Baum, L Frank Oz 41 Yankee in Oz

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princess around here?" asked Yankee, addressing himself to the woodcutter.
"Can't say I have," answered Axel. "Ladies don't often venture into this
forest. Too many wild animals." Discouraged by the answers to both
questions, Tompy and Yankee moved slowly toward the edge of the clearing.
"You'll find a path off there to the right," called Axel without looking up or
bidding them goodbye. "Thanks," said Tompy shortly. "Why do people in this
country look so pleasant and act so mean?" muttered the bull terrier glowering
back over his shoulder. "Who knows?" sighed Tompy. "But you have to
remember, Yank, nobody really owes you anything, and as my Dad keeps telling
me, if you want to get ahead in this world you mostly have to depend on
yourself." "Not any more, you don't." Coming closer, Yankee pressed against
Tompy's knee. "You have me now, and I have you and we can depend on each
other. So come on, boy--what do we care about wild animals! With your drum
sticks and my teeth, we'll scare the hair off 'em. Just keep your ears and
tail up, Tomp, and nobody will know you're afraid." "If I had a tail!"
hooted Tompy beginning to laugh. Quite restored to their usual cheerfulness,
the two friends stepped confidently into the darkening forest. With long
rolls, crash rolls, and sharp back beats on the rim of his drum, Tompy filled
the air with such a clamor that birds flew screaming skyward and such beasts
as lurked in the shadows backed off in terror. Neither mentioned the fact that
soon it would be too dark to see where they were going or to keep on the path
at all. Ears and tail erect, emitting fierce growls at regular intervals,
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Yankee marched on ahead. But it was not long before even the stout hearted
space dog's steps began to falter. "It's no good, Yank." With a last
resounding roll, Tompy stuck the sticks back in his belt. "It's too dark to
see anything now. We'll just have to stop and camp out for the night. We'll
build a fire and take turns keeping watch." "Fire?" grunted Yankee. "Well,
what's that up there? Looks like the tail light of a low flying plane". "Not
a plane--why, it's a lantern!" stammered Tompy, squinting up at the dancing
light overhead. "A magic lantern! Now, what in sevens is it doing up there?"
Of course, there was no one to tell them but the lantern like a small merry
moon came bobbing toward them and no one was carrying it either. When the
lantern was directly overhead, it hung motionless for a moment, then with a
little bounce turned around and headed off in the opposite direction. Without
a moment's hesitation, Tompy and Yankee pelted after the dancing ball of
light. Neither had realized how far they already had traveled and in almost no
time they were out of the dismal forest and into open country again. It was,
indeed, night, but the sky was spangled with stars, and the soft glow of many
colored lights shone through the high wall of a strange kingdom, just a
meadow's breadth away. Across the meadow and over the wall sailed the magic
lantern and right after the lantern hurried the curious boy and space dog.
Brought up short by the wall itself, they stood regarding it with growing
excitement and relief. The tinkle of guitars, the trob of woodwinds and other,
bell-like instruments came teasingly out to them. Drawn by the music,
forgetting his weariness, Tompy ran along the wall in search of a gate. The
wall itself was constructed of stiff crinkled paper and decorated with
flowers, water falls, mountains, bridges, and figures of many gay, odd-looking
people. "Let's bust our way in!" proposed Yankee, beginning to prance in
time to the music. "Oh, no. We couldn't do that," objected Tompy. "There
must be a better way." And there was, for presently he found a section of the
stiff paper wall that moved aside like a screen. It glided smoothly back at
his first shove and almost holding their breaths, the two adventurers stepped
through the
opening. ________________________________________________________________ C
hapter 8: The Land of Lanterns THE country beyond the wall was so
dreamlike, so unbelievably beautiful and gay that Yankee and Tompy stood for a
long time in dazed silence and admiration.Spread out before them lay a long,
lovely garden land. Blossoming fruit trees filled the soft air with fragrance;
vined trellises, heavy with grape vines and climbing wisteria, edged the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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