helpless they simply sat still. Ojo, who was on the front of the raft, looked over into the water and thought he saw some large fishes swimming about. He found a loose end of the clothesline which fastened the logs together, and taking a gold nail from his pocket he bent it nearly double, to form a hook, and tied it to the end of the line. Having baited the hook with some bread which he broke from his loaf, he dropped the line into the water and almost instantly it was seized by a great fish.
They knew it was a great fish, because it pulled so hard on the line that it dragged the raft forward even faster than the current of the river had carried it. The fish was frightened, and it was a strong swimmer. As the other end of the clothesline was bound around the logs he could not get it away, and as he had greedily swallowed the gold hook at the first bite he could not get rid of that, either.
When they reached the place where the current had before changed, the fish was still swimming ahead in its wild attempt to escape. The raft slowed down, yet it did not stop, because the fish would not let it. It continued to move in the same direction it had been going. As the current reversed and rushed backward on its course it failed to drag the raft with it. Slowly, inch by inch, they floated on, and the fish tugged and tugged and kept them going.
“I hope he won’t give up,” said Ojo anxiously. “If the fish can hold out until the current changes again, we’ll be all right.”
The fish did not give up, but held the raft bravely on its course, till at last the water in the river shifted again and floated them the way they wanted to go. But now the captive fish found its strength failing. Seeking a refuge, it began to drag the raft toward the shore. As they did not wish to land in this place the boy cut the rope with his pocket-knife and set the fish free, just in time to prevent the raft from grounding.
The next time the river backed up the Scarecrow managed to seize the branch of a tree that overhung the water and they all assisted him to hold fast and prevent the raft from being carried backward. While they waited here, Ojo spied a long broken branch lying upon the bank, so he leaped ashore and got it. When he had stripped off the side shoots he believed he could use the branch as a pole, to guide the raft in case of emergency.
They clung to the tree until they found the water flowing the right way, when they let go and permitted the raft to resume its voyage. In spite of these pauses they were really making good progress toward the Winkie Country and having found a way to conquer the adverse current their spirits rose considerably. They could see little of the country through which they were passing, because of the high
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