The wind blew hard and joggled
the water of the ocean, sending
ripples across its surface. Then
the wind pushed the edges of
the ripples until they became
waves, and shoved the waves around
until they became billows. The
billows rolled dreadfully high:
higher even than the tops of
houses. Some of them, indeed,
rolled as high as the tops of
tall trees, and seemed like mountains;
and the gulfs between the great
billows were like deep valleys.
All this mad dashing and splashing
of the waters of the big ocean,
which the mischievous wind caused
without any good reason whatever,
resulted in a terrible storm,
and a storm on the ocean is liable
to cut many queer pranks and
do a lot of damage.
At the time the wind began
to blow, a ship was sailing far
out upon the waters. When the
waves began to tumble and toss
and to grow bigger and bigger
the ship rolled up and down,
and tipped sidewise--first one
way and then the other--and was
jostled around so roughly that
even the sailor-men had to hold
fast to the ropes and railings
to keep themselves from being
swept away by the wind or pitched
headlong into the sea.
And the clouds were so thick
in the sky that the sunlight
couldn't get through them; so
that the day grew dark as night,
which added to the terrors of
the storm.
The Captain of the ship was
not afraid, because he had seen
storms before, and had sailed
his ship through them in safety;
but he knew that his passengers
would be in danger if they tried
to stay on deck, so he put them
all into the cabin and told them
to stay there until after the
storm was over, and to keep brave
hearts and not be scared, and
all would be well with them.
Now, among these passengers
was a little Kansas girl named
Dorothy Gale, who was going with
her Uncle Henry to Australia,
to visit some relatives they
had never before seen. Uncle
Henry, you must know, was not
very well, because he had been
working so hard on his Kansas
farm that his health had given
way and left him weak and nervous.
So he left Aunt Em at home to
watch after the hired men and
to take care of the farm, while
he traveled far away to Australia
to visit his cousins and have
a good rest.
Dorothy was eager to go with
him on this journey, and Uncle
Henry thought she would be good
company and help cheer him up;
so he decided to take her along.
The little girl was quite an
experienced traveller, for she
had once been carried by a cyclone
as far away from home as the
marvelous Land of Oz, and she
had met with a good many adventures
in that strange country before
she managed to get back to Kansas
again. So she wasn't easily frightened,
whatever happened, and when the
wind began to howl and whistle,
and the waves began to tumble
and toss, our little girl didn't
mind the uproar the least bit.
"Of course we'll have to stay
in the cabin," she said to Uncle
Henry and the other passengers, "and
keep as quiet as possible until
the storm is over. For the Captain
says if we go on deck we may
be blown overboard."
No one wanted to risk such
an accident as that, you may
be sure; so all the passengers
stayed huddled up in the dark
cabin, listening to the shrieking
of the storm and the creaking
of the masts and rigging and
trying to keep from bumping into
one another when the ship tipped
sidewise.
Dorothy had almost fallen asleep
when she was aroused with a start
to find that Uncle Henry was
missing. She couldn't imagine
where he had gone, and as he
was not very strong she began
to worry about him, and to fear
he might have been careless enough
to go on deck. In that case he
would be in great danger unless
he instantly came down again.
The fact was that Uncle Henry
had gone to lie down in his little
sleeping-berth, but Dorothy did
not know that. She only remembered
that Aunt Em had cautioned her
to take good care of her uncle,
so at once she decided to go
on deck and find him, in spite
of the fact that the tempest
was now worse than ever, and
the ship was plunging in a really
dreadful manner. Indeed, the
little girl found it was as much
as she could do to mount the
stairs to the deck, and as soon
as she got there the wind struck
her so fiercely that it almost
tore away the skirts of her dress.
Yet Dorothy felt a sort of joyous
excitement in defying the storm,
and while she held fast to the
railing she peered around through
the gloom and thought she saw
the dim form of a man clinging
to a mast not far away from her.
This might be her uncle, so she
called as loudly as she could:
"Uncle Henry!
Uncle Henry!"
But the wind screeched and
howled so madly that she scarce
heard her own voice, and the
man certainly failed to hear
her, for he did not move.
Dorothy decided she must go
to him; so she made a dash forward,
during a lull in the storm, to
where a big square chicken-coop
had been lashed to the deck with
ropes. She reached this place
in safety, but no sooner had
she seized fast hold of the slats
of the big box in which the chickens
were kept than the wind, as if
enraged because the little girl
dared to resist its power, suddenly
redoubled its fury. With a scream
like that of an angry giant it
tore away the ropes that held
the coop and lifted it high into
the air, with Dorothy still clinging
to the slats. Around and over
it whirled, this way and that,
and a few moments later the chicken-coop
dropped far away into the sea,
where the big waves caught it
and slid it up-hill to a foaming
crest and then down-hill into
a deep valley, as if it were
nothing more than a plaything
to keep them amused.
Dorothy had a good ducking,
you may be sure, but she didn't
loose her presence of mind even
for a second. She kept tight
hold of the stout slats and as
soon as she could get the water
out of her eyes she saw that
the wind had ripped the cover
from the coop, and the poor chickens
were fluttering away in every
direction, being blown by the
wind until they looked like feather
dusters without handles. The
bottom of the coop was made of
thick boards, so Dorothy found
she was clinging to a sort of
raft, with sides of slats, which
readily bore up her weight. After
coughing the water out of her
throat and getting her breath
again, she managed to climb over
the slats and stand upon the
firm wooden bottom of the coop,
which supported her easily enough.
"Why, I've got a ship of my
own!" she thought, more amused
than frightened at her sudden
change of condition; and then,
as the coop climbed up to the
top of a big wave, she looked
eagerly around for the ship from
which she had been blown.
It was far, far away, by this
time. Perhaps no one on board
had yet missed her, or knew of
her strange adventure. Down into
a valley between the waves the
coop swept her, and when she
climbed another crest the ship
looked like a toy boat, it was
such a long way off. Soon it
had entirely disappeared in the
gloom, and then Dorothy gave
a sigh of regret at parting with
Uncle Henry and began to wonder
what was going to happen to her
next.
Just now she was tossing on
the bosom of a big ocean, with
nothing to keep her afloat but
a miserable wooden hen-coop that
had a plank bottom and slatted
sides, through which the water
constantly splashed and wetted
her through to the skin! And
there was nothing to eat when
she became hungry--as she was
sure to do before long--and no
fresh water to drink and no dry
clothes to put on.
"Well, I declare!" she exclaimed,
with a laugh. "You're in a pretty
fix, Dorothy Gale, I can tell
you! and I haven't the least
idea how you're going to get
out of it!"
As if to add to her troubles
the night was now creeping on,
and the gray clouds overhead
changed to inky blackness. But
the wind, as if satisfied at
last with its mischievous pranks,
stopped blowing this ocean and
hurried away to another part
of the world to blow something
else; so that the waves, not
being joggled any more, began
to quiet down and behave themselves.
It was lucky for Dorothy, I
think, that the storm subsided;
otherwise, brave though she was,
I fear she might have perished.
Many children, in her place,
would have wept and given way
to despair; but because Dorothy
had encountered so many adventures
and come safely through them
it did not occur to her at this
time to be especially afraid.
She was wet and uncomfortable,
it is true; but, after sighing
that one sigh I told you of,
she managed to recall some of
her customary cheerfulness and
decided to patiently await whatever
her fate might be.
By and by the black clouds
rolled away and showed a blue
sky overhead, with a silver moon
shining sweetly in the middle
of it and little stars winking
merrily at Dorothy when she looked
their way. The coop did not toss
around any more, but rode the
waves more gently--almost like
a cradle rocking--so that the
floor upon which Dorothy stood
was no longer swept by water
coming through the slats. Seeing
this, and being quite exhausted
by the excitement of the past
few hours, the little girl decided
that sleep would be the best
thing to restore her strength
and the easiest way in which
she could pass the time. The
floor was damp and she was herself
wringing wet, but fortunately
this was a warm climate and she
did not feel at all cold.
So she sat down in a corner
of the coop, leaned her back
against the slats, nodded at
the friendly stars before she
closed her eyes, and was asleep
in half a minute.
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