  When Ato, banging boisterously on an iron frying pan with a wooden spoon, summoned all hands to dinner, Samuel and Roger responded with a rush. But Tandy remained sitting gloomily on his bunk. "Now what's the matter?" demanded Samuel Salt as Roger, sent to call the young voyager, came flying back to the table. "He says I may serve his dinner in the cabin," snickered Roger, popping a biscuit into his mouth and swallowing it whole. "Well, don't you do it!" roared the Captain, bringing his fist down with an angry thump. "No use to start such nonsense!" "But he's so thin and feeble. The poor child's just full of raw roots and jungle grass," murmured Ato, beginning to heap a platter with meat and vegetables. "Wait till he folds himself round some of these seafarin' rations. He'll be a different person." "And he'd better be!" rumbled the Captain of the Crescent Moon, pulling in his chair. "And if you and Roger want to spoil the little pest, go ahead, but he'd better keep out of MY way. HAH!" "I could drop the dinner on his head," suggested Roger helpfully as Ato handed him an appetizing tray for Tandy. "How would that be?" "Utterly reprehensible, and conduct unbecoming in a Royal Read Bird and able-bodied seaman," chuckled the ship's cook, shaking his finger at Roger. "Why don't you try to help the little beggar and set him a good example?" Now Roger, in spite of his sharp tongue, was really a sociable and kind-hearted bird and the sight of Tandy sitting so forlornly on his bunk made him regret his teasing speeches. After all, the little fellow was far from home and had had a hard time in the jungle. "Here!" he puffed, setting down the tray and lighting the lantern. "This'll put feathers on your chest, young one, and mind you eat every scrap." "Thank you," answered Tandy, so drearily that Roger with a shudder of distaste fled back to the cheerful company of Samuel and Ato. But later, when Samuel had gone below to pot the precious plants from Patrippany Island and the ship's cook was leaning over the rail conversing cozily with the hippopotamus, Roger flew back to Tandy's cabin resolved to help him if he could. With calm satisfaction he noted that Tandy had eaten everything on the tray. Lying on his back, the young King of Ozamaland was staring solemnly up at the beams over his bunk. "Ahoy! And what goes on here?" cried Roger, setting down on the old sea chest. "How about a turn on deck, my lad, and a bit of chatter with the crew?" "It is not seemly for a King and son of a King's son to talk with his inferiors," observed Tandy coldly. "In-feer-iors!" screamed Roger, forgetting all his good intentions and mad enough to nip the youngster's nose right off. "Are you by any chance referring to me?" "Ozamaland is a great and powerful country and I am its King," stated Tandy, turning his back on the Read Bird. At this Roger let out another screech, and then suddenly remembering the purpose of his visit, took a long breath to steady himself. When he spoke again his voice was both calm and reasonable. "Ozamaland may be a great and powerful country and you may also be its King, but remember you are no longer in Ozamaland," explained Roger firmly. "You are on this ship by the express wish and kindness of the Captain and in the company of Kings and BETTER. WAIT!" Shaking a claw at Tandy's back, Roger flew off to fetch one of Ato's books from the shelf above the stove. Tandy was in the same position when he returned, but paying him no further attention, Roger pulled the lamp nearer and opened his volume. "When a King is in the company of Kings," began the Read Bird impressively, "he is no longer a special or royal being, but merely a man among men, and as such must maintain his honor and standing by sheer worth and ability alone." "Who says that? What are you reading?" Tandy sat up with sudden interest, for his whole life had been spent in study and reflection and the voice of the Read Bird was not unlike the voice of Woodjabegoodja, his royal instructor at home. "I am reading Maxims for Monarchs," answered Roger calmly, "a book of great authority and antiquity that has been used by the Rulers of Oz and Ev and the Nonestic Islands these many thousand years. No great and important country would think of being without a copy of this book," he continued severely. "Strange, then, that I should not have heard of it," mused Tandy, looking not quite so sure of himself. "We have no Maxims for Monarchs in Ozamaland." "Pooh, Ozamaland!" Roger dismissed the whole country with a shrug of his wing. "A country as young and unimportant as that would probably know nothing about such matters." "You mean my country is not so old nor important as Oz and this two-penny island of your fat Master?" shouted Tandy angrily. "Of course not. Why, it's not even been discovered, and whoever has been there?" demanded Roger disdainfully. "Take you, as its King, acting in this small up-country fashion—what CAN a fellow think? Here—" Shoving the book toward the disagreeable young monarch, the Read Bird urged him to look for himself. With a puzzled frown Tandy reread the passage Roger had just quoted. "Well, even though your Master is a King, you're not a King and neither is Samuel Salt," said Tandy, looking at Roger with some of his former arrogance. "Oh, isn't he? Well, just lay to this, young fellow," Roger shook his claw under Tandy's upturned nose. "Samuel Salt is Captain of this ship, a Knight and the Royal Discoverer of Oz, which makes him seventy times as important as you, King Pins. He not only is boss of the Crescent Moon, but he rules the sea, discovering countries for other Kings to govern, and if it were not for Samuel Salt and people like him, there wouldn't be any Kingdoms nor people like you to run them. See? As for me, I'm a Royal Read Bird and wouldn't be a King for a minute. I can live my own life and go and come as I please." "Then while I'm on this ship I'm not a King at all," said Tandy wonderingly. "Then what am I? What am I supposed to do?" The little boy looked puzzled and positively frightened. "Why, you're supposed to act like a person, that is, if possible," sniffed Roger, reaching over for his book and looking at Tandy sideways down his bill. "What are you besides a King? What can you do that is useful or interesting?" "Do, DO?" Tandy's voice rose shrilly. "Why—er—why, I can draw pictures and ride an elephant." "Good!" Roger put up his claw to hide the grin that, in spite of his best efforts, began to spread round his bill. "Well, there isn't much call for drawing or elephant riding on a ship, but you can draw water to swab the decks and I'll teach you to ride the yards and follow the crosstrees to the main topgallant mast in the blowingest blow that ever blowed. And depend upon it, young one, you'll have more fun as a person than you ever had as a King. There's no place for having fun like a ship!" "Fun!" said Tandy flatly and inquiringly. "What's that?" "Tar and tobaccy jack! What are you tellin' me?" Roger almost toppled off the sea chest. "Do you mean to sit there like a dumb image and tell me you've never had any fun? Never felt so bursting full of ginger and happiness you could sing or do a sailor's horn pipe?" "It is not seemly—" began the boy in a staid voice. "It is—" "Seemly! Great goosefeathers, are you alive or aren't you?" gasped Roger. "What in paint did you do in that cussed country of yours before you got carried off and penned up like a pig in the jungle?" Considering Roger's question, Tandy clasped and unclasped his hands nervously. "Well, you must know," he began in a very grown-up voice, "the King of Ozamaland is not allowed to mingle with the common people. In all things he is alone and set apart. So it was with my father and mother before they disappeared. So it is with me. Furthermore, it being prophesied that I would be carried off by an aunt in the middle years of my youth, it was deemed expedient and necessary to keep me locked away from danger in the White Tower of the Wise Men." "Hurumph!" grunted the Read Bird, who had not heard so many long words since the voyage began. "And what did you do in this precious tower?" "I studied," sighed Tandy, reclining wearily back on his pillows, "for there are many things a King must learn. But one hour of every evening I was permitted to walk about the garden on top of the tower and look down upon my Kingdom. On very great occasions I was allowed to come out and ride the white elephant in the grand processions of state." "Humph!" grunted Roger again, looking at Tandy with round dismayed eyes. "And with whom did you play?" he asked after a little silence. "Play?" Again Tandy's voice was politely inquiring. "The word was play," insisted the Read Bird doggedly. "With whom did you run about, play tag, checkers, pirates or go fishing?" Tandy looked confused and Roger shook his head sorrowfully. "Never heard of such things!" he exclaimed indignantly. "Well, all I can say is, whoever carried you off and shut you up in that jungle cage did you a real service. If you had not been there we never would have found you and I'm here to tell you that from now on things are going to be different. You're discovered now and aboard the grandest ship afloat. You can forget all about being a King and start right in being a person and an able-bodied seaman. I for my part mean to see you have some fun or break a wing in the attempt." "But would a King—" "King! Never let me hear that terrible word again," shuddered Roger, sticking his head under his wing and then popping it comically out again. "From now on, you're plain Tandy and can do as you plain please so long as it does no harm to yourself or the ship. Understand? And tomorrow we'll start having fun, so be ready." Roger's promise sounded almost like a threat, but there was such a merry twinkle in his eye, Tandy began to feel interested. "You might even begin tonight," sniffed Roger, taking up the tray. "Just begin by thinking of something you want to do. Think about it hard and then DO it." Winking cheerfully over the empty plates, the Read Bird spread his wings and sailed through the port. For several minutes Tandy lay where he was, turning Roger's last injunction over and over in his stiff, precise little mind. What DID he really want to do? At first he could think of nothing. Then suddenly he knew. Why, of course—he wanted to talk to Kobo and he just plain WOULD. There was a frosted cake left from his supper, and slipping it into his blouse, Tandy stepped quietly out on deck. The ship, with only a slight roll, was moving briskly through the water, white foam falling in lacy spray from her sides, the moon-white sails spread like giant wings above his head. There was no one in sight, and almost holding his breath, Tandy tiptoed aft and leaned adventurously over the taffrail. "Kobo—Yo KOBO!" he called huskily. "Hello! I thought you'd be out soon." Swinging round and turning her vast smile upward, the hippopotamus gazed fondly at her young charge. "Are you comfortable? Did you have a good dinner?" she asked anxiously. "Yes, and look what I saved for you!" As he spoke, Tandy glanced over his shoulder as if he were almost afraid to have anyone see him enjoying himself. "Open your mouth, Kobo!" he whispered eagerly. Without hesitation or question the hippopotamus stretched her jaws wide and Tandy with the first real thrill of his life flung the frosted cake into that immense pink cavern. As Kobo neatly caught and snapped her lips on the tempting morsel Tandy let out a faint cheer and began to think there might be something in Roger's suggestions after all. "I'll throw you lots of things tomorrow," he promised gaily. "Good night, Kobo. Good night, Kobo dear." Humming a tuneless little song, the young King hurried almost cheerfully back to his cabin. Pausing in the doorway of his tidy quarters, he looked about complacently. What did he want to do next? There was no one to tell him to go to bed, so he just plain wouldn't. He'd sit up as late as he plain pleased. Rummaging through Peter's sea chest, which Ato had placed near his bunk, Tandy found a large tablet of stiff paper, a box of paints and some crayons. Settling himself cross-legged on his bunk, he began drawing, not pictures of the castles and courtiers of Ozamaland, but pictures of the queer jungle beasts and Leopard Men he had seen on Patrippany Island. When Roger, on first watch, called out eight bells, he saw Tandy's light still burning, and flying down to investigate, found his new pupil fast asleep in the middle of his masterpieces. The whole bunk was covered with bright drawings and pictures and even to Roger's inexperienced eye they seemed excellently done. So, carefully the Read Bird stowed them in the sea chest, then, without bothering to waken or undress the little King, he covered him with a light blanket and went quietly from the cabin. |
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