Dawn brought Saturday to Nevergreen City and as Elmer slept snugly in his comfortable bed he was suddenly awakened by a damp cold kiss on his cheek.
“Wake up, wake up!” insisted a voice.
He opened his eyes and muttered, “It’s Saturday. No school today.”
“Elmer, wake up!” said the old alley cat, the same old alley cat that had told him all about the dragon and how to rescue him. “Elmer, we’ve got work to do. I just saw the dragon fly into the park. He must be in trouble. We’ll have to hurry to find him a hiding place before the city wakes up.”
“The dragon! Why, he only just brought me home!” Elmer jumped out of bed and into his clothes, and tiptoed down the stairs with the cat following behind.
Silently they crept out the front door, down the porch steps and into Evergreen Park. “You look this way. I’ll go down the other way,” said the cat.
“Where could a dragon hide?” wondered Elmer, looking at the rows of trees along the walks, the scattered rocks, the pool, and then at the place where the city was going to build an amusement center. A big steam shovel sat idly on the spot marked out for foundations. Elmer liked steam shovels and was just thinking of exploring this one when the shovel jiggled a bit.
“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 bird’s 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.
“I’m 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.
Elmer grabbed the dragon’s neck and held on as hard as he could. He didn’t dare open his eyes, but he could hear men shouting on the ship.
“Right, move it to the right! Faster, faster!”
“Left, now! Hey! I think something’s riding whatever it is!”
“Looks like a boy!” shouted another man.
And then the moon slipped behind a cloud-bank. The dragon escaped the beam of light, and flew frantically through the darkness while the light danced over the sky still looking for them.
“Good work!” said Elmer, feeling very dizzy and quite sick.
“But they saw us, both of us,” moaned the dragon.
“That’
s all right. They don’t know where we’re going, and we’ll have your whole family rescued by the time they decide what we are,” said Elmer, wondering if it would be wiser to finish eating his chocolate bar then or later. He was still feeling sickish.
“I hope you’re right,” muttered the dragon doubtfully.
On and on they flew until at dawn they were over Seaweed Bay and Due East Lookout. The dragon swung westward over Seaweed City and landed in a forest on Spiky Mountain Range. He was so tired that he fell asleep before he had time for a drink of water. Elmer finished his chocolate bar, ate another, and a whole box of Fig Newtons. Then he drank from the mountain stream and curled up beside the sleeping dragon.
Luckily, they didn’t know who had seen them over Seaweed City. Ever since Mr. Wagonwheel had glimpsed the dragon Thursday he had been trying to persuade his neighbors that he really had seen a Blue Demon. No one believed a word of his story, but he had bothered the whole town so much that they told him to report it to the Seaweed City police. He had planned to go on Sunday, but changed his mind in the middle of Saturday night. He woke Mrs. Wagonwheel. “You take care of the morning milking, and I’ll be back in time for dinner. I’m taking the horse and wagon.”
“But …,” said Mrs. Wagonwheel.
“I’m off!” said Mr. Wagonwheel, and Mrs. Wagonwheel heard the kitchen door slam behind him.
So, at dawn, just as he was trotting through the outskirts of Seaweed City, Mr. Wagonwheel looked up into the sky to see what sort of a day it was going to be. And he nearly fell out of his seat.
“The Blue Demon!” he screamed. “With a boy or something riding on its back!” He looked around wildly for someone to show it to, but nobody was in sight. And by the time he reached the police station and had found someone to listen to him, Elmer and the dragon were safely hidden in the forests of Spiky Mountain Range.
Chapter Nine
BLUELAND
Elmer and the dragon dozed on until late afternoon. They were both impatient to be off, but as Elmer said, “We’d only spoil everything by getting there before it’s dark enough.”
So they waited and rested and drank cool mountain water. The dragon munched ferns while Elmer ate his third chocolate bar.
“I can’t stand it any longer,” said the dragon, jumping up and shaking out his wings.
“All right,” said Elmer. “Let’s go!” He put on his knapsack and climbed onto the dragon’s back. They walked to a clearing in the woods, and the dragon took off across Awful Desert.
It was hot over the sands even in the late afternoon, and Elmer crouched over to hide from the burning winds. The dragon panted for air, but flew faster and faster, hardly daring to think what might have happened since he left. He kept muttering, “If only the sandstorms would start up! Where are the sandstorms? That would make the men leave us alone.”
When they came to the dry rocky slopes of Blueland the sun was low on the horizon, and they knew it would soon be dark inside the circle of mountains.
“Keep a sharp lookout,” warned the dragon as they picked their way through the boulders. “They may have men most anywhere.”
Up, up they went, slowly, quietly. At last they reached the gap between the peaks and Elmer gasped at the sight below him. The beautiful meadows of Blueland shone bright green, dotted with patches of snapdragons glowing white in the dimming light. And at the center the lake water reflected the pink of the sky. Suddenly it was gone into darkness as the sun set.
But the dragon had been straining to see across the lake and suddenly he grabbed Elmer for joy. “The men, I saw the men, and they were still standing outside the cave with the net. Maybe we’re not too late!”
He hurried Elmer down to the giant snapdragon bush which hid the entrance to the little tunnel. “I don’t think they found it,” he whispered happily as he pulled aside the roots and rocks.
“Neither do I,” agreed Elmer, looking all around to be sure he’d remember the spot. Then he took off his knapsack and unpacked one whistle, one horn, the flashlight and the ball of string.
“Lower your neck so I can measure the strings for your whistle and horn,” he said, getting out his jackknife.
“Why do I have to have them on strings?” asked the dragon.
“I don’t want you to drop them. If the men never see them, maybe they’ll never guess what happened.”
The dragon laughed, and tried out the strings to make sure he could reach the horn and whistle easily. “They’re fine,” he said. “Now I’ll wait here until you tell me it’s time. Look, the men are building a campfire. They must be having supper.”
“So much the better,” said Elmer as he started down into the tunnel with his knapsack. “But how will your family know I’m your friend?”
“Tell them Boris sent you.”
“Boris! Is that your name?”
“Yes,” said Boris uncomfortably. “I was embarrassed to tell you before.”
“It’s no worse than Elmer,” said Elmer.
“I suppose not, and it’s certainly not so bad as some in my family. I might as well tell you the rest. My sisters are Ingeborg, Eustacia, Gertrude, Bertha, Mildred and Hildegarde. And my brothers are Emil, Horatio, Conrad, Jerome, Wilhelm, Dagobert and Egmont. Can you imagine! But hurry! I can’t wait to hear what’s been happening to them all.”
Once inside the tunnel Elmer snapped on his flashlight and shot it over the damp walls. The ceiling was high enough so he could walk easily. Down, down he went, around curves, through small rooms and then more narrow tunnels until at last he came to the place where the dragon had got stuck. He heard scratching and scraping noises and he knew he must be very close to the dragon family.
“It’s Elmer Elevator, Boris’s friend,” he whispered as bravely as he could.
“Who?”
“Elmer Elevator, Boris’s friend. Boris is out at the entrance to the tunnel, and I’ve come to rescue you.”
“Turn off your light and come in,” whispered another voice, and Elmer walked slowly into the darkness. He stopped, and felt himself surrounded by huge forms breathing excitedly.
“We can’t tell you how grateful we are,” said the gigantic dragon mother.
“Never mind that,” whispered the father. “What’s your plan and how can we help? We’re almost starved to death.”
“Oh, have some chocolate bars,” said Elmer, generously giving away his last three. “Here, I’ll open them up for you, and divide each one into five pieces. I’m afraid it’s not much, but it ought to help a little.” He held his flashlight inside the knapsack and divided up the chocolate as he explained his plan. They all chuckled low dragon chuckles and began to feel much better.
Then Elmer made string necklaces for horns and whistles for all the dragons and carefully tied them on. He wanted to take a really good look at the tremendous family, but they were near the entrance to the cave and he had to keep the flashlight in the knapsack. As he took out his cap pistol he asked, “Do you know how heavy the net is, and how it’s fastened across the entrance?”
“No,” answered the dragon father.
“Well, I’d better look,” said Elmer. He quietly crept up toward the net, but the men were sitting close by and he didn’t dare get near enough to see it well.
“We’ll have to trust to luck,” he told the dragons as he started back through the tunnel to Boris.
Chapter Ten
ESCAPE
“Boris! Boris!” whispered Elmer from under the snapdragon bush.
“Are they all right? What’s happened?”
“Nothing’s happened. Everyone’s all right, and we’re ready to go. I couldn’t see the net, but we’ll hope for the best. Did you say one of the men is called Frank?”
“Yes. I heard them mention a Frank and an Albert.”
“Good. I’ll meet you here afterwards. I told your family you’d have to take me back and that you’d find them near here someplace.”
“Fine,” said the dragon. “I can’t wai
t.”
“All right, now. I’m going back. Remember, as soon as you hear my cap pistol the third time, you’re to make as much noise with the horn and whistle as you possibly can.”
Elmer turned back down into the tunnel and hurried to the big cave. Everyone was ready. “Boris will be your signal,” he explained. “As soon as you hear him blowing his horn and whistle, you’re all to blow as hard as you can in every direction. I’ll yell ‘Boris’ when it’s time to charge, but look carefully at the net before you try to pass by. I don’t know where the opening will be. Ready?” whispered Elmer, his heart pounding so hard he was sure it must echo through the cave.
“Ready!” whispered the fifteen waiting dragons. Elmer crept up close to the net. The men were unrolling blankets and getting ready for the night. There was no moon.
“Perfect!” thought Elmer. He took out his cap pistol and fired it once. Then, “Help! Help!” he cried in a gruff voice. “Get me out of here. I’m trapped!”
The men jumped up, tripping all over their blankets and bumping into one another.
“What was that?”
“Somebody’s in the cave!”
“Frank, Albert, help, help!” yelled Elmer again.
“Come on, let’s hurry,” said the men and they began moving great boulders off the edge of the net.
“So that’s how they fastened down the bottom,” thought Elmer. “That should make it easy.” Then he shot off his pistol again, and cried, “They got me! Help!”
The men frantically rolled away the boulders. Just as they began pulling aside the heavy net, Elmer shot off the pistol for the third time and ran back into the cave.
Boris heard the third shot and began blowing his whistle and horn and running up and down over the meadow. As the noise echoed over the lake the fifteen trapped dragons started in on their whistles and horns.
Noise roared wildly through the cave, back and forth across the lake, and echoed madly around the circle of mountains.