CHAPTER 13
Snip Meets the Blanks
On the night before Ozma received the mysterious warning, Snip and Mombi—as we well know—were making their way through the deep forest on the other side of Catty Corners. Each step was growing harder and harder for the weary little button boy. Holding the great goose in his arms, he staggered along, guided by the flicker of Mombi's lantern, stumbling over roots, brushing against trees and shivering with the clammy chill of midnight. The old witch seemed positively tireless and Snip had about decided he could go no further, when she stopped suddenly beside a rough stone well.
"Snip," wheezed Mombi craftily, "I'm thirsty. Now you're younger than I am. Just get me a drink, will you?" Her voice was so pleasant that Snip unsuspectingly set Pajuka on the ground and peered down into the dark depths of the well, while Mombi held the lantern. There was a chain at the side and, grasping it in both hands, Snip leaned over and began to haul up the bucket.
This was the chance Mombi had been waiting for all evening and, seizing Snip by the heels, she heartlessly tumbled him into the well. Her wicked shout of triumph and Snip's shrill outcry awakened Pajuka. Fluttering into the air, he made a great snatch at the disappearing little button boy.
Snip, on his part, clutching desperately at the rough stones to save himself, caught instead a handful of goose feathers and went plunging down into the dreadful darkness. Down, down, down he fell, like a lump of lead, to the very bottom. With eyes shut tight and clenched fists, Snip waited for the terrible bump that should end his fall. But instead of a bump, there was a soft thud and bounce and he found himself wedged fast in a padded bucket. The jar set the bucket in motion and for a moment Snip thought it was going to shoot up to the top again. Instead it began to move sideways, for opening out from the bottom of the well was a long, damp passageway, and the bucket swinging on a heavy cable shot rapidly along through this underground tunnel.
It was too dark for Snip to see but, stretching his arms carefully, he felt the walls above and at the side. Clearly the old witch had meant to destroy him, so she could work out her wicked plans undisturbed. "But maybe," whispered poor Snip, crouching low to keep from bumping his head, "maybe I can get out after all and manage to reach the Emerald City first and warn Ozma of Mombi's treachery. Then surely Ozma will help me find Pajuka and she, herself, can hunt for the lost King."
It was a long and terrible ride, and many times Snip's heart thumped so loudly that it drowned out the creak of the straining cable. Where under the earth was he going? Would the flying bucket never stop? Just as he was losing his courage entirely, Snip saw a star. The bucket had come to the end of the tunnel and was shooting up another well as swiftly as Snip had fallen down the first one. Almost as soon as he made this joyful discovery, the bucket reached the top, spilled him carelessly over the edge and dropped back with a hollow ring to the bottom.