"Oh, fiddlesticks!" blustered Ato, shaking him angrily by the arm. "Are you a Captain or a Collector? Quick, now, make up your mind before your ship is crunched down like a cracker and we're all swallowed up with the crumbs. Quick, Sammy! For the love of salt mackerel, DO something!" Squeezing himself between the cook and the Captain, Tandy saw that there were now three immense shiny curves showing above the water, and with scarcely a splash the tremendous monster was moving toward the ship. Then suddenly it was upon them, and its huge horrid unbelievable head came curling far over the bow of theCrescent Moon.
"Avast and belay! Avast and belay, you villain!" yelled Samuel Salt, dropping his spyglass and grasping his blunderbuss while Roger beat his wings together like castanets and screamed like a fire siren.
Tandy, rather frightened himself, and not knowing what else to do, fell flat on his stomach and pulling a pad from his blouse, began making a quick and frantic sketch of the dreadful sea beast. Its body was leagues long and yards through, the head was large as a whole elephant with a long curling silver tongue and darting green fangs. But it was the teeth that made even the stout heart of Ato hammer against his ribs. Each tooth of this singular sea serpent was a live white goblin brandishing a long spear. Leaning far out of the yawning mouth, they screamed, hissed and yelled at the defenseless company below. The next forward thrust of the monster brought its head curling right down among them. This so startled Tandy he could neither move nor scream. Samuel fired his blunderbuss so fast and furiously it sounded like a dozen guns, but it was Ato who really saved the day and his shipmates.
With calm and deadly precision, the ship's cook flung the pan of still bubbling molasses straight into the cavernous mouth. Screaming with surprise, pain and fury, the monster clamped its jaws together, and finding them stuck fast on the taffy, fell writhing back into the sea, dashing and slashing its head under water to ease the burn and setting theCrescent Moonto dancing like a cocklebur. But the taffy, hardened by contact with the cold water, stuck faster than ever, and unable to bite and scarcely able to breathe, the discomfited sea monster backed away from the ship and went slithering and thrashing away toward the skyline.
"Well, there goes our candy pull!" sighed Roger, falling in a limp heap to Ato's shoulder. "Nice work! Nice work, King dear. There's a certain touch about your fighting that is well nigh irresistible."
"Mains'ls and tops'ls! You certainly pulled a trick THAT time!" puffed Samuel Salt, picking up his spyglass to have a last look at his lovely specimen. "You saved us and the ship, that time, Mate. My bullets rattled off its hide like hailstones off a roof."
"Pooh! Just happened to have the taffy handy," answered Ato, looking rather regretfully into the empty pot. "Here, child, run back and tell Kobo everything's all right." The ship's cook pulled Tandy quickly to his feet. "Just listen to her squealing. The poor lass is probably frightened out of her skin." As Tandy started aft on a run, Ato picked up the sketch he had made of the monster. "Ahoy and what's this?" he panted. "What did I tell you, Sammy? Look, the boy's drawn as lively a picture of that varmint as you'd ever hope to paste in a scrap book. Here it is—tail, teeth and everything!"
"Mean to say he drew that while we were all standing here ready to perish and go down with the ship? Hah! That's what I call bravery in action!" exclaimed Samuel. "And goosewing my topsails! If the young lubber can draw like this he'll be a monstrous help to us, Mates. Why, I'll make him cabin boy and Royal Artist of the Expedition with extra rations and pay."
"Hurray! And I'll tell him," puffed Roger, spreading his wings gleefully. "Hi, King! Hi, Tandy! Ho, Tandy! You've been promoted from King to cabin boy and Royal Drawer of Animals and Islands and extry rations and pay!"
Nikobo was as pleased as Tandy at her little charge's rise to favor, and after they had both listened in rapt silence to Roger's news, Tandy told her how Ato had routed the sea serpent. Meanwhile, Roger had carried all the sketches Tandy had made of the Leopard Men and Patrippany Island to the main cabin. Samuel's delight and enthusiasm at having such spirited and authentic records of the lost tribe and strange animals on Patrippany Island knew no bounds. He beamed on Tandy so kindly and approvingly next time they met, the little boy felt warm and jolly all the way down to his heels. Roger had already explained his new duties to him and when Ato sounded the gong for dinner Tandy was the first to answer. But when he started to pass the vegetables and wait on the table, the Captain gruffly pushed him into a chair.
"All equals here," roared Samuel, slapping him affectionately on the shoulder. "You've earned your place and your salt, sonny, and we'll all help ourselves and each other." Tilting back his chair and keeping time with his teacup, Samuel began to sing lustily:
"Blow high—blow low—'Tis a salt sea life for me—With a good ship's crew I'll sail the blueWith a good ship going free—eeeh—eeeh!With a good ship going free!"
"Blow high—blow low—'Tis a salt sea life for me—With a good ship's crew I'll sail the blueWith a good ship going free—eeeh—eeeh!With a good ship going free!"
"Blow high—blow low—
'Tis a salt sea life for me—
With a good ship's crew I'll sail the blue
With a good ship going free—eeeh—eeeh!
With a good ship going free!"
Almost before he knew it, Tandy was singing, too.
The days that followed always seemed to Tandy the happiest he had known. He wondered now how he had ever endured his long, tedious, pent-up life in Ozamaland. There was so much to see and do on a ship, the hours were not half long enough. Being a full-fledged member of the crew, he took his turn on watch, his trick at the wheel, and had besides other duties on deck. After a bit of practice he could scramble aloft like a monkey and liked nothing so much as perching in the rigging looking far out to sea. The Read Bird had fastened a special rope to the mizzenmast so that Tandy could swing out and drop down on Nikobo's raft, and much of his free time was spent with the faithful hippopotamus.
Sea life agreed enormously with Nikobo, especially since Ato had solved the largest item of her diet. Noting the tangled mass of seaweed often floating by on the surface of the sea, the clever cook let down the ship's nets daily. The seaweed, crisp, tender and green, was dragged on deck where Roger and Tandy went carefully through it, removing all crabs, small fish and sea shells which seriously disagreed with the hippopotamus. A huge hamper full was lowered to her every evening and with this plentiful supply of green food, with the bread and delicious vegetable scraps Ato saved from the table, Nikobo fared better than she had on the Island. The largest tub on the boat served as a drinking cup and this Tandy kept full by playing down the hose from the deck, giving her a daily shower of fresh water at the same time. So, lacking nothing in interest or comfort, Nikobo enjoyed herself hugely and to the fullest extent.
On calm mornings, with theCrescent Moonhove to, all hands would go swimming. Nikobo loved to swim and to roll over and over like a mighty porpoise, even though the salt water made her eyes sting. Since Tandy had given Samuel the drawings of the Leopard Men, the ship's Captain could not do enough for his young cabin boy, and among other things had made a rope harness for Nikobo so Tandy could hang on when he perched upon her slippery back. At first he had been satisfied to ride Nikobo, but after several days he was splashing recklessly with the others and Samuel had taught him all the swimming strokes he knew and had Tandy diving over and under the hippopotamus in a way to make Roger scream with envy and approval.
Swimming was the only part of a sea voyage the Read Bird could not really enjoy, but he was always on hand to give advice, roosting on Nikobo's head so long as she stayed above water and taking hurriedly to his wings when she mischievously tried to dunk him. The hippopotamus made a really splendid raft when they tired of swimming, and Ato, who did not care for water sports so much as Samuel or Tandy, fished for hours from her back, his feet hooked through the ropes of her harness to keep him from falling into the sea. The only thing Tandy regretted was Nikobo's great size and that she could not come aboard ship and join them in the cabin. On cool evenings he and Ato and the Captain (Roger preferring to take first watch) would sit cozily round the fire listening to the stories Samuel told them of the days when he had been a pirate and roamed up and down the Nonestic, capturing the ships and treasure of all the powerful island monarchs. Tandy never tired of these thrilling sea battles nor of watching Samuel Salt's pet fire lizard.
Sally was now so tame she would allow any one of them to pick her up. They had to be careful not to hold her against their clothing, however, for though Sally did not burn the fingers, she set fire to whatever she touched. Indeed, whenever they wanted a fire in the grate, they had only to place the Salamander on the kindlings beneath the logs and a cheery flame would blaze up instantly. It was in the fireplace Sally took most of her exercise, racing and scittering over the glowing logs or rolling happily in the red hot embers. But most of her time she spent curled up in Samuel Salt's pipe, and it was always a surprise to Tandy to see her comical head pop up over the edge of the bowl or hear her chirping and purring to herself from her cozy bed of tobacco leaves.
Some evenings, when Ato was trying out new recipes in the galley, Tandy and Samuel would descend to the hold to look over the plants from Patrippany Island, try to figure out the script on the piece of lava, and sort and arrange Samuel's shell collection. Every day after the nets were drawn up there were new specimens to classify and label. The drawing Tandy had made of the Sea Lion and all the pictures of the Leopard Men and beasts on Patrippany Island, Samuel had framed and hung above his shelves so that the hold was looking more and more like a scientific laboratory every day.
"Do you suppose we'll ever find anything large enough to put in those big cages and aquariums?" asked Tandy one night as he pasted a pink label on a fluted conch shell.
"Sure's eight bells!" murmured Samuel Salt comfortably. "No telling what'll turn up on a voyage like this. Personally I've set my heart on a roc's egg, but setting the heart on a roc's egg won't hatch one out, Ho, Ho! No, No! But, on the other hand, one never can tell and we've had a week of such fine and pleasant days, I look for something to happen any moment now, so you'd better put up your paste pot and turn in, my lad, so we'll all be ready for the morning."
"Well, what would you do with a roc's egg?" inquired Tandy, reluctantly clapping the top on his bottle of glue. "Aren't they terribly big and terribly scarce, Captain Salt?"
"Terribly!" admitted Samuel Salt, placing his tray of lamp shells back on their stand. "But a newly laid roc's egg is as rare as a mermaid's foot, and no larger than one small tar barrel. Now if we could just get a newly laid roc's egg aboard and find some way to preserve it, why, well and good, if we didn't find a way and it hatched before we landed, it could easily fly off with us and the ship, for THAT'S how big a bird a roc is. But I'll take a chance if I ever find a roc's egg and there's an island somewhere in these waters where rocs are known to nest. Rock Island it's called, and a roc's nest would be something to see, eh, Kinglet?"
"Please don't call me that," begged Tandy earnestly. "Roger says I don't have to be a King on this ship and I like not being a King."
"Ha! Ha! And I like you that way myself," roared Samuel, tossing Tandy suddenly to his shoulder. "Why, since you've stopped this King and son of a Kinging, you're a seaman after my own heart, and so long as theCrescent Moon'safloat you've a berth on her! Up with you! Up with you! Tomorrow's another day." Swinging gaily to the main deck, Samuel tumbled Tandy into his bunk and went striding aft to take in his main and mizzen topsails.
Next morning, while he and Ato were cutting up potatoes for Nikobo, Tandy was not surprised to hear a loud hail from above. Something had happened just as Samuel had predicted. Running out with a paring knife still in his hand, he saw a strange glittering mountainous island abaft the beam. It was still a goodish sea mile away, but with the glasses Ato generously pressed upon him Tandy made out the most curious bit of geography the eyes of a voyager had yet gazed on. There was not a piece of level ground on the island anywhere. Its high, glittering, needle-like peaks rose straight out of the sea with apparently no way of ascending or descending. Of clear crystal, reflecting every color of the rainbow, the beautiful island was almost too dazzling to look at as it lay shimmering and sparkling in the bright sunshine. As they sailed nearer, Tandy saw that a perfect maze of high and airy bridges ran like a gigantic spider web between the peaks. On these bridges all the island's life and activities seemed to take place. Quaint fluted cottages were built in the center, and along the perilous catwalks on either side raced the Mountaineers themselves, brandishing glittering poles and spears and halberds.
"Pikes on the peak! Pikes on the peak! Port your helm, Sammy," roared Ato. "Not too close! Not too near, Sam-u-el. How'd you like to be pinned to the mast with a spear or flattened on the deck with a boulder?"
"Ah, now, they're just excited!" answered Samuel Salt, squinting curiously up at the Bridgemen, but Nikobo, with her short legs resting on the top rail of her raft, squealed out a dolorous warning.
"Fighters! Fighters! These Pikers look savager than the Leopard Men. Best back away, Master Captain, while there's still time."
"Oh, look! LOOK! There's a ship on the mountain," cried Tandy, jerking Samuel's sleeve, "right there where that torrent comes down between the bridges, a three-master, larger than theCrescent Moon."
"Then it's a battle!" boomed Samuel, bringing his helm hard around. "Stand by to man the guns. 'Hoy, all hands, 'hoy!" While his shipmates sprang to attention, Samuel darted from mast to mast, touching the buttons on his sail controls.
"AYE DE AYE OH LAY!" The shrill unexpected cry came from the highest bridge on the island, and was immediately taken up and repeated by all the Pikemen on the lower bridges. It resulted in such a mad medley of yodels that Ato clapped both hands to his ears and Nikobo plunged her head in her drinking tub.
"Not only fighters, but singers!" grunted Ato, swinging the port gun into an upright position. "Beef, beans and barley bread! What a rumpus!" Tandy, who with Roger had charge of the other gun, could not help but admire the calm way Samuel Salt ignored the dreadful outcry from the bridges. Whether the pikes of the islanders could be flung down upon them was still a question, but as Tandy looked anxiously aloft, he saw the great white-sailed ship of the Mountain Men sweeping toward the torrent. It paused for a breathless instant on the top and then came rushing down upon them. They were right in the path of the descending vessel which would strike them with such force both ships would surely be demolished.
"I am a King's son and the son of a King's son," shuddered Tandy, gritting his teeth and waiting desperately for the order to fire. "I can bear anything."
"Not this! Not this!" chattered Roger, sliding wildly up and down the shiny cannon. "It will shiver your timbers—it will shiver all of our timbers. What in salt ails the Captain? Why doesn't he give the order to fire and pepper these rascals before they reach us? Oh, oh! Oh—hh!" But the only orders that came from the Captain were for Nikobo.
"Overboard, Lassie! Dive off! Quick, now, and swim for your life," bawled Samuel Salt, waving both arms frantically at the hippopotamus. As Nikobo with a frightened squeal let down the back rail of her pen and slid into the sea, Tandy felt a quiver and jerk through the whole length of theCrescent Moon. Glancing aloft, he saw a strange change in the sails. Where before they had been sturdy single stretches of canvas, they were now great swelling balloon sails, each a perfect air-filled sphere. As the ship from the mountain with an angry swish catapulted down from the torrent into the sea, theCrescent Moonrose buoyantly into the air, allowing the enemy craft to shoot harmlessly beneath her bow.
"What in Monday!" gasped Ato, flinging both arms round the cannon. "What in Monday are you up to now? How'd we do this? Stop! Stop! I'm no flier. No higher! No higher! Do you intend to impale us on yonder Peaks?" Samuel Salt, hanging desperately to the wheel, made no reply and as the ship, dipping and swaying, soared higher and higher the deafening yodels of the Bridgemen ceased abruptly.
"Wha—wha—where are you heading?" demanded Roger, spreading his wings in order to keep his balance on the sloping deck. "You never told us you had balloon sails, Master Salt."
"Ahoy, but we never needed them before!" panted Samuel. "Look sharp below, Roger. Tell me whether I'm over that lake or basin. Look sharp, mind you, or we'll come to grief yet."
"Aye, aye!" quavered the Read Bird, dropping obediently over the side. "It all looks sharp to me."
"Mean to say you're coming down in the middle of these pikes, peaks and bridges?" moaned Ato, holding his head with both hands. "Avast and belay, Mate, I signed up for a sea voyage and not a balloon ride. The altitude's got you, Sammy, that's what. You've air holes in your head. How do you expect the four of us to conquer this whole pesky peaky island? How could we even take half of them?"
"By surprise," announced Samuel Salt grimly. "We'll take them by surprise. Look, they're too surprised to even yodel. Fetch up the Oz flags, Tandy, and all hands aft for further orders."
"Aft and daft!" choked Ato, hanging on to the rail as he made his way toward the wheel. When Tandy came hurrying up from the hold, his arms full of Oz flags, theCrescent Moonhung directly over the glittering Island. Roger fluttered anxiously just below calling up hoarse information as to the size, possible depth and shape of the sparkling blue lake between the peaks.
Listening carefully to Roger's directions, Samuel deflated his balloon sails so skillfully theCrescent Mooncame down lightly as a swan in the exact center of the Lake. Above and around the ship on all sides hung the glittering spans of a beautiful Bridge City, and in stunned silence and dismay the Bridgemen looked down on the flying ship and its curious crew.
"Ahoy and hail, Men of the Mountain!" challenged Samuel in a ringing voice. "You are now part and parcel of the great Kingdom of Oz, free as before to govern yourselves, but from this day and henceforth on, an island possession and colony under the protection and puissant rule of her Majesty Queen Ozma of Oz!"
"OZ! Ozay Oz Oh Lay?" The cry came from the tallest and most splendid of the Islanders, who was standing with folded arms on the lacy span connecting the two highest peaks on the Mountain.
The cry, though loud, was no longer defiant, and Tandy with a little gasp of relief saw the Mountaineers on all the bridges bring their pikes to rest beside them and gaze aloft for further orders.
"I am Alberif, Prince of the Peaks," stated the Man on the Highest Bridge, looking coolly down at Samuel Salt. "But YOU—you who come in this flying ship to conquer the Island of Peakenspire, who are YOU?"
"Ato, the Eighth, King of the Octagon Isles, Sir Samuel Salt, Captain of theCrescent Moonand Royal Explorer of Oz, Tazander Tazah, King of Ozamaland, and myself a Royal Read Bird," shouted Roger before any of the others had time to speak for themselves.
The Prince of the Peaks, tall and splendid in his shining coat and breeches of silver cloth, his broad-brimmed hat with its quill and rosette of wild flowers, looked so much more impressive than anyone aboard theCrescent Moon, Tandy half expected him to laugh at Roger's boastful announcements. But instead, Alberif, leaning far out over his royal bridge, looked down at them long and seriously.
"Two Kings, a Royal Discoverer, a Flying Ship and a Read Bird! Hi de Aye de Oh!" whistled the handsome monarch, shaking his head ruefully. "No wonder we were captured. What then are your terms, Kings, Captain, Bird and Conquerors?"
"Not conquerors, COMRADES," called up Samuel Salt in his hearty voice. "Only by your own wish, agreement and consent shall ye come under the rule of Oz. If your Highness could but descend from yon Royal Bridge to this ship, everything can be arranged both peaceably and pleasantly."
"'Ware, Alberif! 'Ware, Alberif!" yodeled the Pikemen on the lower bridges. "Once aboard that ship eeee-ip! We may never see you again eeeeee-yen!"
"Oh, nonsense!" blustered Samuel Salt impatiently. "I give you my word as a Pirate and a seaman no harm shall come to you on theCrescent Moon."
The Prince stood lost in thought for a moment, then tapping his long alpenstock sharply he issued a high yodeled command. From the bridgehead an immense basket swooped down. The Prince seated himself gravely in the basket and with three men manipulating the ropes made a swift and dizzy descent to the deck of theCrescent Moon.
While Samuel and Roger welcomed the tall and lordly Ruler of the Mountain Isle, Ato hurried off to the galley to prepare some suitable refreshments for his entertainment. Tandy, after Samuel had introduced him, began making careful sketches of the handsome Prince, of the lovely city of bridges and of the Pikemen, who still looked with suspicion and distrust upon the ship that had taken the place of their own.
"How about that basket?" whispered Roger, who had come out to help Ato in the galley. "How'd you like to be hoisted and lowered like a sail? And for salt's sake, King dear, dust the flour off your nose and put on your crown, or this fellow will think you're King of the Cookies and Doughnuts."
"Ha, ha! When he's tasted my plum cake he'll not think it, he'll know it!" puffed Ato, bustling happily from cupboard to cupboard. "Bring out the best tumblers and silver plates, fetch up a dozen bottles of my famous Sea-pop from the hold and we'll have this island in our pocket before you can say Oz Robinson!"
When Ato with one tray and Roger with another came out, they found the Captain and the Prince of the Peaks striding up and down the deck in the friendliest conversation imaginable. Matched in height and handsomeness, the two were discussing with lively interest everything from ships and governments to the strange limestone that formed the crystalline rocks of Alberif's island. Later, seated around the table with Tandy and Roger passing plum cake and Sea-pop, the Prince grew friendlier and more confidential still.
"We've never been conquered before," admitted his Majesty with a puzzled smile, "but really I find it both interesting and enjoyable."
"Just a matter of chance and luck," said Samuel Salt with a modest wave of his hand. "Had I not had balloon sails on theCrescent Moon, your ship would have cut us clean in two before we had time to put about."
"That is what I always planned would happen to an enemy craft," sighed Alberif. "Naturally our own ship, theMountain Lass, would have been destroyed too, but we could easily have built another. That is what we'll have to do anyway, as we'll never be able to haul her up the torrent."
"Don't you do it," begged Samuel Salt, looking earnestly at the Mountain Monarch. "I'll send you a set of balloon sails as soon as I reach Elbow Island. The Red Jinn presented me with two sets and I'll be delighted to send you one. Once they're set, you can fly up as easily as we did and be ready for all and sundry, even US if we come again."
"Come and welcome!" beamed Alberif, looking in some surprise at Sally, who had just lifted her head above the rim of Samuel's pipe bowl. "But tell me, what am I to do now that I am conquered? Surely something is required of us?"
"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Samuel spoke earnestly and admiringly. "This island and your men are in fine shape and a great credit to you, so just go on as you are, but from this time forth you'll be in contact with the famous and most modern Fairyland in History, and if you are ever beset by enemies, you can call upon Oz for assistance or help. In time, fruit, foodstuffs, books and merchandise will arrive from Oz, and in return you may send back some of the sparkling crystals composing these mountains. You might even invite a band of settlers from Oz to come and live as your loyal subjects here."
"Gladly! Gladly!" agreed the Prince, his eyes sparkling at the prospect. "We have many uninhabited peaks and spires and could easily accommodate a thousand new bridge builders. Come with me, all of you, to Skytop Tower and we'll run up the flag of Oz and sign a pledge of allegiance to her Majesty Queen Ozma. AYE DE AYE OH LAY!" Running out on deck, Alberif joyously beckoned to the men who operated the traveling basket, inviting them all to enter. Ato, who had no intention of trusting his two hundred and fifty pounds to this strange conveyance, shook the Prince regretfully by the hand.
"I'll just watch it all from here," said the ship's cook firmly. "I've pie to cook, potatoes to peel and dinner to stir up for all hands and a hippopotamus, so, if you'll kindly excuse me—"
The Prince looked a little disappointed, but cheered up as Samuel, Roger and Tandy followed him into the basket.
"Haul away!" yelled Samuel Salt, winking at Ato, and to the shrill tune of a ringing round of yodels their curious elevator rose from the deck, spun merrily up to the Twin Peaks and highest bridge of Alberif's Mountain. Used as he was to the tall masts and lofty rigging of theCrescent Moon, Tandy felt sick and giddy as the basket swooped and swung upward. But it came down safely at last and at sight of the shining spans of the lacy city spread out below, and the glittering castle rising from the royal bridge, Tandy forgot all his uneasiness. With a little whistle of surprise and interest he followed Samuel and Alberif into the royal dwelling, while Roger flew off on a little exploring expedition of his own. Roger knew all about castles and was much more interested in the many windowed, fluted cottages of the yodelers.
Ato, watching from the deck of theCrescent Moon, presently saw the flag of Oz fluttering from the top turret of the Castle Tower and with a little sigh of relief and pride he gathered up the empty pop bottles and padded off to his galley. Soon Oz flags floated from the posts on all the bridgeheads, adding much to the gaiety and beauty of Alberif's city.
From the Royal Bridge Tandy and Samuel had a splendid view, and of his many experiences Tandy always remembered best the afternoon spent on Peakenspire. Alberif was a merry as well as an interesting host, explaining everything from the strange traveling baskets to the age-old customs and treasures of the Islanders. In the baskets the Islanders could travel from bridge to bridge and down to the sea itself when they wished to go fishing. There was little soil between the rocks, but such soil as there was, was so amazingly fertile, each family could raise all the fruit and vegetables required in one small window box. After long experimentation and culture, Alberif's ancestors had perfected two curious vines. On one vegetables grew in rapid rotation, potatoes following peas, corn following potatoes, carrots following corn, beets following carrots, cabbages, lima beans and spinach after the beets. The vine never withered or died and by cutting off the top every day the Islanders were assured of a continuous supply of fresh vegetables. The fruit vine was of the same variety, furnishing every known berry, fruit and melon. Each family was given two of these vines and thus had very little worry about food supplies. Birds, something of a cross between wild ducks and chickens, made their nests in the craggy peaks, and with their eggs and a plentiful supply of fish and other sea food the Islanders fared splendidly.
The Bridgemen were tall, blue eyed, handsome and happy. Men and women alike wore short trousers and blouses of silver cloth and carried pikes that served both as weapons and alpenstocks. The bridges, while delicate as fine lace in construction, were supple and strong as steel. The material mined from the mountains themselves was like silver and crystal combined, a new strong and glittering metal, samples of which Samuel happily thrust into his pocket.
"Sounds like magic," said Tandy, who had been listening closely to Alberif's description of life on Peakenspire.
"Itismagic of a kind," answered the Prince with a pleased little nod. "And the air here is so light and sparkling we never tire, grow old or have illness of any kind, so that my people are always light hearted and happy, spending most of their time in dancing and singing."
"I see," murmured Samuel Salt, "er—and hear," he added quickly as the wild, joyous cries of Alberif's yodelers made every window in the palace rattle. "I'll certainly make a note of all this and report Peakenspire Island to Queen Ozma as the most interesting discovery of the voyage."
"I am highly honored!" Alberif bowed stiffly. "Highly honored! HI dee Aye de OH—hhhhh!" Jumping into the air, the Prince of the Peaks kicked his heels together from sheer exuberance. "Wait," he told them cheerfully, "and I'll get you some fruit and vegetable vines to take back with you." Tandy and Samuel could not help grinning as Alberif rushed off. To tell the truth, there was something so light and exhilarating about the mountain air they found it difficult to walk calmly themselves. As the Prince returned Samuel felt a loud and uncontrollable yodel rising in his own throat, and seizing Tandy's arm, he bade Alberif a hasty and hearty adieu. Bidding him keep a sharp lookout for the airships from Oz, and loaded down with crystals and vines, the two explorers climbed into the basket and were swung swiftly down to the deck of theCrescent Moon. Roger, flying under his own power and yodeling like a native, arrived soon after.
With Oz flags flying from all bridges and the Mountaineers calling out rousing and melodious farewells, Samuel inflated his balloon sails and the ship soared gracefully aloft, circled the island three times and then dropped lightly down upon the surface of the sea. TheMountain Lassin charge of Alberif's husky crew lay just off shore and there she would have to stay till Samuel sent a set of balloon sails to lift her back to the Lake among the peaks.
Nikobo, who'd been swimming anxiously round and round, gave a bellow of relief as she spied theCrescent Moon.
"I thought you'd been captured and destroyed!" wheezed the hippopotamus, scrambling hastily aboard her raft. "Next time you fly off, take me aboard or give me a balloon sail too. I'm so full of salt water I'm perfectly pickled and somebody'll have to scrape the barnacles off my hide."
"But we've brought you a present," called Tandy, leaning far over the taffrail, "a vegetable vine that will keep you supplied with fresh vegetables as long as we're at sea. SEE! DEEEE Aye DEE OH!"
"Avast and balaydeeaye!" barked Samuel Salt grimly. "Let's get away from here. This is no way for able-bodied seamen to talk." Rushing from wheel to mast, he quickly set his sail. "Ahoy! Ahoy Dee Oy Dee OH!" he yodelled, then, very red in the face, he blew three shrill blasts on his fog horn, swung his ship about and theCrescent Moon, with a spanking breeze on her quarter, went skimming away toward the southern skyline.
The evening had blown up raw and cold, and after carrying an old tarpaulin down to cover Nikobo, Tandy had come shivering back to the main cabin. Samuel Salt had close reefed his topsails and double reefed his courses, adjusted his mechanical steering gear, and now sat beside the fire examining a heap of the glittering crystals from Alberif's island.
"Just sketch Peakenspire Island on the chart, there where I've made the cross," he directed, looking up with an absent smile as the little boy came over to warm himself at the cheerful blaze. "You're such a hand with a brush, even in so small a place you can give a good idea of the City of Bridges."
"And a good idea they are," murmured Ato, who was busy mending his fishing nets on the other side of the fireplace. "In every port we learn something new, eh, Mate? All mountains, no matter how high and peaked, could be lived on if they were properly bridged."
"True, quite true," agreed Samuel, squinting contentedly through his magnifying glass, while Tandy began sketching in the latest discovery on the sea chart. "I've written it all up in my journal and put down Peakenspire Island as able to accommodate a thousand settlers from Oz and as an especially good place for poets."
"Provided they are deaf," put in Ato, looking comically over his specs, "AYE DEE AYE DEE OH! While you fellows were aloft I got to yodeling so fast and furious I blew all the sauce pans off their hooks."
"Yes, thatisone disadvantage," admitted Samuel, glancing approvingly at Tandy's picture of Alberif's Island, "but never mind, we don't have to live there, and think of the splendid specimens we've brought away, Mates!" Samuel ran his fingers lovingly through the heap of crystals and strands of metal Alberif had given him. "And those fruit and vegetable vines will provision us for the whole voyage."
"They're a great comfort tome, I assure you," muttered Ato, holding up his net to the light to see whether there were any more holes. "Now I know Kobo will never starve. I put a vegetable vine in a box on her raft and that leaves two for us, two for Ozma, and maybe Tandy would like to take the other two home with him?"
"Home?" Tandy swung round in positive dismay. "Oh—we're not near Ozamaland yet, are we, Captain?" His voice sounded so dismal Samuel Salt threw down his magnifying glass with a roar of merriment.
"Shiver my timbers, lad, one would think you did not wish to reach Ozamaland at all," he blustered teasingly. "What's the matter with that country of yours? You wouldn't keep an honest explorer from adding a creeping bird and a flying reptile to his collection, now would ye?"
"No! No! Of course not," answered Tandy quickly. "But perhaps it is farther away than you think, Master Salt, and perhaps the Greys have conquered the Whites and then I won't be King any more."
"What's this? What's this?" Ato lifted his nose like an old hound that has just scented a fox, for he loved a good story even better than he loved a good meal. "Who are the Greys and Whites, my lad? You never told us anything about this."
"There's really not much to tell," sighed Tandy, seating himself on a small stool before the fire. "In the first place, I suppose you know that the great continent of Tarara is divided into two large long countries? Ozamaland is on the East Coast and Amaland on the West Coast."
"Now I'll just make a note of that," said Samuel Salt, leaning over to pull his journal toward him.
"My country," went on Tandy slowly, "is made up largely of desert and jungle, best known for its white elephants and camels and the famous White City of Om, first King and ruler of the Kingdom. The Zamas are fierce and still wild tribesmen living in tents on the desert and in huts in the jungle. Only the thousand Nobles and their families who live in the White City have been taught to read and write and live under roofs. That is why the Kings of Ozamaland are so well guarded and never allowed out of the capital."
"Then I'd rather be a tribesman," sniffed Ato, letting his nets drop in a heap around his feet.
"But there's no choice," said Tandy thoughtfully. "The nine Ozamandarins who make the laws have decreed that the King shall remain in the White City."
"Well, what about these Whites and Greys?" asked Samuel Salt, pulling out his pipe and leaning down close to the fire so Sally could light it for him.
"My people, because they dress in white robes and turbans, are known as the Whites, and the Amas, the rough plainsmen who rove the long ranges of Amaland, are the Greys. The Amas care for nothing but their swift grey horses and often charge over the border to make war on my countrymen. Then the Whites, mounted on their white elephants and camels, have all they can do to hold their own."
"Aha, that's what I'd call a REAL battle!" exclaimed Ato, his eyes snapping with enthusiasm and interest. Then, noting Samuel's disapproving frown, he pursed up his lips, shook his head and added quickly, "All very wild and disorderly, Tandy, my lad. Seems as if the Whites and Greys should manage their affairs more peaceably."
"Yes," said Tandy solemnly, "and I've often thought when I was grown, I'd ride over on my white elephant to visit the Greys and see why they are so unfriendly."
"A good idea, and if I were you, I wouldn't wait till I was grown. I'd do it as soon as I got back," advised Samuel Salt, taking a long pull at his pipe.
"And very probably get himself cut up and captured," shuddered Ato, shaking his head.
"Well, he's been both shut up and captured anyway, hasn't he?" said Samuel mildly. "Now which one of your aunts do you think had you carried off, Matey, and how many aunts do you have anyway?"
"Three," Tandy answered, counting them off solemnly on his fingers. "And they were all pretty and pleasant enough; but after the prophecy of the Old Man of the Jungle that I would be carried off by an aunt, they were all locked up in the castle dungeon and I was locked up in the Tower." And, resting his elbows on his knees, Tandy gazed soberly into the fire as if he might discover there the reason for his cruel abduction and imprisonment in the jungle.
"If I'd only been awake when I was carried away," he exclaimed impatiently.
"They probably gave you a sleeping potion," decided Ato, nodding his head portentously, "but it's such a longish distance, unless this aunt had wings or a flying eagle I'll never understand how she shipped you so far and so fast."
"Well, whoever it was didusa real service!" boomed Samuel Salt, twinkling his blue eyes affectionately at Tandy. "Even Peter was no better aboard a ship—eh, Mate?"
"A real artist and a seaman," agreed Ato, rolling cheerfully to his feet, "and when we reach Ozamaland I'll talk to these aunts like an Octagon uncle, and the Ozamandarins had better hold on to their turbans, too."
"But they wear square hats!" roared Tandy, laughing so hard he almost fell off the stool, for he just could not picture the fat King of the Octagon Isle berating the haughty judges of Ozamaland.
"What's the joke?" demanded Roger, flying in through the open port and making a straight line for the fire. "Brrr-rah! Wet weather, boys! Wet weather! Oh, what a coldth and dampth and gloomth. Why, I'm moister than an oyster and clammier than a clam. How about a cup of hot chocolate for the Watch, Cook dear? Better see to your sail, Master Salt. Fog's thicker than bean soup out there."
"We'llallhave some chocolate," said Ato as Samuel hurried out to see how dense the fog really was. Later, sitting by the stove sipping Ato's delicious hot chocolate, Tandy could not help comparing this cozy life aboard theCrescent Moonwith his dull and lonely existence in the Royal City of his Fathers.
"I wish the Greyswouldcapture the Whites," he thought vindictively, as he followed Roger across the slippery deck. "Then I'd never have to leave this ship." The kind-hearted Read Bird was carrying a pail of hot chocolate down to Nikobo on the raft. She could not get her great snout into the bucket, but she opened her enormous mouth and with one toss Roger poured the whole pail down her throat.
"That'll keep her warm till morning," chuckled Roger, flying back to join Tandy, "and now you'd better turn in, little fellow, for you're on morning watch and eight bells will be sounding before you know it!" All through his dreams about the Whites and Greys Tandy heard the raucous voice of the fog horn, and when he rolled sleepily out of his bunk to relieve Ato, the ship seemed to be hardly moving at all.
"Ahoy, Captain! Isn't a fog dangerous?" Tandy's voice seemed more hopeful than worried, and Samuel Salt, peering down at the little boy buttoned to his chin in Peter's old sou'easter, grinned approvingly.
"Just about as dangerous as a man-eating tiger," he answered cheerfully. "We're liable to ram a ship, run on the rocks, or scrape our bottom on a hidden reef or sand bar. These waters, as you know, being all unnavigated. But I've brought Sally along to keep my nose warm and throw a bit more light on the subject and we'll have to take our chance—eh, Matey? Just step aft and see if you can make out anything astern, will you, Tandy?"
Four o'clock, or rather eight bells, was always pretty dark and one had to depend more or less on the ship's lanterns, but this morning was the darkest Tandy had ever experienced. Clinging to the rail, he moved cautiously to the stern and gazed intently down into the gloom. Nothing an inch beyond his nose was visible and as for the raft and Nikobo, they might just as well not have been there.
"Kobo, Kobo, are you all right?" There was no answer to Tandy's call, but presently a huge and resounding snore rolled upward and, greatly comforted, Tandy hurried back to the Captain. Samuel Salt was busy lighting extra lanterns and as he straightened up, a hollow boom, followed by a splintering crash, sent them both sprawling to the deck. Leaping to his feet and unmindful of the glass from the shattered lanterns, Samuel seized an unbroken one and ran furiously to the rail.
"Ship ahoy! Heave to! you blasted son of a cuttle-fish lubber! You've rammed us amidships, you blasted Billygoat. Where are your lights? Why didn't ye sound the horn?" His lantern, held far over the rail, made no impression at all on the choking fog. Jumping up and running after Samuel, Tandy strained his eyes for a glimpse of the ship that had hit them, for unmistakably to his ears came the scrape and rasp of wood on wood. Yes, surely it was a ship. But no answer to Samuel's hail came out of the fog, only the swish and murmur of the sea and the rattle of wind in the rigging. But all this creaking could not come from theCrescent Moonalone. Therewasa ship beyond them in the fog, but where, as Samuel had demanded, were her lights and crew? Wildly Tandy, hardly knowing what to think or do, continued to blink into the maddening darkness. Ato and Roger, wakened by the horrible jolt, now came hurrying out, each waving a lantern.
"Let go the anchor, Mates," ordered Samuel in a stern voice, "we're to grips with an enemy ship, so stand by for trouble. Further shortening his sail, Samuel waited tensely for the first move from their invisible foe.
"Might be pirates," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Tandy, who stood close beside him grasping the scimiter that had once been Peter's. "Jump the first man aboard."
"How about a long shot in their general direction?" wheezed Ato, who found the silence and suspense well nigh unbearable.
"No, it is not forusto start a fight," stated Samuel grimly. "But hah! Just letthemstart one! Fetch me my stilts, Roger, and be quick about it, too!"
"Stilts?" choked the Read Bird, dropping the blunderbuss with which he had armed, or rather winged, himself. "You'll never be trying those things again—they nearly shivered our timbers last time. Why take another chance?"
"My stilts!" repeated Samuel savagely, and Roger, who knew his duty as a sailor, flew without further argument to the hold. When Roger returned with a stilt in each claw, the Captain grasped one and moving silently as a cat over to the port rail, he thrust the long pole experimentally out into the fog. There was an instant thud, and Samuel himself got a severe jolt as the stilt struck against some firm and immovable object beyond. Convinced that it was an enemy ship, Samuel returned to the others and, drawn up in an anxious row, the four shipmates waited for the fog to lift or the first enemy seaman to leap aboard.