L. Frank Baum (5 page)

Once the branches of a tall tree caught him and nearly tipped him over;
but he managed to escape others by drawing up his feet. At last he was
free of the island and traveling over the ocean again. He was not at
all sorry to bid good-by to the cannibal island, but he was worried
about the machine, which clearly was not in good working order. The
vast ocean was beneath him, and he moved no faster than an ordinary
walk.

"At this rate I'll get home some time next year," he grumbled.
"However, I suppose I ought to be glad the machine works at all." And
he really was glad.

All the afternoon and all the long summer night he moved slowly over
the water. It was annoying to go at "a reg'lar jog-trot," as Rob
called it, after his former swift flight; but there was no help for it.

Just as dawn was breaking he saw in the distance a small vessel,
sailing in the direction he was following, yet scarcely moving for lack
of wind. He soon caught up with it, but saw no one on deck, and the
craft had a dingy and uncared-for appearance that was not reassuring.
But after hovering over it for some time Rob decided to board the ship
and rest for a while. He alighted near the bow, where the deck was
highest, and was about to explore the place when a man came out of the
low cabin and espied him.

This person had a most villainous countenance, and was dark-skinned,
black-bearded and dressed in an outlandish, piratical costume. On
seeing the boy he gave a loud shout and was immediately joined by four
companions, each as disagreeable in appearance as the first.

Rob knew there would be trouble the moment he looked at this evil crew,
and when they drew their daggers and pistols and began fiercely
shouting in an unknown tongue, the boy sighed and took the electric
tube from his coat pocket.

The buccaneers did not notice the movement, but rushed upon him so
quickly that he had to press the button at a lively rate. The tube
made no noise at all, so it was a strange and remarkable sight to see
the pirates suddenly drop to the deck and lie motionless. Indeed, one
was so nearly upon him when the electric current struck him that his
head, in falling, bumped into Rob's stomach and sent him reeling
against the side of the vessel.

He quickly recovered himself, and seeing his enemies were rendered
harmless, the boy entered the cabin and examined it curiously. It was
dirty and ill-smelling enough, but the corners and spare berths were
heaped with merchandise of all kinds which had been taken from those so
unlucky as to have met these cruel and desperate men.

After a short inspection of the place he returned to the deck and again
seated himself in the bow.

The crippled condition of his traveling machine was now his chief
trouble, and although a good breeze had sprung up to fill the sails and
the little bark was making fair headway, Rob knew he could never expect
to reach home unless he could discover a better mode of conveyance than
this.

He unstrapped the machine from his wrist to examine it better, and
while holding it carelessly in his hand it slipped and fell with a bang
to the deck, striking upon its round edge and rolling quickly past the
cabin and out of sight. With a cry of alarm he ran after it, and after
much search found it lying against the bulwark near the edge of a
scupper hole, where the least jar of the ship would have sent it to the
bottom of the ocean. Rob hastily seized his treasure and upon
examining it found the fall had bulged the rim so that the old dents
scarcely showed at all. But its original shape was more distorted than
ever, and Rob feared he had utterly ruined its delicate mechanism.
Should this prove to be true, he might now consider himself a prisoner
of this piratical band, the members of which, although temporarily
disabled, would soon regain consciousness.

He sat in the bow, sadly thinking of his misfortunes, until he noticed
that one of the men began to stir. The effect of the electric shock
conveyed by the tube was beginning to wear away, and now the buccaneer
sat up, rubbed his head in a bewildered fashion and looked around him.
When he saw Rob he gave a shout of rage and drew his knife, but one
motion of the electric tube made him cringe and slip away to the cabin,
where he remained out of danger.

And now the other four sat up, groaning and muttering in their
outlandish speech; But they had no notion of facing Rob's tube a
second time, so one by one they joined their leader in the cabin,
leaving the boy undisturbed.

By this time the ship had begun to pitch and toss in an uncomfortable
fashion, and Rob noticed that the breeze had increased to a gale.
There being no one to look after the sails, the vessel was in grave
danger of capsizing or breaking her masts. The waves were now running
high, too, and Rob began to be worried.

Presently the captain of the pirates stuck his head out of the cabin
door, jabbered some unintelligible words and pointed to the sails. The
boy nodded, for he understood they wanted to attend to the rigging. So
the crew trooped forth, rather fearfully, and began to reef the sails
and put the ship into condition to weather the storm.

Rob paid no further attention to them. He looked at his traveling
machine rather doubtfully and wondered if he dared risk its power to
carry him through the air. Whether he remained in the ship or trusted
to the machine, he stood a good chance of dropping into the sea at any
moment. So, while he hesitated, he attached the machine to his wrist
and leaned over the bulwarks to watch the progress of the storm. He
might stay in the ship until it foundered, he thought, and then take
his chances with the machine. He decided to wait until a climax
arrived.

The climax came the next moment, for while he leaned over the bulwarks
the buccaneers stole up behind him and suddenly seized him in their
grasp. While two of them held his arms the others searched his
pockets, taking from him the electric tube and the silver box
containing his tablets. These they carried to the cabin and threw upon
the heap of other valuables they had stolen. They did not notice his
traveling machine, however, but seeing him now unarmed they began
jeering and laughing at him, while the brutal captain relieved his
anger by giving the prisoner several malicious kicks.

Rob bore his misfortune meekly, although he was almost ready to cry
with grief and disappointment. But when one of the pirates, to inflict
further punishment on the boy, came towards him with a heavy strap, he
resolved not to await the blow.

Turning the indicator to the word "up" he found, to his joy and relief,
that it would yet obey the influence of the power of repulsion. Seeing
him rise into the air the fellow made a grab for his foot and held it
firmly, while his companions ran to help him. Weight seemed to make no
difference in the machine; it lifted the pirate as well as Rob; it
lifted another who clung to the first man's leg, and another who clung
to him. The other two also caught hold, hoping their united strength
would pull him down, and the next minute Rob was soaring through the
air with the entire string of five buccaneers dangling from his left
leg.

At first the villains were too astounded to speak, but as they realized
that they were being carried through the air and away from their ship
they broke into loud shouts of dismay, and finally the one who grasped
Rob's leg lost his hold and the five plunged downward and splashed into
the sea.

Finding the machine disposed to work accurately, Rob left the
buccaneers to swim to the ship in the best way they could, while he
dropped down to the deck again and recovered from the cabin his box of
tablets and the electric tube. The fellows were just scrambling on
board when he again escaped, shooting into the air with considerable
speed.

Indeed, the instrument now worked better than at any time since he had
reached the cannibal island, and the boy was greatly delighted.

The wind at first sent him spinning away to the south, but he continued
to rise until he was above the air currents, and the storm raged far
beneath him. Then he set the indicator to the northwest and
breathlessly waited to see if it would obey. Hurrah! away he sped at a
fair rate of speed, while all his anxiety changed to a feeling of sweet
contentment.

His success had greatly surprised him, but he concluded that the jar
caused by dropping the instrument had relieved the pressure upon the
works, and so helped rather than harmed the free action of the electric
currents.

While he moved through the air with an easy, gliding motion he watched
with much interest the storm raging below. Above his head the sun was
peacefully shining and the contrast was strange and impressive. After
an hour or so the storm abated, or else he passed away from it, for the
deep blue of the ocean again greeted his eyes. He dropped downward
until he was about a hundred feet above the water, when he continued
his northwesterly course.

But now he regretted having interfered for a moment with the action of
the machine, for his progress, instead of being swift as a bird's
flight, became slow and jerky, nor was he sure that the damaged machine
might not break down altogether at any moment. Yet so far his progress
was in the right direction, and he resolved to experiment no further
with the instrument, but to let it go as it would, so long as it
supported him above the water. However irregular the motion might be,
it was sure, if continued, to bring him to land in time, and that was
all he cared about just then.

When night fell his slumber was broken and uneasy, for he wakened more
than once with a start of fear that the machine had broken and he was
falling into the sea. Sometimes he was carried along at a swift pace,
and again the machine scarcely worked at all; so his anxiety was
excusable.

The following day was one of continued uneasiness for the boy, who
began to be harrassed by doubts as to whether, after all, he was moving
in the right direction. The machine had failed at one time in this
respect and it might again. He had lost all confidence in its accuracy.

In spite of these perplexities Rob passed the second night of his
uneven flight in profound slumber, being exhausted by the strain and
excitement he had undergone. When he awoke at daybreak, he saw, to his
profound delight, that he was approaching land.

The rising sun found him passing over a big city, which he knew to be
Boston.

He did not stop. The machine was so little to be depended upon that he
dared make no halt. But he was obliged to alter the direction from
northwest to west, and the result of this slight change was so great a
reduction in speed that it was mid-day before he saw beneath him the
familiar village in which he lived.

Carefully marking the location of his father's house, he came to a stop
directly over it, and a few moments later he managed to land upon the
exact spot in the back yard whence he had taken his first successful
flight.

When Rob had been hugged and kissed by his mother and sisters, and even
Mr. Joslyn had embraced him warmly, he gave them a brief account of his
adventures. The story was received with many doubtful looks and much
grave shaking of heads, as was quite natural under the circumstances.

"I hope, my dear son," said the father, "that you have now passed
through enough dangers to last you a lifetime, so that hereafter you
will be contented to remain at home."

"Oh, Robert!" cried his mother, with tears in her loving eyes, "you
don't know how we've all worried about you for the past week!"

"A week?" asked Rob, with surprise.

"Yes; it's a week to-morrow morning since you flew into the air and
disappeared."

"Then," said the boy, thoughtfully, "I've reached home just in time."

"In time for what?" she asked.

But he did not answer that question. He was thinking of the Demon, and
that on the afternoon of this very day he might expect the wise and
splendid genius to visit him a second time.

At luncheon, although he did not feel hungry, he joined the family at
the table and pleased his mother by eating as heartily as of old. He
was surprised to find how good the food tasted, and to realize what a
pleasure it is to gratify one's sense of taste. The tablets were all
right for a journey, he thought, but if he always ate them he would be
sure to miss a great deal of enjoyment, since there was no taste to
them at all.

At four o'clock he went to his workshop and unlocked the door.
Everything was exactly as he had left it, and he looked at his simple
electrical devices with some amusement. They seemed tame beside the
wonders now in his possession; yet he recollected that his numerous
wires had enabled him to strike the Master Key, and therefore should
not be despised.

Before long he noticed a quickening in the air, as if it were suddenly
surcharged with electric fluid, and the next instant, in a dazzling
flash of light, appeared the Demon.

"I am here!" he announced.

"So am I," answered Rob. "But at one time I really thought I should
never see you again. I've been—"

"Spare me your history," said the Demon, coldly. "I am aware of your
adventures."

"Oh, you are!" said Rob, amazed. "Then you know—"

"I know all about your foolish experiences," interrupted the Demon,
"for I have been with you constantly, although I remained invisible."

"Then you know what a jolly time I've had," returned the boy. "But why
do you call them foolish experiences?"

"Because they were, abominably foolish!" retorted the Demon, bitterly.
"I entrusted to you gifts of rare scientific interest—electrical
devices of such utility that their general adoption by mankind would
create a new era in earth life. I hoped your use of these devices
would convey such hints to electrical engineers that they would quickly
comprehend their mechanism and be able to reproduce them in sufficient
quantities to supply the world. And how do you treat these marvelous
gifts? Why, you carry them to a cannibal island, where even your crude
civilization has not yet penetrated!"