Page:The Royal Book of Oz.djvu/84

The Royal Book of Oz ing them imperiously ahead. They looked so threatening that Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion began to creep in the direction of a gloomy gray castle. Of the journey neither of them remembered a thing, for with the gaping and yawning Pokes it was almost impossible to keep awake. But they must have walked in their sleep, for the next thing Dorothy knew a harsh voice called slowly:

"Pokehim!"

Greatly alarmed, Dorothy opened her eyes. They were in a huge stone hall hung all over with rusty armor and seated on a great stone chair, snoring so loudly that all the steel helmets rattled, was a Knight. The tallest and crossest of the Pokes rushed at him with a long poker, giving him such a shove that he sprawled to the floor.

"So" yawned the Cowardly Lion, awakened by the clatter, "Knight has fallen!"

"PrisonersSir Hokus!" shouted the Chief Poker, lifting the Knight's plume and speaking into the helmet as if he were telephoning.

The Knight arose with great dignity, and after straightening his armor, let down his visor, and Dorothy saw a kind, timid face with melancholy blue eyesnot at all Pokish, as she explained to Ozma later.