CHAPTER 17

The Mimics in the Emerald City

On the morning when the Mimic hordes swept over the border of the Deadly Desert and the Winkie Country and on to the Emerald City, Button Bright and the Patchwork Girl were playing leap-frog in the garden of the Royal Palace.

Cap'n Bill was sitting nearby on a bench in the sun, carving on a block of wood with his big jack-knife. The old sailor man worked slowly and painstakingly, but when he finished he knew he would have a good likeness of Princess Ozma's lovely features carved in the wood. This he planned to mount as a figurehead on the prow of the boat he was building as a surprise for Ozma.

Suddenly Button Bright, who had tumbled flat on his back, cried out:

"Look! Look at those birds!"

Scraps swept her yarn hair out of her button eyes and tilted her head back. The sky was darkening with a great cloud of birds. And what beautiful creatures those birds were!

"Birds of a feather Flock together. Red, blue, green and gold Match my patches, bold.

"Not a grey topknot In the whole lot! See the popinjay Flirt its colors gay..."

cried the Patchwork Girl, dancing about in wild excitement.

"Stop it, Scraps!" commanded Button Bright who was nearly as excited as the stuffed girl.

"Trot, Betsy, Ojo, Scarecrow!" the boy called. "Come out and see the pretty birds!"

Of course this taking the forms of gorgeous plumed birds was a clever part of Queen Ra's cunning scheme. She knew the beauty of the birds, instead of alarming the Oz people, would fascinate them. The Queen hoped by this wily stratagem to take the Oz inhabitants completely by surprise with no thought of danger in their minds.

The scheme worked even better than Queen Ra dared dream.

Ojo the Lucky, Aunt Em, the Scarecrow, Betsy Bobbin, Trot, Jellia Jamb, and all the others came hurrying from the Royal Palace, while from the Royal Stable came the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, Hank the Mule, the Woozy and others of the animal friends of the palace residents. Gathering in the gardens and court-yard, they all stared up in wonder at the beautiful birds.

Outside the grounds of the Royal Palace, much the same thing was happening throughout the Emerald City. Those people who were out of doors witnessing the spectacle called to those who were indoors, urging them to hurry out and see the lovely visitors. It was no time at all until every building in the city was emptied of its curious inhabitants.

This was just what the Mimics wanted. With the people of the Emerald City standing in the daylight, plainly casting their shadows, Queen Ra gave a signal and the Mimic birds ceased their slow circling in the sky for the enjoyment of the Oz people and dropped down to the city. King Umb and Queen Ra led those birds which settled in the palace court-yard and gardens.

A bird with brilliant scarlet and royal purple feathers and a topknot of gleaming gold alighted close to Trot. The little girl stepped forward with delight to stroke the bird's lovely plumage. Instantly the creature vanished and in its place stood a perfect duplicate of Trot, while the real Trot was frozen in her tracks, unable to move. Mystified at suddenly seeing _two_ Trots before him, Cap'n Bill rose from his bench and started toward them. But he was confronted by one of the giant birds and an instant later the old sailor man was unable to move. He could only stare with amazement at an exact double of himself--wooden leg and all. Button Bright was about to leap playfully on the back of another bird when he fell to the ground powerless to move. At the same moment the bird vanished and the boy's double appeared in its place.

And so it went throughout the Emerald City. The friendly Oz people were delighted that the lovely birds should approach so near that they might be treated to a closer view of their gorgeous plumage, which, it must be admitted, was exceedingly beautiful. Only the eyes of the birds betrayed their true natures. They flamed a fierce red. One or two of the Oz people, upon meeting the glare of those piercing eyes, were alarmed and would have turned and fled. But it was too late. In a few minutes, all the human inhabitants of the Emerald City were made captives.

However, the Mimics were able to steal the shapes only of human beings.

The Scarecrow, the Patchwork Girl, Tik-Tok, the Glass Cat, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Woozy, Toto, Hank the Mule, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger remained unchanged. Fearing the mule, the lion and the tiger might prove dangerous because of their size, Queen Ra quickly placed a magic spell on the three beasts that caused them to fall on the court-yard lawn in a deep sleep.

The Scarecrow, Scraps, Tik-Tok and the others who had escaped the magic of the Mimics were completely confused by these sudden and baffling events. The stuffed girl rubbed her suspender button eyes and gazed with disbelief at _two_ Button Brights--which one was it she had been playing with only a few minutes before? And there were _two_ Aunt Ems and _two_ Jellia Jambs! Wondering if the world had somehow suddenly become double, the bewildered Patchwork Girl looked about for her own twin.

Of all the horde of beautiful birds that had settled on the Emerald City, only two remained in the Royal Gardens. These were King Umb and Queen Ra. At this point the Mimic King and Queen cast off their bird forms. A strange man and woman suddenly appeared in the midst of the Oz people and the Mimic-Oz-people. The woman was big, raw-boned and red-skinned. Her hair was twisted on her head in a hard black knot, on which was set a small golden crown. The Scarecrow started with surprise when he saw that the strange woman was wearing Dorothy's Magic Belt. (Until now the belt had been concealed by the plumage of Ra's bird form.) Queen Ra had brought the Magic Belt with her because of its wonderful powers which she had been studying and which she felt would be useful in carrying out the conquest of Oz. Beside the woman stood a giant man with a flowing black beard and tangled black hair. His eyes were fierce and hawklike.

Quickly Queen Ra uttered a command, at which a number of the Mimic-Oz-people leaped forward and proceeded to bind the non-human Ozites with strong ropes, which the magic of Queen Ra placed in their hands.

To his amazement, the Scarecrow found himself being made captive by Cap'n Bill and Ojo the Lucky. The straw man was wise enough to know that these twin likenesses were not really his old friends, Cap'n Bill and Ojo, so he resisted with all his might. But the poor Scarecrow's body was so light that the Mimics had no difficulty in fastening the ropes about him and pinning his arms to his sides.

Scraps was more of a problem. It required the combined efforts of the Mimic Jellia Jamb, Aunt Em, Betsy Bobbin and Button Bright to bind her. But even with these odds none of the Mimics escaped without scratches on his face from Scraps' gold plated finger nails.

Tik-Tok, the Woozy, the Glass Cat and the rest were all securely bound in a few more seconds.

While our friends were being made prisoners, King Umb and Queen Ra hastened away to the Throne Room of the Royal Palace. There the prisoners of the Mimics were carried into the presence of the Mimic King and Queen. The Scarecrow and the others were shocked and outraged at the spectacle of the harsh-looking woman brazenly occupying Ozma's throne, while at her side stood the fierce-visaged man.

The Mimic Ojo and Button Bright lined up the captives before the throne, while Queen Ra regarded them scornfully.

"A pair of stuffed dummies, an animated washing machine, and a menagerie," she commented derisively.

"I demand," shouted the Scarecrow boldly, "that you release us immediately!"

"Ah! The famous Scarecrow of Oz!" gloatingly exclaimed Queen Ra. "And as brave as ever! I believe I will have your body destroyed by fire, first removing your head so that you will be able to entertain me with your wise thoughts. It would be a shame," she added with sarcasm, "if such great brains were lost to the world."

Now the one thing in the world the Scarecrow feared was a lighted match, so it is no wonder that, brave as he was, he shrank before so terrible a fate as that proposed by the wicked Queen.

"You will not get a-way with this," warned Tik-Tok in his mechanical voice. "You will sure-ly be pun-ish-ed for your wick-ed-ness and e-vil do-ing."

"And you are Tik-Tok the Machine Man," said Queen Ra. "As useless a pile of rubbish as was ever assembled. I shall have you carefully taken apart, piece by piece, and amuse myself in my spare time by trying to put you back together again like a jig-saw puzzle."

"My ma-chin-er-y does not per-mit me to fear," replied Tik-Tok calmly, "e-ven when I am thor-ough-ly wound up, so you are wast-ing your threats on me."

The evil Queen went down the line of captives, plotting terrible fates for each of them. Billina, she predicted, would soon be roasted for dinner. The Patchwork Girl would become a combination pin-cushion and personal slave. The Glass Cat would be melted down into marbles. Finally she came to the last of the prisoners--the square shaped Woozy--whom Ra promised to have chopped into cubes for building blocks.

It was at this moment that the Scarecrow became aware that with the exceptions of Hank the Mule and the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, who lay sleeping in the court-yard, all the animals of the Royal Palace were present--save the Sawhorse, who was at that moment swiftly bearing Uncle Henry back to the Emerald City from Glinda's Castle in the Quadling Country--and one other.

That other was--Toto!