FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  
" was the reply. "Chiss! What is Chiss?" "I think it is merely an overgrown porcupine, but here in Oz they consider Chiss an evil spirit. He's different from a reg'lar porcupine, because he can throw his quills in any direction, which an American porcupine cannot do. That's what makes old Chiss so dangerous. If we get too near, he'll fire those quills at us and hurt us badly." "Then we will be foolish to get too near," said Scraps. "I'm not afraid," declared the Woozy. "The Chiss is cowardly, I'm sure, and if it ever heard my awful, terrible, frightful growl, it would be scared stiff." "Oh; can you growl?" asked the Shaggy Man. "That is the only ferocious thing about me," asserted the Woozy with evident pride. "My growl makes an earthquake blush and the thunder ashamed of itself. If I growled at that creature you call Chiss, it would immediately think the world had cracked in two and bumped against the sun and moon, and that would cause the monster to run as far and as fast as its legs could carry it." "In that case," said the Shaggy Man, "you are now able to do us all a great favor. Please growl." "But you forget," returned the Woozy; "my tremendous growl would also frighten you, and if you happen to have heart disease you might expire." "True; but we must take that risk," decided the Shaggy Man, bravely. "Being warned of what is to occur we must try to bear the terrific noise of your growl; but Chiss won't expect it, and it will scare him away." The Woozy hesitated. "I'm fond of you all, and I hate to shock you," it said. "Never mind," said Ojo. "You may be made deaf." "If so, we will forgive you." "Very well, then," said the Woozy in a determined voice, and advanced a few steps toward the giant porcupine. Pausing to look back, it asked: "All ready?" "All ready!" they answered. "Then cover up your ears and brace yourselves firmly. Now, then--look out!" The Woozy turned toward Chiss, opened wide its mouth and said: "Quee-ee-ee-eek." "Go ahead and growl," said Scraps. "Why, I--I _did_ growl!" retorted the Woozy, who seemed much astonished. "What, that little squeak?" she cried. [Illustration] "It is the most awful growl that ever was heard, on land or sea, in caverns or in the sky," protested the Woozy. "I wonder you stood the shock so well. Didn't you feel the ground tremble? I suppose Chiss is now quite dead with fright." The Shaggy Man laughed merrily. "P
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Shaggy
 

porcupine

 

Scraps

 
quills
 
forgive
 
fright
 

suppose

 

bravely

 

Pausing

 

determined


advanced
 
expect
 

terrific

 

hesitated

 

laughed

 

merrily

 

tremble

 

warned

 

decided

 

caverns


retorted
 

astonished

 

Illustration

 
squeak
 

answered

 
ground
 
firmly
 

protested

 

opened

 

turned


afraid

 

declared

 
cowardly
 
foolish
 

terrible

 
frightful
 

asserted

 

evident

 

ferocious

 

scared


dangerous

 

spirit

 
overgrown
 

American

 
direction
 
Please
 

forget

 

returned

 
tremendous
 

expire