The Conquest of the Witch
Now as soon as the conquest of King Krewl had taken place, one of the
Orks had been dispatched to Pon's house with the joyful news. At once
Gloria and Pon and Trot and Button-Bright hastened toward the castle.
They were somewhat surprised by the sight that met their eyes, for
there was the Scarecrow, crowned King, and all the people kneeling
humbly before him. So they likewise bowed low to the new ruler and then
stood beside the throne. Cap'n Bill, as the gray grasshopper, was still
perched upon Trot's shoulder, but now he hopped to the shoulder of the
Scarecrow and whispered into the painted ear:
"I thought Gloria was to be Queen of Jinxland."
The Scarecrow shook his head.
"Not yet," he answered. "No Queen with a frozen heart is fit to rule
any country." Then he turned to his new friend, the Ork, who was
strutting about, very proud of what he had done, and said: "Do you
suppose you, or your followers, could find old Blinkie the Witch?"
"Where is she?" asked the Ork.
"Somewhere in Jinxland, I'm sure."
"Then," said the Ork, "we shall certainly be able to find her."
"It will give me great pleasure," declared the Scarecrow. "When you
have found her, bring her here to me, and I will then decide what to do
with her."
The Ork called his followers together and spoke a few words to them in
a low tone. A moment after they rose into the air--so suddenly that the
Scarecrow, who was very light in weight, was blown quite out of his
throne and into the arms of Pon, who replaced him carefully upon his
seat. There was an eddy of dust and ashes, too, and the grasshopper
only saved himself from being whirled into the crowd of people by
jumping into a tree, from where a series of hops soon brought him back
to Trot's shoulder again. The Orks were quite out of sight by this
time, so the Scarecrow made a speech to the people and presented Gloria
to them, whom they knew well already and were fond of. But not all of
them knew of her frozen heart, and when the Scarecrow related the story
of the Wicked Witch's misdeeds, which had been encouraged and paid for
by Krewl and Googly-Goo, the people were very indignant.
Meantime the fifty Orks had scattered all over Jinx land, which is not
a very big country, and their sharp eyes were peering into every valley
and grove and gully. Finally one of them spied a pair of heels sticking
out from underneath some bushes, and with a shrill whistle to warn his
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