Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-13

/ behind them and only the bare rocks
| remaining.
Ozma and Dorothy were a little
awed by the silence, and all the 9TH
ers were quiet and grave except the
Sawhorse, which, as it trotted along
with the Scarecrow upon his back,
hummed a queer song, of which this
was the chorus:
would a wootln horse in a wood
land go?
Aye. aye! 1 sigh, he would, al
Had he not had wooden head
He'd mount the mountain top
instead"
But no one paid any attention to
| this because they were now close to
the Nome Kings dominions, and his
splendid underground palace could
not be very far away.
Suddenly they heard a shout of
| Jeering laughter, and stopped short.
, They would have to stop in a min
| ute, anyway, for the huge mountain
| barred their further progress ana
the path ran close up to wall of
rock and ended.
who was that laughing" asked
| Ozma.
There was no reply, but in the
| gloom they could see strange forms
fit across the face of the rock.
Whatever the creations might be
they seemed very like the rock it
self, for they were the color of rocks
and their shapes were as rough and
rugged as if they had been broken
away from the side of the mountain
They kept close to the steep cliff
facing our friends. and glide up
and down, and this way and that.
with a lack of regularity that was
quite confusing. And they seemed
not to need places to rest their feet,
but clung to the surface of the rock
as a fly does to a windowpane, and
were never still for moment.
DO not mind them" said Tiktok.
as Dorothy shrank back. They &re
only the Nomes."
girl, half frightened.
"They are rock fairies, and serve
the Nome King" replied the ma
chine. But they will do us no
harm. You must call for the King,
because without him you can never
find the entrance to the palace"
You CALL" said Dorothy to Ozma.
Just then the Nomes laughed
again, and the sound was so wierd
and disheartening that the twenty
six officers commanded the private
to right aboutface" and they all
started to run as fast as they could.
The Tin Woodman at once pursued
his army and cried halt! and when
they had stopped their flight he ask
ed: where are you going?"
I'll find I've forgotten the brush
for my whiskers," said a general,
trembling with fear. "So-s-so we
are g-going back after it!'
That is impossible" replied the
Tin Woodman. For the giant with
the hammer would kill you all if YOU
tried to pass him."
"Oh! I'd forgotten the giant"
said the general, turning pale.
you seem to forget a good many
things" remarked the Tin Woodman.
II hope you won't forget that you
are a brave man."
"Neverr cried the general. slap
ping his gold-embroidered chest.
Never" cried all the other Off
GERS. Indignantly slapping their
chests.
For my part" said the private,
meekly, IT must obey my officers;
so when I am told to run, l run;
and when 1 am told to fight. I fight
THAT is right" agreed the Tin
| Woodman. And now you must all
come back to Ozma, and obey her
orders. And if you try to run away
again I will have her reduce all the
! twenty-six officers to privates, and
make the private your general"
This terrible threat so frightened
them that they at once returned to
where Ozma was standing beside the
| Cowardly Lion.
"I demand that the Nome King ap-
pear to us!'
Editors Note-NeXt week, in The
Nome King" we shall read of how
little avail were Ozma's commander,
but of how Dorothy of Kansas final
ly secured an audience with the
King of the Underground World for
the little band that had come to free
! the Queen of Ev and her children.