AbdulHannanMujawar/ch_development · Datasets at Hugging Face

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fired all of his twelve bullets he had caused no damage to the enemy
except to stun a few by the noise, and so he was no nearer to victory
than in the beginning of the fray.

[Illustration: THE WIZARD FIRED INTO THE THRONG.]

"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy, anxiously.

"Let's yell--all together," said Zeb.

"And fight at the same time," added the Wizard. "We will get near Jim,
so that he can help us, and each one must take some weapon and do the
best he can. I'll use my sword, although it isn't much account in this
affair. Dorothy must take her parasol and open it suddenly when the
wooden folks attack her. I haven't anything for you, Zeb."

"I'll use the king," said the boy, and pulled his prisoner out of the
buggy. The bound Gargoyle's arms extended far out beyond its head, so by
grasping its wrists Zeb found the king made a very good club. The boy
was strong for one of his years, having always worked upon a farm; so he
was likely to prove more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard.

When the next company of Gargoyles advanced, our adventurers began
yelling as if they had gone mad. Even the kitten gave a dreadfully
shrill scream and at the same time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly.
This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of
breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more of
the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced in
a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them.

Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly
covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade
snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the
wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a club
until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they clustered
so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to swing his
arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even Eureka
assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched and bit
at them like a wild-cat.

But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things wound
their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast. Dorothy
was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles clung to
Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was helpless.
Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along the ground
like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and grabbed her
before she had gone very far.

All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their
surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them
far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a
wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square and
six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the best of
them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and substantial.

To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only one
broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were brought by
their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the opening, where
there was a platform, and then flew away and left them. As they had no
wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they jumped down from
such a height they would surely be killed. The creatures had sense
enough to reason that way, and the only mistake they made was in
supposing the earth people were unable to overcome such ordinary
difficulties.

Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles
to carry the big beast through the air and land him on the high
platform, and the buggy was thrust in after him because it belonged to
the party and the wooden folks had no idea what it was used for or
whether it was alive or not. When Eureka's captor had thrown the kitten
after the others the last Gargoyle silently disappeared, leaving our
friends to breathe freely once more.

"What an awful fight!" said Dorothy, catching her breath in little
gasps.

"Oh, I don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her
paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and nobody managed to hurt us."

"Thank goodness we are together again, even if we are prisoners," sighed
the little girl.

"I wonder why they didn't kill us on the spot," remarked Zeb, who had
lost his king in the struggle.

"They are probably keeping us for some ceremony," the Wizard answered,
reflectively; "but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as
possible in a short time."

"As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy.

"Yes, my dear. But we have no need to worry about that just now. Let us
examine our prison and see what it is like."

The space underneath the roof, where they stood, permitted them to see
on all sides of the tall building, and they looked with much curiosity
at the city spread out beneath them. Everything visible was made of
wood, and the scene seemed stiff and extremely unnatural.

From their platform a stair descended into the house, and the children

fired all of his twelve bullets he had caused no damage to the enemy

except to stun a few by the noise, and so he was no nearer to victory

than in the beginning of the fray.

[Illustration: THE WIZARD FIRED INTO THE THRONG.]

"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy, anxiously.

"Let's yell--all together," said Zeb.

"And fight at the same time," added the Wizard. "We will get near Jim,

so that he can help us, and each one must take some weapon and do the

best he can. I'll use my sword, although it isn't much account in this

affair. Dorothy must take her parasol and open it suddenly when the

wooden folks attack her. I haven't anything for you, Zeb."

"I'll use the king," said the boy, and pulled his prisoner out of the

buggy. The bound Gargoyle's arms extended far out beyond its head, so by

grasping its wrists Zeb found the king made a very good club. The boy

was strong for one of his years, having always worked upon a farm; so he

was likely to prove more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard.

When the next company of Gargoyles advanced, our adventurers began

yelling as if they had gone mad. Even the kitten gave a dreadfully

shrill scream and at the same time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly.

This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of

breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more of

the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced in

a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them.

Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly

covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade

snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the

wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a club

until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they clustered

so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to swing his

arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even Eureka

assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched and bit

at them like a wild-cat.

But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things wound

their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast. Dorothy

was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles clung to

Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was helpless.

Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along the ground

like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and grabbed her

before she had gone very far.

All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their

surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them

far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a

wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square and

six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the best of

them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and substantial.

To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only one

broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were brought by

their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the opening, where

there was a platform, and then flew away and left them. As they had no

wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they jumped down from

such a height they would surely be killed. The creatures had sense

enough to reason that way, and the only mistake they made was in

supposing the earth people were unable to overcome such ordinary

difficulties.

Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles

to carry the big beast through the air and land him on the high

platform, and the buggy was thrust in after him because it belonged to

the party and the wooden folks had no idea what it was used for or

whether it was alive or not. When Eureka's captor had thrown the kitten

after the others the last Gargoyle silently disappeared, leaving our

friends to breathe freely once more.

"What an awful fight!" said Dorothy, catching her breath in little

gasps.

"Oh, I don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her

paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and nobody managed to hurt us."

"Thank goodness we are together again, even if we are prisoners," sighed

the little girl.

"I wonder why they didn't kill us on the spot," remarked Zeb, who had

lost his king in the struggle.

"They are probably keeping us for some ceremony," the Wizard answered,

reflectively; "but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as

possible in a short time."

"As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy.

"Yes, my dear. But we have no need to worry about that just now. Let us

examine our prison and see what it is like."

The space underneath the roof, where they stood, permitted them to see

on all sides of the tall building, and they looked with much curiosity

at the city spread out beneath them. Everything visible was made of

wood, and the scene seemed stiff and extremely unnatural.

From their platform a stair descended into the house, and the children