Trot rubbed her eyes to prove that she was wide awake and seeing clearly, for her astonishment was great when the three lovely maidens turned into ugly, crooked hags again, leaning on broomsticks and canes. They jeered at Gloria, but the Princess regarded them with cold disdain. Being now free, she walked to a door, opened it and passed out. And the witches let her go.
Trot and Pon had been so intent upon this scene that in their eagerness they had pressed quite hard against the window. Just as Gloria went out of the house the window-sash broke loose from its fastenings and fell with a crash into the room. The witches uttered a chorus of screams and then, seeing that their magical incantation had been observed, they rushed for the open window with uplifted broomsticks and canes. But Pon was off like the wind, and Trot followed at his heels. Fear lent them strength to run, to leap across ditches, to speed up the hills and to vault the low fences as a deer would.
The band of witches had dashed through the window in pursuit; but Blinkie was so old, and the others so crooked and awkward, that they soon realized they would be unable to overtake the fugitives. So the three who had been summoned by the Wicked Witch put their canes or broomsticks between their legs and flew away through the air, quickly disappearing against the blue sky. Blinkie, however, was so enraged at Pon and Trot that she hobbled on in the direction they had taken, fully determined to catch them, in time, and to punish them terribly for spying upon her witchcraft.
When Pon and Trot had run so far that they were confident they had made good their escape, they sat down near the edge of a forest to get their breath again, for both were panting hard from their exertions. Trot was the first to recover speech, and she said to her companion:
'My! wasn't it terr'ble?'
'The most terrible thing I ever saw,' Pon agreed.
'And they froze Gloria's heart; so now she can't love you any more.'
'Well, they froze her heart, to be sure,' admitted Pon, 'but I'm in hopes I can melt it with my love.'
'Where do you s'pose Gloria is?' asked the girl, after a pause.
'She left the witch's house just before we did. Perhaps she has gone back to the King's castle,' he said.
'I'm pretty sure she started off in a diff'rent direction,' declared Trot. 'I looked over my shoulder, as I ran, to see how close the witches were, and I'm sure I saw Gloria walking slowly away toward the north.'
'Then let us circle around that way,' proposed Pon, 'and perhaps we shall meet her.'
Trot agreed to this and they left the grove and began to circle around toward the north, thus drawing nearer and nearer to old Blinkie's house again. The Wicked Witch did not suspect this change of direction, so when she came to the grove she passed through it and continued on.
Pon and Trot had reached a place less than half a mile from the witch's house when they saw Gloria walking toward them. The Princess moved with great dignity and with no show of haste whatever, holding her head high and looking neither to right nor left.
Pon rushed forward, holding out his arms as if to embrace her and calling her sweet names. But Gloria gazed upon him coldly and repelled him with a haughty gesture. At this the poor gardener's boy sank upon his knees and hid his face in his arms, weeping bitter tears; but the Princess was not at all moved by his distress. Passing him by, she drew her skirts aside, as if unwilling they should touch him, and then she walked up the path a way and hesitated, as if uncertain where to go next.
Trot was grieved by Pon's sobs and indignant because Gloria treated him so badly. But she remembered why.
'I guess your heart is frozen, all right,' she said to the Princess. Gloria nodded gravely, in reply, and then turned her back upon the little girl. 'Can't you like even me?' asked Trot, half pleadingly.
'No,' said Gloria.
'Your voice sounds like a refrig'rator,' sighed the little girl. 'I'm awful sorry for you, 'cause you were sweet an' nice to me before this happened. You can't help it, of course; but it's a dreadful thing, jus' the same.'
'My heart is frozen to all mortal loves,' announced Gloria, calmly. 'I do not love even myself.'
'That's too bad,' said Trot, 'for, if you can't love anybody, you can't expect anybody to love you.'
'I do!' cried Pon. 'I shall always love her.'
'Well, you're just a gardener's boy,' replied Trot, 'and I didn't think you 'mounted to much, from the first. I can love the old Princess Gloria, with a warm heart an' nice manners, but this one gives me the shivers.'
'It's her icy heart, that's all,' said Pon.
'That's enough,' insisted Trot. 'Seeing her heart isn't big enough to skate on, I can't see that she's of any use to anyone. For my part, I'm goin' to try to find Button-Bright an' Cap'n Bill.'
'I will go with you,' decided Pon. 'It is evident that Gloria no longer loves me and that her heart is frozen too stiff for me to melt it with my own love; therefore I may as well help you to find your friends.'
As Trot started off, Pon cast one more imploring look at the Princess, who returned it with a chilly stare. So he followed after the little girl.
As for the Princess, she hesitated a moment and then turned in the same direction the others had taken, but going far more slowly. Soon she heard footsteps pattering behind her, and up came Googly-Goo. a little out of breath with running.
'Stop, Gloria!' he cried. 'I have come to take you back to my mansion, where we are to be married.'
She looked at him wonderingly a moment, then tossed her head disdainfully and walked on. But Googly-Goo kept beside her.
'What does this mean?' he demanded. 'Haven't you discovered that you no longer love that gardener's boy, who stood in my way?'
'Yes; I have discovered it,' she replied. 'My heart is frozen to all mortal loves. I cannot love you, or Pon, or the cruel King my uncle, or even myself. Go your way, Googly-Goo, for I will wed no one at all.'
He stopped in dismay when he heard this, but in another minute he exclaimed angrily:
'You must wed me, Princess Gloria, whether you want to or not! I paid to have your heart frozen; I also paid the King to permit our marriage. If you now refuse me it will mean that I have been robbed—robbed—robbed of my precious money and jewels!'
He almost wept with despair, but she laughed a cold, bitter laugh and passed on. Googly-Goo caught at her arm, as if to restrain her, but she whirled and dealt him a blow that sent him reeling into a ditch beside the path. Here he lay for a long time, half covered by muddy water, dazed with surprise.
Finally the old courtier arose, dripping, and climbed from the ditch. The Princess had gone; so, muttering threats of vengeance upon her, upon the King and upon Blinkie, old Googly-Goo hobbled back to his mansion to have the mud removed from his costly velvet clothes.
Chapter Fifteen
Trot Meets the Scarecrow
Trot and Pon covered many leagues of ground, searching through forests, in fields and in many of the little villages of Jinxland, but could find no trace of either Cap'n Bill or Button-Bright. Finally they paused beside a cornfield and sat upon a stile to rest. Pon took some apples from his pocket and gave one to Trot. Then he began eating another himself, for this was their time for luncheon. When his apple was finished Pon tossed the core into the field.
'Tchuk-tchuk!' said a strange voice. 'What do you mean by hitting me in the eye with an apple-core?'
Then rose up the form of the Scarecrow, who had hidden himself in the cornfield while he examined Pon and Trot and decided whether they were worthy to be helped.
'Excuse me,' said Pon. 'I didn't know you were there.'
'How did you happen to be there, anyhow?' asked Trot.
The Scarecrow came forward with awkward steps and stood beside them.
'Ah, you are the gardener's boy,' he said to Pon. Then he turned to Trot. 'And you are the little girl who came to Jinxland riding on a big bird, and who has had the misfortune to lose her friend, Cap'n Bill, and her chum, Button-Bright.'
