第30章

"Ah," she said in a soft whisper, "I believe you are right, King Krewl.The man looks to me like a very powerful wizard.But by good luck I have caught him asleep, so I shall transform him before he wakes up, giving him such a form that he will be unable to oppose me.""Careful!" cautioned the King, also speaking low."If he discovers what you are doing he may destroy you, and that would annoy me because I need you to attend to Gloria."But the Wicked Witch realized as well as he did that she must be careful.She carried over her arm a black bag, from which she now drew several packets carefully wrapped in paper.Three of these she selected, replacing the others in the bag.Two of the packets she mixed together.and then she cautiously opened the third.

"Better stand back, your Majesty," she advised, "for if this powder falls on you you might be transformed yourself."The King hastily retreated to the end of the room.As Blinkie mixed the third powder with the others she waved her hands over it, mumbled a few words, and then backed away as quickly as she could.

Cap'n Bill was slumbering peacefully, all unconscious of what was going on.Puff! A great cloud of smoke rolled over the bed and completely hid him from view.When the smoke rolled away, both Blinkie and the King saw that the body of the stranger had quite disappeared, while in his place, crouching in the middle of the bed, was a little gray grasshopper.

One curious thing about this grasshopper was that the last joint of its left leg was made of wood.Another curious thing -- considering it was a grasshopper -- was that it began talking, crying out in a tiny but sharp voice:

"Here -- you people! What do you mean by treating me so? Put me back where I belong, at once, or you'll be sorry!"The cruel King turned pale at hearing the grasshopper's threats, but the Wicked Witch merely laughed in derision.

Then she raised her stick and aimed a vicious blow at the grasshopper, but before the stick struck the bed the tiny hopper made a marvelous jump -- marvelous, indeed, when we consider that it had a wooden leg.It rose in the air and sailed across the room and passed right through the open window, where it disappeared from their view.

"Good!" shouted the King."We are well rid of this desperate wizard." And then they both laughed heartily at the success of the incantation, and went away to complete their horrid plans.

After Trot had visited a time with Princess Gloria, the little girl went to Button-Bright's room but did not find him there.Then she went to Cap'n Bill's room, but he was not there because the witch and the King had been there before her.So she made her way downstairs and questioned the servants.They said they had seen the little boy go out into the garden, some time ago, but the old man with the wooden leg they had not seen at all.

Therefore Trot, not knowing what else to do, rambled through the great gardens, seeking for Button-Bright or Cap'n Bill and not finding either of them.This part of the garden, which lay before the castle, was not walled in, but extended to the roadway, and the paths were open to the edge of the forest; so, after two hours of vain search for her friends, the little girl returned to the castle.

But at the doorway a soldier stopped her.

"I live here," said Trot, "so it's all right to let me in.The King has given me a room.""Well, he has taken it back again," was the soldier's reply."His Majesty's orders are to turn you away if you attempt to enter.I am also ordered to forbid the boy, your companion, to again enter the King's castle.""How 'bout Cap'n Bill?" she inquired.