"I am waiting for my people to come and rescue me," stated the boy, rising with great dignity from his bed of grass. Folding his arms, he looked haughtily out at the explorers. "Who are these men, Nikobo?" he inquired sternly. "Why have you brought them here?"
"Because they seemed friendly and speak your language," puffed the hippopotamus, beaming lovingly at her small charge. "Because I thought they might break these bars and set you free. They have a hollow log seventy times as large as the hollowed logs of the Leopard Men. In this they could easily carry you over the waters and back to your own people. I've tried to break this miserable hutch dozens of times," explained Nikobo, turning to Samuel Salt. "But the saplings are sunk so deep, I've been afraid I'd crush Tandy as well as the cage if I pushed too hard."
"Quite likely," said Samuel Salt, rapping the bars with his knuckles. "We'll have to fetch an ax from the ship. But who shut you up here, little Lubber, and how long have you been prisoner on this island?"
"Five months and a half," answered the boy after consulting one of the bars in the corner of his cage. "I've made a nick in this bar with my teeth for every day I have been here."
"Well, that's all over now, you poor child, you!" Ato's voice shook with indignation as he looked in at the little boy whose every rib showed plainly under the skin. In fact, a heap of grass and dried roots in the cage made the kind-hearted monarch shudder with distaste and sympathy. "You shall come with us and eat like a King," he promised, nodding his head cheerfully, "and learn to be an able-bodied seaman to boot." Instead of looking grateful or pleased, the boy whom the hippopotamus had called "Tandy" merely stood looking between the bars of his cage.
"Why should I go with you?" he said finally and wearily. "You look wild and dangerous to me, and far worse than the Leopard Men. Here, at least I have Kobo to take care of me, and who knows what further perils and hardships I should suffer at sea?"
"Ho! HO! And how do you like that, my lads?" Roger rocked backward and forward on Samuel Salt's shoulder. "The young one speaks truly. If you could but see yourselves, my Hearties." Now both Ato and Samuel had forgotten their plunge in the river, but with their hair and clothing still covered with mud and slime they looked the veriest rogues and rascals. And while Ato regarded himself with embarrassment and discomfiture, Samuel took a quick step forward.
"SO!" roared the great seaman angrily. "So, you don't trust us, eh? Well, stay here if you wish and grow up like a monkey. You look like a little wild man already."
"STOP!" Nikobo quivered all over with resentment. "You must not call Tandy a wild man."
"Don't mind." The boy drew the leopard skin around him with quiet dignity. "I can bear it. I have borne far worse. I can bear anything. I am a KING and the son of a King's son! Tell them to go away, Kobo."
"Now, Now, NOW! This is nothing but nonsense." Ato clapped his hands sharply. "However we look, my young squab, you are in good and royal company. My mate here, Captain Salt, is Captain of the Crescent Moon, Royal Explorer of Oz, and a Knight, besides. I, though at present a ship's cook, am King of the Octagon Isle, and Roger, here, is as Royal a Read Bird as ever wagged a bill and wing. If you say you are a King, we will have to believe you, though 'tis hardly credible." Ato stared with round eyes at the matted hair and dirty body of the little prisoner. "If you say you are a King we must believe you, but in return you must believe us, and stop all this hoity toity talk and clishmaclatter."
"He speaks the plain truth." Nikobo pressed her huge snout close to the bars. "Even I can detect the signs of royalty in this fat and goodly person whom I just this morning helped out of the river. You must go with them, Tandy, and they will carry you back to your own Kingdom."
"But I tell you, I'd rather stay here with YOU," wailed the little boy, relaxing a moment from his kingly and overbearing attitude.
"Roger, fetch the AX." Samuel Salt spoke so loud and sternly Nikobo lapsed into a shocked silence and Tandy hastily drew back into a far corner of his cage.
"Never argue with a sea-going man," whispered Ato, winking solemnly as Roger flew off to obey Samuel's order. Having settled the matter in his own mind, Samuel turned his back on Tandy and began to examine with deep interest the fungus growth on one of the gnarled old trees. "So you really are a King?" Leaning against the huge body of Nikobo, Ato folded his hands comfortably on his stomach and regarded the boy in the leopard skin earnestly. "Now what country do you hail from and what do they call you at home?"
"I am Tazander Tazah of Ozamaland," announced the boy proudly, "the land of the creeping bird and flying reptile. Ozamaland on the long continent of Tarara is my home."
"OZAMALAND!" shouted Samuel Salt, swinging round like a teetotum. "So there really IS such a place. I have always said so, Ato, but no one would believe me. Lies to the east of here, doesn't it, sonny, and is twice as large as any known land bordering on the Nonestic?" Somewhat impressed to find that Samuel Salt knew something of his homeland, the little boy nodded. "And do you suppose we could snare one of those creeping birds and flying reptiles if we managed to reach Ozamaland?" Grasping the bars of the cage, Samuel peered anxiously into the young King's face.
"Do you suppose you ever could reach Ozamaland?" sighed Tazander, returning Samuel's eager look with gloomy aloofness. "Do you know that a ship has never touched our shores?"
"Then the Crescent Moon shall be the first!" cried Samuel Salt, snapping his fingers joyfully. "Why, this will be tremendous and the most momentous discovery in a thousand years! But how do you happen to be so far from Ozamaland yourself?" asked Samuel Salt immediately afterward. "Did you come by air or sea?"
"That I cannot tell." Tazander seated himself soberly on a log before he continued. "One night I was sleeping soundly in my tower in the White City, next thing I remember I was here in this jungle. The Leopard Men, wild and savage as they were, fed me when they remembered on raw fish and chunks of hard, bitter bread they made from the roots of the Brima Tree. But I could not understand their talk, nor they mine, and till Kobo found me a month after my imprisonment I had no one to talk to at all. But she has come every day to keep me company and try to set me free, and since the Leopard Men were drowned she has fed me, too. See, through this little door." Tazander opened a small door in the bars and stuck both hands through.
"But how did you learn the language?" asked Ato, turning round to gaze up into Nikobo's huge face.
"I don't know," said Nikobo with an excited gulp. "I just started to say 'Hello!' and instead of saying it in hippopotamy, there I was talking a strange language which I could understand as well as my own. And in this language Tandy answered me, much to my delight and pleasure."
"Strange, very strange." Ato shook his head in a puzzled manner. "Well, all I say is, it was lucky for this small fellow that you happened along, and once we have him aboard he'll soon forget all these hardships and unpleasant experiences."
"I'll never forget Kobo," said the young King, backing stiffly away from the outstretched arms of Ato.
"And Kobo'll never forget YOU," sniffed the hippopotamus. "The talk of the river people seems dull and stupid since I've talked to Tandy. None of the herd really need me and I don't know what I'm going to do—whoo—Hoo HOO WHOOO!" Rocking from side to side, Nikobo began to sob as if her heart would break, so violently in fact, Samuel Salt covered both ears and Ato, alarmed at the enormous grief of the gigantic beast, tried to put his arms around her.
"Here, here!" begged the ship's cook, thumping her hard upon the back. Opening the bag of biscuits Roger had brought from the ship, Ato handed two to Tandy and began shoving the rest as fast as he could down the vast throat of the grief-stricken hippopotamus. After each biscuit, Nikobo choked and sobbed to herself, but on the whole, they seemed to comfort her, and when the Read Bird finally returned with the ax she watched almost cheerfully as Samuel Salt, with well-aimed blows, demolished Tandy's jungle cage. As the last side crashed down and without giving Tandy time to argue any further, Samuel Salt seized the boy firmly in both arms and set him down on the back of the hippopotamus. Then, giving Ato a hand up behind him, the Captain of the Crescent Moon sternly led the way to the edge of the island. Roger, waving an Oz flag, flew ahead screaming defiantly to the monkeys and parrots that infested the island, "WAY, WAY! Way for the Royal Discoverer of Oz! Way for the King of the Octagon Isle! Way for Nikobo, Little Daughter of the Biggenlittle River People. Way for Tazander Tazah, King and son of a King's son! WAY—ay—ayyyy!"
CHAPTER 7
Strange Specimens for Samuel Salt
With no one to challenge their going but the birds and monkeys, the little band made its way back to the sandy beach. Tandy, perhaps because he had been so long pent up in the silent jungle and because he was by nature a naturally sober and solemn little boy, said nothing. Not even the Crescent Moon, riding so proudly at her anchor, seemed to arouse any interest or enthusiasm in this strange young Ozamalander.
"Well, here we are!" exclaimed Ato, heartily thankful to be in sight of the ship again. "And I hope you'll not mind ferrying us out to the boat, Nikobo; those crocodiles still look hungry and I've no notion of being crocked for the rest of my life."
"Any time you say," grunted the hippopotamus, squeaking a listless greeting to a company of her own relatives who were rolling lazily about in the muddy river water.
"Avast and belay and what's the hurry?" Leaning his ax against a tree, Samuel moistened a finger and held it up. "The wind's against us, Mate, so we'll have to wait for the tide. Not only that, but Roger and I must survey the island and dig up some more interesting specimens to take back to the ship." After a long and rather quizzical look at Tandy, Samuel turned and swung along the beach, the Read Bird flapping joyously behind him.
"Run up and down a bit," advised Ato, sliding down from Nikobo's back. "Your legs must need stretching. Wonder if there's anything to eat around here or hereabouts? Aha, those look like oranges, a wild orange grove, as I'm a cook and a seaman. Come along, young one, and help me gather a few."
"A King and son of a King's son does not come and go at another's bidding," announced Tandy, stiffly, alighting from the hippopotamus.
"Merciful mothers! What's this?" gasped Ato, blinking his eyes rapidly. "As complete a case of ingrowing Royalitis as I've ever had the misfortune to encounter. Well, since it's every King for himself, then I'll be leaving you, sonny and son of a King's sonny. Watch out for him, Kobo, he's probably real important to himself."
"You should not speak like that," reproved the hippopotamus as Ato disappeared into the orange grove, "after all, the big and fat one is himself a King."
"Pooh, King of some potty little island," sniffed Tandy, leaning wearily against a palm. "Break me a cocoanut, Kobo, I'm thirsty." With a discouraged sigh Nikobo trod on one of the cocoanuts, cracking it from end to end and then, because she was a generous and kindly creature, she cracked several more for Ato when he should return. Sitting back on her haunches, she anxiously watched while Tandy downed the cocoanut milk, then, stretching out in the sand, fell unconcernedly asleep. Thus Ato found them when he emerged from the orange grove an hour later. His elegant explorer's cape was knotted to form a sack and bursting full of the small sweet fruit of the wild orange trees.
"These will make us a fine mess of marmalade when I get back to the ship," panted the perspiring monarch, settling down with his back cozily to Nikobo's. "How's young Saucebox?"
"All right." The hippopotamus nodded in Tandy's direction. "He is so small and tired," she murmured worriedly, "and you must know he has been exposed in an open cage in the jungle for five long months with only a miserable hippopotamus for company."
"Miserable hippopotamus," snorted Ato indignantly. "You're a very superior animal, my girl. I'd consider it an honor to converse with you any day. Did you crack these cocoanuts for me?" As Nikobo, trying bashfully to conceal her pleasure at Ato's praise, admitted she had, the King took several long, satisfying draughts from the shells. "Now, don't you worry about that young sprout," he advised kindly as Nikobo continued to gaze mournfully at the sleeping boy. "We'll make allowances for his High and Mighty Littleness and set him down in his own country. That is, if we ever manage to find it, though I must say he'll not be much use nor company for us. Ahoy! Here comes Sammy. Wonder what he's found?" As a matter of fact, the Royal Explorer of Oz looked more like a walking window box than a seaman. Long vines hung from his neck and trailed from his pockets. His arms were crammed with spiked and prickly plants and on his head he balanced a package of sea shells tied up in his shore-going coat.
"What you going to do, start a conservatory?" roared Ato as Roger helped the Captain set his treasures on the ground.
"Rare and unusual, all of 'em," said Samuel, dropping down beside Ato and looking with complete satisfaction at his curious collection.
"Mind those yellow creepers," warned Nikobo, wiggling her vast snout warningly. "Those purple flowered plants in the middle are treacherous, too. They are tumbleweeds, Master Long Legs, and 'tis from them Patrippany Island gets its name. When the Leopard Men fought, they would fling these weeds at one another, and I've seen them falling about for hours, neither side being able to advance a step or even stand up."
"Tumbleweeds!" breathed Samuel ecstatically. "You don't SAY! Why, these might come in real handy if we ever get in a tight place. I'll give a few to the Wizard of Oz and to the Red Jinn when we get back from this voyage. And what about the yellow creepers, Mate? Are they fighting plants, too?"
"The creepers, if uprooted and thrown at an animal or man, will creep rapidly after him, catching him no matter how fast he runs and tying him up so tight he will not be able to move until the vine withers," explained Nikobo solemnly. "I happen to know from an experience I had with one of these vines in my early youth."
"Creeping vines," shivered Ato, moving as far away from Samuel's collection as possible. "Just keep them away from me, Sammy. What right have such things on a ship?"
"Oh, they'll be harmless enough when they're potted," answered Samuel easily. "And a splendid weapon they'll make for some up and coming country."
"Better keep them for ourselves," advised Roger, fluttering down to Samuel's shoulder. "Exploring's a dangerous business, if you ask me, Master Salt."
"Well, you'll have to admit that it's been pretty safe and successful so far," said Samuel, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing contentedly up at the waving fronds of the palm trees.
"SAFE!" The ship's cook began to shake and quiver all over. "Ho, ho! Safe? Especially sailing round that volcano and going swimming with the crocodiles! Safe! You'll be the death of me yet, Sam-u-el. Have you planted your Oz flags and told the wild creatures in the jungle about their new sovereign?"
Roger nodded his head importantly. "We've raised Oz flags on the tallest trees on the East, South, West and North sides of the Island. I flew across and got a bird's eye view while the Captain walked clear 'round. We've discovered it's bean shaped, King dear, the exact shape of a kidney bean, and a fine fertile place for settlers and prospectors from Oz."
"Yes, all they have to do is cut down a million trees, drain the swamps and train the wild beasts in the jungle to be as polite and considerate as Nikobo here."
"Well, what of it? That's their problem." Samuel stretched himself, luxuriously snapping each finger to see that it was still working. "And now, since our part is done, what do you say to waking this son of a King's son and getting aboard the ship? The tide'll run out in a couple of hours and carry us along." Tazander had been awake for some time listening to the conversation with closed eyes. Now sitting up, he calmly spoke his mind.
"I'm not going with you," he stated grandly. "I'm going to stay here with Kobo till my own people come for me."
"Hah! Mutiny!" Leaping to his feet, Samuel glared down at the puny youngster with real anger and exasperation. "If you think I'm going to leave you on this island to be devoured by wild animals when Nikobo's back is turned, you don't know your pirates. CLIMB up on that animal. Lively, now!" Samuel looked so fierce and threatening, Ato felt rather sorry for the stubborn little King, but he was wasting his sympathy.
"I'm not going," said Tandy, settling more determinedly down into the sand. "And no one can make me."
"Don't say that! Don't say that!" Blubbering with grief at the thought of losing her small charge and shivering with anxiety lest he arouse to further anger this tall sea captain, Nikobo lumbered to her feet and began to whisper eagerly in Tandy's ear. During this short conference Samuel gathered up his specimens and Ato his oranges, and when both had finished the hippopotamus edged nervously forward.
"I've decided to go with you," she announced in a slightly shaken voice. "If I go, Tandy'll go, so I'll just GO!"
"WHAT?" roared Samuel Salt, dropping his shells and clapping his hand to his forehead. "Well, that practically solves everything!" Looking wildly from the hippopotamus to the Crescent Moon, Samuel had a dreadful vision of Nikobo rolling dangerously from side to side of his cherished vessel.
"What'll you eat?" demanded Roger, who was ever more practical than polite. "How'll we ever feed this enormous lady, Cook dear? Besides, she'll sink the ship."
"I'll be very quiet and stay wherever you put me," murmured Nikobo in a meek voice. "I'll go on a diet and eat whatever is left."
"Well, why couldn't she go?" proposed Ato, who already had formed a great liking for Tandy's devoted guardian. "Why couldn't she? Nice kind motherly creature that she is!"
"But a hippopotamus needs fresh water and tons of food and—" Then suddenly Samuel brought his hands together with a resounding smack.
"Have you thought of something?" asked Ato hopefully, shifting his oranges from one shoulder to the other.
"Yes," stated the former Pirate solemnly, "I have." Samuel was secretly delighted to have found a way to carry this superb herbivorous specimen back to Oz. "I'll build her a raft and tow her along after the ship. We'll stop at all the islands we come to for fresh water and grass, and meanwhile she'll have to do with salt baths and such food as we have in the hold."
"Oh, KOBO! Did you hear that?" Springing up with the first signs of life or feeling he had yet shown, Tandy flung himself on his huge champion and friend. "So you're really going. Then I'll go too."
"Can't be all bad, if he's as fond of her as all that," whispered Ato in Samuel's ear.
"Not bad, just a pest," wheezed Samuel, reaching for his ax. "Needs a taste of the rope, if you ask me." Then, while Nikobo went for a last swim in the Biggenlittle River and bade goodbye to her numerous and wondering relatives, Samuel felled trees, split wood, and with nails Roger fetched from the ship fashioned a splendid strong raft for their new pet. Round the edge he built a sturdy railing to keep Nikobo from sliding off in a rough sea. Ato and Roger, taking thought for the evening meal, heaped one end of the raft with grass and twigs and all the jungle roots they could gather. Without moving or offering to help, Tandy sat watching, and just as the sun sank down behind the palms, a strange procession started out for the Crescent Moon. Ahead with the keg of nails soared Roger. Then came the hippopotamus moving like a small dreadnought through the water. On her back sat Ato, the haughty young King of Ozamaland, and Samuel Salt. Samuel rode last, holding in his hand the long cable he had attached to the raft and with which he meant to fasten it to the Crescent Moon.
Following his orders, Nikobo swam close to the side of the ship so Tandy and Ato could climb the rope ladder, then she paddled round to the stern where Samuel drew his cable through an iron ring in the ship's hull and made the raft fast. There was a runway at the back of the raft and the rails on that side let down so that Nikobo had no trouble clambering aboard. By pulling a rope with her teeth, she could raise or lower the back of her pen and take a swim whenever she felt the need of one. After giving her a bit of advice about voyaging, and seeing her comfortably settled, Samuel climbed the cable and nimbly pulled himself aboard his ship. Roger had already stowed their precious specimens in the hold and rubbing his hands with brisk satisfaction, the Captain of the Crescent Moon weighed anchor and dropped with the tide down the Biggenlittle River to the sea. Then touching the automatic controls, he set his sails to catch the evening breeze, adjusted his steering gear for a course east by sou'east and strode happily into his cabin. The Salamander chirped cheerfully as he passed her hot box and after tapping a cheerful greeting on the lid, the weary explorer stripped off his ruined and muddy shore-going outfit, took a shower and climbed thankfully back into his old sea clothes.
"Where's the pest?" he called out as Roger flew past the open port.
"Well, since he was so small and important," sniffed the Read Bird, waving a claw, "I gave him a large cabin to himself. I didn't think you and Ato would want him in here."
"Shiver my timbers, NO." Samuel looked ruefully across at the small berth the Philadelphia boy occupied on their last voyage. "He'll never be the seaman Peter was, nor the company either. He'd better keep out of my way, HAH! or I'll give him a taste of my belt." Snatching up his spyglass and looking as stern as a kind-hearted pirate well can, Samuel hurried out on deck.
Meanwhile, in the cabin next to the Captain's, Tandy stood regarding himself mournfully in the small glass over his sea chest. He too had taken a shower and at Roger's suggestion had donned one of Peter's old pirate suits.
"I am a King and the son of a King's son," muttered Tandy, staring sadly at the sallow reflection in the mirror. To tell the truth, the suit was not in the least becoming to the skinny and sullen young monarch.
"I am a King and son of a King's son and can bear anything," he repeated dismally.
"Then bear a hand with the dinner," yelled Roger, who had been peeking at him through the port hole. "All who eat must work, and under the hatches with lubbers!"
Pretending not to hear, Tandy sat resignedly on the side of his bunk, though he really was curious to look around the ship and see what Kobo was doing. From the galley came the cheerful rattle of pots and pans and the huge voice of Ato singing as he prepared the dinner. Gulls flew in excited circles all round the Crescent Moon, calling out their hoarse challenge and farewell, and Samuel Salt, leaning on the taffrail, gazed dreamily back at Patrippany Island. The Oz flags fluttering from the tall palms gave it quite a gay and festive appearance and in spite of not seeing the Leopard Men, Samuel felt he had done a good day's discovering.
"Ahoy, below! How you coming?" called Samuel, leaning down to look at Nikobo. The hippopotamus wagged her huge head.
"Fine! Just fine, Mate," she wheezed pleasantly.
"Hah! Good for you!" Samuel's face broke into a broad grin as Kobo remembered to call him "Mate." "We'll make an able-bodied seawoman of you yet, my lass!"
CHAPTER 8
Maxims for Monarchs
When Ato, banging boisterously on an iron frying pan with a wooden spoon, summoned all hands to dinner, Samuel and Roger responded with a rush. But Tandy remained sitting gloomily on his bunk.
"Now what's the matter?" demanded Samuel Salt as Roger, sent to call the young voyager, came flying back to the table.
"He says I may serve his dinner in the cabin," snickered Roger, popping a biscuit into his mouth and swallowing it whole.
"Well, don't you do it!" roared the Captain, bringing his fist down with an angry thump. "No use to start such nonsense!"
"But he's so thin and feeble. The poor child's just full of raw roots and jungle grass," murmured Ato, beginning to heap a platter with meat and vegetables. "Wait till he folds himself round some of these seafarin' rations. He'll be a different person."
"And he'd better be!" rumbled the Captain of the Crescent Moon, pulling in his chair. "And if you and Roger want to spoil the little pest, go ahead, but he'd better keep out of MY way. HAH!"
"I could drop the dinner on his head," suggested Roger helpfully as Ato handed him an appetizing tray for Tandy. "How would that be?"
"Utterly reprehensible, and conduct unbecoming in a Royal Read Bird and able-bodied seaman," chuckled the ship's cook, shaking his finger at Roger. "Why don't you try to help the little beggar and set him a good example?"
Now Roger, in spite of his sharp tongue, was really a sociable and kind-hearted bird and the sight of Tandy sitting so forlornly on his bunk made him regret his teasing speeches. After all, the little fellow was far from home and had had a hard time in the jungle.
"Here!" he puffed, setting down the tray and lighting the lantern. "This'll put feathers on your chest, young one, and mind you eat every scrap."
"Thank you," answered Tandy, so drearily that Roger with a shudder of distaste fled back to the cheerful company of Samuel and Ato. But later, when Samuel had gone below to pot the precious plants from Patrippany Island and the ship's cook was leaning over the rail conversing cozily with the hippopotamus, Roger flew back to Tandy's cabin resolved to help him if he could. With calm satisfaction he noted that Tandy had eaten everything on the tray. Lying on his back, the young King of Ozamaland was staring solemnly up at the beams over his bunk.
"Ahoy! And what goes on here?" cried Roger, setting down on the old sea chest. "How about a turn on deck, my lad, and a bit of chatter with the crew?"
"It is not seemly for a King and son of a King's son to talk with his inferiors," observed Tandy coldly.
"In-feer-iors!" screamed Roger, forgetting all his good intentions and mad enough to nip the youngster's nose right off. "Are you by any chance referring to me?"
"Ozamaland is a great and powerful country and I am its King," stated Tandy, turning his back on the Read Bird. At this Roger let out another screech, and then suddenly remembering the purpose of his visit, took a long breath to steady himself. When he spoke again his voice was both calm and reasonable.
"Ozamaland may be a great and powerful country and you may also be its King, but remember you are no longer in Ozamaland," explained Roger firmly. "You are on this ship by the express wish and kindness of the Captain and in the company of Kings and BETTER. WAIT!" Shaking a claw at Tandy's back, Roger flew off to fetch one of Ato's books from the shelf above the stove. Tandy was in the same position when he returned, but paying him no further attention, Roger pulled the lamp nearer and opened his volume.
"When a King is in the company of Kings," began the Read Bird impressively, "he is no longer a special or royal being, but merely a man among men, and as such must maintain his honor and standing by sheer worth and ability alone."
"Who says that? What are you reading?" Tandy sat up with sudden interest, for his whole life had been spent in study and reflection and the voice of the Read Bird was not unlike the voice of Woodjabegoodja, his royal instructor at home.
"I am reading Maxims for Monarchs," answered Roger calmly, "a book of great authority and antiquity that has been used by the Rulers of Oz and Ev and the Nonestic Islands these many thousand years. No great and important country would think of being without a copy of this book," he continued severely.
"Strange, then, that I should not have heard of it," mused Tandy, looking not quite so sure of himself. "We have no Maxims for Monarchs in Ozamaland."
"Pooh, Ozamaland!" Roger dismissed the whole country with a shrug of his wing. "A country as young and unimportant as that would probably know nothing about such matters."
"You mean my country is not so old nor important as Oz and this two-penny island of your fat Master?" shouted Tandy angrily.
"Of course not. Why, it's not even been discovered, and whoever has been there?" demanded Roger disdainfully. "Take you, as its King, acting in this small up-country fashion—what CAN a fellow think? Here—" Shoving the book toward the disagreeable young monarch, the Read Bird urged him to look for himself. With a puzzled frown Tandy reread the passage Roger had just quoted.
"Well, even though your Master is a King, you're not a King and neither is Samuel Salt," said Tandy, looking at Roger with some of his former arrogance.
"Oh, isn't he? Well, just lay to this, young fellow," Roger shook his claw under Tandy's upturned nose. "Samuel Salt is Captain of this ship, a Knight and the Royal Discoverer of Oz, which makes him seventy times as important as you, King Pins. He not only is boss of the Crescent Moon, but he rules the sea, discovering countries for other Kings to govern, and if it were not for Samuel Salt and people like him, there wouldn't be any Kingdoms nor people like you to run them. See? As for me, I'm a Royal Read Bird and wouldn't be a King for a minute. I can live my own life and go and come as I please."
"Then while I'm on this ship I'm not a King at all," said Tandy wonderingly. "Then what am I? What am I supposed to do?" The little boy looked puzzled and positively frightened.
"Why, you're supposed to act like a person, that is, if possible," sniffed Roger, reaching over for his book and looking at Tandy sideways down his bill. "What are you besides a King? What can you do that is useful or interesting?"
"Do, DO?" Tandy's voice rose shrilly. "Why—er—why, I can draw pictures and ride an elephant."
"Good!" Roger put up his claw to hide the grin that, in spite of his best efforts, began to spread round his bill. "Well, there isn't much call for drawing or elephant riding on a ship, but you can draw water to swab the decks and I'll teach you to ride the yards and follow the crosstrees to the main topgallant mast in the blowingest blow that ever blowed. And depend upon it, young one, you'll have more fun as a person than you ever had as a King. There's no place for having fun like a ship!"
"Fun!" said Tandy flatly and inquiringly. "What's that?"
"Tar and tobaccy jack! What are you tellin' me?" Roger almost toppled off the sea chest. "Do you mean to sit there like a dumb image and tell me you've never had any fun? Never felt so bursting full of ginger and happiness you could sing or do a sailor's horn pipe?"
"It is not seemly—" began the boy in a staid voice. "It is—"
"Seemly! Great goosefeathers, are you alive or aren't you?" gasped Roger. "What in paint did you do in that cussed country of yours before you got carried off and penned up like a pig in the jungle?"
Considering Roger's question, Tandy clasped and unclasped his hands nervously. "Well, you must know," he began in a very grown-up voice, "the King of Ozamaland is not allowed to mingle with the common people. In all things he is alone and set apart. So it was with my father and mother before they disappeared. So it is with me. Furthermore, it being prophesied that I would be carried off by an aunt in the middle years of my youth, it was deemed expedient and necessary to keep me locked away from danger in the White Tower of the Wise Men."
"Hurumph!" grunted the Read Bird, who had not heard so many long words since the voyage began. "And what did you do in this precious tower?"
"I studied," sighed Tandy, reclining wearily back on his pillows, "for there are many things a King must learn. But one hour of every evening I was permitted to walk about the garden on top of the tower and look down upon my Kingdom. On very great occasions I was allowed to come out and ride the white elephant in the grand processions of state."
"Humph!" grunted Roger again, looking at Tandy with round dismayed eyes. "And with whom did you play?" he asked after a little silence.
"Play?" Again Tandy's voice was politely inquiring.
"The word was play," insisted the Read Bird doggedly. "With whom did you run about, play tag, checkers, pirates or go fishing?"
Tandy looked confused and Roger shook his head sorrowfully. "Never heard of such things!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Well, all I can say is, whoever carried you off and shut you up in that jungle cage did you a real service. If you had not been there we never would have found you and I'm here to tell you that from now on things are going to be different. You're discovered now and aboard the grandest ship afloat. You can forget all about being a King and start right in being a person and an able-bodied seaman. I for my part mean to see you have some fun or break a wing in the attempt."
"But would a King—"
"King! Never let me hear that terrible word again," shuddered Roger, sticking his head under his wing and then popping it comically out again. "From now on, you're plain Tandy and can do as you plain please so long as it does no harm to yourself or the ship. Understand? And tomorrow we'll start having fun, so be ready." Roger's promise sounded almost like a threat, but there was such a merry twinkle in his eye, Tandy began to feel interested. "You might even begin tonight," sniffed Roger, taking up the tray. "Just begin by thinking of something you want to do. Think about it hard and then DO it." Winking cheerfully over the empty plates, the Read Bird spread his wings and sailed through the port.
For several minutes Tandy lay where he was, turning Roger's last injunction over and over in his stiff, precise little mind. What DID he really want to do? At first he could think of nothing. Then suddenly he knew. Why, of course—he wanted to talk to Kobo and he just plain WOULD. There was a frosted cake left from his supper, and slipping it into his blouse, Tandy stepped quietly out on deck. The ship, with only a slight roll, was moving briskly through the water, white foam falling in lacy spray from her sides, the moon-white sails spread like giant wings above his head. There was no one in sight, and almost holding his breath, Tandy tiptoed aft and leaned adventurously over the taffrail.
"Kobo—Yo KOBO!" he called huskily.
"Hello! I thought you'd be out soon." Swinging round and turning her vast smile upward, the hippopotamus gazed fondly at her young charge. "Are you comfortable? Did you have a good dinner?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes, and look what I saved for you!" As he spoke, Tandy glanced over his shoulder as if he were almost afraid to have anyone see him enjoying himself. "Open your mouth, Kobo!" he whispered eagerly. Without hesitation or question the hippopotamus stretched her jaws wide and Tandy with the first real thrill of his life flung the frosted cake into that immense pink cavern. As Kobo neatly caught and snapped her lips on the tempting morsel Tandy let out a faint cheer and began to think there might be something in Roger's suggestions after all. "I'll throw you lots of things tomorrow," he promised gaily. "Good night, Kobo. Good night, Kobo dear."
Humming a tuneless little song, the young King hurried almost cheerfully back to his cabin. Pausing in the doorway of his tidy quarters, he looked about complacently. What did he want to do next? There was no one to tell him to go to bed, so he just plain wouldn't. He'd sit up as late as he plain pleased. Rummaging through Peter's sea chest, which Ato had placed near his bunk, Tandy found a large tablet of stiff paper, a box of paints and some crayons. Settling himself cross-legged on his bunk, he began drawing, not pictures of the castles and courtiers of Ozamaland, but pictures of the queer jungle beasts and Leopard Men he had seen on Patrippany Island.
When Roger, on first watch, called out eight bells, he saw Tandy's light still burning, and flying down to investigate, found his new pupil fast asleep in the middle of his masterpieces. The whole bunk was covered with bright drawings and pictures and even to Roger's inexperienced eye they seemed excellently done. So, carefully the Read Bird stowed them in the sea chest, then, without bothering to waken or undress the little King, he covered him with a light blanket and went quietly from the cabin.
CHAPTER 9
Sea Legs for Tandy
"If what Roger tells us is so, little Sauce Box yonder has had a pretty dull life," said Ato as he and the Captain sat finishing their breakfast next morning. "Lucky for him we happened along and anyway, the hippopotamus will be good company, eh, Samuel? She seems downright sensible and jolly. Reminds me of Pigasus and I suppose she does belong to the pig family when you come to think of it."
"Well, she's a pretty big pig if she does," laughed Samuel Salt, swallowing his coffee with gusty relish. "Pretty big any way you take her. Personally, I like the animal, but the King and son of a King's son! PAH! Reminds me of Peter, he's so different, and the sooner we reach Ozamaland and set him ashore, the better. Meals in his own cabin. Hoh!"
"Oh, give him time," drawled Ato, helping himself a second time to fried potatoes. "If there's any good in the lad, a sea voyage will bring it out, and what chance has he had shut up in a tower for ten years and in a cage for five months? Though how an aunt managed to have him carried so far and why she left him with those savages in the jungle I can't get through my head at all."
"Maybe it was a gi-ant," whistled Roger, swooping down on Ato's plump shoulder and flapping his wings cheerfully. "How far do you figure it is to Ozamaland, Master Salt?"
"Well, that I couldn't just say," answered Samuel in a milder voice. Pushing back his chair, he stepped over to the map on the west wall. "Maybe a thousand leagues or so from Patrippany Island, maybe more, in a line east by sou'east from Ev. If that is so, we're bound to bump into it sometime, as I've set my course east by sou'east, and anyway it's all in the year's sailing." Samuel bent over with pride to examine the newest island discovery he had marked on the chart the evening before. "And when we do come to it," he announced firmly, "we'll trade this useless young one for some of those flying snakes and creeping birds, eh, Mates?"
"If we bring any more animals aboard we might as well set up an ark and be done with it," warned Ato, shaking his fork at the Captain. "By the way, how's Sally this morning?'
"Tiptopsails!" grinned Samuel. "She eats nothing but hot air and water and is no more trouble than a hair in a flea's whisker. I can carry her round in my pipe when I want company. Now there's a lass for you!"
"Well, I'll just see to Nikobo, for she's the girl for me," retorted Ato, rolling briskly out of his seat. "I saved all the potato peelings from last night, and that, with a dozen cans of peas, corn, carrots and beets, should stay her appetite till lunch time."
"Forty cans at one swallow," groaned Roger, clapping a claw to his head in mock dismay. "She'll eat us out of ship and home at this rate. Can't you think of something else, King dear? A nice wind pudding or a tub of sea soup sprinkled with faggots."
"Oh, go along with you," roared Ato, and picking up his precious coffee pot, he waddled cheerfully off to his storeroom.
The day was bright and breezy and the Crescent Moon going free, breasted the waves like a white-winged sea witch. It was SUCH a morning that even Tandy, peering inquiringly from his cabin, felt an uncontrollable impulse to slide down the deck. So he did, coming up smartly by Roger, who was perched on the rail.
"That's it! That's it! Now you're catching on," approved the Read Bird, hopping cheerfully from one foot to the other. "Now match your step to the sea's roll, sonny, get into her rhythm. You've got to breathe with the ship to carry your rations on a voyage. Watch the Captain, there, and do as he does," finished Roger as Samuel Salt left his cabin and came striding aft.
"Rather watch you!" exclaimed Tandy, who sensed the Captain's dislike. Uneasily he moved a little nearer the Read Bird.
"All right, come on then!" shouted Roger, heading recklessly for the foremast. "Ever climb a tree?" Tandy shook his head, looking with deep misgiving into the maze of sail and rigging above. But Roger was already aloft and beckoning for him to follow. "Not that way, Brainless!" scolded Roger anxiously as Tandy, gritting his teeth, made a desperate leap upward. "See those rope ladders by the rail? Put your feet in the ratlins, boy, and come along hand over hand. It's easy as flying once you get the swing of it. There, that's better! Come on! Come on! Don't stop! Don't look down." So up—up and up the narrow rope ladders toiled Tandy, till Roger, growing impatient, seized his collar and helped him straddle the crosstree of the fore t'gallant mast. "Ahoy! And isn't this better than riding an elephant?" beamed Roger, winking a knowing eye. "Ahoy, this is fun and NO fooling." Seeing Tandy was too dizzy and breathless to talk for a moment, Roger cheerfully set himself to teach the young Ozamander a bit about ships and sailing. Soon Tandy was so interested he forgot the leap and plunge of the ship, the rattle and creak of the cordage and his own precarious perch in the foremast.
"The Crescent Moon," began Roger with an impressive jerk of his head, "is a square rigged three-masted sailing vessel. Normally 'twould take from sixty to eighty men in a crew to set and make sail and bring her about in a blow. But Samuel Salt has magic sail controls, so we three manage quite easily, and now that YOU are here and the handy hippopotamus below 'twill be easier still. The mast we're riding is the foremast. The mast second from the bow, as we call the front of the ship, is the mainmast, and the mast at the back or, as we salt water birds say, the stern of the boat, is the mizzenmast. And now for the sails." Roger took a deep breath. "Those below, beginning from the bottom up, are the course, the topsail, the topgallant sail, the royal and the sky sail. And don't forget!" Roger wagged his claw sternly. "Before each sail you must put the name of the mast to which it is attached. As, for instance, this ahead of us is the fore-topgallant sail. SEE? And everything to the left of the ship's center we say is on the port side and anything to the right is on the starboard."
"Then tell me why is the water on the port side bluer than the water on the starboard?" asked Tandy, who had been listening very solemnly as he tried to fix all of these strange sea terms in his head.
"Bravo!" cried Roger. "Right the first time, Mate. And the water is bluer on the port side of the vessel because it is saltier. The bluer the saltier," declared Roger, who, besides his first voyage with the Crescent Moon, had read all the sea books in Ato's library and was simply crammed with deep sea facts and information. "And what is more," he continued, pursing his bill mysteriously, "we're sailing in a magic circle never knowing what may pop up over the edge. A ship? An island? A hurricane? Or even a fabulous monster! That's what makes sea voyaging so glorious, and sailing so much fun!"
Tandy, staring at the empty circle of blue falling away from the ship on all sides, nodded dreamily. The White City—Patrippany Island—all his former life and existence seemed unreal and far away and he hoped in his heart of hearts the Crescent Moon would not reach his native shores for many a long gay day. As Roger said, being a person was fun.
"M—mm!" Roger sniffed suddenly. "Wonder what Ato's cooking? Smells like taffy. I'll bet a ship's biscuit we're going to have a candy pull."
"A candy pull!" exclaimed Tandy, taking a furious sniff himself. "What is that?" As Roger started in to explain about candy pulls, a large green column shot up on the skyline, a column so surprising and shocking in appearance Tandy felt positively stunned.
"Oh, look! LOOK!" he screamed, grabbing Roger's wing. "There's something now. Oh, Roger, what fun! What terrible fun!"
"Fun?" Roger spun round like a weather cock in a gale. "Fun?" he repeated, stretching out his neck as far as it would go and a few inches besides. "Oh, my best bill and feathers. That's not fun—that's a SEA-Serpent. Help! Help! Deck ahoy! 'Hoy! 'Hoy! Below! King! Captain! Ato! SAMMY! SAMU-EL!" As if calling them not only by their titles but by their names would increase the number of the ship's officers and crew, Roger tugged wildly at Tandy's arm. "Below! Below! All hands below," shrilled the Read Bird. "Cover all ports and batten the hatches!"
Urged on by Roger, Tandy, still more interested than frightened, descended rapidly to the main deck. At Roger's cries, Ato had run out with a pan of bubbling molasses in one hand and his trusty bread knife in the other. Right behind him stood Samuel Salt, his eye pressed to his largest spyglass.
"Well, tar and tarry barrels!" exclaimed the Captain exultantly. "Why, this is a sea serpent second to none, the finest example of a marine ophidian I've ever met in all my voyages!"