第24章

"Can you tell us, madam, just what country this is?"She stared hard at all three of the strangers as she replied briefly: "Jinxland.""Oh!" exclaimed Cap'n Bill, with a puzzled look."And where is Jinxland, please?""In the Quadling Country," said she.

"What!" cried Trot, in sudden excitement."Do you mean to say this is the Quadling Country of the Land of Oz?""To be sure I do," the woman answered."Every bit of land that is surrounded by the great desert is the Land of Oz, as you ought to know as well as I do; but I'm sorry to say that Jinxland is separated from the rest of the Quadling Country by that row of high mountains you see yonder, which have such steep sides that no one can cross them.So we live here all by ourselves, and are ruled by our own King, instead of by Ozma of Oz.""I've been to the Land of Oz before," said Button-Bright, "but I've never been here."

"Did you ever hear of Jinxland before?" asked Trot.

"No," said Button-Bright.

"It is on the Map of Oz, though," asserted the woman, "and it's a fine country, I assure you.If only," she added, and then paused to look around her with a frightened expression."If only --" here she stopped again, as if not daring to go on with her speech.

"If only what, ma'am?" asked Cap'n Bill.

The woman sent the children into the house.Then she came closer to the strangers and whispered: "If only we had a different King, we would be very happy and contented.""What's the matter with your King?" asked Trot, curiously.But the woman seemed frightened to have said so much.She retreated to her porch, merely saying:

"The King punishes severely any treason on the part of his subjects.""What's treason?" asked Button-Bright.

"In this case," replied Cap'n Bill, "treason seems to consist of knockin' the King; but I guess we know his disposition now as well as if the lady had said more.""I wonder," said Trot, going up to the woman, "if you could spare us something to eat.We haven't had anything but popcorn and lemonade for a long time.""Bless your heart! Of course I can spare you some food," the woman answered, and entering her cottage she soon returned with a tray loaded with sandwiches, cakes and cheese.One of the children drew a bucket of clear, cold water from a spring and the three wanderers ate heartily and enjoyed the good things immensely.

When Button-Bright could eat no more he filled the pockets of his jacket with cakes and cheese, and not even the children objected to this.Indeed they all seemed pleased to see the strangers eat, so Cap'n Bill decided that no matter what the King of Jinxland was like, the people would prove friendly and hospitable.

"Whose castle is that, yonder, ma'am?" he asked, waving his hand toward the towers that rose above the trees.

"It belongs to his Majesty, King Krewl." she said.

"Oh, indeed; and does he live there?"

"When he is not out hunting with his fierce courtiers and war captains," she replied.

"Is he hunting now?" Trot inquired.

"I do not know, my dear.The less we know about the King's actions the safer we are."It was evident the woman did not like to talk about King Krewl and so, having finished their meal, they said good-bye and continued along the pathway.

"Don't you think we'd better keep away from that King's castle, Cap'n?" asked Trot.

"Well," said he, "King Krewl would find out, sooner or later, that we are in his country, so we may as well face the music now.Perhaps he isn't quite so bad as that woman thinks he is.Kings aren't always popular with their people, you know, even if they do the best they know how.""Ozma is pop'lar," said Button-Bright.

"Ozma is diff'rent from any other Ruler, from all I've heard," remarked Trot musingly, as she walked beside the boy."And, after all, we are really in the Land of Oz, where Ozma rules ev'ry King and ev'rybody else.I never heard of anybody getting hurt in her dominions, did you, Button-Bright?""Not when she knows about it," he replied."But those birds landed us in just the wrong place, seems to me.

They might have carried us right on, over that row of mountains, to the Em'rald City.""True enough," said Cap'n Bill; "but they didn't, an'

so we must make the best of Jinxland.Let's try not to be afraid.""Oh, I'm not very scared," said Button-Bright, pausing to look at a pink rabbit that popped its head out of a hole in the field near by.

"Nor am I," added Trot."Really, Cap'n, I'm so glad to be anywhere at all in the wonderful fairyland of Oz that I think I'm the luckiest girl in all the world.Dorothy lives in the Em'rald City, you know, and so does the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Man -- and all the rest of 'em that we've heard so much about -- not to mention Ozma, who must be the sweetest and loveliest girl in all the world!""Take your time, Trot," advised Button-Bright."You don't have to say it all in one breath, you know.And you haven't mentioned half of the curious people in the Em'rald City.""That 'ere Em'rald City," said Cap'n Bill impressively, "happens to be on the other side o' those mountains, that we're told no one is able to cross.I don't want to discourage of you, Trot, but we're a'most as much separated from your Ozma an' Dorothy as we were when we lived in Californy."There was so much truth in this statement that they all walked on in silence for some time.Finally they reached the grove of stately trees that bordered the grounds of the King's castle.They had gone halfway through it when the sound of sobbing, as of someone in bitter distress, reached their ears and caused them to halt abruptly.