Free L. Frank Baum_Oz 14 by Glinda of Oz Page B

queer sights that met her view.
    The Lake of the Skeezers was inhabited by fishes of many kinds and many
sizes. The water was so transparent that the girl could see for a long
distance and the fishes came so close to the glass of the dome that
sometimes they actually touched it. On the white sands at the bottom of
the lake were star-fish, lobsters, crabs and many shell fish of strange
shapes and with shells of gorgeous hues. The water foliage was of
brilliant colors and to Dorothy it resembled a splendid garden.
    But the fishes were the most interesting of all. Some were big and
lazy, floating slowly along or lying at rest with just their fins
waving. Many with big round eyes looked full at the girl as she watched
them and Dorothy wondered if they could hear her through the glass if
she spoke to them. In Oz, where all the animals and birds can talk,
many fishes are able to talk also, but usually they are more stupid
than birds and animals because they think slowly and haven't much to
talk about.
    In the Lake of the Skeezers the fish of smaller size were more active
than the big ones and darted quickly in and out among the swaying
weeds, as if they had important business and were in a hurry. It was
among the smaller varieties that Dorothy hoped to spy the gold and
silver and bronze fishes. She had an idea the three would keep
together, being companions now as they were in their natural forms, but
such a multitude of fishes constantly passed, the scene shifting every
moment, that she was not sure she would notice them even if they
appeared in view. Her eyes couldn't look in all directions and the
fishes she sought might be on the other side of the dome, or far away
in the lake.
    "P'raps, because they were afraid of Coo-ee-oh, they've hid themselves
somewhere, and don't know their enemy has been transformed," she
reflected.
    She watched the fishes for a long time, until she became hungry and
went back to the palace for lunch. But she was not discouraged.
    "Anything new, Ozma?" she asked.
    "No, dear. Did you discover the three fishes?"
    "Not yet. But there isn't anything better for me to do, Ozma, so I
guess I'll go back and watch again."

Chapter Thirteen - The Alarm Bell
*
    Glinda, the Good, in her palace in the Quadling Country, had many
things to occupy her mind, for not only did she look after the weaving
and embroidery of her bevy of maids, and assist all those who came to
her to implore her help—beasts and birds as well as people—but she
was a close student of the arts of sorcery and spent much time in her
Magical Laboratory, where she strove to find a remedy for every evil
and to perfect her skill in magic.
    Nevertheless, she did not forget to look in the Great Book of Records
each day to see if any mention was made of the visit of Ozma and
Dorothy to the Enchanted Mountain of the Flatheads and the Magic Isle
of the Skeezers. The Records told her that Ozma had arrived at the
mountain, that she had escaped, with her companion, and gone to the
island of the Skeezers, and that Queen Coo-ee-oh had submerged the
island so that it was entirely under water. Then came the statement
that the Flatheads had come to the lake to poison the fishes and that
their Supreme Dictator had transformed Queen Coo-ee-oh into a swan.
    No other details were given in the Great Book and so Glinda did not
know that since Coo-ee-oh had forgotten her magic none of the Skeezers
knew how to raise the island to the surface again. So Glinda was not
worried about Ozma and Dorothy until one morning, while she sat with
her maids, there came a sudden clang of the great alarm bell. This was
so unusual that every maid gave a start and even the Sorceress for a
moment could not think what the alarm meant.
    Then she remembered the ring she had given Dorothy when she left the
palace to start on her venture. In giving the ring Glinda had warned
the little girl not to use its magic powers unless she and Ozma were in
real danger, but then she was to turn it on her