L. Frank Baum (3 page)

So he put his treasures into his pocket, locked his workshop and went
downstairs to his room to prepare for dinner.

While brushing his hair he remembered it was no longer necessary for
him to eat ordinary food. He was feeling quite hungry at that moment,
for he had a boy's ravenous appetite; but, taking the silver box from
his pocket, he swallowed a tablet and at once felt his hunger as fully
satisfied as if he had partaken of a hearty meal, while at the same
time he experienced an exhilarating glow throughout his body and a
clearness of brain and gaiety of spirits which filled him with intense
gratification.

Still, he entered the dining-room when the bell rang and found his
father and mother and sisters already assembled there.

"Where have you been all day, Robert?" inquired his mother.

"No need to ask," said Mr. Joslyn, with a laugh. "Fussing over
electricity, I'll bet a cookie!"

"I do wish," said the mother, fretfully, "that he would get over that
mania. It unfits him for anything else."

"Precisely," returned her husband, dishing the soup; "but it fits him
for a great career when he becomes a man. Why shouldn't he spend his
summer vacation in pursuit of useful knowledge instead of romping
around like ordinary boys?"

"No soup, thank you," said Rob.

"What!" exclaimed his father, looking at him in surprise, "it's your
favorite soup."

"I know," said Rob, quietly, "but I don't want any."

"Are you ill, Robert?" asked his mother.

"Never felt better in my life," answered Rob, truthfully.

Yet Mrs. Joslyn looked worried, and when Rob refused the roast, she was
really shocked.

"Let me feel your pulse, my poor boy!" she commanded, and wondered to
find it so regular.

In fact, Rob's action surprised them all. He sat calmly throughout the
meal, eating nothing, but apparently in good health and spirits, while
even his sisters regarded him with troubled countenances.

"He's worked too hard, I guess," said Mr. Joslyn, shaking his head
sadly.

"Oh, no; I haven't," protested Rob; "but I've decided not to eat
anything, hereafter. It's a bad habit, and does more harm than good."

"Wait till breakfast," said sister Helen, with a laugh; "you'll be
hungry enough by that time."

However, the boy had no desire for food at breakfast time, either, as
the tablet sufficed for an entire day. So he renewed the anxiety of
the family by refusing to join them at the table.

"If this goes on," Mr Joslyn said to his son, when breakfast was
finished, "I shall be obliged to send you away for your health."

"I think of making a trip this morning," said Rob, carelessly.

"Where to?"

"Oh, I may go to Boston, or take a run over to Cuba or Jamaica,"
replied the boy.

"But you can not go so far by yourself," declared his father; "and
there is no one to go with you, just now. Nor can I spare the money at
present for so expensive a trip."

"Oh, it won't cost anything," replied Rob, with a smile.

Mr. Joslyn looked upon him gravely and sighed. Mrs. Joslyn bent over
her son with tears in her eyes and said:

"This electrical nonsense has affected your mind, dear. You must
promise me to keep away from that horrid workshop for a time."

"I won't enter it for a week," he answered. "But you needn't worry
about me. I haven't been experimenting with electricity all this time
for nothing, I can tell you. As for my health, I'm as well and strong
as any boy need be, and there's nothing wrong with my head, either.
Common folks always think great men are crazy, but Edison and Tesla and
I don't pay any attention to that. We've got our discoveries to look
after. Now, as I said, I'm going for a little trip in the interests of
science. I may be back to-night, or I may be gone several days.
Anyhow, I'll be back in a week, and you mustn't worry about me a single
minute."

"How are you going?" inquired his father, in the gentle, soothing tone
persons use in addressing maniacs.

"Through the air," said Rob.

His father groaned.

"Where's your balloon?" inquired sister Mabel, sarcastically.

"I don't need a balloon," returned the boy. "That's a clumsy way of
traveling, at best. I shall go by electric propulsion."

"Good gracious!" cried Mr. Joslyn, and the mother murmured: "My poor
boy! my poor boy!"

"As you are my nearest relatives," continued Rob, not noticing these
exclamations, "I will allow you to come into the back yard and see me
start. You will then understand something of my electrical powers."

They followed him at once, although with unbelieving faces, and on the
way Rob clasped the little machine to his left wrist, so that his coat
sleeve nearly hid it.

When they reached the lawn at the back of the house Rob kissed them all
good-by, much to his sisters' amusement, and turned the indicator of
the little instrument to the word "up."

Immediately he began to rise into the air.

"Don't worry about me!" he called down to them. "Good-by!"

Mrs. Joslyn, with a scream of terror, hid her face in her hands.

"He'll break his neck!" cried the astounded father, tipping back his
head to look after his departing son.

"Come back! Come back!" shouted the girls to the soaring adventurer.

"I will—some day!" was the far-away answer.

Having risen high enough to pass over the tallest tree or steeple, Rob
put the indicator to the east of the compass-dial and at once began
moving rapidly in that direction.

The sensation was delightful. He rode as gently as a feather floats,
without any exertion at all on his own part; yet he moved so swiftly
that he easily distanced a railway train that was speeding in the same
direction.

"This is great!" reflected the youth. "Here I am, traveling in fine
style, without a penny to pay any one! And I've enough food to last me
a month in my coat pocket. This electricity is the proper stuff, after
all! And the Demon's a trump, and no mistake. Whee-ee! How small
everything looks down below there. The people are bugs, and the houses
are soap-boxes, and the trees are like clumps of grass. I seem to be
passing over a town. Guess I'll drop down a bit, and take in the
sights."

He pointed the indicator to the word "down," and at once began dropping
through the air. He experienced the sensation one feels while
descending in an elevator. When he reached a point just above the town
he put the indicator to the zero mark and remained stationary, while he
examined the place. But there was nothing to interest him,
particularly; so after a brief survey he once more ascended and
continued his journey toward the east.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon he reached the city of Boston,
and alighting unobserved in a quiet street he walked around for several
hours enjoying the sights and wondering what people would think of him
if they but knew his remarkable powers. But as he looked just like any
other boy no one noticed him in any way.

It was nearly evening, and Rob had wandered down by the wharves to look
at the shipping, when his attention was called to an ugly looking bull
dog, which ran toward him and began barking ferociously.

"Get out!" said the boy, carelessly, and made a kick at the brute.

The dog uttered a fierce growl and sprang upon him with bared teeth and
flashing red eyes. Instantly Rob drew the electric tube from his
pocket, pointed it at the dog and pressed the button. Almost at the
same moment the dog gave a yelp, rolled over once or twice and lay
still.

"I guess that'll settle him," laughed the boy; but just then he heard
an angry shout, and looking around saw a policeman running toward him.

"Kill me dog, will ye—eh?" yelled the officer; "well, I'll just run ye
in for that same, an' ye'll spend the night in the lockup!" And on he
came, with drawn club in one hand and a big revolver in the other.

"You'll have to catch me first," said Rob, still laughing, and to the
amazement of the policeman he began rising straight into the air.

"Come down here! Come down, or I'll shoot!" shouted the fellow,
flourishing his revolver.

Rob was afraid he would; so, to avoid accidents, he pointed the tube at
him and pressed the button. The red-whiskered policeman keeled over
quite gracefully and fell across the body of the dog, while Rob
continued to mount upward until he was out of sight of those in the
streets.

"That was a narrow escape," he thought, breathing more freely. "I
hated to paralyze that policeman, but he might have sent a bullet after
me. Anyhow, he'll be all right again in an hour, so I needn't worry."

It was beginning to grow dark, and he wondered what he should do next.
Had he possessed any money he would have descended to the town and
taken a bed at a hotel, but he had left home without a single penny.
Fortunately the nights were warm at this season, so he determined to
travel all night, that he might reach by morning some place he had
never before visited.

Cuba had always interested him, and he judged it ought to lie in a
southeasterly direction from Boston. So he set the indicator to that
point and began gliding swiftly toward the southeast.

He now remembered that it was twenty-four hours since he had eaten the
first electrical tablet. As he rode through the air he consumed
another. All hunger at once left him, while he felt the same
invigorating sensations as before.

After a time the moon came out, and Rob amused himself gazing at the
countless stars in the sky and wondering if the Demon was right when he
said the world was the most important of all the planets.

But presently he grew sleepy, and before he realized what was happening
he had fallen into a sound and peaceful slumber, while the indicator
still pointed to the southeast and he continued to move rapidly through
the cool night air.

Doubtless the adventures of the day had tired Rob, for he slept
throughout the night as comfortably as if he had been within his own
room, lying upon his own bed. When, at last, he opened his eyes and
gazed sleepily about him, he found himself over a great body of water,
moving along with considerable speed.

"It's the ocean, of course," he said to himself. "I haven't reached
Cuba yet."

It is to be regretted that Rob's knowledge of geography was so
superficial; for, as he had intended to reach Cuba, he should have
taken a course almost southwest from Boston, instead of southeast. The
sad result of his ignorance you will presently learn, for during the
entire day he continued to travel over a boundless waste of ocean,
without the sight of even an island to cheer him.

The sun shone so hot that he regretted he had not brought an umbrella.
But he wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, which protected him somewhat, and
he finally discovered that by rising to a considerable distance above
the ocean he avoided the reflection of the sun upon the water and also
came with the current of good breeze.

Of course he dared no stop, for there was no place to land; so he
calmly continued his journey.

"It may be I've missed Cuba," he thought; "but I can not change my
course now, for if I did I might get lost, and never be able to find
land again. If I keep on as I am I shall be sure to reach land of some
sort, in time, and when I wish to return home I can set the indicator
to the northwest and that will take me directly back to Boston."

This was good reasoning, but the rash youth had no idea he was speeding
over the ocean, or that he was destined to arrive shortly at the
barbarous island of Brava, off the coast of Africa. Yet such was the
case; just as the sun sank over the edge of the waves he saw, to his
great relief, a large island directly in his path.

He dropped to a lower position in the air, and when he judged himself
to be over the center of the island he turned the indicator to zero and
stopped short.

The country was beautifully wooded, while pretty brooks sparkled
through the rich green foliage of the trees. The island sloped upwards
from the sea-coast in all directions, rising to a hill that was almost
a mountain in the center. There were two open spaces, one on each side
of the island, and Rob saw that these spaces were occupied by
queer-looking huts built from brushwood and branches of trees. This
showed that the island was inhabited, but as Rob had no idea what
island it was he wisely determined not to meet the natives until he had
discovered what they were like and whether they were disposed to be
friendly.

So he moved over the hill, the top of which proved to be a flat,
grass-covered plateau about fifty feet in diameter. Finding it could
not be easily reached from below, on account of its steep sides, and
contained neither men nor animals, he alighted on the hill-top and
touched his feet to the earth for the first time in twenty-four hours.

The ride through the air had not tired him in the least; in fact, he
felt as fresh and vigorous as if he had been resting throughout the
journey. As he walked upon the soft grass of the plateau he felt
elated, and compared himself to the explorers of ancient days; for it
was evident that civilization had not yet reached this delightful spot.

There was scarcely any twilight in this tropical climate and it grew
dark quickly. Within a few minutes the entire island, save where he
stood, became dim and indistinct. He ate his daily tablet, and after
watching the red glow fade in the western sky and the gray shadows of
night settle around him he stretched himself comfortably upon the grass
and went to sleep.

The events of the day must have deepened his slumber, for when he awoke
the sun was shining almost directly over him, showing that the day was
well advanced. He stood up, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and decided
he would like a drink of water. From where he stood he could see
several little brooks following winding paths through the forest, so he
settled upon one that seemed farthest from the brushwood villages, and
turning his indicator in that direction soon floated through the air to
a sheltered spot upon the bank.