AbdulHannanMujawar/ch_development · Datasets at Hugging Face

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CHAPTER 2.

THE GLASS CITY


When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so
fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an
umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated
downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to bear.
The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great
crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to
overtake them at any moment. Crash after crash echoed far above their
heads, as the earth came together where it had split, and stones and
chunks of clay rattled around them on every side. These they could not
see, but they could feel them pelting the buggy top, and Jim screamed
almost like a human being when a stone overtook him and struck his
boney body. They did not really hurt the poor horse, because everything
was falling together; only the stones and rubbish fell faster than the
horse and buggy, which were held back by the pressure of the air, so
that the terrified animal was actually more frightened than he was
injured.

How long this state of things continued Dorothy could not even guess,
she was so greatly bewildered. But bye and bye, as she stared ahead into
the black chasm with a beating heart, she began to dimly see the form of
the horse Jim--his head up in the air, his ears erect and his long legs
sprawling in every direction as he tumbled through space. Also, turning
her head, she found that she could see the boy beside her, who had until
now remained as still and silent as she herself.

Dorothy sighed and commenced to breathe easier. She began to realize
that death was not in store for her, after all, but that she had merely
started upon another adventure, which promised to be just as queer and
unusual as were those she had before encountered.

With this thought in mind the girl took heart and leaned her head over
the side of the buggy to see where the strange light was coming from.
Far below her she found six great glowing balls suspended in the air.
The central and largest one was white, and reminded her of the sun.
Around it were arranged, like the five points of a star, the other five
brilliant balls; one being rose colored, one violet, one yellow, one
blue and one orange. This splendid group of colored suns sent rays
darting in every direction, and as the horse and buggy--with Dorothy and
Zeb--sank steadily downward and came nearer to the lights, the rays
began to take on all the delicate tintings of a rainbow, growing more
and more distinct every moment until all the space was brilliantly
illuminated.

Dorothy was too dazed to say much, but she watched one of Jim's big ears
turn to violet and the other to rose, and wondered that his tail should
be yellow and his body striped with blue and orange like the stripes of
a zebra. Then she looked at Zeb, whose face was blue and whose hair was
pink, and gave a little laugh that sounded a bit nervous.

"Isn't it funny?" she said.

The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak
through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came
together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.

"I--I don't s-s-see any-thing funny--'bout it!" he stammered.

[Illustration: HORSE, BUGGY AND ALL FELL SLOWLY.]

Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the
horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the
boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they
were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll
slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim
struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding
himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of
voice:

"Well, that's better!"

Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.

"Can your horse talk?" she asked.

"Never knew him to, before," replied the boy.

"Those were the first words I ever said," called out the horse, who had
overheard them, "and I can't explain why I happened to speak then. This
is a nice scrape you've got me into, isn't it?"

"As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves," answered Dorothy,
cheerfully. "But never mind; something will happen pretty soon."

"Of course," growled the horse; "and then we shall be sorry it
happened."

Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not
understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.

Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close
beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes,
and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded.
There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had
passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing

CHAPTER 2.

THE GLASS CITY

When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so

fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an

umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated

downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to bear.

The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great

crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to

overtake them at any moment. Crash after crash echoed far above their

heads, as the earth came together where it had split, and stones and

chunks of clay rattled around them on every side. These they could not

see, but they could feel them pelting the buggy top, and Jim screamed

almost like a human being when a stone overtook him and struck his

boney body. They did not really hurt the poor horse, because everything

was falling together; only the stones and rubbish fell faster than the

horse and buggy, which were held back by the pressure of the air, so

that the terrified animal was actually more frightened than he was

injured.

How long this state of things continued Dorothy could not even guess,

she was so greatly bewildered. But bye and bye, as she stared ahead into

the black chasm with a beating heart, she began to dimly see the form of

the horse Jim--his head up in the air, his ears erect and his long legs

sprawling in every direction as he tumbled through space. Also, turning

her head, she found that she could see the boy beside her, who had until

now remained as still and silent as she herself.

Dorothy sighed and commenced to breathe easier. She began to realize

that death was not in store for her, after all, but that she had merely

started upon another adventure, which promised to be just as queer and

unusual as were those she had before encountered.

With this thought in mind the girl took heart and leaned her head over

the side of the buggy to see where the strange light was coming from.

Far below her she found six great glowing balls suspended in the air.

The central and largest one was white, and reminded her of the sun.

Around it were arranged, like the five points of a star, the other five

brilliant balls; one being rose colored, one violet, one yellow, one

blue and one orange. This splendid group of colored suns sent rays

darting in every direction, and as the horse and buggy--with Dorothy and

Zeb--sank steadily downward and came nearer to the lights, the rays

began to take on all the delicate tintings of a rainbow, growing more

and more distinct every moment until all the space was brilliantly

illuminated.

Dorothy was too dazed to say much, but she watched one of Jim's big ears

turn to violet and the other to rose, and wondered that his tail should

be yellow and his body striped with blue and orange like the stripes of

a zebra. Then she looked at Zeb, whose face was blue and whose hair was

pink, and gave a little laugh that sounded a bit nervous.

"Isn't it funny?" she said.

The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak

through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came

together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.

"I--I don't s-s-see any-thing funny--'bout it!" he stammered.

[Illustration: HORSE, BUGGY AND ALL FELL SLOWLY.]

Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the

horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the

boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they

were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll

slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim

struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding

himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of

voice:

"Well, that's better!"

Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.

"Can your horse talk?" she asked.

"Never knew him to, before," replied the boy.

"Those were the first words I ever said," called out the horse, who had

overheard them, "and I can't explain why I happened to speak then. This

is a nice scrape you've got me into, isn't it?"

"As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves," answered Dorothy,

cheerfully. "But never mind; something will happen pretty soon."

"Of course," growled the horse; "and then we shall be sorry it

happened."

Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not

understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.

Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close

beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes,

and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded.

There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had

passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing