Read Ebook: Captain Salt in Oz by Thompson Ruth Plumly Martin Dick Illustrator Neill John R John Rea Illustrator Baum L Frank Lyman Frank Other

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Ebook has 407 lines and 32589 words, and 9 pages

ral long, satisfying draughts from the shells. "Now, don't you worry about that young sprout," he advised kindly as Nikobo continued to gaze mournfully at the sleeping boy. "We'll make allowances for his High and Mighty Littleness and set him down in his own country. That is, if we ever manage to find it, though I must say he'll not be much use nor company for us. Ahoy! Here comes Sammy. Wonder what he's found?" As a matter of fact, the Royal Explorer of Oz looked more like a walking window box than a seaman. Long vines hung from his neck and trailed from his pockets. His arms were crammed with spiked and prickly plants and on his head he balanced a package of sea shells tied up in his shore-going coat.

"What you going to do, start a conservatory?" roared Ato as Roger helped the Captain set his treasures on the ground.

"Rare and unusual, all of 'em," said Samuel, dropping down beside Ato and looking with complete satisfaction at his curious collection.

"Mind those yellow creepers," warned Nikobo, wiggling her vast snout warningly. "Those purple flowered plants in the middle are treacherous, too. They are tumbleweeds, Master Long Legs, and 'tis from them Patrippany Island gets its name. When the Leopard Men fought, they would fling these weeds at one another, and I've seen them falling about for hours, neither side being able to advance a step or even stand up."

"Tumbleweeds!" breathed Samuel ecstatically. "You don't SAY! Why, these might come in real handy if we ever get in a tight place. I'll give a few to the Wizard of Oz and to the Red Jinn when we get back from this voyage. And what about the yellow creepers, Mate? Are they fighting plants, too?"

"The creepers, if uprooted and thrown at an animal or man, will creep rapidly after him, catching him no matter how fast he runs and tying him up so tight he will not be able to move until the vine withers," explained Nikobo solemnly. "I happen to know from an experience I had with one of these vines in my early youth."

"Creeping vines," shivered Ato, moving as far away from Samuel's collection as possible. "Just keep them away from me, Sammy. What right have such things on a ship?"

"Oh, they'll be harmless enough when they're potted," answered Samuel easily. "And a splendid weapon they'll make for some up and coming country."

"Better keep them for ourselves," advised Roger, fluttering down to Samuel's shoulder. "Exploring's a dangerous business, if you ask me, Master Salt."

"Well, you'll have to admit that it's been pretty safe and successful so far," said Samuel, clasping his hands behind his head and gazing contentedly up at the waving fronds of the palm trees.

"SAFE!" The ship's cook began to shake and quiver all over. "Ho, ho! Safe? Especially sailing round that volcano and going swimming with the crocodiles! Safe! You'll be the death of me yet, Sam-u-el. Have you planted your Oz flags and told the wild creatures in the jungle about their new sovereign?"

Roger nodded his head importantly. "We've raised Oz flags on the tallest trees on the East, South, West and North sides of the Island. I flew across and got a bird's eye view while the Captain walked clear 'round. We've discovered it's bean shaped, King dear, the exact shape of a kidney bean, and a fine fertile place for settlers and prospectors from Oz."

"Yes, all they have to do is cut down a million trees, drain the swamps and train the wild beasts in the jungle to be as polite and considerate as Nikobo here."

"Well, what of it? That's their problem." Samuel stretched himself, luxuriously snapping each finger to see that it was still working. "And now, since our part is done, what do you say to waking this son of a King's son and getting aboard the ship? The tide'll run out in a couple of hours and carry us along." Tazander had been awake for some time listening to the conversation with closed eyes. Now sitting up, he calmly spoke his mind.

"I'm not going with you," he stated grandly. "I'm going to stay here with Kobo till my own people come for me."

"Hah! Mutiny!" Leaping to his feet, Samuel glared down at the puny youngster with real anger and exasperation. "If you think I'm going to leave you on this island to be devoured by wild animals when Nikobo's back is turned, you don't know your pirates. CLIMB up on that animal. Lively, now!" Samuel looked so fierce and threatening, Ato felt rather sorry for the stubborn little King, but he was wasting his sympathy.

"I'm not going," said Tandy, settling more determinedly down into the sand. "And no one can make me."

"Don't say that! Don't say that!" Blubbering with grief at the thought of losing her small charge and shivering with anxiety lest he arouse to further anger this tall sea captain, Nikobo lumbered to her feet and began to whisper eagerly in Tandy's ear. During this short conference Samuel gathered up his specimens and Ato his oranges, and when both had finished the hippopotamus edged nervously forward.

"I've decided to go with you," she announced in a slightly shaken voice. "If I go, Tandy'll go, so I'll just GO!"

"What'll you eat?" demanded Roger, who was ever more practical than polite. "How'll we ever feed this enormous lady, Cook dear? Besides, she'll sink the ship."

"I'll be very quiet and stay wherever you put me," murmured Nikobo in a meek voice. "I'll go on a diet and eat whatever is left."

"Well, why couldn't she go?" proposed Ato, who already had formed a great liking for Tandy's devoted guardian. "Why couldn't she? Nice kind motherly creature that she is!"

"But a hippopotamus needs fresh water and tons of food and--" Then suddenly Samuel brought his hands together with a resounding smack.

"Have you thought of something?" asked Ato hopefully, shifting his oranges from one shoulder to the other.

"Yes," stated the former Pirate solemnly, "I have." Samuel was secretly delighted to have found a way to carry this superb herbivorous specimen back to Oz. "I'll build her a raft and tow her along after the ship. We'll stop at all the islands we come to for fresh water and grass, and meanwhile she'll have to do with salt baths and such food as we have in the hold."

"Oh, KOBO! Did you hear that?" Springing up with the first signs of life or feeling he had yet shown, Tandy flung himself on his huge champion and friend. "So you're really going. Then I'll go too."

"Can't be all bad, if he's as fond of her as all that," whispered Ato in Samuel's ear.

"Where's the pest?" he called out as Roger flew past the open port.

"Well, since he was so small and important," sniffed the Read Bird, waving a claw, "I gave him a large cabin to himself. I didn't think you and Ato would want him in here."

"Shiver my timbers, NO." Samuel looked ruefully across at the small berth the Philadelphia boy occupied on their last voyage. "He'll never be the seaman Peter was, nor the company either. He'd better keep out of my way, HAH! or I'll give him a taste of my belt." Snatching up his spyglass and looking as stern as a kind-hearted pirate well can, Samuel hurried out on deck.

Meanwhile, in the cabin next to the Captain's, Tandy stood regarding himself mournfully in the small glass over his sea chest. He too had taken a shower and at Roger's suggestion had donned one of Peter's old pirate suits.

"I am a King and the son of a King's son," muttered Tandy, staring sadly at the sallow reflection in the mirror. To tell the truth, the suit was not in the least becoming to the skinny and sullen young monarch.

"I am a King and son of a King's son and can bear anything," he repeated dismally.

"Then bear a hand with the dinner," yelled Roger, who had been peeking at him through the port hole. "All who eat must work, and under the hatches with lubbers!"

"Ahoy, below! How you coming?" called Samuel, leaning down to look at Nikobo. The hippopotamus wagged her huge head.

"Fine! Just fine, Mate," she wheezed pleasantly.

"Hah! Good for you!" Samuel's face broke into a broad grin as Kobo remembered to call him "Mate." "We'll make an able-bodied seawoman of you yet, my lass!"

Maxims for Monarchs

When Ato, banging boisterously on an iron frying pan with a wooden spoon, summoned all hands to dinner, Samuel and Roger responded with a rush. But Tandy remained sitting gloomily on his bunk.

"Now what's the matter?" demanded Samuel Salt as Roger, sent to call the young voyager, came flying back to the table.

"He says I may serve his dinner in the cabin," snickered Roger, popping a biscuit into his mouth and swallowing it whole.

"Well, don't you do it!" roared the Captain, bringing his fist down with an angry thump. "No use to start such nonsense!"

"But he's so thin and feeble. The poor child's just full of raw roots and jungle grass," murmured Ato, beginning to heap a platter with meat and vegetables. "Wait till he folds himself round some of these seafarin' rations. He'll be a different person."

"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?"

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