L.Frank Baum. The marvelous land of Oz -
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respect. But since we cannot count seventeen by twos, sympathy is all you
are liable to get."
By this time it had become quite dark, and the voyagers found above
them a cloudy sky, through which the rays of the moon could not penetrate.
The Gump flew steadily on, and for some reason the huge sofa-body
rocked more and more dizzily every hour.
The Woggle-Bug declared he was sea-sick; and Tip was also pale and
somewhat distressed. But the others clung to the backs of the sofas and
did not seem to mind the motion as long as they were not tipped out.
Darker and darker grew the night, and on and on sped the Gump through
the black heavens. The travelers could not even see one another, and an
oppressive silence settled down upon them.
After a long time Tip, who had been thinking deeply, spoke.
"How are we to know when we come to the pallace of Glinda the Good?"
he asked.
"It's a long way to Glinda's palace," answered the Woodman; "I've
traveled it."
"But how are we to know how fast the Gump is flying?" persisted the
boy. "We cannot see a single thing down on the earth, and before morning
we may be far beyond the place we want to reach."
"That is all true enough," the Scarecrow replied, a little uneasily.
"But I do not see how we can stop just now; for we might alight in a
river, or on, the top of a steeple; and that would be a great disaster."
So they permitted the Gump to fly on, with regular flops of its great
wings, and waited patiently for morning.
Then Tip's fears were proven to be well founded; for with the first
streaks of gray dawn they looked over the sides of the sofas and
discovered rolling plains dotted with queer villages, where the houses,
instead of being domeshaped - as they all are in the Land of Oz - had