The Dragons of Blueland (5 page)

"The dragon!" He climbed up quickly into the cab.

"Elmer!" whispered the baby dragon. "Oh, Elmer!" And the dragon burst into tears because he was so glad to see his friend.

"The alley cat saw you fly into the park," explained Elmer, hugging the dragon around the neck. "But why have you come back? Are you in trouble?"

"Terrible trouble," groaned the dragon, and he explained what had happened to his family. "You'll help me, won't you?" he pleaded.

"Of course," said Elmer. "Let's think out a plan. I suppose we'll have to wait until dark to leave."

"I suppose so," said the dragon sadly.

"But you'll be able to rest right here," said the cat, who had found them by this time. "It's Saturday, and the men won't start today. I'll keep meddlers away. Meanwhile, let's work on the plan."

The three friends discussed the problem all morning. Then Elmer went home for lunch. His mother was used to his long early morning walks, but she’d be suspicious if he didn't turn up for lunch.

That afternoon Elmer took all the money out of his tin bank and went to collect the things he would need. He bought:

16 whistles, of assorted tones 16 horns, of assorted tones 1 cap pistol, with caps 1 ball heavy string 6 large chocolate bars 3 boxes Fig Newtons He found his very sharp jackknife, and took a flashlight from the kitchen drawer. Then he carefully packed everything in his father's knapsack and went down to supper. He had $7.36 left over from the shopping.

"Elmer, what have you been doing all day?" asked his mother. "I haven't seen hide nor hair of you except for lunch."

"Oh, I've been over in the park looking at the place where they're going to build the amusement center," said Elmer, which was true in a way.

At last the moment came to sneak out with his knapsack and join the dragon at the steam shovel. As he ran down the path he saw the old alley cat waiting for him. "I'm sorry you can't come, too," said Elmer, climbing onto the dragon's back.

"So am I," said the cat sadly. "But I'm too old. I'm better off taking care of your mother and father. They do worry so. Well, goodbye! Good luck!"

"Goodbye!" whispered Elmer and the dragon as they flew up into the air.

Chapter Seven

THE DRAGONS OF BLUELAND

"Tell me more about your family," said Elmer as the dragon flew over the harbor and northward along the coast of Popsicornia. "Do you all look alike?"

"Oh, no. We've all got gold-colored wings and red feet and horns, but my father is blue and my mother is yellow. All my six sisters are green, ranging from yellow-green to blue-green.

We boys are all both blue and yellow. I have wide stripes, but two brothers have narrow stripes, one with the stripes going the other way; one has yellow polka dots on blue, and one blue polka dots on yellow; one has a yellow head and body and one leg, with three blue legs and tail; one is speckled blue and yellow like a birds egg; and the last has patches of blue and yellow."

"How wonderful! You must look like an Easter parade when you're all out together."

"I guess we do," said the dragon, "especially when Father has us doing our exercises. He's a great one for exercises."

"Exercises?" said Elmer.

"You know, standing on your head and somersaults and leapfrog and all that sort of thing. Of course, in the summer we spend most of our time mowing the meadows and tending to the flowers. Each one of us has a special part of Blueland to take care of. I wonder what's become of my piece. I suppose Mother has taken it over. I had the marshy part near the lakeside. That's why I'm so particularly fond of marsh marigolds and skunk cabbages."

"But what about in the wintertime?" asked Elmer, looking down at the line of waves breaking against the rocky shore in the moonlight. "It must be very cold and snowy, and not much fun for exercising."

"Oh, we do our exercises summer and winter. Father sees to that, and of course we have lots of fun sliding down the mountain slopes onto the frozen lake. But the winter is really fun because we sit in a circle in our cave and Father tells us scary stories about knights. It seems there used to be lots of knights who rode about just looking for dragons. They captured and

killed most all of us, but a few escaped to Blueland. My father says his grandfather could remember the knights very well, with their heavy coats of armor and lances and swords and helmets."

"Oh, sure. I've read about them in books," said Elmer. "But those dragons were always fierce and about to eat up somebody."

"Nonsense," said the dragon. "That's just what the knights liked to make people believe, so everybody would think they were very brave when they went dragon hunting. Dragons look fierce sometimes, but they're really very gentle.

That's why they finally ran away to Blueland. They wanted to be left alone. And now more men have decided to bother us. Goodness knows what they'll do to us this time. If only we get back in time! We can't possibly make it before tomorrow evening. That will make it over two days since I left."

"Oh, we'll save your family all right," said Elmer hopefully. "I can't wait to see them all." He snuggled up against the baby dragon's neck and dreamed of the rescue as they sped through the night toward the mountains of Blueland.

Chapter Eight

TO SPIKY MOUNTAIN RANGE

"Where are we going to rest tomorrow?" asked Elmer, biting off a corner of a chocolate bar to help him stay awake.

'Tm trying to get all the way to Spiky Mountain Range," said the dragon. "No more Mr. Wagonwheel for me if I can help it. He's an awful..."

"A searchlight!" interrupted Elmer as a beam of light shot up from below, lighting up the dragon's gold-colored wings.

"It's from that ship, Elmer. They saw me last night, too. Hold on tight. I'm going to try to dodge it!" yelled the dragon, swooping, diving up and down, swerving from side to side.