FIVE TRAVELLERS MEET

At Speedy's lusty cry, Sir Hokus and the jester stopped running and stared in amazement across the river.

"Come now, this is better," chuckled Peter, shading his eyes with his hand and gazing across with lively interest at the travelers. "A page and a Princess, or I miss my guess."

"And a horse," breathed the Knight, his eye sparkling with pleasure. "Such a steed as I've not seen these many long years. An' they lend me yon noble beast I'll overtake that fat camel-snatcher in no time. What ho!" he called loudly. "Cans't lend me your horse, fellow, to catch the greatest rascal in the country?"

"Rascal?" gulped Speedy. "Why, this sounds interesting!" And Stampedro, being of the same mind, stepped boldly into the yellow river, swam strongly across, and climbed up the steep bank.

"Happily met, travellers!" cried Peter Pun, throwing up his belled cap. Then, running alongside the great charger, he stared inquisitively up at Marygolden. "Are you, perchance, a damsel in distress?" he queried saucily. "For know that this Knight is sworn to rescue a maid, serve a monarch, and slay a monster. Dost wish to be rescued, maiden? Speak the word and 'twill be done."

"I'm taking care of Marygolden," said Speedy stiffly. "I found her and brought her to life, and she's going back to America with me."

"America!" boomed Sir Hokus, striding closer. "Art from America, young man? And this horse--is he from America, too?"

"Oh, no, no, no! We found him in the forest. Tell them about it, Stampedro," begged the boy, who wanted to do nothing but feast his eyes on the Knight's sword and armor. With a toss of his flying mane, Stampedro began to speak, but a long shrill neigh was the best he could manage. Terrified and dismayed, he reared and plunged, and had not Sir Hokus seized his bit, Speedy and Marygolden would have sailed over his head.

"Steady now! Steady! What means this?" puffed the Knight, stroking the glossy neck soothingly.

"I know! I know!" Speedy stood straight up in the stirrups. "It means we're in Samandra, that country where animals cannot talk. Don't you care!" he whispered consolingly in the great chestnut steed's ear. "You can still hear, can't you?" Stampedro nodded his head to show that he could. "Well, then," continued Speedy, "cheer up, for if we're in Samandra we must be near the Kingdom of your Master. Can you tell us anything about the Yellow Knight?" asked Speedy, sliding down from the saddle and staring earnestly up at Sir Hokus. "This grand horse belongs to the Yellow Knight of Oz, but he's been enchanted for years and years. He was a horse chestnut till I flung a stone at the tree, and then he turned into a real chestnut horse."

"Enchantments! Still more enchantments. Odds helmets and hauberks!" stuttered Sir Hokus, falling back against a tree and forgetting all about Camy for the moment. "Odds helmets and hauberks! It must have been the same stone that restored Peter. Dids't pick up the stone in yonder forest, my boy?"

"Hey bowstrings and fiddles, they're talking in riddles, But, Hokus, take heed, I remember that steed!"

"Hast ever seen me before, good horse?" inquired Peter Pun, capering close to the pawing charger. Stampedro, after a close look at the jester, nodded emphatically.

"Well, what do you know about that?" mused Speedy, gazing from one to the other.

"What you _you_ know about it?" demanded Peter Pun, turning a somersault and coming top side up under Speedy's very nose.

"Well," sighed the boy, "everything's so mixed up and strange, I hardly know what to think. But you all seem to belong together somehow," he continued seriously, "you and this Knight and Stampedro. Even Marygolden," he added reluctantly. "But I don't see how you can all be alive to-day."

"Why not to-day as well as yesterday, why not yesterday as well as to-morrow?" queried Peter Pun blandly, sitting down cross-legged in the grass.

"Because in our part of the world," persisted Speedy in a puzzled voice, "Knights and jesters lived ages and ages ago and now they're all dead."

"What a country!" groaned Peter, toppling over backwards. "Why, we're all ages in Oz and no one ever dies at all. Have you no Kings, Knights, jesters, wizards, or enchantments where you come from? A dreadful place it must be."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," answered Speedy quickly. "We have motors and airplanes and speed boats and inventors. My uncle's an inventor," he finished proudly, "and that's almost the same as a wizard."

"Quite true," observed Sir Hokus, as Peter Pun shook his head dubiously. "I've heard much about this America from Dorothy and the little mortal maids at the castle; also from a Philadelphia boy who sometimes comes to Oz and visits us in the Emerald City."

"Do _you_ live in the Emerald City?" asked Speedy in a hushed voice, while Marygolden regarded the Knight with round eyes.

"To be sure, to be sure. Let me introduce myself," smiled the Knight. "I am Sir Hokus of Pokes, bound upon a quest in search of adventure. This is Peter Pun, a jester, just released from an enchantment. We're both pursuing a fat rogue in a yellow boat who villainously dragged off the Comfortable Camel. But tell me, how came you to Oz, and what happened in yonder forest?"

"Plenty," sighed Speedy, leaning up to pat Stampedro on the nose. "I've been about everywhere and everything since morning, even a King."

"You're still a King," piped Peter Pun, chewing a long blade of grass, and when Speedy shook his head the jester still insisted.

"Admit that you're thin-king this very minute of all the adventures you've been having. Hah, ho! Shall we pause and listen, Sir Knight, or fare forth and pursue? I confess to a great curiosity concerning these travellers. Let them tell their strange story. We also will tell ours, then together we will resume the chase and rescue our unfortunate friend."

"Good!" decided the Knight. "Methinks there is more mystery here!" and helping Marygolden from her high perch on Stampedro's back, he seated her under an orange tree, and throwing himself on the grass beside her begged Speedy to tell his story. This Speedy was quite willing to do, for when one has had astonishing experiences there is nothing quite so satisfactory as telling about them. Sir Hokus and the jester listened spellbound to his exciting ride in the Skyrocket, his reception in Subterranea, the curious way he had discovered Marygolden and the miraculous coming to life of the little Princess. Their trip up in the parashuter astonished his listeners no less, and Speedy's trials and tribulations as King of the Quix made the Knight and Peter laugh uproariously. But when he came to the finding of the magic stone in the forest, and the disenchantment of Stampedro, Sir Hokus grew grave and thoughtful.

"Of this bewitching little Princess," sighed the Knight, "I can tell you nothing. But this gallant charger----" he waved his sword at Stampedro, who was quietly grazing a little distance away, "this charger evidently belongs to the King of the Golden Castle."

"What ho!" cried the jester. "Our quest progresses. We now have a King to serve and all we need is a damsel and a dragon."

"I'll serve Marygolden an' she will let me," said Sir Hokus, smiling kindly at Speedy's Princess. As Marygolden, with a quaint curtsey, was acknowledging the honor, Peter, peering between two trees, let out an ear-splitting screech.

"A dragon!" yelled the jester, jumping into the air and clicking his heels together. Speedy and Sir Hokus both rushed forward, but there was nary a dragon to be seen. As they turned questioningly back to Peter, the jester burst out laughing and rolled over and over on the grass.

"'Tis a snap-dragon," roared Peter, pointing to a tall blue flower. "Ho, ho, Hokus, I caught you then."

"Bother you and your punning," fumed the Knight angrily. "One more pun and I'll----"

"Well, what's the punishment for puns?" asked Peter, sitting up with an interested expression.

"A punch!" supplied Speedy, winking at Marygolden.

"A punch for a pun, and a punch for a punner-- But the lad with the punch better be a good runner--"

sputtered Peter, hopping up; but Speedy had no intention of chasing him and was already talking seriously to the Knight.

"You know," said the boy earnestly, "I'd sorta like to help you help this King before I go back to America, and I believe I will!"

"Bravo!" roared Sir Hokus, giving Speedy a thump on the back that made him blink. "And when we have found and disenchanted this King, I will take you and Marygolden back to the Emerald City, and Ozma with her magic belt will transport you both to America. How will that be?"

"Just fine," beamed Speedy, seizing the Knight's hand and shaking it heartily.

"And now," put in Peter Pun, cartwheeling up to Sir Hokus, "if all the speechifying's over, let me tell you something. This steed belongs to the King's son at whose court I was jester. I remember him distinctly now."

"Then that King's son must be the Yellow Knight!" cried Speedy jubilantly. "Did you say you had found his father's castle, Sir Hokus? Where? How? When?"

"A pretty tale it is and now, Hokus Pokus, tell him how,"

chuckled Peter. As Speedy drew closer to the Knight and motioned for Stampedro to come nearer, too, Sir Hokus told his story and all that had happened since he left the capital. He hurried a bit over his adventures in Marshland and on the flying field, but described the deserted city in great detail, and the finding of the package of dates in Camy's saddle sack, the strange changing of the funnysuckle vine into Peter Pun when he flung the date seed, and finally of the sudden theft of the Comfortable Camel by the fat owner of the yellow boat. As he finished, Speedy started up in great excitement. "Why, everything," puffed the boy earnestly, "everything depends on that Camel! Don't you see? The magic dates were in the Camel's saddle sack. Whoever stole the Camel knew about the dates; whoever knew the dates must have enchanted Stampedro and Peter and this King and all his subjects."

"Dirks and daggers!" thundered the Knight. "You are right! What a head you have, young man." Stampedro, who had listened attentively to all this, whinnied his agreement to the Knight's statement, touching Speedy gently on the shoulder with his soft nose and tossing his mane to express his satisfaction.

"Speedy can do anything," smiled Marygolden, jumping up and clapping her hands in delight. "Just try him!" Speedy looked a little uncomfortable at all this praise.

"Tell me," he asked quickly, for he had thought of something else, "did this Comfortable Camel always live in the Emerald City?"

"Yes--no--let me see!" Sir Hokus, already on his feet and ready to start, paused explosively. "Why, I discovered him and the Doubtful Dromedary myself," he explained thoughtfully. "Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and I found them about ten years ago on the edge of the Deadly Desert, but as far as I can remember, they never spoke of their former country or master."

"Do you think anyone in the Emerald City knew about those dates, or would anyone there be mean enough to transform a whole kingdom?"

"No," decided Sir Hokus, with a positive shake of his head. "And now that I think of it, the figs and dates were so uncommonly stale and hard that, had I not been starved and famished, I'd never have been able to swallow them at all."

"Oh sad to relate, the poor fellow ate A date that was ancient and quite out of date!"

"Hold your tongue," snapped the Knight, for he was trying to think, and Peter's nonsense disturbed him. "Those packages must have been in Camy's sack when he first came to the Emerald City," he declared finally. "And now to find the Comfortable Camel!"

"Right!" cried Speedy, and Stampedro, to show his approval, reared right up on his hind legs and trumpeted with impatience.

"Will you ride?" asked the little boy, turning politely to the Knight.

"No, no. You and Marygolden ride," answered Sir Hokus, looking longingly at the splendid horse. "Shall I lift you up, Princess?"

"Oh, don't call her Princess," begged Speedy, as Sir Hokus placed Marygolden carefully in the saddle. "She's through with all that stuff, and she's going to be plain Mary when we get back to the United States. Aren't you?" Marygolden nodded her head soberly.

"Mary, but never plain Mary," teased Peter Pun. "Why, just to look at her takes my breath away completely."

"But still you talk on," sighed Sir Hokus, taking Stampedro's bridle. "Come, my fine fellow, let's be starting." But the big chestnut planted all four feet, and shook his head stubbornly. "What now?" puffed the Knight in surprise. "Do you not wish to find your master?" Stampedro shook his head for "yes" but refused to budge an inch. Sir Hokus stepped back and looked at him questioningly.

"Mayhap he wishes me to ride," announced the jester, bouncing up like a rubber ball behind Marygolden. Stampedro, looking around, nodded his approval; but when the Knight gave the bridle another tug he still refused to move.

"Why, Stampedro, aren't you going to help us?" asked Speedy reproachfully. Instead of answering, the horse took Sir Hokus' mailed shirt-tail in his teeth and swung the Knight around toward the stirrup.

"He wants us all to ride," gasped Speedy. "What do you think of that?"

"I think it's a grand idea," said Peter Pun merrily. "We three scarce weigh as much as one. The Knight is nothing but bones and armor, and any horse in the good old days could carry two for a stretch. So mount up, Hokus, and let's be going. Let's be galloping!"

"Is that what you really want?" questioned Speedy, leaning forward to whisper in Stampedro's ear. The chestnut nodded his head vigorously, and after a little more coaxing Sir Hokus sprang into the saddle.

The Knight took Marygolden in his lap and Speedy squeezed in behind him. Peter clung to the boy's coat, perched precariously just above the horse's tail. Then, with a glance over his shoulder to assure him that everyone was settled, the great charger, like an arrow released from its bow, shot along the bank of the yellow river, his golden mane and tail streaming out like banners in the wind.