Chapter XXII

Well, of course, her plight was rather an odd one. It didn’t seem so out of the way for a little girl to be travelling about with all these strange creatures, but for a young lady, a grown-up young lady, to find herself at the North Pole in company with a couple of eccentric toys, without proper clothes, and with no chaperone--come to think of it this was rather a peculiar condition; so Maida walked away from her old friends, and sat down on the bench to think it over. Jack and the Candy Kid stared at each other in dismay. The change in Maida simply appalled them.

“Why she looks different, and acts different, and her voice isn’t at all the same,” said the Candy Kid. Jack-in-the-Box assented.

“Yes,” he said, “there certainly is a great difference. I liked her lots better the way she was. This Wishing Post is certainly a very powerful piece of magic. I think I’ll see what it can do for me,” and he stretched out his hand. But the Candy Kid leaped forward and pushed him away. “Don’t you touch it!” he said, “good gracious! just see what it did to Maida.” So they sat down to think over what should be done.

Now Kankakee and his daughter Kokomo and the Man with the Growly Voice had left the flying ship early in the morning, and had been wandering all around the City; so just after the sad transformation of Maida from a dear little girl to a very pokey young lady they came wandering into the square. The Man with the Growly Voice was perfectly easy in his mind, but Kankakee was nervous and anxious. He was afraid that something might happen.

“I will take my daughter and go back to my people,” he said; and taking Kokomo by the hand he started to walk away with her. “But why,” asked the Man with the Growly Voice, “why do you want to go away?”

“Because,” answered Kankakee, “I fear that something may happen.”

“Now, don’t be afraid; I will take care of you,” said the Man with the Growly Voice. “I won’t let these people hurt you. You know I’m a wizard. Just see what my climate did.”

“Yes, of course,” said Kankakee, “I had forgotten that you were a wizard. If danger threatens perhaps you will make the stars fall from the sky, or shake the earth, or dry up the sea.”

“Why, of course I will,” replied the Man with the Growly Voice, “a little thing like that wouldn’t bother me.”

So Kankakee took heart and decided to stay; and while the Man with the Growly Voice and Kokomo strolled about admiring the beauty of the palaces, he sat in Eskimo fashion, cross-legged on the ground, and crooned a Polar ditty.

Now the Queen Aurora, having discovered that if she had ever had any beauty, it was lost, happened to think of the Wishing Post. It had never occurred to her to wish before. Why should she? Queens have everything they want, so she had needed no wishes, but now she thought she would wish for her beauty to return; so she came by stealth to the Square, accompanied only by a page, to make her wish, for she did not want her people to know what she was doing.

The first person she met was Kankakee. She gave him a scoldings but Kankakee paid no attention; he only laughed, and when Aurora threatened him, he only laughed the more.

“Why, you can’t harm me, I am the friend of the great wizard,” he said pompously. “He knows all things and makes slaves of certain devils. If any one harms me, this wizard will pull down the stars, dry up the sea, and shake the earth. He told me these things himself.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” replied Aurora angrily. “Well, we will see about that. If I catch anybody fooling with my stars, or shaking my earth, or drying up my sea, I will have him arrested very quickly, I can promise you that. Where is this wizard friend of yours?”

Kankakee called the Man with the Growly Voice, who quickly came to him. Well, the Queen threatened them both with all kinds of horrible things, but Kankakee felt perfectly easy in his mind.

“Protect me, my friend,” he said, “pull down a star or two, just to show her what you can do; or shake the earth. You needn’t shake it too much.” He paused expectantly. “Well, go on; I am waiting,” he said, “why don’t you shake the earth?”

The Man with the Growly Voice was disgusted. “Kankakee,” he said, “you talk too much.” Then there was quite a scene. Aurora called some of her minions, who looked very threatening; Kankakee grew angry, because he had been deceived; so the Man with the Growly Voice felt very ill at ease. It happened that he was standing close to the Wishing Post.

“My goodness!” he said, “I wish I was out of this!” And _off_ he flew into the air, out of sight, before any one could say “Jack Robinson”!