A Little Wild Man
"Not yet, not yet," protested Samuel Salt as Ato made a clumsy attempt
to mount the hippopotamus. "Why, we've only just come, Mate. We can't
go without seeing these Leopard Men and this strange boy who speaks our
language."
"Oh, CAN'T we?" Drawing in his breath, Ato made a flying leap at
Nikobo, and this time managing an ear hold, pulled himself determinedly
up on her moist, slippery back. "Goodbye, Samuel," said the King with
a firm wave of his hand. "If you bring any Leopard Men back to the
_Crescent Moon_, you can discover yourself another cook. No Leopard
Men. Mind, now!"
"Oh, you needn't worry about that." The hippopotamus closed one eye and
smiled knowingly to herself. Thoroughly annoyed by the desertion of Ato
and the superior grin of the river horse, Samuel snatched a long rapier
from his belt and glowered belligerently around him.
"Shiver my timbers! You think I'm not strong enough nor smart enough to
fight these savages? HUWHERE are these Leopard Men?" roared the former
Pirate in such a reverberating voice the monkeys fled silently to the
tree tops, and even Roger put his head under his wing.
"Gone, all gone!" explained Nikobo as she started calmly down toward
the river bank.
"You mean there are no Leopard Men on this Island now?" Looking with
horror and aversion at the crocodile-infested river, Ato began tugging
at Nikobo's ear. "Not so fast, my good creature! Wait a moment, my
buxom lass! Perhaps I'll stay with Sammy after all."
"Well, just as you say." With scarcely a pause in her stride, the
hippopotamus turned round and waddled amiably back to the strip of sand
where Samuel Salt stood staring sternly into the jungle beyond.
"This is a great disappointment to me, Mates," sighed the Captain of
the _Crescent Moon_ mournfully wringing out the lace ruffles of his
cuffs. "To have taken a Leopard Man back to the Court of Oz would have
been an achievement worth the whole voyage."
"Now there's where we're different," murmured Ato, settling into a more
comfortable position on the back of the river horse. "I myself would
rather be disappointed than speared by a savage, and I don't care how
many Leopard Men I miss seeing. Rather be spared than speared, ha, ha!
Tee, HEE, HEE!" Ato chuckled from sheer relief.
"Shall I fly back to the ship for some more Oz flags?" Roger flapped
his wings inquiringly. "If the Leopard Men are really gone, then
Patrippany Island is ours without a spear thrown."
"That's so," mused Samuel Salt, thrusting his rapier back into its
sheath and beginning to show a little interest in the island itself.
"Fly ahead, my Hearty."
"And bring back some ship's biscuit," called Ato. "All this diving and
mud turtling has left me weak as a fish. And while we're waiting for
Roger, perhaps Nikobo will tell us a little about these Islanders. Were
they little or big, black or brown?"
"Yellow," answered the hippopotamus gravely. "Big and yellow with brown
spots all over their hides. They had brown hair, mane and eyes, and
rough snarling voices. They used neither huts nor shelter, but roamed
like the animals through the jungle, hunting, fishing and fighting.
They had hollowed out logs for use in the water and last Twig Day
every Leopard man, woman and child climbed into the long boats and
paddled out to sea. Shortly afterward--" Nikobo's eyes grew round and
shiny at the mere memory, "shortly afterward a great hurricane arose
and my family and I, watching from the mouth of the Biggenlittle River,
saw the boats and men swept under the waves. Some of the logs floated
back to the islands, but the Leopard Men and women we never saw again."
"Not even ONE?" exclaimed Samuel peevishly.
"Not even one," Nikobo assured him solemnly. "And to tell the truth,"
the hippopotamus flashed a sudden and expansive sigh, "it is much
better and safer without them. The one problem is the boy, and I've
been feeding him myself."
"Oh, yes, the boy who speaks our language," mused Samuel, still lost in
bitter reflections of the Leopard Men he should never see face to face.
"What've you been feeding him?" asked Ato, suspiciously. "How would a
hippopotamus know what to feed a boy?"
"I do the best I can," said Nikobo in a hurt voice. "Every day I
collect fresh roots, herbs and grasses for him."
"Roots, herbs--grasses! Merciful Mustard! A boy's being fed on roots,
herbs and grasses, Sammy. Did you ever hear of anything more ridiculous
in your life?"
"No worse than spinach," mumbled Samuel Salt. "But SAY, look here--"
The Royal Explorer of Oz raised his arm imperiously. "What is a small
boy doing on this island? How'd he get here in the first place, and
where is he now?"
"Follow me," directed Nikobo in a dignified voice. "Follow me and you
shall know all." As Roger appeared at that moment with the Oz flags and
biscuits, the little procession immediately got under way, Ato calmly
riding behind.
On her many visits to the strange boy, Nikobo had worn a path through
the tangled growth of vines and bush. Tenuous trees dropped their
branches over this path and stretched out their gnarled roots to trip
the unwary traveler. Several times Roger let out hoarse squeals as a
huge snake coiled along the limb of a tree, thrust out its ugly head.
Gaudy flowers from the vines that closely entwined every tree, filled
the air with a damp sleepy fragrance, and Samuel Salt, darting his eyes
left and right, held his blunderbuss ready for any savage beast that
might spring upon them. But the jungle creatures, thinking the Leopard
Men had returned, slunk further and further into the green shadows and
without any mishaps or encounters, Nikobo brought the explorers to a
small clearing in the whispering tangle of green.
Here they were suddenly confronted by a stoutly built cage, its bars
constructed of saplings set scarcely an inch apart. On a heap of grass
in a corner of the cage crouched the lonely figure of a little boy
clothed in a single leopard skin.
"Well, goosewing my topsails!" panted Samuel Salt, deceived at first by
the leopard skin. "A little wild man, a Leopard boy, as I'm a salt sea
sailor!"
"It's nothing of the kind," Nikobo contradicted him sharply. "Can't you
see he is white and has teeth as straight as your own instead of tusks?
He's not like the Leopard Men at all."
"But who put him in this cage? What's he done, and what's he doing
here?" Slipping off Nikobo's back, Ato pressed his face close to the
bars of the strange prison.
"I am waiting for my people to come and rescue me," stated the boy,
rising with great dignity from his bed of grass. Folding his arms, he
looked haughtily out at the explorers. "Who are these men, Nikobo?"
he inquired sternly. "Why have you brought them here?"
"Because they seemed friendly and speak your language," puffed the
hippopotamus, beaming lovingly at her small charge. "Because I thought
they might break these bars and set you free. They have a hollow log
seventy times as large as the hollowed logs of the Leopard Men. In
this they could easily carry you over the waters and back to your own
people. I've tried to break this miserable hutch dozens of times,"
explained Nikobo, turning to Samuel Salt. "But the saplings are sunk so
deep, I've been afraid I'd crush Tandy as well as the cage if I pushed
too hard."
"Quite likely," said Samuel Salt, rapping the bars with his knuckles.
"We'll have to fetch an ax from the ship. But who shut you up here,
little Lubber, and how long have you been prisoner on this island?"
"Five months and a half," answered the boy after consulting one of the
bars in the corner of his cage. "I've made a nick in this bar with my
teeth for every day I have been here."
"Well, that's all over now, you poor child, you!" Ato's voice shook
with indignation as he looked in at the little boy whose every rib
showed plainly under the skin. In fact, a heap of grass and dried roots
in the cage made the kind-hearted monarch shudder with distaste and
sympathy. "You shall come with us and eat like a King," he promised,
nodding his head cheerfully, "and learn to be an able-bodied seaman
to boot." Instead of looking grateful or pleased, the boy whom the
hippopotamus had called "Tandy" merely stood looking between the bars
of his cage.
"Why should I go with you?" he said finally and wearily. "You look wild
and dangerous to me, and far worse than the Leopard Men. Here, at least
I have Kobo to take care of me, and who knows what further perils and
hardships I should suffer at sea?"
"Ho! HO! And how do you like that, my lads?" Roger rocked backward and
forward on Samuel Salt's shoulder. "The young one speaks truly. If you
could but see yourselves, my Hearties." Now both Ato and Samuel had
forgotten their plunge in the river, but with their hair and clothing
still covered with mud and slime they looked the veriest rogues
and rascals. And while Ato regarded himself with embarrassment and
discomfiture, Samuel took a quick step forward.
"SO!" roared the great seaman angrily. "So, you don't trust us, eh?
Well, stay here if you wish and grow up like a monkey. You look like a
little wild man already."
"STOP!" Nikobo quivered all over with resentment. "You must not call
Tandy a wild man."
"Don't mind." The boy drew the leopard skin around him with quiet
dignity. "I can bear it. I have borne far worse. I can bear anything. I
am a KING and the son of a King's son! Tell them to go away, Kobo."
"Now, Now, NOW! This is nothing but nonsense." Ato clapped his hands
sharply. "However we look, my young squab, you are in good and royal
company. My mate here, Captain Salt, is Captain of the _Crescent Moon_,
Royal Explorer of Oz, and a Knight, besides. I, though at present
a ship's cook, am King of the Octagon Isle, and Roger, here, is as
Royal a Read Bird as ever wagged a bill and wing. If you say you are
a King, we will have to believe you, though 'tis hardly credible."
Ato stared with round eyes at the matted hair and dirty body of the
little prisoner. "If you say you are a King we must believe you, but in
return you must believe _us_, and stop all this hoity toity talk and
clishmaclatter."
"He speaks the plain truth." Nikobo pressed her huge snout close to the
bars. "Even I can detect the signs of royalty in this fat and goodly
person whom I just this morning helped out of the river. You must go
with them, Tandy, and they will carry you back to your own Kingdom."
"But I tell you, I'd rather stay here with YOU," wailed the little boy,
relaxing a moment from his kingly and overbearing attitude.
"Roger, fetch the AX." Samuel Salt spoke so loud and sternly Nikobo
lapsed into a shocked silence and Tandy hastily drew back into a far
corner of his cage.
"Never argue with a sea-going man," whispered Ato, winking solemnly as
Roger flew off to obey Samuel's order. Having settled the matter in his
own mind, Samuel turned his back on Tandy and began to examine with
deep interest the fungus growth on one of the gnarled old trees. "So
you really are a King?" Leaning against the huge body of Nikobo, Ato
folded his hands comfortably on his stomach and regarded the boy in the
leopard skin earnestly. "Now what country do you hail from and what do
they call you at home?"
"I am Tazander Tazah of Ozamaland," announced the boy proudly, "the
land of the creeping bird and flying reptile. Ozamaland on the long
continent of Tarara is my home."
"OZAMALAND!" shouted Samuel Salt, swinging round like a teetotum. "So
there really IS such a place. I have always said so, Ato, but no one
would believe me. Lies to the east of here, doesn't it, sonny, and is
twice as large as any known land bordering on the Nonestic?" Somewhat
impressed to find that Samuel Salt knew something of his homeland, the
little boy nodded. "And do you suppose we could snare one of those
creeping birds and flying reptiles if we managed to reach Ozamaland?"
Grasping the bars of the cage, Samuel peered anxiously into the young
King's face.
"Do you suppose you ever could reach Ozamaland?" sighed Tazander,
returning Samuel's eager look with gloomy aloofness. "Do you know that
a ship has never touched our shores?"
"Then the _Crescent Moon_ shall be the first!" cried Samuel Salt,
snapping his fingers joyfully. "Why, this will be tremendous and the
most momentous discovery in a thousand years! But how do you happen
to be so far from Ozamaland yourself?" asked Samuel Salt immediately
afterward. "Did you come by air or sea?"
"That I cannot tell." Tazander seated himself soberly on a log before
he continued. "One night I was sleeping soundly in my tower in the
White City, next thing I remember I was here in this jungle. The
Leopard Men, wild and savage as they were, fed me when they remembered
on raw fish and chunks of hard, bitter bread they made from the roots
of the Brima Tree. But I could not understand their talk, nor they
mine, and till Kobo found me a month after my imprisonment I had no one
to talk to at all. But she has come every day to keep me company and
try to set me free, and since the Leopard Men were drowned she has fed
me, too. See, through this little door." Tazander opened a small door
in the bars and stuck both hands through.
"But how did you learn the language?" asked Ato, turning round to gaze
up into Nikobo's huge face.
"I don't know," said Nikobo with an excited gulp. "I just started to
say 'Hello!' and instead of saying it in hippopotamy, there I was
talking a strange language which I could understand as well as my
own. And in this language Tandy answered me, much to my delight and
pleasure."
"Strange, very strange." Ato shook his head in a puzzled manner.
"Well, all I say is, it was lucky for this small fellow that you
happened along, and once we have him aboard he'll soon forget all these
hardships and unpleasant experiences."
"I'll never forget Kobo," said the young King, backing stiffly away
from the outstretched arms of Ato.
"And Kobo'll never forget YOU," sniffed the hippopotamus. "The talk
of the river people seems dull and stupid since I've talked to Tandy.
None of the herd really need me and I don't know what I'm going to
do--whoo--Hoo HOO WHOOO!" Rocking from side to side, Nikobo began
to sob as if her heart would break, so violently in fact, Samuel
Salt covered both ears and Ato, alarmed at the enormous grief of the
gigantic beast, tried to put his arms around her.
"Here, here!" begged the ship's cook, thumping her hard upon the back.
Opening the bag of biscuits Roger had brought from the ship, Ato handed
two to Tandy and began shoving the rest as fast as he could down the
vast throat of the grief-stricken hippopotamus. After each biscuit,
Nikobo choked and sobbed to herself, but on the whole, they seemed
to comfort her, and when the Read Bird finally returned with the ax
she watched almost cheerfully as Samuel Salt, with well-aimed blows,
demolished Tandy's jungle cage. As the last side crashed down and
without giving Tandy time to argue any further, Samuel Salt seized
the boy firmly in both arms and set him down on the back of the
hippopotamus. Then, giving Ato a hand up behind him, the Captain of
the _Crescent Moon_ sternly led the way to the edge of the island.
Roger, waving an Oz flag, flew ahead screaming defiantly to the monkeys
and parrots that infested the island, "WAY, WAY! Way for the Royal
Discoverer of Oz! Way for the King of the Octagon Isle! Way for Nikobo,
Little Daughter of the Biggenlittle River People. Way for Tazander
Tazah, King and son of a King's son! WAY--ay--ayyyy!"