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.And when, after a half hour of it, theyshot out into the open, they lay for nearly five minutes, perfectlymotionless, where they had fallen.Then the Rash singer sat up and in astrangled voice quavered:"We're down! We're down and out of Rash,And everything has gone to smash!Snif! Snif! A trip like this upsets me,But how we got here is what gets me!"Probably he would have continued his song indefinitely, but atthat minute all of Carter's vegetables, which had slid more slowly down thetunnel, sprayed out of the opening and simply overwhelmed him.Betsy had notbreath enough to laugh, but Carter, not being so easily winded, sprang up andran to the singer's assistance."They always throw things when I sing," sobbed the poorfellow, as Carter helped him to his feet, and a little defiantly he repeatedhis last stanza:"Snif! Snif! A trip like this upsets me,But how we got here is what gets me!""It gets me, too," mumbled the barber, rolling over andPage 37ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmllooking around for his razor."One minute there we are and next minute therewe ain't! Strikes me this ground is pretty soft.Why, it's down," he puffed,blowing a ball of fuzz from the end of his nose.Betsy, pulling up a handful of what she supposed to be grass,found her fingers full of feathers, for they had landed in the very center ofa field of down."Well, this probably saved us from breaking our heads, buthow did it all happen?" repeated the barber, looking over at Carter in perfectbewilderment."It was your fault," answered the Vegetable Man gravely."Youmust have touched some secret spring when you pounded on the wall.I don'tknow whether to thank you or not," sighed Carter rubbing his thin anklesdoubt-fully."I hope you didn't bark your shins on the tunnel," murmuredthe barber solicitously."No," answered Carter frankly, "I didn't bark my shins forthey are bark already, but you've ruined my business." He looked ruefully athis scattered vegetables.They had not stood the trip at all well and werelying about in squashed heaps."Never mind, Buddy!" The barber clapped Carter comfortably onthe back."Maybe you can pick up some more down here.But where is here, Iwonder?""Well, any place is better than Rash," exclaimed Betsy,looking about curiously."The last time I fell through a tunnel I went clearto the other side of the world.Do you s'pose this is the other side of theworld? Look, there's the moon!""It's square!" whispered the sad singer in a frightened voice."And it's green!" he added dismally."The moon, the moon, the moon is there,But never trust a moon that's square!It's shining squarely on our heads;We'll all be slaughtered in our beds!"Page 38ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"You don't know what you're singing about," declared thebarber gruffly."A square moon is better than no moon and there aren't anybeds that I can see, but there's a town over yonder.Look!" Not far away,shadowy and mysterious in the green light of the square moon, rose the towersand spires of a strange city."Well, I wish the Hungry Tiger were here," cried Betsy Bobbin."And the little Prince.I wonder if the cave wall closed up after it slid usdown here?"Whiz! Whirr! Bang! As if in answer to Betsy's question, thetwo came sailing out of the tunnel, circled through the air and landed closebeside Betsy.And while the Hungry Tiger was still puffing and panting withindignation and surprise, the little girl flung her arms about his neck andtold him the whole story of their flight through the mysterious passageway.Slowly the big beast got his breath back and as he blew the downy feathersfrom his nose, the Rash Barber, with great ceremony, introduced the littlePrince to Betsy Bobbin.In the green moonlight she saw a pleasant,freckle-faced little boy of about her own age.His nose turned up, his collarturned down, and in spite of his ragged clothes he had a most kingly bearing.Betsy knew at once that they would be friends.Prince Evered, himself, likedthe little girl immediately and after they had compared notes on theirterrible fall, he begged her to tell him more about the Vegetable Man."Is he really real?" asked the little Prince, scarcely takinghis eyes from Carter's curious figure.Betsy nodded and told him all about hermeeting with the Vegetable Man, her trip across the Deadly Desert and of theirarrival in Rash.She was going on to tell him little about Ozma and theEmerald City, but the sad singer had started such a sleepy song of welcome tohonor the little Prince that she could not keep her eyes open.Evered, too,soon began to nod and as the Hungry Tiger had wisely determined not toinvestigate the strange city till morning, they all curled up in the fields ofdown and were soon fast asleep.All but Carter Green.Since turning to avegetable he did not require rest and all night long he paced up and down thewhite feathery field, thinking his own queer thoughts and keeping a lovingwatch over his new and interesting friends.CHAPTER 8In Down TownWHEN Betsy awakened next morning, she saw the Hungry Tiger andCarter staring curiously at a huge sign in the corner of the field."Down!" ordered the sign sternly, "No Uppers Allowed!"Page 39ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"That means us, I suppose," said Carte?, scratching his cornear reflectively."I wonder what kind of people live down here?""Geese!" spluttered the Hungry Tiger, looking cross-eyed at afluff of feathers that had lighted on the end of his nose."Wish I could catcha couple, I'm so hungry!""So am I," agreed Betsy, "and I don't see a thing to eat, doyou?""Nothing but sun-beams," mused Carter, "and they'd make apretty little breakfast, but we ought to be glad there's a sun so farunderground.""Why, shouldn't there be?" snapped the Hungry Tiger.Beinghungry made him a bit irritable [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]