Chapter Seventeen. Under the Great Dome

Glinda of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

When Glinda the Good and her followers of the Rescue Expedition
came in sight of the Enchanted Mountain of the Flatheads, it was away
to the left of them, for the route they had taken through the Great
Forest was some distance from that followed by Ozma and Dorothy.

They halted awhile to decide whether they should call upon the
Supreme Dictator first, or go on to the Lake of the Skeezers.

"If we go to the mountain," said the Wizard, "we may get into
trouble with that wicked Su-dic, and then we would be delayed in
rescuing Ozma and Dorothy. So I think our best plan will be to go to
the Skeezer Country, raise the sunken island and save our friends and
the imprisoned Skeezers. Afterward we can visit the mountain and
punish the cruel magician of the Flatheads."

"That is sensible," approved the Shaggy Man. "I quite agree with
you."

The others, too, seemed to think the Wizard's plan the best, and
Glinda herself commended it, so on they marched toward the line of
palm trees that hid the Skeezers' lake from view.

Pretty soon they came to the palms. These were set closely
together, the branches, which came quite to the ground, being so
tightly interlaced that even the Glass Cat could scarcely find a
place to squeeze through. The path which the Flatheads used was some
distance away.

"Here's a job for the Tin Woodman," said the Scarecrow.

So the Tin Woodman, who was always glad to be of use, set to
work with his sharp, gleaming axe, which he always carried, and in a
surprisingly short time had chopped away enough branches to permit
them all to pass easily through the trees.

Now the clear waters of the beautiful lake were before them and
by looking closely they could see the outlines of the Great Dome of
the sunken island, far from shore and directly in the center of the
lake.

Of course every eye was at first fixed upon this dome, where
Ozma and Dorothy and the Skeezers were still fast prisoners. But soon
their attention was caught by a more brilliant sight, for here was
the Diamond Swan swimming just before them, its long neck arched
proudly, the amethyst eyes gleaming and all the diamond-sprinkled
feathers glistening splendidly under the rays of the sun.

"That," said Glinda, "is the transformation of Queen Coo-ce-oh,
the haughty and wicked witch who betrayed the three Adepts at Magic
and treated her people like slaves."

"She's wonderfully beautiful now," remarked the Frogman.

"It doesn't seem like much of a punishment," said Trot. "The
Flathead Su-dic ought to have made her a toad."

"I am sure Coo-ee-oh is punished," said Glinda, "for she has
lost all her magic power and her grand palace and can no longer
misrule the poor Skeezers."

"Let us call to her, and hear what she has to say," proposed the
Wizard.

So Glinda beckoned the Diamond Swan, which swam gracefully to a
position near them. Before anyone could speak Coo-ee-oh called to
them in a rasping voice -- for the voice of a swan is always harsh
and unpleasant -- and said with much pride:

"Admire me, Strangers! Admire the lovely Coo-ee-oh, the
handsomest creature in all Oz. Admire me!"

"Handsome is as handsome does," replied the Scarecrow. "Are your
deeds lovely, Coo-ce-oh?"

"Deeds? What deeds can a swan do but swim around and give
pleasure to all beholders?" said the sparkling bird.

"Have you forgotten your former life? Have you forgotten your
magic and witchcraft?" inquired the Wizard.

"Magic -- witchcraft? Pshaw, who cares for such silly things?"
retorted Coo-ee-oh. "As for my past life, it seems like an unpleasant
dream. I wouldn't go back to it if I could. Don't you admire my
beauty, Strangers?"

"Tell us, Coo-ee-oh," said Glinda earnestly, "if you can recall
enough of your witchcraft to enable us to raise the sunken island to
the surface of the lake. Tell us that and I'll give you a string of
pearls to wear around your neck and add to your beauty."

"Nothing can add to my beauty, for I'm the most beautiful
creature anywhere in the whole world."

"But how can we raise the island?"

"I don't know and I don't care. If ever I knew I've forgotten,
and I'm glad of it," was the response. "Just watch me circle around
and see me glitter!

"It's no use," said Button Bright; "the old Swan is too much in
love with herself to think of anything else."

"That's a fact," agreed Betsy with a sigh; "but we've got to get
Ozma and Dorothy out of that lake, somehow or other."

"And we must do it in our own way," added the Scarecrow.

"But how?" asked Uncle Henry in a grave voice, for he could not
bear to think of his dear niece Dorothy being out there under water;
"how shall we do it?"

"Leave that to Glinda," advised the Wizard, realizing he was
helpless to do it himself.

"If it were just an ordinary sunken island," said the powerful
sorceress, "there would be several ways by which I might bring it to
the surface again. But this is a Magic Isle, and by some curious art
of witchcraft, unknown to any but Queen Coo-ce-oh, it obeys certain
commands of magic and will not respond to any other. I do not despair
in the least, but it will require some deep study to solve this
difficult problem. If the Swan could only remember the witchcraft
that she invented and knew as a woman, I could force her to tell me
the secret, but all her former knowledge is now forgotten."

"It seems to me," said the Wizard after a brief silence had
followed Glinda's speech, "that there are three fishes in this lake
that used to be Adepts at Magic and from whom Coo-ee-oh stole much of
her knowledge. If we could find those fishes and return them to their
former shapes, they could doubtless tell us what to do to bring the
sunken island to the surface."

"I have thought of those fishes," replied Glinda, "but among so
many fishes as this lake contains how are we to single them out?"

You will understand, of course, that had Glinda been at home in
her castle, where the Great Book of Records was, she would have known
that Ervic the Skeezer already had taken the gold and silver and
bronze fishes from the lake. But that act had been recorded in the
Book after Glinda had set out on this journey, so it was all unknown
to her.

"I think I see a boat yonder on the shore," said Ojo the
Munchkin boy, pointing to a place around the edge of the lake. "If we
could get that boat and row all over the lake, calling to the magic
fishes, we might be able to find them."

"Let us go to the boat," said the Wizard.

They walked around the lake to where the boat was stranded upon
the beach, but found it empty. It was a mere shell of blackened
steel, with a collapsible roof that, when in position, made the
submarine watertight, but at present the roof rested in slots on
either side of the magic craft. There were no oars or sails, no
machinery to make the boat go, and although Glinda promptly realized
it was meant to be operated by witchcraft, she was not acquainted
with that sort of magic.

"However," said she, "the boat is merely a boat, and I believe I
can make it obey a command of sorcery, as well as it did the command
of witchcraft. After I have given a little thought to the matter, the
boat will take us wherever we desire to go."

"Not all of us," returned the Wizard, "for it won't hold so
many. But, most noble Sorceress, provided you can make the boat go,
of what use will it be to us?"

"Can't we use it to catch the three fishes?" asked Button
Bright.

"It will not be necessary to use the boat for that purpose,"
replied Glinda. "Wherever in the lake the enchanted fishes may be,
they will answer to my call. What I am trying to discover is how the
boat came to be on this shore, while the island on which it belongs
is under water yonder. Did Coo-ee-oh come here in the boat to meet
the Flatheads before the island was sunk, or afterward?"

No one could answer that question, of course; but while they
pondered the matter three young men advanced from the line of trees,
and rather timidly bowed to the strangers.

"Who are you, and where did you come from?" inquired the
Wizard.

"We are Skeezers," answered one of them, "and our home is on the
Magic Isle of the Lake. We ran away when we saw you coming, and hid
behind the trees, but as you are Strangers and seem to be friendly we
decided to meet you, for we are in great trouble and need
assistance."

"If you belong on the island, why are you here?" demanded
Glinda.

So they told her all the story: How the Queen had defied the
Flatheads and submerged the whole island so that her enemies could
not get to it or destroy it; how, when the Flatheads came to the
shore, Coo-ee-oh had commanded them, together with their friend
Ervic, to go with her in the submarine to conquer the Su-dic, and how
the boat had shot out from the basement of the sunken isle, obeying a
magic word, and risen to the surface, where it opened and floated
upon the water.

Then followed the account of how the Su-dic had transformed
Coo-ee-oh into a swan, after which she had forgotten all the
witchcraft she ever knew. The young men told how, in the night when
they were asleep, their comrade Ervic had mysteriously disappeared,
while the boat in some strange manner had floated to the shore and
stranded upon the beach.

That was all they knew. They had searched in vain for three days
for Ervic. As their island was under water and they could not get
back to it, the three Skeezers had no place to go, and so had waited
patiently beside their boat for something to happen.

Being questioned by Glinda and the Wizard, they told all they
knew about Ozma and Dorothy and declared the two girls were still in
the village under the Great Dome. They were quite safe and would be
well cared for by Lady Aurex, now that the Queen who opposed them was
out of the way.

When they had gleaned all the information they could from these
Skeezers, the Wizard said to Glinda:

"If you find you can make this boat obey your sorcery, you could
have it return to the island, submerge itself, and enter the door in
the basement from which it came. But I cannot see that our going to
the sunken island would enable our friends to escape. We would only
Join them as prisoners."

"Not so, friend Wizard," replied Glinda. "If the boat would obey
my commands to enter the basement door, it would also obey my
commands to come out again, and I could bring Ozma and Dorothy back
with me."

"And leave all of our people still imprisoned?" asked one of the
Skeezers reproachfully.

"By making several trips in the boat, Glinda could fetch all
your people to the shore," replied the Wizard.

"But what could they do then?" inquired another Skeezer. "They
would have no homes and no place to go, and would be at the mercy of
their enemies, the Flatheads."

"That is true," said Glinda the Good. "And as these people are
Ozma's subjects, I think she would refuse to escape with Dorothy and
leave the others behind, or to abandon the island which is the lawful
home of the Skeezers. I believe the best plan will be to summon the
three fishes and learn from them how to raise the island."

The little Wizard seemed to think that this was rather a forlorn
hope.

"How will you summon them," he asked the lovely Sorceress, "and
how can they hear you?"

"That is something we must consider carefully," responded
stately Glinda, with a serene smile. "I think I can find a way."

All of Ozma's counsellors applauded this sentiment, for they
knew well the powers of the Sorceress.

"Very well," agreed the Wizard. "Summon them, most noble
Glinda."