第39章

Pon Summons the King to Surrender Gloria had drawn near to the group to listen to their talk, and it seemed to interest her in spite of her frigid manner.They knew, of course, that the poor Princess could not help being cold and reserved, so they tried not to blame her.

"I ought to have come here a little sooner," said the Scarecrow, regretfully; "but Glinda sent me as soon as she discovered you were here and were likely to get into trouble.And now that we are all together -- except Button-Bright, over whom it is useless to worry -- Ipropose we hold a council of war, to decide what is best to be done."That seemed a wise thing to do, so they all sat down upon the grass, including Gloria, and the grasshopper perched upon Trot's shoulder and allowed her to stroke him gently with her hand.

"In the first place," began the Scarecrow, "this King Krewl is a usurper and has no right to rule this Kingdom of Jinxland.""That is true," said Pon, eagerly."My father was King before him, and I --""You are a gardener's boy," interrupted the Scarecrow.

"Your father had no right to rule, either, for the rightful King of this land was the father of Princess Gloria, and only she is entitled to sit upon the throne of Jinxland.""Good!" exclaimed Trot."But what'll we do with King Krewl? I s'pose he won't give up the throne unless he has to.""No, of course not," said the Scarecrow."Therefore it will be our duty to make him give up the throne.""How?" asked Trot.

"Give me time to think," was the reply."That's what my brains are for.I don't know whether you people ever think, or not, but my brains are the best that the Wizard of Oz ever turned out, and if I give them plenty of time to work, the result usually surprises me.""Take your time, then," suggested Trot."There's no hurry.""Thank you," said the straw man, and sat perfectly still for half an hour.During this interval the grasshopper whispered in Trot's ear, to which he was very close, and Trot whispered back to the grasshopper sitting upon her shoulder.Pon cast loving glances at Gloria, who paid not the slightest heed to them.

Finally the Scarecrow laughed aloud.

"Brains working?" inquired Trot.

"Yes.They seem in fine order to-day.We will conquer King Krewl and put Gloria upon his throne as Queen of Jinxland.""Fine!" cried the little girl, clapping her hands together gleefully."But how?""Leave the how to me," said the Scarecrow proudly.

As a conqueror I'm a wonder.We will, first of all, write a message to send to King Krewl, asking him to surrender.If he refuses, then we will make him surrender.""Why ask him.when we know he'll refuse?" inquired Pon.

"Why, we must be polite, whatever we do," explained the Scarecrow."It would be very rude to conquer a King without proper notice."They found it difficult to write a message without paper, pen and ink, none of which was at hand; so it was decided to send Pon as a messenger, with instructions to ask the King, politely but firmly, to surrender.

Pon was not anxious to be the messenger.Indeed, he hinted that it might prove a dangerous mission.But the Scarecrow was now the acknowledged head of the Army of Conquest, and he would listen to no refusal.So off Pon started for the King's castle, and the others accompanied him as far as his hut, where they had decided to await the gardener's boy's return.