THE JOLLY PARTY OF UMI LOBAS (MAN HOPPERS) THAT CAPTURED BULGER AND ME.
THE JOLLY PARTY OF UMI LOBAS (MAN HOPPERS) THAT CAPTURED BULGER AND ME.
THE JOLLY PARTY OF UMI LOBAS (MAN HOPPERS) THAT CAPTURED BULGER AND ME.
Bulger was inclined to advise resistance; but, when I had given a hurried glance at their feet, which were very large and attached to astonishingly vigorous legs, I deemed it only prudent to run up the white flag; in fact, I gave them to understand that we threw ourselves on their mercy.
But first, a word about these strange people:
They were, as I have said, small of stature, and let me add that, upon their narrow, sloping shoulders were set delicate, doll-like heads, animated by large, lustrous, black eyes of extreme softness in expression. Their arms looked like the arms of a boy on the body of a man. But, although so small, for they reached only to their waists and ended in tiny, shapely hands, yet they showed themselves possessed of extraordinary strength and dexterity. Their legs, however, were the most wonderful part of them.
In fact, I might almost say that the Umi-Lobas were all legs, so out of all proportion was the development of their limbs. The effect of this disproportion may be easily imagined. It so dwarfed their bodies that they appeared like cones set upon two legs.
“Miscreant!” cried the leader, as I learned three days later when I had mastered their language, “if thou dost not instantly admit that his majesty, Gâ-roo, King of the Umi-Lobas, is not the fastest, farthest and most graceful jumper in the world, thou shalt be kicked to death without the least ceremony!”
I made signs that I was quite willing to admit this, although I didn’t understand exactly what it was!
Seeing that I was not disposed to attempt any harm, the Man-Hoppers sprang to their feet and seated themselves in a perfect ring around Bulger and me, like so many rabbits when standing on their hind feet to reach something, intent upon getting a good look at us, or at me rather, for Bulger was evidently no great novelty for them.
They kept up a perfect rattle of remarks in shrill piping tones upon my personal appearance. I, too, was by no means idle.
I kept even pace with their galloping curiosity, studying the expression of their faces and the movements of their bodies. After a few moments I was given to understand that I must start at once for the palace of their gracious monarch, Gâ-roo, the One Thousandth, for they were a very ancient people.
As I rose to my feet and took a few steps toward the water, intending to assure them that I could not leap across the stream, it became their turn to laugh.
And laugh they did too, with such spirit, such heartiness—I might almost say such violence—that I never realized till then that they laugh best who laugh last.
Again and again their piping, pygmy voices broke out in shrill chorus while their pretty doll faces were convulsed with merriment.
Bulger repeatedly showed his teeth, and gave vent to short, spiteful barks as the Umi-Lobas continued their, to him, unseemly behavior. But I knew it would only injure us in the end, if I showed any signs of anger, so I simply shrugged my shoulders and waited for them to recover from their fit of merriment. Finally, between the pauses of laughter I caught such words as:
“Pendulum-legs!”
“Man-scissors!”
“Man Tongs!”
“Flip-flop! Wiggle-waggle!”
“Here she goes, there she goes!”
Such were a few of the terms expressive of the impression which my poor unoffending legs made upon the minds of the Umi-Lobas.
They quieted down at last and again began to make signs that I should prepare to follow them.
When at last I succeeded in making them understand that I was not a jumper, and could no more leap across the stream in front of us than I could hop over the moon, their mirth now gave place to disgust. Such pleasant phrases as:—
“Lead legs!”
“Two-legged snail!”
“Little man stuck-in-the-ground!”
“Little man tied-to-his-head!” etc., etc., were fired at me.
After a consultation, it was determined to dispatch two of their number for a sort of porte-chaise in use among the Umi-Lobas in which to transport Bulger and me to the King’s palace.
Away went the messengers like the wind, in leaps of twenty feet seeming scarcely to touch the ground, bounding along in the distance like pith balls. After a short delay they reappearedbearing, slung on a sort of yoke resting upon their shoulders, a stout wicker basket.
Bulger and I were invited to step into it; the cover was closed and securely fastened by a stout leathern thong. Then with a bumpety bump sort of motion away we went across land and water.
Bulger whined piteously and fixed his lustrous eyes upon me, as if to say:
“Little master, if they are transporting us to torture or death I’m glad I am with thee!”
I soon gave him to understand that there was no danger.
He returned my caresses and we both awaited further developments. It seems that the two Man-Hoppers who had been sent for the porte-chaise had spread the news of their strange capture, so the whole town was on the watch for our arrival.
At last we came to a full stop. The basket was set down on the ground and the leathern thong loosened. To tell the truth, I was as anxious to see as they were.
A terrible hubbub was in progress, those in authority having seemingly lost all control over the pushing, pulling, scrambling mass of Umi-Lobas. With such violent outcries and still more violent gestures did they gather about us, that I began to fear that they would overturn our carriage and do Bulger and me some real injury, in their mad curiosity.
Suddenly a voice, louder and shriller than all the rest, called out:
“Silence! His majesty, Gâ-roo, the Thousandth, King of the Umi-Lobas, is approaching. Down! Down! Silence! Fall back!”
One of the attendants now raised the lid of our basket and courteously invited me to step out.
Without stopping to give the thing a thought, I seized the leathern thong, sprang lightly up and threw one of my legs over the side of the basket.
Instantly there was an outburst of shrill, ear-piercing exclamations of wonder, fear, surprise, horror, delight and I don’t know how many other emotions.
For a moment I was startled, and half inclined to make my way back into my basket again. Suddenly, however, it occurred to me what it all meant.
The Umi-Lobas being able to move their legs only backward and forward, and utterly incapable of moving one leg without the other, were about as much astonished at seeing one of my legs come flopping over the side of the basket, as I would be if you should throw one of your legs out sidewise and strike your foot against your shoulder.
As I sprang lightly to the ground and took a few steps towards King Gâ-roo, who stood surrounded by his court officials, a very lean Umi-Loba on one side of him and a very fat one on the other—a perfect whirlwind of such cries as: “Pendulum-legs” “Walking-Scissors!” “Measuring-Man!” “Little Man All Head!” etc., etc., burst forth.
King Gâ-roo received me very pleasantly; requesting me to walk, run, hop on one foot, cross my legs, he, standing with wide opened eyes as I went through my paces to please him.
He then asked me my name, my rank at home, my profession, my age, what I liked to eat and drink, how much heavier my head was than my body, etc., etc. I made such a good impression on the King of the Umi-Lobas that he turned and invited me to spend some time at his palace.
I was delighted, for I was very desirous of studying the manners and customs of these strange people, and of conversing with their learned men. Suddenly, there was a great change manifest in the King’s manner toward me. He listened with knitted brows and compressed lips, first to his fat counsellor and then to his lean one.
His lean minister, so lean that he appeared to me to be an animated steel spring snapping apart, was named, Megâ-Zaltô or “Great Jumper,” than the King himself no one being able to leap across a broader stream.
His fat minister, so fat that he was able to advance only by little hops of a few inches at a time, was named Migrô-Zaltô, or “Small Jumper,” and as he had for many years been unable to race about the country like the other Umi-Lobas and had consequentlyhad much time on his hands, which he had used to improve his mind reading and studying, until he had acquired great wisdom. Hence King Gâ-roo’s choice of him as royal minister and court adviser.
I was again ordered to stand in front of his majesty, the ruler of all the Umi-Lobas.
“Sir Pendulum-legs!” said he, “upon reflection, I am persuaded that thy visit to my dominions bodes no good. Thou must know that I have two privy councillors, to whose advice I always listen and then do as I see fit. His excellency Megâ-Zaltô,” continued King Gâ-roo, pointing to his lean minister, “counsels me to command that thou be stamped and kicked to death at once, saying that thou wilt work great injury among my people; thou being a foreigner from a far-away land, they will endeavor to imitate thy manner of walking. Our good old-fashioned ways of walking will be sneered at; and my people’s legs will soon lose their wonderful strength and activity.
“My other councillor, who is a very learned man and loves to discuss questions of race, manners and customs with strangers, advises me to let thee live for several weeks, at least, until he has had an opportunity to get some valuable information from thee. Now, I am a quiet and peace-loving King, for nature by surrounding my dominions with such a network of rivers, and giving us the power to leap over them, makes it next to impossible for an enemy to follow us. Therefore, Little Man All Head, it is my royal will that for the present no harm come to thee!”
“Thanks, most powerful and graceful jumper in this or any other world!” said I, with a very low bow. “I accept my life at thy hands in order to use it to make known thy goodness and greatness in every land I shall pass through.”
My delicate flattery touched King Gâ-roo very perceptibly. He smiled and nodded his little doll head in the friendliest manner. But Megâ-Zaltô’s fierce, little face was screwed up in a thousand wrinkles. I felt within me that he was firmly resolved to do me injury.
Now, there was another interruption. A shrill, piping baby-voice suddenly rang out in a series of angry screams, while a score of other voices in soft, soothing tones could be heard as if endeavoring to comfort the screamer.
I turned my eyes in the direction of the voices. To my surprise and delight I saw coming towards me one of the female Umi-Lobas, advancing timidly with light and graceful hops, like a sparrow on the greensward. Her head and face looked for all the world like some of the wax dolls I had seen in Paris, only she was a trifle paler than they.
It was the beautiful princess, Hoppâ-Hoppâ. She seemed to be in a very fretful and petulant humor, and showed her peevishness in every movement.
Nothing pleased her. She pouted, hung her head, and threw her baby-arms about, upon the most trivial provocation.
As I learned afterwards, this all proceeded from her unwillingness to marry the lean, bony Megâ-Zaltô, who was violently in love with her, and to whom the King, in a moment of some great contentment, had rashly promised the princess in marriage, and as King Gâ-roo had in doing so taken the Umi-Lobas’ vow: “May I never be able to jump farther than the length of my nose, if I break my vow,” he dared not break his word, and, of course, the old, thin, bony, wrinkled Megâ-Zaltô insisted upon his sticking to the bargain.
The effect of all this was to throw the beautiful princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ into a deep melancholy. In fact, she refused absolutely to partake of any food for so long a while that everybody said sadly, “She will die!”
King Gâ-roo was beside himself with grief. But, as Megâ-Zaltô had no blood, he couldn’t feel any pity for either father or daughter, and insisted that the King should stick to his bargain with him.
Led on at last by the rich reward offered by King Gâ-roo to any physician who could succeed in making princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ partake of food, one of the court physicians hit upon the following plan:
The attendants were directed to set a table in the princess’apartment, and load it down with her favorite dishes. Then the lady-in-waiting was instructed to bind a silk band around the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ’s body, when the latter retired for the night, so arranged that it should press gently, but continuously on the sympathetic nerve, and cause her to walk in her sleep.
The plan worked successfully. Every night about midnight princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ would rise from her bed, while in the deepest sleep, sit down at the table and partake of a hearty meal. After which she returned to bed, when one of the ladies of the bed-chamber immediately loosened the silken band, lest she might arise the second time and overeat herself.
Princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ advanced towards me, hopping along with a timid air, until she was close enough to get a good look at me.
I was then desired to go through my paces once more, which I did with a great deal of vigor, concluding the performance by sitting down and crossing my legs.
Hoppâ-Hoppâ smiled faintly at first; but, when it came to the leg-crossing feat, she clapped her little doll hands and broke out in a laugh about as loud as the low notes of a flute.
King Gâ-roo was crazed with joy. It was the first time Hoppâ-Hoppâ had laughed for a year. I could see that there was a hurried consultation going on between King Gâ-roo and his fat and lean ministers. I knew only too well what it all meant. But princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ interrupted the consultation, and solved the whole question herself by crying out like a spoilt child clamoring for a toy, “I want him!”
King Gâ-roo burst forth into a loud laugh, in which everyone joined, save the lean, rattle-jointed Megâ-Zaltô, who scowled fiercely at me, screwing his little face up like a dried apple.
“He is thine; take him, beloved daughter,” exclaimed King Gâ-roo gayly, “and if he can cure thy melancholy and make thee once more the joy and sunshine of our Court, no one of the glorious gems which deck our royal diadem shall be too good for him.”
Amid great rejoicing and loud huzzas, a silk cord was tied about my body and I was led away by the beautiful princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ. Bulger resented the indignity of tying a cord around my waist and came within an ace of setting his teeth in the thick leg of the attendant who performed that service for me. Growling and showing his teeth right and left, the poor, puzzled animal followed me to prison; I say to prison, for that was what it proved to be.
Night and day, a guard surrounded my apartments and kept within respectful distance when I was summoned to divert the gentle princess by running, hopping on one foot, walking with my toes turned out or in, or with my feet stretched far apart.
But the one thing which delighted the princess and chased the melancholy from the pretty doll face was my ability to cross my legs. This wonderful feat I was obliged to repeat and repeat until my limbs fairly ached; but no matter how often repeated to the gentle Hoppâ-Hoppâ it was ever new and wonderful, and she invariably rewarded me by smiling and clapping her baby-hands.
About this time it was that my beloved brother Bulger gave me another proof of his deep affection and most extraordinary intelligence. I had no sooner begun to prepare for bed than I noticed that something was the matter with him. He fixed his lustrous black eyes pleadingly upon me, bit my shoe playfully, tugged at my clothing, sprang upon me, then bounded off toward the bed, sniffed at it, growled in unfeigned anger, and then making his way back to me, began to tease and worry me once more. I was half inclined to get provoked. By turns I scolded and petted him. All to no purpose; he continued his strange actions, growing, if anything, more and more violent in his manner. At last I was ready for bed. Striving with all my power to quiet and console him, I made an effort to throw myself on my bed, so that he might leap up and lie down beside me.
But no, it was impossible. With grip of iron he laid hold of my night-robe and held me firmly fast, whining and crying most piteously, as if to say,
“O, loved little master, why is it that thou canst not understand me?”
Suddenly a strange thought flashed across my mind. I stooped and glanced under my couch.
Nothing seemed amiss.
Then, as if urged on by some unseen hand, I seized the bed-clothing and hurled it on the floor. Lo, the mystery was solved! There, hidden beneath the drapery, shone the tips of a dozen or more tiny blades, each sharper than a needle’s point, and as I found upon examination, stained with a poison so subtle that the slightest prick would have robbed me of life. Need that I tell you how the tears burst forth, how I flung myself upon my knees and caught that beloved animal in my arms, covering him with kisses?
He was satisfied.
Again, had he added to that long list of debts due him from me—debts only to be discharged in coin fresh and bright from the heart’s mint. As you have doubtless guessed, this cowardly and cruel attempt on my life was the work of that living coil of steel springs, Megâ-Zaltô, who had determined to put out of the way the hated foreigner, whose monstrous deformities were so pleasing to the being he loved.
King Gâ-roo was greatly incensed when, upon Bulger’s recognition of the would-be murderer in the presence of the whole Court, the miserable wretch made a clean breast of it, and related how he had arranged the knives with his own hands.
“Out of my sight, thou unworthy servant! If I do not command that thy vile heart and viler head be parted by the executioner’s axe, it is because thy father rendered mine priceless services. Go! Come not again until I summon thee!”
King Gâ-roo now took me into special favor.
In the first place, he was delighted to see how successful my efforts had been to amuse the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, on whose baby cheeks the roses glowed once more, and whose child-voice rang out again as of old, like a flute note or a tiny silver bell.
His majesty ordered that the Court painter should forthwithmake a portrait of Bulger for the royal gallery, and that a plaster cast of my head should be taken for the royal museum.
I was much pleased with all this attention.
But I noticed that the very moment I hinted at the necessity of my speedy return home, King Gâ-roo skillfully turned the conversation to some other subject. The fact of the matter was, he feared to have me leave the palace lest his beloved Hoppâ-Hoppâ should miss my daily performances and fall back again into her melancholy.
The little princess herself was not slow in exerting her power over me. Snapping the ground with her feet, like a rabbit, when I failed to be quite as entertaining as usual, and even going so far as to threaten me with a dose of that living coil of steel-spring, called Megâ-Zaltô, when I refused to cross my legs and uncross them quickly enough to please her ladyship.
One day, being in a sort of brown study, over my position, and revolving in my mind several different ways of making my escape from King Gâ-roo’s dominions, I unwittingly paid little attention to Hoppâ-Hoppâ’s commands. In vain she stormed, snapping the ground with her little feet, shaking her baby hands at me, piping out in shrill and angry tones at my negligence.
I didn’t quicken my pace one jot. A heavy load of thoughts oppressed my mind.
My heart was full of sorrow.
All that day I had been thinking of home, of the dear old baron and the gentle baroness, my mother, and wondering whether they missed me at the castle.
Suddenly came a messenger from King Gâ-roo summoning me at once to go to the audience chamber.
With a bound I came to myself.
The little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had gone to her apartments.
I started to call her back.
Every instant I expected to hear that little bundle of bones and malevolence jump out at me like a venomous toad.
With fear and trembling I betook me to the King’s chamber.
To my unspeakable delight his majesty, the ruler of the Umi-Lobas, was in the rosiest of humors.
He met me with outstretched hands, poured out a beaker of wine for me, and bade me sit down at the very foot of the throne.
I strove in vain to stammer out my thanks.
He would not hear a word of them; said that “the stream should flow the other way,” meaning that I was the one to be thanked.
“Now, little man all head,” began the King, after I had finished my wine, “I have sent for thee to try and make thee happy, in the same measure as thou hast contributed to my happiness. This day I speak to thee from a father’s heart. Thou hast restored my darling child to health and contentment, and remembering from my conversations with thee that thou art a great lover of rare and useful books, I have had copies made of every book on the shelves of the royal library, and I now beg thee to accept them as a very slight token of my gratitude.”
I was speechless.
The blood rushed fast and hot to my cheeks.
I stammered out a few senseless words of protest, thanks, surprise, and what not.
The plan seemed to me only too plainly a scheme to tie me in King Gâ-roo’s service, to load me with several thousand volumes which I would have no possible means of carrying with me, and which, to leave behind would be such an insult that arrest and imprisonment would most surely follow.
At last I succeeded in getting myself together in some shape, and spake as follows:
“O, most powerful, wonderful and graceful jumper of all the Umi-Lobas, Gâ-roo, thousandth of thy line, I implore thee do not load me down with such a vast and priceless treasure. Thou knowest I am but a sojourner for a brief term in thy kingdom; I have no caravan, when I go hence to transport this vast accumulation of wisdom, stored in so many thousands of thick and bulky volumes, steel-clasped and iron-hinged. Thy gift is far too princely for so humble a visitor as I. Therefore, most gracious King Gâ-roo, bestow it upon some wealthy nobleof thy land, in whose spacious castle halls these books may find a safe resting-place, shelf rising on shelf, a very fortress of learning, impregnable to the cohorts of ignorance.”
King Gâ-roo smiled.
Then, turning to an attendant, he said:
“Summon Poly-dotto to attend before me, and bid him bring the library with him.”
I was more puzzled than ever by this command.
In a few moments the door swung open, and an aged Umi-Loba, well bent with years, with long tufts of white hair growing from his ears—for these people do not permit hair to grow upon their faces, plucking it out and destroying its roots in early life—and carrying a single volume of goodly size under his arm.
He advanced with feeble hops, steadying himself upon a staff.
His voice brought a smile to my face in spite of myself, for it whistled like a flute, unskilfully stopped, and ever and anon broke out into a funny squeak.
But although infirm of body, Poly-dotto was a perfect wonder of mind and memory.
I was fairly startled to find that Poly-dotto could understand my language with perfect ease, not a thing to startle one, either, when we stop to think that all our European tongues originated in this part of the world.
Poly-dotto hopped forward, made an attempt to bend his body more than it was, thrust the long, white tufts of hair growing from his ears into the bosom of his garb, and placed the book he had brought with him into King Gâ-roo’s hands.
His majesty returned the salutation of the aged sage, and then, bending a look upon me, beckoned to me to draw near.
I obeyed.
“Receive, Sir Pendulum-legs,” cried King Gâ-roo, “as a mark of my affection and a proof of my gratitude, this complete and perfect transcript of the entire royal library, for many centuries the pride of the Kings of the Umi-Lobas.”
I glanced at King Gâ-roo, then at the back of the book thinking that it was merely the catalogue of the books contained in the royal library.
But, no; there was the title, “Complete Transcript,” etc.
I opened the book.
Its pages were thinner than the finest tissue I had ever seen.
I turned to the last page.
Twenty thousand pages!
My astonishment was redoubled.
With some difficulty, on account of my unskilled fingers, I turned over some pages here and there. They were all closely filled with minute dots and strokes.
To my eye, one page seemed like another, a bewildering repetition of these same little dots and strokes.
I looked up at King Gâ-roo and Poly-dotto. They were both much amused over my confusion.
Like a flash the truth burst upon me. It seemed to me like waking from a dream.
Yes, there was no doubt of it. I was that moment in the land of the original short-hand writers. Here had arisen that mysterious system of recording language by means of dots and strokes, of which so many men, in so many different countries, in different centuries, had claimed to be the inventors.
In my readings of ancient peoples I had often seen it darkly hinted at, that far, far back in remote ages there existed a race of beings, with short arms and tiny hands, who had invented a written language to suit their wants, in which absolutely no letters at all were used, the words being represented by dots and strokes placed at different heights to denote different sounds.
With a sort of breathless delight I now sat down and began to examine the book anew, pausing every now and then to repeat a few words of thanks to the King of the Umi-Lobas.
“Inform little man all head, most learned Poly-dotto,” cried the King, “how many volumes he holds in his hand.”
Poly-dotto caressed the white tufts hanging from his ears, and spake as follows:
“The royal library which thou holdest in thy hand, contains eight thousand volumes all rare and valuable, and only to be found in the library of our royal master. These volumes treatof astrology, alchemy, divination, cheirosophy, medicine, mathematics, law, politics, philosophy, pastimes, warfare, fifty volumes of poetry, fifty of history, fifty of wonder-stories, besides several hundred treatises on theosophy, altruism, positivism, hypnotism, mind-reading, transmigration of souls, art of flying, embalming etc., etc.!”
“O, wonderful! Most wonderful!” was my ejaculation.
“But I beseech thee, O, learned Poly-dotto,” I continued, “impart to me the secret of all this! Unfold to me the origin of this most wonderful system of writing whereby the wisdom of ages may be recorded in one small volume!”
Poly-dotto glanced at the king, who bowed his head in sign of his royal consent that the aged sage might speak.
“Where we now stand,” began Poly-dotto, tossing back the long tufts of white hair which reached from his ears to his shoulders, “was once a rugged and mountainous country. In those days, now some thirty thousand years ago, our people were more like thine than at present. To climb the rocky sides of these mountains required long, sinewy arms and strong hands of great grasping power, and flexible legs, moving quite independently of each other, like mountaineers in all lands. But, all of a sudden, these rock-crested heights began to sink and the valleys to rise; true, very slowly and gradually, but yet uninterruptedly, so that in a few years, what had been a rough, broken country, ridged and wrinkled, began to take on the aspect of a perfectly level land. With these changes our people began to change.
“Having no longer any use for hands of iron grip and arms of tireless muscles, they were not long in finding out that this strength was leaving them, that their great breadth of shoulder and depth of chest were slowly but surely disappearing in their sons and grandsons. By a strange fatality, about this time, a terrible flood passed over our luckless land. Our panic-stricken people had just time enough to escape. For several months the regions once inhabited by a contented little nation were covered by water many fathoms deep. When, at last, the waters had subsided, and our ancestors were permitted to set foot againon their native soil, what a change met their eyes! This vast domain of our gracious master, King Gâ-roo—the Thousandth, had become as you now see it, a perfectly level plain, net-worked by the countless narrow but deep and swift-rolling streams. But the soil brought in the arms, so to speak, of these raging waters and cast upon our houses, burying them far beneath, was of most extraordinary fertility, just as you see it now. Every manner of plant, fruit, flower, vegetable and grain grows here without cultivation when once planted. Our people were not slow to take advantage of Nature’s kindness and build up once more the happy homes destroyed by the flood. But now we were brought face to face with a most wonderful state of things. Here we were shut in, surrounded by a vast network of streams, and yet taught by our terrible experience so to dread water, that not even to escape from death itself could our people be induced to swim across one of these little rivers or pass over it in any sort of boat. Time went on. It was either a question of living on these long narrow necks of land, and walking scores of miles to pass around the bends and curves of the streams, or else jump over them. Our wise men issued instructions to our forefathers, telling them how from early childhood they must train their little ones to leap, encouraging them by rewards to keep up the practice until leaping became as easy to them as walking and running had been. The royal ancestors of our most gracious master enacted most stringent laws against walking and running. In a few generations great changes took place. It was not an unusual thing to see a child of eight or ten leap six or eight feet over rivulets while playing some game like your hide and seek. As these child-hoppers increased in years, their power of leaping soon led them to see that they could advance much more rapidly by jumping than by the ancient, toilsome way of setting first one and then the other foot forward.
“The streams now widened, putting the leaping powers of our people to severe tests. But we overcame every obstacle, and in a few generations it became a rare thing indeed to see a Umi-Loba moving about in the ancient manner. As you may easily imagine, Nature could not furnish vigor enough to enableour people to transform themselves in this manner, and at the same time preserve their length, strength and power of shoulders, arms and hands. A most astonishing result showed itself. What was gained below was lost above. Our people’s arms began to grow flabby; their hands took on a delicate and nerveless appearance, as if a long illness had bleached and softened them. Then the wise men of our nation noticed another change. After a certain age, the arms of our children ceased growing entirely, and although our physicians made extraordinary efforts to overcome this sudden stoppage of growth, which usually occurred when our children reached their tenth year, yet all their exertions were of no avail.
“Our king, to his great dismay, saw growing up about him a race of young men whose arms were so short, and whose hands were so small and delicate, that they could no longer wield the spears and bows and arrows of our forefathers. Even the knives and forks and drinking cups had to be made smaller and smaller as these wonderful changes came about.
“And not long, too, was it before our wise men found it utterly impossible to hold and guide the long, heavy pens of their ancestors, or to lift the ponderous volumes in which our fathers had kept the records of our nation.
“With smaller pens came smaller books, and finer writing, until at last one of my ancestors, in a moment of happy inspiration, conceived the idea of giving up the ancient way of writing by means of two score or more of letters, so large that only a few of them could be written upon one line, and of which two or three were necessary in order to record one simple sound, and of using little dots and strokes as fine as hairs, to represent the sound of our words.
“Our children were delighted.
“Their short arms and tiny hands were well fitted for such work.
“In a few years the new system of writing was taught in all our schools, and by royal edict became the only lawful method of writing throughout the kingdom. Later, another of my ancestors greatly improved the system, so simplifyingit that whole sentences could be recorded by a single tiny dot or hair-stroke.
“By means of this wonderful system is it that we are enabled to compress a whole library into one single book, as you have seen, and to make it possible for our royal master to carry about with him on his journeys the assorted wisdom of ages, in so compact a form that it may be placed under the royal pillow and yet not wrinkle it.
“Thou knowest full well,” continued Poly-dotto, with a smile, as he raised one of his baby hands and pointed a tiny finger at the book I held in my hands, and upon whose pages my eyes were fixed in wide-opened astonishment, “that in thy country a story writer could not possibly squeeze a single one of his tales between those covers!”
King Gâ-roo laughed heartily at this speech.
After a few moments more of pleasant chat, I was dismissed by his majesty with promises of continued favor.
As I was backing out of the audience chamber, King Gâ-roo cried out gayly, as he shook a tiny finger at me:
“Look well after princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, Little Man-All-Head!”
While seated in my apartment, the day following my reception at court and the presentation of the royal library to me, whiling away the time as best I could by dipping into the early history of the Umi-Lobas, I suddenly heard a great wheezing and whistling noise, as if some one suffering from the asthma were approaching.
Bulger gave a low growl.
I sprang up, and upon going to the door was not a little surprised to see Migrô-Zaltô, coming toward me with very short hops, every one of which drew forth a grunt.
However, he finally reached a seat in my apartment, and after half an hour’s rest, addressed me as follows:
“I bring thee good news, Little Man-All-Head. His majesty, King Gâ-roo, has graciously resolved to appoint thee one of his Ministers of State. Poly-dotto has informed him that your head is exactly three times larger that the largest Umi-Lobas, and that, consequently, you must be at least three times aswise as any of his counsellors. He is, quite naturally, unwilling that any other monarch should have the use of the vast treasure of wisdom stored in thy head. His design is to treat thee like a son, to surround thee with everything that gold can buy or cunning hands fashion, for thy comfort and amusement; in a word, so to shower honors upon thee that thou shalt soon forget thy home and kinspeople.”
The effect of Migrô-Zaltô’s words upon me was indescribable.
I felt as if my heart were about to beat its last.
It was only by the greatest effort that I could pull myself together, stammer out my thanks to his majesty, King Gâ-roo, and save myself from betraying my utterly disconsolate condition.
Behold me now a prisoner for life! For in spite of all these honeyed words, King Gâ-roo now proceeded to double the number of guards set to watch my movements, and thus head off any attempt at escape.
I, of course, pretended not to notice this extra precaution.
In fact, I put a smiling face over my sad heart, and pretended to be perfectly contented; to have given up all thoughts of ever returning home.
I took good care to let Migrô-Zaltô know that I now intended to begin studying the ancient history of his people.
With the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, too, I was all kindness and sympathy. But while I was thus engaged in throwing my keepers off their guard, I was diving deep into the folk-lore of the Umi-Lobas.
The books of the royal library, so graciously bestowed upon me by King Gâ-roo, stood me in good service.
I determined to get at all the weaknesses of the Umi-Lobas, in order to see if I could not discover some way to elude their vigilance.
It was all dark to me for the first few days, but at length I caught a glimmer of hope.
It came about this way:
The Umi-Lobas dread water. My own observation, as well as Poly-dotto’s words, had directed my attention to this strange fact.
Provided by nature with limbs of such extraordinary strength that they can leap over streams, even thirty feet in width, they have a superstition that nature intended them to avoid touching the surface of a stream.
For the first, I now observed that they had no boats of any kind, and that their children, unlike other children, never played upon the banks of the beautiful streamlets which flowed in every direction around their homes.
“A boat is the thing I need!” said I to myself, every pulse beating with suppressed excitement.
But, ah! where to get it!
It were idle to attempt to build a boat or even a raft without attracting the attention of my watchers and raising an outcry.
I must abandon that idea.
By a strange fatality my bitterest enemy now came to my assistance. You doubtless remember how that animated coil of steel spring, Megâ-Zaltô, tried to kill me by placing tiny poisoned knife-blades in my bed.
Well, after that I never laid down at night that I didn’t first pull off the cushions, drapery and coverings of my couch in search of any more of the same kind.
I never found any, for Megâ-Zaltô was still in disgrace, and forbidden, under penalty of instant death, to approach the royal palace.
But I did find something else.
It was this:
I discovered that my bedstead emptied of its cushions and clothes, was exactly the shape of a yawl boat; in fact, of so fine a model as to give infinite pleasure to my sailor’s eye, and, most astonishing discovery of all, that it was already fitted with a staunch and shapely mast, the staff which supported the hangings. All I needed was a couple of thin, straight sticks for booms, and I would be able to take one of my sheets and rig a square sail in a few moments.
Here again I found myself face to face with an appalling difficulty.
Even admitting that I could elude the vigilance of my keepers,how was I, all alone by myself, to transport the heavy bedstead to the water’s edge, a quarter of a mile away!
I was upon the point of giving up the whole scheme.
The more I turned it over in my mind the more its dangers and difficulties increased.
I paced the floor with quick and anxious step, scarcely aware of Bulger’s solicitude.
He was at my heels with vain coaxings, trying to quiet me down.
At last, in blank despair, I threw myself in a chair.
Bulger raised himself on his hind legs and gazed inquiringly into my face.
His tongue was out.
He was suffering from the heat.
For the first time I became aware of my condition.
The perspiration was streaming down my face. Suddenly a new idea flashed though my mind and helped out the old one.
Said I to myself:
“I’ll complain to the King of the heat; I’ll tell him how accustomed I am to outdoor life and sleeping in the open air with no covering, save the blue sky and twinkling stars; that I shall most surely pine away with inward wasting unless I be permitted to move my bed during the midsummer heat down by the river side, where the air is coolest and purest.”
King Gâ-roo listened to my request without the slightest suspicion that any idea of escaping from his domain was flitting through my mind.
In fact, he would have as soon expected to see one of his royal beds spread its drapery for wings and fly away to the mountains as to see it go flashing down the river with one of the sheets set for a sail.
So my request was granted at once.
My bed was moved down to the river’s edge, where one tent was raised to house me in case of a rain storm, and another to shelter the troop of guards which always kept at a respectable distance from me, and yet near enough to hop down upon me in about three seconds.
So far all had gone well. At first my plan was to launch myboat and make my escape in the night, but I was obliged to give this up, for I discovered that the guard was always doubled at night fall.
Escape, if I escape at all, then must be in the broad daylight.
Six of the Umi-Lobas soldiers stood sentry about my quarters from sun-rise to sun-set.
That they were armed it is needless to say.
But their tiny swords and pikes had no terror for me.
With a stout club I could have beaten them down in a few moments.
Their terrible legs and feet, however, were quite another thing.
One blow from the feet of a vigorous Umi-Loba would have laid me dead on the ground.
I have often seen these guards amuse themselves by striking deep holes in the ground or by breaking stone slabs an inch thick with a single blow of their heels.
I must choose a different mode of eluding such dangerous pursuers.
They must be drugged.
But how to accomplish it?
To offer them all food at the same moment would most surely arouse their suspicions.
Then again, they did not all eat together.
So too, it would be worse than folly to attempt to drug their drink.
What was to be done?
Again my heart grew sick and faint within me.
I sat down to collect my scattered thoughts.
At that moment the attendant began to serve my midday repast. I glanced at the tempting dishes and sparkling wines. It was a feast fit for a King.
“Sir Pendulum-legs,” said the serving man, with a low bow, “this is the season for O-loo-loo eggs. The first find was made to-day. The nest held six. His majesty sends thee two and wishes thee a pleasant dream.”
Now let me tell you what this strange speech all meant.
The O-loo-loo bird is about the size of a quail, and lays fromsix to a dozen eggs of a jet black hue. But as the bird, whose plumage is as black as a bat’s wing, makes its nest in the wilderness, among the rank growth of a heather-like plant, of so dark green a foliage as to seem almost black, the eggs are invisible to the hunter’s eye, and the nests can only be found by posting sentinels to mark the spots where the birds alight.
As you may imagine, O-loo-loo eggs are worth their weight in gold. Nay more, the people are forbidden to eat one.
Such is the King’s command!
They all belong to him, and the finder must straightway bear his prize to the royal palace where a rich reward awaits him.
But the most mysterious thing about them is yet to be told! Not only are these eggs of most delicious flavor, but two of them are sufficient to throw the eater into a deep sleep, during which the most delightful dreams steal over him! Visions of exquisite loveliness flit before his eyes, and life seems so sweet and satisfactory that waking is really the keenest pain. The cause of this strange effect was for many centuries a mystery and the ancestors of the Umi-Lobas were wont to worship the O-loo-loo bird as a sort of sacred creature. But the mystery was solved at last. It was found that these birds fed upon the seed of the poppy plant, and hence the power of their eggs to cause sleep in those partaking of them.
I ate the two O-loo-loo eggs to test the matter, and in a few moments found myself sinking into a most delicious slumber.
When I awoke I saw light where darkness had lately reigned.
The way to escape from King Gâ-roo’s guards was now clear to me. I at once proceeded to save up my O-loo-loo eggs.
In a few days, they became more plentiful, and it was not long before I had accumulated two dozen of them.
And now, thought I, if I offer them to my keepers as a feast, their suspicions will be aroused; they will refuse to partake of them, and the whole matter will be laid before the king and I shall be shorn of the little liberty I have. Therefore, I must use my knowledge of human nature.
As each man passed on his rounds I called him to me, and showing him four of the O-loo-loo eggs, said:
“I like thee; thou art my favorite, couldst thou be very close mouthed?”
The fellow’s eyes sparkled with delight, and I could see that his mouth was watering at the sight of the dainty morsels.
Upon his assuring me that he would take good care that no one should know how kind I had been to him, I gave him four of the eggs, enough to make him sleep like a log for three hours.
He bolted them, shells and all.
I was much pleased with the working of my plan.
The next sentinel, who made his appearance a few moments after the first, was served in the same way. And so on with all the others. Each promised most solemnly never to reveal his good fortune to his comrades.
My plan thus far had worked splendidly.
In about a quarter of an hour I had the supreme satisfaction of seeing all six of them begin to rub their eyes, then yawn, then stretch their little arms up over their heads in the sleepiest manner possible. In less than half an hour they were all stretched out on the greensward, snoring like good fellows.
Now was my time to act!
I sprang toward my bed to empty it of its contents and launch it on the little river which flowed near by, when, to my horror, I heard the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ calling, “Little Man All Head! Little Man All Head!”
A cold chill crept over me! There she came, hopping toward me like the wind, calling out for me to come and make her laugh!
What was I to do?
Strike her down?
Smother her?
Oh no; I could not have harmed that innocent little doll-faced being, had it been to save myself from life-long imprisonment.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a bright thought flitted through my brain.
I have run, hopped, and stood on one foot, kicked one foot high in the air, crossed my legs, etc., to amuse the little princess, but I have never danced for her!
If she can find it amusing enough to laugh heartily at suchplain old-fashioned antics, she will surely go into convulsions when she sees me dancing a quick time jig with heels flying in the air.
So, calling out to her in my gayest manner, I said:
“Come, little princess, come little Umi-Loba. Hop this way! Be quick; I’ve something very funny to show you.”
She didn’t wait for a second bidding.
With two bounds she was beside me.
Bidding her be seated I began to dance and she began to laugh. In half a moment I quickened my step and she broke out into the wildest merriment.
“O, do stop, Little Man All Head,” she gasped. “O, do stop, or I shall die!” I didn’t want her to die, but I did want her to fall down into a swoon.
So now I let myself out.
My legs flashed like sunbeams dancing on the water.
Bulger looked on in dignified astonishment.
He failed utterly to make out what his little master meant by these furious antics.
Indeed they were furious.
Faster and faster my nimble feet beat the ground. Wilder and more uncontrollable became the laughter of the little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ. The tears coursed down her pretty face she rocked from side to side; she bent forward and back.
Adding still more speed to my movements, I kept my eyes fixed upon her.
Victory!
The end came at last!
She rolled over on the greensward in a swoon.
“Now or never!” I murmured to myself.
In quicker time than it takes to tell it, aided by my faithful Bulger, I emptied the bed of its contents, set my shoulder to one end of it, while Bulger fastened his teeth in some fringe that hung from the other, and then, he pulling with might and main, and I pushing with all the desperation of a battle for freedom, the wooden structure was slowly brought to the bank of the river.
It was a hard task for us!
But we did it.
Now down the slippery bank it glided with a rush, striking the water and floating like a duck.
In an instant Bulger and I sprang on board of the little craft.
To rig up one of the sheets as a square sail and set it on the pole which had held the curtains was only the work of a few seconds.
A stout long-handled fan served me for a rudder.
Away! Away! I was off at last!
The wind was fresh and strong, and my square sail worked to a charm.
At that moment a shrill, piping voice reached my ear.
“Little Man All Head! Little Man All Head! Where art thou? Come to me!”
The shrill, far-reaching tones of her voice attracted a hundred attendants. They seemed fairly to spring up out of the ground.
Pell-mell, with a wild rush, the stronger ones leaping over the heads of the less vigorous ones, they made for the river banks.
Alarm bells now sounded on every side.
Gongs and strangely-sounding horns and rattles called the people to the spot where the little princess had been found lying half unconscious on the greensward.
The sight of the half dozen sentinels stretched out here and there in the deepest sleep, the scattered drapery of my couch, the bed itself missing, all told too plainly the story of my escape.
All this time, my snug little craft was making good headway down the river, which grew wider at every hundred feet.
With one wild outburst of shrill, angry voices, the Umi-Lobas turned to pursue the fugitive.
Bulger whined piteously as he saw them swarming on the banks.
In another moment they began leaping from one bank to another, passing over our heads in perfect clouds.
I knew full well that they would not dare to leap into my boat but I feared that they might overwhelm us with showers of their little spears. However I determined to try the effect of one of my pistols on them if their spears annoyed me.
King Gâ-roo, beside himself with spiteful anger, now arrived upon the scene, and took command of his assembled troops and serving men.
First he tried entreaty upon me, offering me princely sums and royal honors if I would only turn back.
But I was deaf to his honeyed words. Whereupon he fell into a towering passion. He ordered his soldiers to recapture me dead or alive.
A shower of spears now whistled through the air.
Most of them fell far short of their mark, for the river had now widened so that I was at least thirty feet from the shore whereon they were standing.
But a few of these spearlets fell dangerously near me.
Fearing that their points might be poisoned, I determined to try the effect of a pistol shot in the air.
The loud report of the fire-arm, and the puff of smoke which followed it, filled the Umi-Lobas with the most abject fear.
They threw themselves on their faces and cried out that I was an evil spirit.
I could now see that King Gâ-roo had given orders to let me sail away in peace.
They made no further attempts to molest me, and yet it was very plain that they were loth to part with the “little man all head,” for whom their King and the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had conceived so warm an affection.
I, too, felt a wrinkle in my heart as my little boat bore Bulger and me away on the rippling waters of the beautiful river now grown so wide that I was at least a hundred feet from the bank, and the palace of King Gâ-roo began to fade away in the distance.
For several miles they followed the banks of the stream, keeping opposite me, and ever and anon sending me a good bye in a soft and plaintive voice.
Straining my eyes, I could see little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, borne aloft on the shoulders of a group of serving-men, and waving me a last adieu.
Then, once more, I caught the sound of that shrill baby voice:
“Good bye! Good bye! Little Man-All-Head! Hoppâ-Hoppâ says good bye forever!”
And so I sailed away from the land of the Umi-Lobas, the land of the Man-Hoppers!
In a few days the river began to broaden out and the land of the Umi-Lobas was left far behind! The moment I caught sight of any signs of human beings on the river banks, I steered my staunch little boat into a broad cove, whose sloping shores led to lofty table lands. Here, with tear-moistened eyes, I moored the little craft which had snatched me from a life of keen, though silent, sorrow, and followed by faithful Bulger, struck out boldly for the interior. After a few weeks’ journeying I entered a country which was now and then traversed by traders. They were astonished to find me traveling all alone by myself, but readily accepted my statement that I had become separated from a troop of traders, and that my horse had died.
I now made haste to re-cross India and gain the shores of the Mediterranean, whence I took passage for home, with a joyous heart and a memory well-stored with quaint facts and curious recollections.