  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 the Crescent Moon hove 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 the Crescent Moon's afloat 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 the Crescent 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 the Crescent 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, the Crescent Moon rose 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, the Crescent Moon hung 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 the Crescent Moon came 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. |
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