into the stream, bending forward to catch the sound they made with
eager, listening air. Then turning to the right he followed the banks of
Lool-pâ-Tool, keeping his staff in the water and beating it gently with
the tip as if striving to draw some secret from it.
Again he paused and cast some pebbles into the dark and sluggish stream,
and bent forward to get their answer. Again, he woke the echoes, and
listened breathlessly to the reply that came, only to take up the march
after a brief delay with what seemed to me a somewhat hesitating step.
Evidently he was astray. His calm, noble face lost its look of serene
confidence. Suddenly halting, he reached out for a handful of foliage,
crushed the leaves in a quick and nervous grasp, inhaled their odor, and
then resumed his march as before, with head dropped forward on his
breast, and doubt and uncertainty visible in every movement.
For an instant the thought flashed thro’ my mind that possibly Benè-agâ
had gone so far astray as to make the discovery of the right course
impossible. I could feel my lips draw apart, and my heart creep slowly
upward into my throat!
The thought of a lingering death from starvation in the chill, dark
corridors of Palin-mâ-Talin, set a knife in my heart.
I almost tottered as I followed the blind hermit’s lead. My tongue was
too dry to let me cry out to him in my sudden despair.
While these terrible thoughts were chasing each other thro’ my mind,
Benè-agâ halted; and, resting his staff upon the branches of the nearest
tree, broke out into one of his wild invocations:
“O Palin-mâ-Talin, Benè-agâ calls unto thee! Hear him! He is astray! Set
his feet in the right path! Let him not wander aimlessly about in thy
gloom and silence. O, Palin-mâ-Talin! He is thy child; be kind and
loving to him!”
With these words Benè-agâ threw himself upon his knees, tore away the
thick covering of moss, until he had laid bare the forest floor; from
this, he took up a handful of the soil and pressed it between his
fingers as if to test some secret quality.
When he arose I knew that all was well. A radiant glow played about his
features. He was himself again!
Catching up his wand, he broke away with mad strides, as if pursued by
very demons. Only by running could I keep within sight of him.
On! on! we sped along the banks of Lool-pâ-Tool stream of the “Drowsy
Watery,” mile by mile, Benè-agâ carolling his wild chants of glad
thanks, I panting as if bent upon escaping fleshless death himself.
Another hundred paces and I would have fallen headlong to the ground.
My feet seemed shod with lead.
Bulger set up a most piteous whining as he saw the look of despair
settling on my face.
Suddenly the blind hermit halted; and, turning towards me, cried out in
a joyous tone:
“This is the place my son. It is all over now! Fear nothing! Mount on my
shoulders! Thou wilt not add a feather’s weight to the burdens which I
carry there! Be not troubled about thy dog. Lool-pâ-Tool has no terrors
for him.” Such was my confidence in the blind hermit’s power to bear me
safety across the mysterious stream that I did not wait for a second
bidding to mount upon his shoulders altho’ as far as I could see, the
waters of Lool-pâ-Tool looked just as black and deep as ever. Advancing
to the edge of the stream Benè-agâ now began, with quick and nervous
movement of his staff, to search for hidden stepping stones.
In vain I strained my eyes to catch some sign of resting place for his
feet.
And yet, they were there: for with giant strides, steady, sure and
rapid, Benè-agâ passed over the “Drowsy Waters” of Lool-pâ-Tool and set
me safety down on the other bank. I made effort to speak my thanks. But,
wonderment had robbed my tongue of power of utterance. I could only gaze
in silence upon that noble face—now clad in all its former serenity—then
turn and follow its owner’s footsteps.
After a few miles further advance Benè-agâ halted, and, bending his gaze
upon me, as if his eyes were as full of light as his look was of
radiance, spoke as follows:
“My son, my task is done! Look, dost thou not see that gleam of light
yonder? ’Tis the outer wall of Palin-mâ-Talin. Pass it and thou wilt
enter the world of noise and glare once more! Thou hast no further need
of me. Go straight on; and, in a brief half hour, the sun’s rays will
greet thee again! Once outside of this pathless wood, thou wilt find
thyself upon a lofty parapet—a sheer height of two hundred feet above
the plains below. Look about thee and thou wilt see a stairway of solid
rock, leading downward to the plain—not such as built by hands of man,
with steps of even height, hewn regular and smooth, but a rude,
fantastic flight of stairs left standing there by nature when she
cleared away the mass each side. Upon these narrow steps, smoothed by
the beating storms of ten thousand years, the waters daily pour a
treacherous slime, so that those who have rashly tried to pass to the
fair land below, now lie among the jagged rocks. No foot is sure enough
to tread on the slippery steps of Bōga-Drappa. To fall means certain
death. I cannot counsel thee my son. Be wary! Be wise! Farewell.”
As this last word fell from Benè-agâ’s lips he flashed out of my sight
like a spirit form.
The Palin-mâ-Talin covered him with her darkness.
He was gone.
The tears gathered in my eyes.
Fain would I have pressed its hand to my lips.
I knew it was useless for me to try and call him back or to follow him.
So, with a heavy heart I turned and pressed forward in the direction he
had indicated.
I was soon at the outer edge of Palin-mâ-Talin and to tell the truth I
felt my heavy heart grow light again. Bulger too, showed his delight at
being once more in the warm sunshine. Breaking out into the wildest
barking he raced hither and thither with the joyous air of a boy set
free from long and irksome task.
As Benè-agâ had described to me, I now found myself standing upon a
lofty parapet, overlooking a delightful valley, thro’ which I longed to
wander, after my long stay in Benè-agâ’s cave and the gloomy trail
through Palin-mâ-Talin’s depths.
Walking along the edge of the cliff I was not long in coming upon the
Stair of the Evil Spirit or Bōga-Drappa as it was called.
It was jagged, irregular and tilted here and there; and yet, quite even
and stair-like when one considered that it was of nature’s building. As
the blind hermit had warned me the treacherous slime covered
Bōga-Drappa’s entire length, forever renewed by the impure waters which
trickled down its steps.
To attempt to descend would have been worse than madness.
No human foot was sure enough to tread those slippery stones and reach
the bottom.
Although I was impelled by the strongest desire to hasten forward I saw
that a single rash act might end my life.
Ordinary obstacles have no terror for me. But when nature sets a
threatening barrier in my way I halt, but do not surrender.
And, therefore, I sat calmly down to ponder over the problem that faced
me.
For three days I tarried on this parapet and each day I visited
Bōga-Drappa and gazed long and fixedly upon its far-reaching flight of
rocky steps.
On the third day I had solved the problem.
Hastily gathering up every fragment of lime-stone lying near, I piled it
in a cone-shaped heap and around it and over it I laid a mass of dry
leaves and billets and over all such logs as I could lift. Then,
striking fire with my flint and tinder I set the pile in flames.
In the morning I was rejoiced to find a heap of the purest quick-lime
beneath the ashes.
By means of an empty skull of some animal of the deer family, which I
found lying near, I at once began to feed the waters trickling over
Bōga-Drappa’s steps with the lime.
All that day and up to the noon hour of the next, I kept the water which
flowed down the stairway, milk white with the lime.
Now, however, came the greatest difficulty. From the size of the stream
I realized that it would be impossible for me to stay its course by
means of any dam that I could build, for a longer time than one brief
half hour. But, I dared not wait too long, for the coating of lime,
which, by this time I knew must have been deposited on the rocky steps,
to harden in the sun.
The dam might break and undo all my work.
At high noon, when the sun was beating down the hottest, I put the last
touch to my dam. I was startled to see with what rapidity the waters
gathered in the basin I had built. With anxious eyes and throbbing
heart, I stood at the head of Bōga-Drappa’s stair of rock and gazed up
and down.
I could see no signs of drying on the black and glistening steps. One
moment after another glided by. At last a faint trace of whiteness began
to show itself here and there. I turned an anxious glance at the
gathering waters. The frail dam seemed about to yield to the
ever-increasing pressure.
In one or two places, I caught glimpses of tiny rivulets trickling
through.
Once more, with a terrible feeling of faintness I glanced down the long
dark flight of steps. Half blinded by the noon day sun I nevertheless
caught sight of a snow white crust on the stairway.
Now was my time or never!
Calling out to Bulger to precede me I sprang boldly down the stair
which, till that moment had been black with treacherous slime. The
waters broke away and came rushing on my very heels. Down, down, I went
in headlong haste, bounding like a deer from step to step!
My heart sank within me as I felt the torrent, now mad and raging
spatter its spray on my neck.
Another instant and I’m saved! My feet strike firm.
I see the fair country come nearer and nearer.
Another leap, and with my faithful Bulger I’ve cleared the dreaded
stairway of Bōga-Drappa! Staggering forward, I reach the greensward of
the valley and fall fainting, after my terrible race for life!
Bulger’s mingled wailing and caresses roused me after a few moments of
clouded brain and then all was well. And yet a shudder stole over me as
I raised my eyes to take a last look at the rocky stairway of
Bōga-Drappa, now clad once more in its black, glistening, treacherous
slime.
Refreshed by a hearty meal upon the luscious fruit which grew in
wonderful profusion on every side, followed by a deep draught of cool,
clear spring water, and calling joyfully to my faithful Bulger to follow
me, I set out for the distant summit of the ridge which shut in this
peaceful little corner of the earth’s surface, so well fitted for the
home of human beings, and yet so utterly abandoned and tenantless, even
by four footed creatures. While, I am a great admirer of nature in all
her aspects from wildest grandeur to picture-like delicacy, yet no spot
which is not inhabited by man or beast, can long hold me content.
I must have life, not the dull spiritless life of tree, shrub or plant,
ever-chained to one spot, but the restive, bounding, throbbing life of
man or animal to study, contemplate and reflect upon. Therefore, it was
that I determined to pass at once out of this beautiful little valley.
I pushed on with eager step for I was desirous of gaining the high land
before nightfall. In this I was successful, but the twilight had so
deepened when I reached the crest of the ridge, that any survey of the
country lying beyond was impossible.
Shortly after I had lighted a bivouac fire, Bulger came in with a
bird—of the quail kind—and I proceeded to broil it on the live embers.
The faithful animal was delighted to be once more in a country in which
he could serve me and while our supper was cooking, took occasion to go
through a number of his old tricks, in order to see his little master’s
face brighten up.
Side by side, we lay down for the night in that far-away land, and were
soon fast asleep.
The morning broke with rare splendor. I hastened to examine the country
beneath me. It was dotted here and there by groves and bits of woodland
and seemed unusually green and fruitful.
What attracted my attention more than anything else was the fact that,
as far as my eye could reach, the region was watered by a perfect
network of little rivers, which glistened in the morning sun like bands
of burnished silver.
I had never seen the like. It occurred to me at once, that should these
streams prove too deep and rapid to ford, it would force me to change my
course entirely, and pass either to the north or south, until I reached
a clear country. It was pretty well toward sundown when I stood upon the
confines of this strange land which I named Polypotamo or “Many Rivers.”
The streams, which varied from ten to twenty feet in width, were deep,
clear and swift.
As you may readily imagine such a country was very productive. Fruit and
flower-bearing shrubs and trees, all of a most beautiful green grew in
the wildest abundance. The air, cooled and purified as it was by the
numerous streams of limpid water, was like a magic inhalation, carrying
a strange feeling of dreamy delight to every part of the body.
Said I to myself:
“If this fair land be not inhabited then it is a monstrous pity, for
here kind nature has spread her riches with a more than usually lavish
hand.”
Bulger and I stretched ourselves upon the bank of the first stream that
we reached and were preparing for a nap after our long days tramp, when
suddenly the strangest noises reached our ears. He started up with a
look of mingled alarm and curiosity which, could I have seen my own
face, I would undoubtedly have found pictured there in equally strong
lines.
Louder and louder grew these curious sounds.
I listened with pricked-up ears, as I strained my eyes in the direction
whence they came, eager to catch the first glimpse of the beings who
uttered them.
I had not long to wait. About an eighth of a mile away, my eyes fell
upon a sight, which, in spite of the possible dangers threatening my
life, in case these creatures had proven to be vicious or savage, caused
me to burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
There, in full view, was a troop of human creatures, dwarfish in
stature—not being much over four feet in height—who seemed incapable of
using their legs as we do; but moved about from one place to another by
hopping, as some birds do, or as rabbits would do if they moved about
standing upright on their hind legs.
In an instant they caught the sound of my voice; and, with the swiftness
of the wind, and with an ease that astounded me, leaped over the two
intervening streams—each of which was at least fifteen feet in width—and
came bounding toward us with the same gigantic leaps! The whole thing
was done so quickly, and the mode of locomotion was so novel and
altogether wonderful, that I was surrounded before I knew what happened
to me.
It is needless to say that I couldn’t understand their language,
although I soon mastered it, consisting as it did of pure Aryan roots,
no word being of more than three letters.
The Man-Hoppers—such was my translation of their name, Umi-Lobas—ranged
themselves in a circle around Bulger and me, threw themselves on their
faces, so to speak—for their arms were ridiculously out of all
proportion to their bodies—and threatened with shrill outcries and
menacing movements, to kick Bulger and me to death instantly unless we
surrendered unconditionally.
It was a novel sight.
[Illustration: THE JOLLY PARTY OF UMI LOBAS (MAN HOPPERS) THAT CAPTURED
BULGER AND ME.]
Bulger was inclined to advise resistance; but, when I had given a
hurried glance at their feet, which were very large and attached to
astonishingly vigorous legs, I deemed it only prudent to run up the
white flag; in fact, I gave them to understand that we threw ourselves
on their mercy.
But first, a word about these strange people:
They were, as I have said, small of stature, and let me add that, upon
their narrow, sloping shoulders were set delicate, doll-like heads,
animated by large, lustrous, black eyes of extreme softness in
expression. Their arms looked like the arms of a boy on the body of a
man. But, although so small, for they reached only to their waists and
ended in tiny, shapely hands, yet they showed themselves possessed of
extraordinary strength and dexterity. Their legs, however, were the most
wonderful part of them.
In fact, I might almost say that the Umi-Lobas were all legs, so out of
all proportion was the development of their limbs. The effect of this
disproportion may be easily imagined. It so dwarfed their bodies that
they appeared like cones set upon two legs.
“Miscreant!” cried the leader, as I learned three days later when I had
mastered their language, “if thou dost not instantly admit that his
majesty, Gâ-roo, King of the Umi-Lobas, is not the fastest, farthest and
most graceful jumper in the world, thou shalt be kicked to death without
the least ceremony!”
I made signs that I was quite willing to admit this, although I didn’t
understand exactly what it was!
Seeing that I was not disposed to attempt any harm, the Man-Hoppers
sprang to their feet and seated themselves in a perfect ring around
Bulger and me, like so many rabbits when standing on their hind feet to
reach something, intent upon getting a good look at us, or at me rather,
for Bulger was evidently no great novelty for them.
They kept up a perfect rattle of remarks in shrill piping tones upon my
personal appearance. I, too, was by no means idle.
I kept even pace with their galloping curiosity, studying the expression
of their faces and the movements of their bodies. After a few moments I
was given to understand that I must start at once for the palace of
their gracious monarch, Gâ-roo, the One Thousandth, for they were a very
ancient people.
As I rose to my feet and took a few steps toward the water, intending to
assure them that I could not leap across the stream, it became their
turn to laugh.
And laugh they did too, with such spirit, such heartiness—I might almost
say such violence—that I never realized till then that they laugh best
who laugh last.
Again and again their piping, pygmy voices broke out in shrill chorus
while their pretty doll faces were convulsed with merriment.
Bulger repeatedly showed his teeth, and gave vent to short, spiteful
barks as the Umi-Lobas continued their, to him, unseemly behavior. But I
knew it would only injure us in the end, if I showed any signs of anger,
so I simply shrugged my shoulders and waited for them to recover from
their fit of merriment. Finally, between the pauses of laughter I caught
such words as:
“Pendulum-legs!”
“Man-scissors!”
“Man Tongs!”
“Flip-flop! Wiggle-waggle!”
“Here she goes, there she goes!”
Such were a few of the terms expressive of the impression which my poor
unoffending legs made upon the minds of the Umi-Lobas.
They quieted down at last and again began to make signs that I should
prepare to follow them.
When at last I succeeded in making them understand that I was not a
jumper, and could no more leap across the stream in front of us than I
could hop over the moon, their mirth now gave place to disgust. Such
pleasant phrases as:—
“Lead legs!”
“Two-legged snail!”
“Little man stuck-in-the-ground!”
“Little man tied-to-his-head!” etc., etc., were fired at me.
After a consultation, it was determined to dispatch two of their number
for a sort of porte-chaise in use among the Umi-Lobas in which to
transport Bulger and me to the King’s palace.
Away went the messengers like the wind, in leaps of twenty feet seeming
scarcely to touch the ground, bounding along in the distance like pith
balls. After a short delay they reappeared bearing, slung on a sort of
yoke resting upon their shoulders, a stout wicker basket.
Bulger and I were invited to step into it; the cover was closed and
securely fastened by a stout leathern thong. Then with a bumpety bump
sort of motion away we went across land and water.
Bulger whined piteously and fixed his lustrous eyes upon me, as if to
say:
“Little master, if they are transporting us to torture or death I’m glad
I am with thee!”
I soon gave him to understand that there was no danger.
He returned my caresses and we both awaited further developments. It
seems that the two Man-Hoppers who had been sent for the porte-chaise
had spread the news of their strange capture, so the whole town was on
the watch for our arrival.
At last we came to a full stop. The basket was set down on the ground
and the leathern thong loosened. To tell the truth, I was as anxious to
see as they were.
A terrible hubbub was in progress, those in authority having seemingly
lost all control over the pushing, pulling, scrambling mass of
Umi-Lobas. With such violent outcries and still more violent gestures
did they gather about us, that I began to fear that they would overturn
our carriage and do Bulger and me some real injury, in their mad
curiosity.
Suddenly a voice, louder and shriller than all the rest, called out:
“Silence! His majesty, Gâ-roo, the Thousandth, King of the Umi-Lobas, is
approaching. Down! Down! Silence! Fall back!”
One of the attendants now raised the lid of our basket and courteously
invited me to step out.
Without stopping to give the thing a thought, I seized the leathern
thong, sprang lightly up and threw one of my legs over the side of the
basket.
Instantly there was an outburst of shrill, ear-piercing exclamations of
wonder, fear, surprise, horror, delight and I don’t know how many other
emotions.
For a moment I was startled, and half inclined to make my way back into
my basket again. Suddenly, however, it occurred to me what it all meant.
The Umi-Lobas being able to move their legs only backward and forward,
and utterly incapable of moving one leg without the other, were about as
much astonished at seeing one of my legs come flopping over the side of
the basket, as I would be if you should throw one of your legs out
sidewise and strike your foot against your shoulder.
As I sprang lightly to the ground and took a few steps towards King
Gâ-roo, who stood surrounded by his court officials, a very lean
Umi-Loba on one side of him and a very fat one on the other—a perfect
whirlwind of such cries as: “Pendulum-legs” “Walking-Scissors!”
“Measuring-Man!” “Little Man All Head!” etc., etc., burst forth.
King Gâ-roo received me very pleasantly; requesting me to walk, run, hop
on one foot, cross my legs, he, standing with wide opened eyes as I went
through my paces to please him.
He then asked me my name, my rank at home, my profession, my age, what I
liked to eat and drink, how much heavier my head was than my body, etc.,
etc. I made such a good impression on the King of the Umi-Lobas that he
turned and invited me to spend some time at his palace.
I was delighted, for I was very desirous of studying the manners and
customs of these strange people, and of conversing with their learned
men. Suddenly, there was a great change manifest in the King’s manner
toward me. He listened with knitted brows and compressed lips, first to
his fat counsellor and then to his lean one.
His lean minister, so lean that he appeared to me to be an animated
steel spring snapping apart, was named, Megâ-Zaltô or “Great Jumper,”
than the King himself no one being able to leap across a broader stream.
His fat minister, so fat that he was able to advance only by little hops
of a few inches at a time, was named Migrô-Zaltô, or “Small Jumper,” and
as he had for many years been unable to race about the country like the
other Umi-Lobas and had consequently had much time on his hands, which
he had used to improve his mind reading and studying, until he had
acquired great wisdom. Hence King Gâ-roo’s choice of him as royal
minister and court adviser.
I was again ordered to stand in front of his majesty, the ruler of all
the Umi-Lobas.
“Sir Pendulum-legs!” said he, “upon reflection, I am persuaded that thy
visit to my dominions bodes no good. Thou must know that I have two
privy councillors, to whose advice I always listen and then do as I see
fit. His excellency Megâ-Zaltô,” continued King Gâ-roo, pointing to his
lean minister, “counsels me to command that thou be stamped and kicked
to death at once, saying that thou wilt work great injury among my
people; thou being a foreigner from a far-away land, they will endeavor
to imitate thy manner of walking. Our good old-fashioned ways of walking
will be sneered at; and my people’s legs will soon lose their wonderful
strength and activity.
“My other councillor, who is a very learned man and loves to discuss
questions of race, manners and customs with strangers, advises me to let
thee live for several weeks, at least, until he has had an opportunity
to get some valuable information from thee. Now, I am a quiet and
peace-loving King, for nature by surrounding my dominions with such a
network of rivers, and giving us the power to leap over them, makes it
next to impossible for an enemy to follow us. Therefore, Little Man All
Head, it is my royal will that for the present no harm come to thee!”
“Thanks, most powerful and graceful jumper in this or any other world!”
said I, with a very low bow. “I accept my life at thy hands in order to
use it to make known thy goodness and greatness in every land I shall
pass through.”
My delicate flattery touched King Gâ-roo very perceptibly. He smiled and
nodded his little doll head in the friendliest manner. But Megâ-Zaltô’s
fierce, little face was screwed up in a thousand wrinkles. I felt within
me that he was firmly resolved to do me injury.
Now, there was another interruption. A shrill, piping baby-voice
suddenly rang out in a series of angry screams, while a score of other
voices in soft, soothing tones could be heard as if endeavoring to
comfort the screamer.
I turned my eyes in the direction of the voices. To my surprise and
delight I saw coming towards me one of the female Umi-Lobas, advancing
timidly with light and graceful hops, like a sparrow on the greensward.
Her head and face looked for all the world like some of the wax dolls I
had seen in Paris, only she was a trifle paler than they.
It was the beautiful princess, Hoppâ-Hoppâ. She seemed to be in a very
fretful and petulant humor, and showed her peevishness in every
movement.
Nothing pleased her. She pouted, hung her head, and threw her baby-arms
about, upon the most trivial provocation.
As I learned afterwards, this all proceeded from her unwillingness to
marry the lean, bony Megâ-Zaltô, who was violently in love with her, and
to whom the King, in a moment of some great contentment, had rashly
promised the princess in marriage, and as King Gâ-roo had in doing so
taken the Umi-Lobas’ vow: “May I never be able to jump farther than the
length of my nose, if I break my vow,” he dared not break his word, and,
of course, the old, thin, bony, wrinkled Megâ-Zaltô insisted upon his
sticking to the bargain.
The effect of all this was to throw the beautiful princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ
into a deep melancholy. In fact, she refused absolutely to partake of
any food for so long a while that everybody said sadly, “She will die!”
King Gâ-roo was beside himself with grief. But, as Megâ-Zaltô had no
blood, he couldn’t feel any pity for either father or daughter, and
insisted that the King should stick to his bargain with him.
Led on at last by the rich reward offered by King Gâ-roo to any
physician who could succeed in making princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ partake of
food, one of the court physicians hit upon the following plan:
The attendants were directed to set a table in the princess’ apartment,
and load it down with her favorite dishes. Then the lady-in-waiting was
instructed to bind a silk band around the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ’s body,
when the latter retired for the night, so arranged that it should press
gently, but continuously on the sympathetic nerve, and cause her to walk
in her sleep.
The plan worked successfully. Every night about midnight princess
Hoppâ-Hoppâ would rise from her bed, while in the deepest sleep, sit
down at the table and partake of a hearty meal. After which she returned
to bed, when one of the ladies of the bed-chamber immediately loosened
the silken band, lest she might arise the second time and overeat
herself.
Princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ advanced towards me, hopping along with a timid
air, until she was close enough to get a good look at me.
I was then desired to go through my paces once more, which I did with a
great deal of vigor, concluding the performance by sitting down and
crossing my legs.
Hoppâ-Hoppâ smiled faintly at first; but, when it came to the
leg-crossing feat, she clapped her little doll hands and broke out in a
laugh about as loud as the low notes of a flute.
King Gâ-roo was crazed with joy. It was the first time Hoppâ-Hoppâ had
laughed for a year. I could see that there was a hurried consultation
going on between King Gâ-roo and his fat and lean ministers. I knew only
too well what it all meant. But princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ interrupted the
consultation, and solved the whole question herself by crying out like a
spoilt child clamoring for a toy, “I want him!”
King Gâ-roo burst forth into a loud laugh, in which everyone joined,
save the lean, rattle-jointed Megâ-Zaltô, who scowled fiercely at me,
screwing his little face up like a dried apple.
“He is thine; take him, beloved daughter,” exclaimed King Gâ-roo gayly,
“and if he can cure thy melancholy and make thee once more the joy and
sunshine of our Court, no one of the glorious gems which deck our royal
diadem shall be too good for him.”
Amid great rejoicing and loud huzzas, a silk cord was tied about my body
and I was led away by the beautiful princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ. Bulger
resented the indignity of tying a cord around my waist and came within
an ace of setting his teeth in the thick leg of the attendant who
performed that service for me. Growling and showing his teeth right and
left, the poor, puzzled animal followed me to prison; I say to prison,
for that was what it proved to be.
Night and day, a guard surrounded my apartments and kept within
respectful distance when I was summoned to divert the gentle princess by
running, hopping on one foot, walking with my toes turned out or in, or
with my feet stretched far apart.
But the one thing which delighted the princess and chased the melancholy
from the pretty doll face was my ability to cross my legs. This
wonderful feat I was obliged to repeat and repeat until my limbs fairly
ached; but no matter how often repeated to the gentle Hoppâ-Hoppâ it was
ever new and wonderful, and she invariably rewarded me by smiling and
clapping her baby-hands.
About this time it was that my beloved brother Bulger gave me another
proof of his deep affection and most extraordinary intelligence. I had
no sooner begun to prepare for bed than I noticed that something was the
matter with him. He fixed his lustrous black eyes pleadingly upon me,
bit my shoe playfully, tugged at my clothing, sprang upon me, then
bounded off toward the bed, sniffed at it, growled in unfeigned anger,
and then making his way back to me, began to tease and worry me once
more. I was half inclined to get provoked. By turns I scolded and petted
him. All to no purpose; he continued his strange actions, growing, if
anything, more and more violent in his manner. At last I was ready for
bed. Striving with all my power to quiet and console him, I made an
effort to throw myself on my bed, so that he might leap up and lie down
beside me.
But no, it was impossible. With grip of iron he laid hold of my
night-robe and held me firmly fast, whining and crying most piteously,
as if to say,
“O, loved little master, why is it that thou canst not understand me?”
Suddenly a strange thought flashed across my mind. I stooped and glanced
under my couch.
Nothing seemed amiss.
Then, as if urged on by some unseen hand, I seized the bed-clothing and
hurled it on the floor. Lo, the mystery was solved! There, hidden
beneath the drapery, shone the tips of a dozen or more tiny blades, each
sharper than a needle’s point, and as I found upon examination, stained
with a poison so subtle that the slightest prick would have robbed me of
life. Need that I tell you how the tears burst forth, how I flung myself
upon my knees and caught that beloved animal in my arms, covering him
with kisses?
He was satisfied.
Again, had he added to that long list of debts due him from me—debts
only to be discharged in coin fresh and bright from the heart’s mint. As
you have doubtless guessed, this cowardly and cruel attempt on my life
was the work of that living coil of steel springs, Megâ-Zaltô, who had
determined to put out of the way the hated foreigner, whose monstrous
deformities were so pleasing to the being he loved.
King Gâ-roo was greatly incensed when, upon Bulger’s recognition of the
would-be murderer in the presence of the whole Court, the miserable
wretch made a clean breast of it, and related how he had arranged the
knives with his own hands.
“Out of my sight, thou unworthy servant! If I do not command that thy
vile heart and viler head be parted by the executioner’s axe, it is
because thy father rendered mine priceless services. Go! Come not again
until I summon thee!”
King Gâ-roo now took me into special favor.
In the first place, he was delighted to see how successful my efforts
had been to amuse the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, on whose baby cheeks the
roses glowed once more, and whose child-voice rang out again as of old,
like a flute note or a tiny silver bell.
His majesty ordered that the Court painter should forthwith make a
portrait of Bulger for the royal gallery, and that a plaster cast of my
head should be taken for the royal museum.
I was much pleased with all this attention.
But I noticed that the very moment I hinted at the necessity of my
speedy return home, King Gâ-roo skillfully turned the conversation to
some other subject. The fact of the matter was, he feared to have me
leave the palace lest his beloved Hoppâ-Hoppâ should miss my daily
performances and fall back again into her melancholy.
The little princess herself was not slow in exerting her power over me.
Snapping the ground with her feet, like a rabbit, when I failed to be
quite as entertaining as usual, and even going so far as to threaten me
with a dose of that living coil of steel-spring, called Megâ-Zaltô, when
I refused to cross my legs and uncross them quickly enough to please her
ladyship.
One day, being in a sort of brown study, over my position, and revolving
in my mind several different ways of making my escape from King Gâ-roo’s
dominions, I unwittingly paid little attention to Hoppâ-Hoppâ’s
commands. In vain she stormed, snapping the ground with her little feet,
shaking her baby hands at me, piping out in shrill and angry tones at my
negligence.
I didn’t quicken my pace one jot. A heavy load of thoughts oppressed my
mind.
My heart was full of sorrow.
All that day I had been thinking of home, of the dear old baron and the
gentle baroness, my mother, and wondering whether they missed me at the
castle.
Suddenly came a messenger from King Gâ-roo summoning me at once to go to
the audience chamber.
With a bound I came to myself.
The little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had gone to her apartments.
I started to call her back.
Every instant I expected to hear that little bundle of bones and
malevolence jump out at me like a venomous toad.
With fear and trembling I betook me to the King’s chamber.
To my unspeakable delight his majesty, the ruler of the Umi-Lobas, was
in the rosiest of humors.
He met me with outstretched hands, poured out a beaker of wine for me,
and bade me sit down at the very foot of the throne.
I strove in vain to stammer out my thanks.
He would not hear a word of them; said that “the stream should flow the
other way,” meaning that I was the one to be thanked.
“Now, little man all head,” began the King, after I had finished my
wine, “I have sent for thee to try and make thee happy, in the same
measure as thou hast contributed to my happiness. This day I speak to
thee from a father’s heart. Thou hast restored my darling child to
health and contentment, and remembering from my conversations with thee
that thou art a great lover of rare and useful books, I have had copies
made of every book on the shelves of the royal library, and I now beg
thee to accept them as a very slight token of my gratitude.”
I was speechless.
The blood rushed fast and hot to my cheeks.
I stammered out a few senseless words of protest, thanks, surprise, and
what not.
The plan seemed to me only too plainly a scheme to tie me in King
Gâ-roo’s service, to load me with several thousand volumes which I would
have no possible means of carrying with me, and which, to leave behind
would be such an insult that arrest and imprisonment would most surely
follow.
At last I succeeded in getting myself together in some shape, and spake
as follows:
“O, most powerful, wonderful and graceful jumper of all the Umi-Lobas,
Gâ-roo, thousandth of thy line, I implore thee do not load me down with
such a vast and priceless treasure. Thou knowest I am but a sojourner
for a brief term in thy kingdom; I have no caravan, when I go hence to
transport this vast accumulation of wisdom, stored in so many thousands
of thick and bulky volumes, steel-clasped and iron-hinged. Thy gift is
far too princely for so humble a visitor as I. Therefore, most gracious
King Gâ-roo, bestow it upon some wealthy noble of thy land, in whose
spacious castle halls these books may find a safe resting-place, shelf
rising on shelf, a very fortress of learning, impregnable to the cohorts
of ignorance.”
King Gâ-roo smiled.
Then, turning to an attendant, he said:
“Summon Poly-dotto to attend before me, and bid him bring the library
with him.”
I was more puzzled than ever by this command.
In a few moments the door swung open, and an aged Umi-Loba, well bent
with years, with long tufts of white hair growing from his ears—for
these people do not permit hair to grow upon their faces, plucking it
out and destroying its roots in early life—and carrying a single volume
of goodly size under his arm.
He advanced with feeble hops, steadying himself upon a staff.
His voice brought a smile to my face in spite of myself, for it whistled
like a flute, unskilfully stopped, and ever and anon broke out into a
funny squeak.
But although infirm of body, Poly-dotto was a perfect wonder of mind and
memory.
I was fairly startled to find that Poly-dotto could understand my
language with perfect ease, not a thing to startle one, either, when we
stop to think that all our European tongues originated in this part of
the world.
Poly-dotto hopped forward, made an attempt to bend his body more than it
was, thrust the long, white tufts of hair growing from his ears into the
bosom of his garb, and placed the book he had brought with him into King
Gâ-roo’s hands.
His majesty returned the salutation of the aged sage, and then, bending
a look upon me, beckoned to me to draw near.
I obeyed.
“Receive, Sir Pendulum-legs,” cried King Gâ-roo, “as a mark of my
affection and a proof of my gratitude, this complete and perfect
transcript of the entire royal library, for many centuries the pride of
the Kings of the Umi-Lobas.”
I glanced at King Gâ-roo, then at the back of the book thinking that it
was merely the catalogue of the books contained in the royal library.
But, no; there was the title, “Complete Transcript,” etc.
I opened the book.
Its pages were thinner than the finest tissue I had ever seen.
I turned to the last page.
Twenty thousand pages!
My astonishment was redoubled.
With some difficulty, on account of my unskilled fingers, I turned over
some pages here and there. They were all closely filled with minute dots
and strokes.
To my eye, one page seemed like another, a bewildering repetition of
these same little dots and strokes.
I looked up at King Gâ-roo and Poly-dotto. They were both much amused
over my confusion.
Like a flash the truth burst upon me. It seemed to me like waking from a
dream.
Yes, there was no doubt of it. I was that moment in the land of the
original short-hand writers. Here had arisen that mysterious system of
recording language by means of dots and strokes, of which so many men,
in so many different countries, in different centuries, had claimed to
be the inventors.
In my readings of ancient peoples I had often seen it darkly hinted at,
that far, far back in remote ages there existed a race of beings, with
short arms and tiny hands, who had invented a written language to suit
their wants, in which absolutely no letters at all were used, the words
being represented by dots and strokes placed at different heights to
denote different sounds.
With a sort of breathless delight I now sat down and began to examine
the book anew, pausing every now and then to repeat a few words of
thanks to the King of the Umi-Lobas.
“Inform little man all head, most learned Poly-dotto,” cried the King,
“how many volumes he holds in his hand.”
Poly-dotto caressed the white tufts hanging from his ears, and spake as
follows:
“The royal library which thou holdest in thy hand, contains eight
thousand volumes all rare and valuable, and only to be found in the
library of our royal master. These volumes treat of astrology, alchemy,
divination, cheirosophy, medicine, mathematics, law, politics,
philosophy, pastimes, warfare, fifty volumes of poetry, fifty of
history, fifty of wonder-stories, besides several hundred treatises on
theosophy, altruism, positivism, hypnotism, mind-reading, transmigration
of souls, art of flying, embalming etc., etc.!”
“O, wonderful! Most wonderful!” was my ejaculation.
“But I beseech thee, O, learned Poly-dotto,” I continued, “impart to me
the secret of all this! Unfold to me the origin of this most wonderful
system of writing whereby the wisdom of ages may be recorded in one
small volume!”
Poly-dotto glanced at the king, who bowed his head in sign of his royal
consent that the aged sage might speak.
“Where we now stand,” began Poly-dotto, tossing back the long tufts of
white hair which reached from his ears to his shoulders, “was once a
rugged and mountainous country. In those days, now some thirty thousand
years ago, our people were more like thine than at present. To climb the
rocky sides of these mountains required long, sinewy arms and strong
hands of great grasping power, and flexible legs, moving quite
independently of each other, like mountaineers in all lands. But, all of
a sudden, these rock-crested heights began to sink and the valleys to
rise; true, very slowly and gradually, but yet uninterruptedly, so that
in a few years, what had been a rough, broken country, ridged and
wrinkled, began to take on the aspect of a perfectly level land. With
these changes our people began to change.
“Having no longer any use for hands of iron grip and arms of tireless
muscles, they were not long in finding out that this strength was
leaving them, that their great breadth of shoulder and depth of chest
were slowly but surely disappearing in their sons and grandsons. By a
strange fatality, about this time, a terrible flood passed over our
luckless land. Our panic-stricken people had just time enough to escape.
For several months the regions once inhabited by a contented little
nation were covered by water many fathoms deep. When, at last, the
waters had subsided, and our ancestors were permitted to set foot again
on their native soil, what a change met their eyes! This vast domain of
our gracious master, King Gâ-roo—the Thousandth, had become as you now
see it, a perfectly level plain, net-worked by the countless narrow but
deep and swift-rolling streams. But the soil brought in the arms, so to
speak, of these raging waters and cast upon our houses, burying them far
beneath, was of most extraordinary fertility, just as you see it now.
Every manner of plant, fruit, flower, vegetable and grain grows here
without cultivation when once planted. Our people were not slow to take
advantage of Nature’s kindness and build up once more the happy homes
destroyed by the flood. But now we were brought face to face with a most
wonderful state of things. Here we were shut in, surrounded by a vast
network of streams, and yet taught by our terrible experience so to
dread water, that not even to escape from death itself could our people
be induced to swim across one of these little rivers or pass over it in
any sort of boat. Time went on. It was either a question of living on
these long narrow necks of land, and walking scores of miles to pass
around the bends and curves of the streams, or else jump over them. Our
wise men issued instructions to our forefathers, telling them how from
early childhood they must train their little ones to leap, encouraging
them by rewards to keep up the practice until leaping became as easy to
them as walking and running had been. The royal ancestors of our most
gracious master enacted most stringent laws against walking and running.
In a few generations great changes took place. It was not an unusual
thing to see a child of eight or ten leap six or eight feet over
rivulets while playing some game like your hide and seek. As these
child-hoppers increased in years, their power of leaping soon led them
to see that they could advance much more rapidly by jumping than by the
ancient, toilsome way of setting first one and then the other foot
forward.
“The streams now widened, putting the leaping powers of our people to
severe tests. But we overcame every obstacle, and in a few generations
it became a rare thing indeed to see a Umi-Loba moving about in the
ancient manner. As you may easily imagine, Nature could not furnish
vigor enough to enable our people to transform themselves in this
manner, and at the same time preserve their length, strength and power
of shoulders, arms and hands. A most astonishing result showed itself.
What was gained below was lost above. Our people’s arms began to grow
flabby; their hands took on a delicate and nerveless appearance, as if a
long illness had bleached and softened them. Then the wise men of our
nation noticed another change. After a certain age, the arms of our
children ceased growing entirely, and although our physicians made
extraordinary efforts to overcome this sudden stoppage of growth, which
usually occurred when our children reached their tenth year, yet all
their exertions were of no avail.
“Our king, to his great dismay, saw growing up about him a race of young
men whose arms were so short, and whose hands were so small and
delicate, that they could no longer wield the spears and bows and arrows
of our forefathers. Even the knives and forks and drinking cups had to
be made smaller and smaller as these wonderful changes came about.
“And not long, too, was it before our wise men found it utterly
impossible to hold and guide the long, heavy pens of their ancestors, or
to lift the ponderous volumes in which our fathers had kept the records
of our nation.
“With smaller pens came smaller books, and finer writing, until at last
one of my ancestors, in a moment of happy inspiration, conceived the
idea of giving up the ancient way of writing by means of two score or
more of letters, so large that only a few of them could be written upon
one line, and of which two or three were necessary in order to record
one simple sound, and of using little dots and strokes as fine as hairs,
to represent the sound of our words.
“Our children were delighted.
“Their short arms and tiny hands were well fitted for such work.
“In a few years the new system of writing was taught in all our schools,
and by royal edict became the only lawful method of writing throughout
the kingdom. Later, another of my ancestors greatly improved the system,
so simplifying it that whole sentences could be recorded by a single
tiny dot or hair-stroke.
“By means of this wonderful system is it that we are enabled to compress
a whole library into one single book, as you have seen, and to make it
possible for our royal master to carry about with him on his journeys
the assorted wisdom of ages, in so compact a form that it may be placed
under the royal pillow and yet not wrinkle it.
“Thou knowest full well,” continued Poly-dotto, with a smile, as he
raised one of his baby hands and pointed a tiny finger at the book I
held in my hands, and upon whose pages my eyes were fixed in wide-opened
astonishment, “that in thy country a story writer could not possibly
squeeze a single one of his tales between those covers!”
King Gâ-roo laughed heartily at this speech.
After a few moments more of pleasant chat, I was dismissed by his
majesty with promises of continued favor.
As I was backing out of the audience chamber, King Gâ-roo cried out
gayly, as he shook a tiny finger at me:
“Look well after princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, Little Man-All-Head!”
While seated in my apartment, the day following my reception at court
and the presentation of the royal library to me, whiling away the time
as best I could by dipping into the early history of the Umi-Lobas, I
suddenly heard a great wheezing and whistling noise, as if some one
suffering from the asthma were approaching.
Bulger gave a low growl.
I sprang up, and upon going to the door was not a little surprised to
see Migrô-Zaltô, coming toward me with very short hops, every one of
which drew forth a grunt.
However, he finally reached a seat in my apartment, and after half an
hour’s rest, addressed me as follows:
“I bring thee good news, Little Man-All-Head. His majesty, King Gâ-roo,
has graciously resolved to appoint thee one of his Ministers of State.
Poly-dotto has informed him that your head is exactly three times larger
that the largest Umi-Lobas, and that, consequently, you must be at least
three times as wise as any of his counsellors. He is, quite naturally,
unwilling that any other monarch should have the use of the vast
treasure of wisdom stored in thy head. His design is to treat thee like
a son, to surround thee with everything that gold can buy or cunning
hands fashion, for thy comfort and amusement; in a word, so to shower
honors upon thee that thou shalt soon forget thy home and kinspeople.”
The effect of Migrô-Zaltô’s words upon me was indescribable.
I felt as if my heart were about to beat its last.
It was only by the greatest effort that I could pull myself together,
stammer out my thanks to his majesty, King Gâ-roo, and save myself from
betraying my utterly disconsolate condition.
Behold me now a prisoner for life! For in spite of all these honeyed
words, King Gâ-roo now proceeded to double the number of guards set to
watch my movements, and thus head off any attempt at escape.
I, of course, pretended not to notice this extra precaution.
In fact, I put a smiling face over my sad heart, and pretended to be
perfectly contented; to have given up all thoughts of ever returning
home.
I took good care to let Migrô-Zaltô know that I now intended to begin
studying the ancient history of his people.
With the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, too, I was all kindness and sympathy. But
while I was thus engaged in throwing my keepers off their guard, I was
diving deep into the folk-lore of the Umi-Lobas.
The books of the royal library, so graciously bestowed upon me by King
Gâ-roo, stood me in good service.
I determined to get at all the weaknesses of the Umi-Lobas, in order to
see if I could not discover some way to elude their vigilance.
It was all dark to me for the first few days, but at length I caught a
glimmer of hope.
It came about this way:
The Umi-Lobas dread water. My own observation, as well as Poly-dotto’s
words, had directed my attention to this strange fact.
Provided by nature with limbs of such extraordinary strength that they
can leap over streams, even thirty feet in width, they have a
superstition that nature intended them to avoid touching the surface of
a stream.
For the first, I now observed that they had no boats of any kind, and
that their children, unlike other children, never played upon the banks
of the beautiful streamlets which flowed in every direction around their
homes.
“A boat is the thing I need!” said I to myself, every pulse beating with
suppressed excitement.
But, ah! where to get it!
It were idle to attempt to build a boat or even a raft without
attracting the attention of my watchers and raising an outcry.
I must abandon that idea.
By a strange fatality my bitterest enemy now came to my assistance. You
doubtless remember how that animated coil of steel spring, Megâ-Zaltô,
tried to kill me by placing tiny poisoned knife-blades in my bed.
Well, after that I never laid down at night that I didn’t first pull off
the cushions, drapery and coverings of my couch in search of any more of
the same kind.
I never found any, for Megâ-Zaltô was still in disgrace, and forbidden,
under penalty of instant death, to approach the royal palace.
But I did find something else.
It was this:
I discovered that my bedstead emptied of its cushions and clothes, was
exactly the shape of a yawl boat; in fact, of so fine a model as to give
infinite pleasure to my sailor’s eye, and, most astonishing discovery of
all, that it was already fitted with a staunch and shapely mast, the
staff which supported the hangings. All I needed was a couple of thin,
straight sticks for booms, and I would be able to take one of my sheets
and rig a square sail in a few moments.
Here again I found myself face to face with an appalling difficulty.
Even admitting that I could elude the vigilance of my keepers, how was
I, all alone by myself, to transport the heavy bedstead to the water’s
edge, a quarter of a mile away!
I was upon the point of giving up the whole scheme.
The more I turned it over in my mind the more its dangers and
difficulties increased.
I paced the floor with quick and anxious step, scarcely aware of
Bulger’s solicitude.
He was at my heels with vain coaxings, trying to quiet me down.
At last, in blank despair, I threw myself in a chair.
Bulger raised himself on his hind legs and gazed inquiringly into my
face.
His tongue was out.
He was suffering from the heat.
For the first time I became aware of my condition.
The perspiration was streaming down my face. Suddenly a new idea flashed
though my mind and helped out the old one.
Said I to myself:
“I’ll complain to the King of the heat; I’ll tell him how accustomed I
am to outdoor life and sleeping in the open air with no covering, save
the blue sky and twinkling stars; that I shall most surely pine away
with inward wasting unless I be permitted to move my bed during the
midsummer heat down by the river side, where the air is coolest and
purest.”
King Gâ-roo listened to my request without the slightest suspicion that
any idea of escaping from his domain was flitting through my mind.
In fact, he would have as soon expected to see one of his royal beds
spread its drapery for wings and fly away to the mountains as to see it
go flashing down the river with one of the sheets set for a sail.
So my request was granted at once.
My bed was moved down to the river’s edge, where one tent was raised to
house me in case of a rain storm, and another to shelter the troop of
guards which always kept at a respectable distance from me, and yet near
enough to hop down upon me in about three seconds.
So far all had gone well. At first my plan was to launch my boat and
make my escape in the night, but I was obliged to give this up, for I
discovered that the guard was always doubled at night fall.
Escape, if I escape at all, then must be in the broad daylight.
Six of the Umi-Lobas soldiers stood sentry about my quarters from
sun-rise to sun-set.
That they were armed it is needless to say.
But their tiny swords and pikes had no terror for me.
With a stout club I could have beaten them down in a few moments.
Their terrible legs and feet, however, were quite another thing.
One blow from the feet of a vigorous Umi-Loba would have laid me dead on
the ground.
I have often seen these guards amuse themselves by striking deep holes
in the ground or by breaking stone slabs an inch thick with a single
blow of their heels.
I must choose a different mode of eluding such dangerous pursuers.
They must be drugged.
But how to accomplish it?
To offer them all food at the same moment would most surely arouse their
suspicions.
Then again, they did not all eat together.
So too, it would be worse than folly to attempt to drug their drink.
What was to be done?
Again my heart grew sick and faint within me.
I sat down to collect my scattered thoughts.
At that moment the attendant began to serve my midday repast. I glanced
at the tempting dishes and sparkling wines. It was a feast fit for a
King.
“Sir Pendulum-legs,” said the serving man, with a low bow, “this is the
season for O-loo-loo eggs. The first find was made to-day. The nest held
six. His majesty sends thee two and wishes thee a pleasant dream.”
Now let me tell you what this strange speech all meant.
The O-loo-loo bird is about the size of a quail, and lays from six to a
dozen eggs of a jet black hue. But as the bird, whose plumage is as
black as a bat’s wing, makes its nest in the wilderness, among the rank
growth of a heather-like plant, of so dark green a foliage as to seem
almost black, the eggs are invisible to the hunter’s eye, and the nests
can only be found by posting sentinels to mark the spots where the birds
alight.
As you may imagine, O-loo-loo eggs are worth their weight in gold. Nay
more, the people are forbidden to eat one.
Such is the King’s command!
They all belong to him, and the finder must straightway bear his prize
to the royal palace where a rich reward awaits him.
But the most mysterious thing about them is yet to be told! Not only are
these eggs of most delicious flavor, but two of them are sufficient to
throw the eater into a deep sleep, during which the most delightful
dreams steal over him! Visions of exquisite loveliness flit before his
eyes, and life seems so sweet and satisfactory that waking is really the
keenest pain. The cause of this strange effect was for many centuries a
mystery and the ancestors of the Umi-Lobas were wont to worship the
O-loo-loo bird as a sort of sacred creature. But the mystery was solved
at last. It was found that these birds fed upon the seed of the poppy
plant, and hence the power of their eggs to cause sleep in those
partaking of them.
I ate the two O-loo-loo eggs to test the matter, and in a few moments
found myself sinking into a most delicious slumber.
When I awoke I saw light where darkness had lately reigned.
The way to escape from King Gâ-roo’s guards was now clear to me. I at
once proceeded to save up my O-loo-loo eggs.
In a few days, they became more plentiful, and it was not long before I
had accumulated two dozen of them.
And now, thought I, if I offer them to my keepers as a feast, their
suspicions will be aroused; they will refuse to partake of them, and the
whole matter will be laid before the king and I shall be shorn of the
little liberty I have. Therefore, I must use my knowledge of human
nature.
As each man passed on his rounds I called him to me, and showing him
four of the O-loo-loo eggs, said:
“I like thee; thou art my favorite, couldst thou be very close mouthed?”
The fellow’s eyes sparkled with delight, and I could see that his mouth
was watering at the sight of the dainty morsels.
Upon his assuring me that he would take good care that no one should
know how kind I had been to him, I gave him four of the eggs, enough to
make him sleep like a log for three hours.
He bolted them, shells and all.
I was much pleased with the working of my plan.
The next sentinel, who made his appearance a few moments after the
first, was served in the same way. And so on with all the others. Each
promised most solemnly never to reveal his good fortune to his comrades.
My plan thus far had worked splendidly.
In about a quarter of an hour I had the supreme satisfaction of seeing
all six of them begin to rub their eyes, then yawn, then stretch their
little arms up over their heads in the sleepiest manner possible. In
less than half an hour they were all stretched out on the greensward,
snoring like good fellows.
Now was my time to act!
I sprang toward my bed to empty it of its contents and launch it on the
little river which flowed near by, when, to my horror, I heard the
princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ calling, “Little Man All Head! Little Man All
Head!”
A cold chill crept over me! There she came, hopping toward me like the
wind, calling out for me to come and make her laugh!
What was I to do?
Strike her down?
Smother her?
Oh no; I could not have harmed that innocent little doll-faced being,
had it been to save myself from life-long imprisonment.
Suddenly, like a flash of lightning, a bright thought flitted through my
brain.
I have run, hopped, and stood on one foot, kicked one foot high in the
air, crossed my legs, etc., to amuse the little princess, but I have
never danced for her!
If she can find it amusing enough to laugh heartily at such plain
old-fashioned antics, she will surely go into convulsions when she sees
me dancing a quick time jig with heels flying in the air.
So, calling out to her in my gayest manner, I said:
“Come, little princess, come little Umi-Loba. Hop this way! Be quick;
I’ve something very funny to show you.”
She didn’t wait for a second bidding.
With two bounds she was beside me.
Bidding her be seated I began to dance and she began to laugh. In half a
moment I quickened my step and she broke out into the wildest merriment.
“O, do stop, Little Man All Head,” she gasped. “O, do stop, or I shall
die!” I didn’t want her to die, but I did want her to fall down into a
swoon.
So now I let myself out.
My legs flashed like sunbeams dancing on the water.
Bulger looked on in dignified astonishment.
He failed utterly to make out what his little master meant by these
furious antics.
Indeed they were furious.
Faster and faster my nimble feet beat the ground. Wilder and more
uncontrollable became the laughter of the little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ.
The tears coursed down her pretty face she rocked from side to side; she
bent forward and back.
Adding still more speed to my movements, I kept my eyes fixed upon her.
Victory!
The end came at last!
She rolled over on the greensward in a swoon.
“Now or never!” I murmured to myself.
In quicker time than it takes to tell it, aided by my faithful Bulger, I
emptied the bed of its contents, set my shoulder to one end of it, while
Bulger fastened his teeth in some fringe that hung from the other, and
then, he pulling with might and main, and I pushing with all the
desperation of a battle for freedom, the wooden structure was slowly
brought to the bank of the river.
It was a hard task for us!
But we did it.
Now down the slippery bank it glided with a rush, striking the water and
floating like a duck.
In an instant Bulger and I sprang on board of the little craft.
To rig up one of the sheets as a square sail and set it on the pole
which had held the curtains was only the work of a few seconds.
A stout long-handled fan served me for a rudder.
Away! Away! I was off at last!
The wind was fresh and strong, and my square sail worked to a charm.
At that moment a shrill, piping voice reached my ear.
“Little Man All Head! Little Man All Head! Where art thou? Come to me!”
The shrill, far-reaching tones of her voice attracted a hundred
attendants. They seemed fairly to spring up out of the ground.
Pell-mell, with a wild rush, the stronger ones leaping over the heads of
the less vigorous ones, they made for the river banks.
Alarm bells now sounded on every side.
Gongs and strangely-sounding horns and rattles called the people to the
spot where the little princess had been found lying half unconscious on
the greensward.
The sight of the half dozen sentinels stretched out here and there in
the deepest sleep, the scattered drapery of my couch, the bed itself
missing, all told too plainly the story of my escape.
All this time, my snug little craft was making good headway down the
river, which grew wider at every hundred feet.
With one wild outburst of shrill, angry voices, the Umi-Lobas turned to
pursue the fugitive.
Bulger whined piteously as he saw them swarming on the banks.
In another moment they began leaping from one bank to another, passing
over our heads in perfect clouds.
I knew full well that they would not dare to leap into my boat but I
feared that they might overwhelm us with showers of their little spears.
However I determined to try the effect of one of my pistols on them if
their spears annoyed me.
King Gâ-roo, beside himself with spiteful anger, now arrived upon the
scene, and took command of his assembled troops and serving men.
First he tried entreaty upon me, offering me princely sums and royal
honors if I would only turn back.
But I was deaf to his honeyed words. Whereupon he fell into a towering
passion. He ordered his soldiers to recapture me dead or alive.
A shower of spears now whistled through the air.
Most of them fell far short of their mark, for the river had now widened
so that I was at least thirty feet from the shore whereon they were
standing.
But a few of these spearlets fell dangerously near me.
Fearing that their points might be poisoned, I determined to try the
effect of a pistol shot in the air.
The loud report of the fire-arm, and the puff of smoke which followed
it, filled the Umi-Lobas with the most abject fear.
They threw themselves on their faces and cried out that I was an evil
spirit.
I could now see that King Gâ-roo had given orders to let me sail away in
peace.
They made no further attempts to molest me, and yet it was very plain
that they were loth to part with the “little man all head,” for whom
their King and the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had conceived so warm an
affection.
I, too, felt a wrinkle in my heart as my little boat bore Bulger and me
away on the rippling waters of the beautiful river now grown so wide
that I was at least a hundred feet from the bank, and the palace of King
Gâ-roo began to fade away in the distance.
For several miles they followed the banks of the stream, keeping
opposite me, and ever and anon sending me a good bye in a soft and
plaintive voice.
Straining my eyes, I could see little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, borne aloft
on the shoulders of a group of serving-men, and waving me a last adieu.
Then, once more, I caught the sound of that shrill baby voice:
“Good bye! Good bye! Little Man-All-Head! Hoppâ-Hoppâ says good bye
forever!”
And so I sailed away from the land of the Umi-Lobas, the land of the
Man-Hoppers!
In a few days the river began to broaden out and the land of the
Umi-Lobas was left far behind! The moment I caught sight of any signs of
human beings on the river banks, I steered my staunch little boat into a
broad cove, whose sloping shores led to lofty table lands. Here, with
tear-moistened eyes, I moored the little craft which had snatched me
from a life of keen, though silent, sorrow, and followed by faithful
Bulger, struck out boldly for the interior. After a few weeks’
journeying I entered a country which was now and then traversed by
traders. They were astonished to find me traveling all alone by myself,
but readily accepted my statement that I had become separated from a
troop of traders, and that my horse had died.
I now made haste to re-cross India and gain the shores of the
Mediterranean, whence I took passage for home, with a joyous heart and a
memory well-stored with quaint facts and curious recollections.
[Illustration: BULGER AND I SAIL AWAY FROM THE LAND OF THE UMI-LOBAS
(MAN HOPPERS), IN MY BEDSTEAD YACHT.]