L. Frank Baum_Oz 14 (8 page)

The boat halted and Coo-ee-oh drew back her arm to throw the silver
rope toward the Su-dic, who was now but a few feet from her. But the
wily Flathead leader quickly realized his danger and before the Queen
could throw the rope he caught up one of the copper vessels and dashed
its contents full in her face!

Queen Coo-ee-oh dropped the rope, tottered and fell headlong into the
water, sinking beneath the surface, while the Skeezers in the submarine
assist her and only stared at the ripples in the water where she had
disappeared. A moment later there arose to the surface a beautiful
White Swan. This Swan was of large size, very gracefully formed, and
scattered all over its white feathers were tiny diamonds, so thickly
placed that as the rays of the morning sun fell upon them the entire
body of the Swan glistened like one brilliant diamond. The head of the
Diamond Swan had a bill of polished gold and its eyes were two
sparkling amethysts.

"Hooray!" cried the Su-dic, dancing up and down with wicked glee. "My
poor wife, Rora, is avenged at last. You made her a Golden Pig,
Coo-ee-oh, and now I have made you a Diamond Swan. Float on your lake
forever, if you like, for your web feet can do no more magic and you
are as powerless as the Pig you made of my wife!

"Villain! Scoundrel!" croaked the Diamond Swan. "You will be punished
for this. Oh, what a fool I was to let you enchant me!

"A fool you were, and a fool you are!" laughed the Su-dic, dancing
madly in his delight. And then he carelessly tipped over the other
copper vessel with his heel and its contents spilled on the sands and
were lost to the last drop.

The Su-dic stopped short and looked at the overturned vessel with a
rueful countenance.

"That's too bad—too bad!" he exclaimed sorrowfully. "I've lost all the
poison I had to kill the fishes with, and I can't make any more because
only my wife knew the secret of it, and she is now a foolish Pig and
has forgotten all her magic."

"Very well," said the Diamond Swan scornfully, as she floated upon the
water and swam gracefully here and there. "I'm glad to see you are
foiled. Your punishment is just beginning, for although you have
enchanted me and taken away my powers of sorcery you have still the
three magic fishes to deal with, and they'll destroy you in time, mark
my words."

The Su-dic stared at the Swan a moment. Then he yelled to his men:

"Shoot her! Shoot the saucy bird!"

They let fly some arrows at the Diamond Swan, but she dove under the
water and the missiles fell harmless. When Coo-ce-oh rose to the
surface she was far from the shore and she swiftly swam across the lake
to where no arrows or spears could reach her.

The Su-dic rubbed his chin and thought what to do next. Near by floated
the submarine in which the Queen had come, but the Skeezers who were in
it were puzzled what to do with themselves. Perhaps they were not sorry
their cruel mistress had been transformed into a Diamond Swan, but the
transformation had left them quite helpless. The under-water boat was
not operated by machinery, but by certain mystic words uttered by
Coo-ee-oh. They didn't know how to submerge it, or how to make the
water-tight shield cover them again, or how to make the boat go back to
the castle, or make it enter the little basement room where it was
usually kept. As a matter of fact, they were now shut out of their
village under the Great Dome and could not get back again. So one of
the men called to the Supreme Dictator of the Flatheads, saying:

"Please make us prisoners and take us to your mountain, and feed and
keep us, for we have nowhere to go."

Then the Su-dic laughed and answered:

"Not so. I can't be bothered by caring for a lot of stupid Skeezers.
Stay where you are, or go wherever you please, so long as you keep away
from our mountain." He turned to his men and added: "We have conquered
Queen Coo-ee-oh and made her a helpless swan. The Skeezers are under
water and may stay there. So, having won the war, let us go home again
and make merry and feast, having after many years proved the Flatheads
to be greater and more powerful than the Skeezers."

So the Flatheads marched away and passed through the row of palms and
went back to their mountain, where the Su-dic and a few of his officers
feasted and all the others were forced to wait on them.

"I'm sorry we couldn't have roast pig," said the Su-dic, "but as the
only pig we have is made of gold, we can't eat her. Also the Golden Pig
happens to be my wife, and even were she not gold I am sure she would
be too tough to eat."

When the Flatheads had gone away the Diamond Swan swam back to the boat
and one of the young Skeezers named Ervic said to her eagerly:

"How can we get back to the island, your Majesty?"

"Am I not beautiful?" asked Coo-ee-oh, arching her neck gracefully and
spreading her diamond-sprinkled wings. "I can see my reflection in the
water, and I'm sure there is no bird nor beast, nor human as
magnificent as I am!"

"How shall we get back to the island, your Majesty?" pleaded Ervic.

"When my fame spreads throughout the land, people will travel from all
parts of this lake to look upon my loveliness," said Coo-ee-oh, shaking
her feathers to make the diamonds glitter more brilliantly.

"But, your Majesty, we must go home and we do not know how to get
there," Ervic persisted.

"My eyes," remarked the Diamond Swan, "are wonderfully blue and bright
and will charm all beholders."

"Tell us how to make the boat go—how to get back into the island,"
begged Ervic and the others cried just as earnestly: "Tell us,
Coo-ee-oh; tell us!"

"I don't know," replied the Queen in a careless tone.

"You are a magic-worker, a sorceress, a witch!"

"I was, of course, when I was a girl," she said, bending her head over
the clear water to catch her reflection in it; "but now I've forgotten
all such foolish things as magic. Swans are lovelier than girls,
especially when they're sprinkled with diamonds. Don't you think so?"
And she gracefully swam away, without seeming to care whether they
answered or not.

Ervic and his companions were in despair. They saw plainly that
Coo-ee-oh could not or would not help them. The former Queen had no
further thought for her island, her people, or her wonderful magic; she
was only intent on admiring her own beauty.

"Truly," said Ervic, in a gloomy voice, "the Flatheads have conquered
us!"

Some of these events had been witnessed by Ozma and Dorothy and Lady
Aurex, who had left the house and gone close to the glass of the dome,
in order to see what was going on. Many of the Skeezers had also
crowded against the dome, wondering what would happen next. Although
their vision was to an extent blurred by the water and the necessity of
looking upward at an angle, they had observed the main points of the
drama enacted above. They saw Queen Coo-ee-oh's submarine come to the
surface and open; they saw the Queen standing erect to throw her magic
rope; they saw her sudden transformation into a Diamond Swan, and a cry
of amazement went up from the Skeezers inside the dome.

"Good!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I hate that old Su-dic, but I'm glad
Coo-ee-oh is punished."

"This is a dreadful misfortune!" cried Lady Aurex, pressing her hands
upon her heart.

"Yes," agreed Ozma, nodding her head thoughtfully; "Coo-ee-oh's
misfortune will prove a terrible blow to her people."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Dorothy in surprise. "Seems to me the
Skeezers are in luck to lose their cruel Queen."

"If that were all you would be right," responded Lady Aurex; "and if
the island were above water it would not be so serious. But here we all
are, at the bottom of the lake, and fast prisoners in this dome."

"Can't you raise the island?" inquired Dorothy.

"No. Only Coo-ee-oh knew how to do that," was the answer.

"We can try," insisted Dorothy. "If it can be made to go down, it can
be made to come up. The machinery is still here, I suppose.

"Yes; but the machinery works by magic, and Coo-ee-oh would never share
her secret power with any one of us."

Dorothy's face grew grave; but she was thinking.

"Ozma knows a lot of magic," she said.

"But not that kind of magic," Ozma replied.

"Can't you learn how, by looking at the machinery?"

"I'm afraid not, my dear. It isn't fairy magic at all; it is
witchcraft."

"Well," said Dorothy, turning to Lady Aurex, "you say there are other
sub-sub-sinking boats. We can get in one of those, and shoot out to the
top of the water, like Coo-ee-oh did, and so escape. And then we can
help to rescue all the Skeezers down here."

"No one knows how to work the under-water boats but the Queen,"
declared Lady Aurex.

"Isn't there any door or window in this dome that we could open?"

"No; and, if there were, the water would rush in to flood the dome, and
we could not get out."

"The Skeezers," said Ozma, "could not drown; they only get wet and
soggy and in that condition they would be very uncomfortable and
unhappy. But you are a mortal girl, Dorothy, and if your Magic Belt
protected you from death you would have to lie forever at the bottom of
the lake."

"No, I'd rather die quickly," asserted the little girl. "But there are
doors in the basement that open—to let out the bridges and the
boats—and that would not flood the dome, you know."

"Those doors open by a magic word, and only Coo-ee-oh knows the word
that must be uttered," said Lady Aurex.

"Dear me!" exclaimed Dorothy, "that dreadful Queen's witchcraft upsets
all my plans to escape. I guess I'll give it up, Ozma, and let you save
us."

Ozma smiled, but her smile was not so cheerful as usual. The Princess
of Oz found herself confronted with a serious problem, and although she
had no thought of despairing she realized that the Skeezers and their
island, as well as Dorothy and herself, were in grave trouble and that
unless she could find a means to save them they would be lost to the
Land of Oz for all future time.

"In such a dilemma," said she, musingly, "nothing is gained by haste.
Careful thought may aid us, and so may the course of events. The
unexpected is always likely to happen, and cheerful patience is better
than reckless action."

"All right," returned Dorothy; "take your time, Ozma; there's no hurry.
How about some breakfast, Lady Aurex?"

Their hostess led them back to the house, where she ordered her
trembling servants to prepare and serve breakfast. All the Skeezers
were frightened and anxious over the transformation of their Queen into
a swan. Coo-ee-oh was feared and hated, but they had depended on her
magic to conquer the Flatheads and she was the only one who could raise
their island to the surface of the lake again.

Before breakfast was over several of the leading Skeezers came to Aurex
to ask her advice and to question Princess Ozma, of whom they knew
nothing except that she claimed to be a fairy and the Ruler of all the
land, including the Lake of the Skeezers.

"If what you told Queen Coo-ee-oh was the truth," they said to her,
"you are our lawful mistress, and we may depend on you to get us out of
our difficulties."

"I will try to do that," Ozma graciously assured them, "but you must
remember that the powers of fairies are granted them to bring comfort
and happiness to all who appeal to them. On the contrary, such magic as
Coo-ee-oh knew and practiced is unlawful witchcraft and her arts are
such as no fairy would condescend to use. However, it is sometimes
necessary to consider evil in order to accomplish good, and perhaps by
studying Coo-ee-oh's tools and charms of witchcraft I may be able to
save us. Do you promise to accept me as your Ruler and to obey my
commands?"

They promised willingly.

"Then," continued Ozma, "I will go to Coo-ee-oh's palace and take
possession of it. Perhaps what I find there will be of use to me. In
the meantime tell all the Skeezers to fear nothing, but have patience.
Let them return to their homes and perform their daily tasks as usual.
Coo-ee-oh's loss may not prove a misfortune, but rather a blessing."

This speech cheered the Skeezers amazingly. Really, they had no one now
to depend upon but Ozma, and in spite of their dangerous position their
hearts were lightened by the transformation and absence of their cruel
Queen.

They got out their brass band and a grand procession escorted Ozma and
Dorothy to the palace, where all of Coo-ee-oh's former servants were
eager to wait upon them. Ozma invited Lady Aurex to stay at the palace
also, for she knew all about the Skeezers and their island and had also
been a favorite of the former Queen, so her advice and information were
sure to prove valuable.

Ozma was somewhat disappointed in what she found in the palace. One
room of Coo-ee-oh's private suite was entirely devoted to the practice
of witchcraft, and here were countless queer instruments and jars of
ointments and bottles of potions labeled with queer names, and strange
machines that Ozma could not guess the use of, and pickled toads and
snails and lizards, and a shelf of books that were written in blood,
but in a language which the Ruler of Oz did not know.

"I do not see," said Ozma to Dorothy, who accompanied her in her
search, "how Coo-ee-oh knew the use of the magic tools she stole from
the three Adept Witches. Moreover, from all reports these Adepts
practiced only good witchcraft, such as would be helpful to their
people, while Coo-ee-oh performed only evil."

"Perhaps she turned the good things to evil uses?" suggested Dorothy.

"Yes, and with the knowledge she gained Coo-ee-oh doubtless invented
many evil things quite unknown to the good Adepts, who are now fishes,"
added Ozma. "It is unfortunate for us that the Queen kept her secrets
so closely guarded, for no one but herself could use any of these
strange things gathered in this room."