Chapter Twenty

The Captive Yoop

As they were preparing to leave, Dorothy asked:

“Can you tell us where there is a dark well?”

“Never heard of such a thing,” said the

Tottenhot. “We live our lives in the dark, mostly,

and sleep in the daytime; but we’ve never seen a

dark well, or anything like one.”

“Does anyone live on those mountains beyond

here?” asked the Scarecrow.

“Lots of people. But you’d better not visit

them. We never go there,” was the reply.

“What are the people like?” Dorothy inquired.

“Can’t say. We’ve been told to keep away

from the mountain paths, and so we obey. This

sandy desert is good enough for us, and we’re

not disturbed here,” declared the Tottenhot.

So they left the man snuggling down to sleep in

his dusky dwelling, and went out into the

sunshine, taking the path that led toward the

rocky places. They soon found it hard climbing,

for the rocks were uneven and full of sharp points

and edges, and now there was no path at all.

Clambering here and there among the boulders they

kept steadily on, gradually rising higher and

higher until finally they came to a great rift in

a part of the mountain, where the rock seemed to

have split in two and left high walls on either

side.

“S’pose we go this way,” suggested Dorothy;

it’s much easier walking than to climb over

the hills.”

“How about that sign?” asked Ojo.

“What sign?” she inquired.

The Munchkin boy pointed to some words

painted on the wall of rock beside them, which

Dorothy had not noticed. The words read:

“LOOK OUT FOR YOOP.”

The girl eyed this sign a moment and turned to

the Scarecrow, asking:

“Who is Yoop; or what is Yoop?”

The straw man shook his head. Then looked at

Toto and the dog said “Woof!”

“Only way to find out is to go on, Scraps.”

This being quite true, they went on. As they

proceeded, the walls of rock on either side grew

higher and higher. Presently they came upon

another sign which read:

“BEWARE THE CAPTIVE YOOP.”

“Why, as for that,” remarked Dorothy, “if Yoop

is a captive there’s no need to beware of him.

Whatever Yoop happens to be, I’d much rather have

him a captive than running around loose.”

“So had I,” agreed the Scarecrow, with a nod of

his painted head.

“Still,” said Scraps, reflectively:

“Yoop-te-hoop-te-loop-te-goop!

Who put noodles in the soup?

We may beware but we don’t care,

And dare go where we scare the Yoop.”

“Dear me! Aren’t you feeling a little queer,

just now?” Dorothy asked the Patchwork Girl.

“Not queer, but crazy,” said Ojo. “When she

says those things I’m sure her brains get mixed

somehow and work the wrong way.

“I don’t see why we are told to beware the Yoop

unless he is dangerous,” observed the Scarecrow in

a puzzled tone.

“Never mind; we’ll find out all about him when

we get to where he is,” replied the little girl.

The narrow canyon turned and twisted this way

and that, and the rift was so small that they were

able to touch both walls at the same time by

stretching out their arms. Toto had run on ahead,

frisking playfully, when suddenly he uttered a

sharp bark of fear and came running back to them

with his tail between his legs, as dogs do when

they are frightened.

“Ah,” said the Scarecrow, who was leading

the way, “we must be near Yoop.”

Just then, as he rounded a sharp turn, the

Straw man stopped so suddenly that all the

others bumped against him.

“What is it?” asked Dorothy, standing on

tip-toes to look over his shoulder. But then she

saw what it was and cried “Oh!” in a tone of

astonishment.

In one of the rock walls—that at their left—

was hollowed a great cavern, in front of which was

a row of thick iron bars, the tops and bottoms

being firmly fixed in the solid rock. Over this

cavern was a big sign, which Dorothy read with

much curiosity, speaking the words aloud that all

might know what they said:

“MISTER YOOP—HIS CAVE

The Largest Untamed Giant in Captivity.

Height, 21 Feet.—(And yet he has but 2 feet.)

Weight, 1640 Pounds.—(But he waits all the time.)

Age, 400 Years ‘and Up’ (as they say in the

Department Store advertisements).

Temper, Fierce and Ferocious.—(Except when asleep.)

Appetite, Ravenous.—(Prefers Meat People and Orange Marmalade.)

P. S.—Don’t feed the Giant yourself.”

“Very well,” said Ojo, with a sigh; “let’s go back.”

“It’s a long way back,” declared Dorothy.

“So it is,” remarked the Scarecrow, “and it

means a tedious climb over those sharp rocks if

we can t use this passage. I think it will be best

to run by the Giant’s cave as fast as we can go.

Mister Yoop seems to be asleep just now.”

But the Giant wasn’t asleep. He suddenly

appeared at the front of his cavern, seized the

iron bars in his great hairy hands and shook

them until they rattled in their sockets. Yoop

was so tall that our friends had to tip their heads

way back to look into his face, and they noticed

he was dressed all in pink velvet, with silver

buttons and braid. The Giant’s boots were of

pink leather and had tassels on them and his

hat was decorated with an enormous pink ostrich

feather, carefully curled.

“Yo—ho!” he said in a deep bass voice; “I smell

dinner.”

“I think you are mistaken,” replied the

Scarecrow. “There is no orange marmalade around

here.”

“Ah, but I eat other things,” asserted Mister

Yoop. “That is, I eat them when I can get them.

But this is a lonely place, and no good meat has

passed by my cave for many years; so I’m hungry.”

“Haven’t you eaten anything in many years?”

asked Dorothy.

“Nothing except six ants and a monkey. I thought

the monkey would taste like meat people, but the

flavor was different. I hope you will taste

better, for you seem plump and tender.”

“Oh, I’m not going to be eaten,” said Dorothy.

“Why not?”

“I shall keep out of your way,” she answered.

“How heartless!” wailed the Giant, shaking the

bars again. “Consider how many years it is since

I’ve eaten a single plump little girl! They tell

me meat is going up, but if I can manage to catch

you I’m sure it will soon be going down. And I’ll

catch you if I can.”

With this the Giant pushed his big arms,

which looked like tree-trunks (except that tree-trunks don’t wear pink velvet) between the iron

bars, and the arms were so long that they

touched the opposite wall of the rock passage.

Then he extended them as far as he could reach

toward our travelers and found he could almost

touch the Scarecrow—but not quite.

“Come a little nearer, please,” begged the

Giant.

“I’m a Scarecrow.”

“A Scarecrow? Ugh! I don’t care a straw for

a scarecrow. Who is that bright-colored delicacy

behind you?”

“Me?” asked Scraps. “I’m a Patchwork Girl,

and I’m stuffed with cotton.”

“Dear me,” sighed the Giant in a disapointed

tone; “that reduces my dinner from four to two—

and the dog. I’ll save the dog for dessert.”

Toto growled, keeping a good distance away.

“Back up,” said the Scarecrow to those behind

him. “Let us go back a little way and talk this

over.

So they turned and went around the bend in

the passage, where they were out of sight of the

cave and Mister Yoop could not hear them.

“My idea,” began the Scarecrow, when they

had halted, “is to make a dash past the cave,

going on a run.

“He’d grab us,” said Dorothy.

“Well, he can’t grab but one at a time, and

I’ll go first. As soon as he grabs me the rest of

you can slip past him, out of his reach, and he

will soon let me go because I am not fit to eat.”

They decided to try this plan and Dorothy

took Toto in her arms, so as to protect him. She

followed just after the Scarecrow. Then came

Ojo, with Scarps the last of the four. Their

hearts beat a little faster than usual as they again

approached the Giant’s cave, this time moving

swiftly forward.

It turned out about the way the Scarecrow had

planned. Mister Yoop was quite astonished to see

them come flying toward him, and thrusting his

arms between the bars he seized the Scarecrow in a

firm grip. In the next instant he realized, from

the way the straw crunched between his fingers,

that he had captured the non-eatable man, but

during that instant of delay Dorothy and Ojo had

slipped by the Giant and were out of reach.

Uttering a howl of rage the monster threw the

Scarecrow after them with one hand and grabbed

Scraps with the other.

The poor Scarecrow went whirling through the air

and so cleverly was he aimed that he struck Ojo’s

back and sent the boy tumbling head over heels,

and he tripped Dorothy and sent her, also,

sprawling upon the ground. Toto flew out of the

little girl’s arms and landed some distance ahead,

and all were so dazed that it was a moment before

they could scramble to their feet again. When they

did so they turned to look toward the Giant’s

cave, and at that moment the ferocious Mister Yoop

threw the Patchwork Girl at them.

Down went all three again, in a heap, with

Scraps on top. The Giant roared so terribly that

for a time they were afraid he had broken loose;

but he hadn’t. So they sat in the road and looked

at one another in a rather bewildered way, and

then began to feel glad.

“We did it!” exclaimed the Scarecrow, with

satisfaction. “And now we are free to go on

our way.

“Mister Yoop is very impolite,” declared

Scraps. “He jarred me terribly. It’s lucky my

stitches are so fine and strong, for otherwise such

harsh treatment might rip me up the back.”

“Allow me to apologize for the Giant,” said

the Scarecrow, raising the Patchwork Girl to

her feet and dusting her skirt with his stuffed

hands. “Mister Yoop is a perfect stranger to me,

but I fear, from the rude manner in which he

has acted, that he is no gentleman.”

Dorothy and Ojo laughed at this statement

and Toto barked as if he understood the joke,

after which they all felt better and resumed the

journey in high spirits.

“Of course,” said the little girl, when they had

walked a way along the passage, “it was lucky for

us the Giant was caged; for, if he had happened to

be loose, he—he—”

“Perhaps, in that case, he wouldn’t be hungry

any more,” said Ojo gravely.