The City of Bridges
The days that followed always seemed to Tandy the happiest he had
known. He wondered now how he had ever endured his long, tedious,
pent-up life in Ozamaland. There was so much to see and do on a ship,
the hours were not half long enough. Being a full-fledged member of
the crew, he took his turn on watch, his trick at the wheel, and had
besides other duties on deck. After a bit of practice he could scramble
aloft like a monkey and liked nothing so much as perching in the
rigging looking far out to sea. The Read Bird had fastened a special
rope to the mizzenmast so that Tandy could swing out and drop down on
Nikobo's raft, and much of his free time was spent with the faithful
hippopotamus.
Sea life agreed enormously with Nikobo, especially since Ato had solved
the largest item of her diet. Noting the tangled mass of seaweed often
floating by on the surface of the sea, the clever cook let down the
ship's nets daily. The seaweed, crisp, tender and green, was dragged
on deck where Roger and Tandy went carefully through it, removing all
crabs, small fish and sea shells which seriously disagreed with the
hippopotamus. A huge hamper full was lowered to her every evening and
with this plentiful supply of green food, with the bread and delicious
vegetable scraps Ato saved from the table, Nikobo fared better than she
had on the Island. The largest tub on the boat served as a drinking
cup and this Tandy kept full by playing down the hose from the deck,
giving her a daily shower of fresh water at the same time. So, lacking
nothing in interest or comfort, Nikobo enjoyed herself hugely and to
the fullest extent.
On calm mornings, with the _Crescent Moon_ hove to, all hands would go
swimming. Nikobo loved to swim and to roll over and over like a mighty
porpoise, even though the salt water made her eyes sting. Since Tandy
had given Samuel the drawings of the Leopard Men, the ship's Captain
could not do enough for his young cabin boy, and among other things had
made a rope harness for Nikobo so Tandy could hang on when he perched
upon her slippery back. At first he had been satisfied to ride Nikobo,
but after several days he was splashing recklessly with the others and
Samuel had taught him all the swimming strokes he knew and had Tandy
diving over and under the hippopotamus in a way to make Roger scream
with envy and approval.
Swimming was the only part of a sea voyage the Read Bird could not
really enjoy, but he was always on hand to give advice, roosting on
Nikobo's head so long as she stayed above water and taking hurriedly to
his wings when she mischievously tried to dunk him. The hippopotamus
made a really splendid raft when they tired of swimming, and Ato, who
did not care for water sports so much as Samuel or Tandy, fished for
hours from her back, his feet hooked through the ropes of her harness
to keep him from falling into the sea. The only thing Tandy regretted
was Nikobo's great size and that she could not come aboard ship and
join them in the cabin. On cool evenings he and Ato and the Captain
(Roger preferring to take first watch) would sit cozily round the fire
listening to the stories Samuel told them of the days when he had been
a pirate and roamed up and down the Nonestic, capturing the ships and
treasure of all the powerful island monarchs. Tandy never tired of
these thrilling sea battles nor of watching Samuel Salt's pet fire
lizard.
Sally was now so tame she would allow any one of them to pick her up.
They had to be careful not to hold her against their clothing, however,
for though Sally did not burn the fingers, she set fire to whatever she
touched. Indeed, whenever they wanted a fire in the grate, they had
only to place the Salamander on the kindlings beneath the logs and a
cheery flame would blaze up instantly. It was in the fireplace Sally
took most of her exercise, racing and scittering over the glowing logs
or rolling happily in the red hot embers. But most of her time she
spent curled up in Samuel Salt's pipe, and it was always a surprise to
Tandy to see her comical head pop up over the edge of the bowl or hear
her chirping and purring to herself from her cozy bed of tobacco leaves.
Some evenings, when Ato was trying out new recipes in the galley,
Tandy and Samuel would descend to the hold to look over the plants
from Patrippany Island, try to figure out the script on the piece of
lava, and sort and arrange Samuel's shell collection. Every day after
the nets were drawn up there were new specimens to classify and label.
The drawing Tandy had made of the Sea Lion and all the pictures of the
Leopard Men and beasts on Patrippany Island, Samuel had framed and hung
above his shelves so that the hold was looking more and more like a
scientific laboratory every day.
"Do you suppose we'll ever find anything large enough to put in those
big cages and aquariums?" asked Tandy one night as he pasted a pink
label on a fluted conch shell.
"Sure's eight bells!" murmured Samuel Salt comfortably. "No telling
what'll turn up on a voyage like this. Personally I've set my heart on
a roc's egg, but setting the heart on a roc's egg won't hatch one out,
Ho, Ho! No, No! But, on the other hand, one never can tell and we've
had a week of such fine and pleasant days, I look for something to
happen any moment now, so you'd better put up your paste pot and turn
in, my lad, so we'll all be ready for the morning."
"Well, what would you do with a roc's egg?" inquired Tandy, reluctantly
clapping the top on his bottle of glue. "Aren't they terribly big and
terribly scarce, Captain Salt?"
"Terribly!" admitted Samuel Salt, placing his tray of lamp shells back
on their stand. "But a newly laid roc's egg is as rare as a mermaid's
foot, and no larger than one small tar barrel. Now if we could just
get a newly laid roc's egg aboard and find some way to preserve it,
why, well and good, if we didn't find a way and it hatched before we
landed, it could easily fly off with us and the ship, for THAT'S how
big a bird a roc is. But I'll take a chance if I ever find a roc's egg
and there's an island somewhere in these waters where rocs are known to
nest. Rock Island it's called, and a roc's nest would be something to
see, eh, Kinglet?"
"Please don't call me that," begged Tandy earnestly. "Roger says I
don't have to be a King on this ship and I like not being a King."
"Ha! Ha! And I like you that way myself," roared Samuel, tossing Tandy
suddenly to his shoulder. "Why, since you've stopped this King and son
of a Kinging, you're a seaman after my own heart, and so long as the
_Crescent Moon's_ afloat you've a berth on her! Up with you! Up with
you! Tomorrow's another day." Swinging gaily to the main deck, Samuel
tumbled Tandy into his bunk and went striding aft to take in his main
and mizzen topsails.
Next morning, while he and Ato were cutting up potatoes for Nikobo,
Tandy was not surprised to hear a loud hail from above. Something had
happened just as Samuel had predicted. Running out with a paring knife
still in his hand, he saw a strange glittering mountainous island abaft
the beam. It was still a goodish sea mile away, but with the glasses
Ato generously pressed upon him Tandy made out the most curious bit
of geography the eyes of a voyager had yet gazed on. There was not a
piece of level ground on the island anywhere. Its high, glittering,
needle-like peaks rose straight out of the sea with apparently no way
of ascending or descending. Of clear crystal, reflecting every color
of the rainbow, the beautiful island was almost too dazzling to look
at as it lay shimmering and sparkling in the bright sunshine. As they
sailed nearer, Tandy saw that a perfect maze of high and airy bridges
ran like a gigantic spider web between the peaks. On these bridges all
the island's life and activities seemed to take place. Quaint fluted
cottages were built in the center, and along the perilous catwalks on
either side raced the Mountaineers themselves, brandishing glittering
poles and spears and halberds.
"Pikes on the peak! Pikes on the peak! Port your helm, Sammy," roared
Ato. "Not too close! Not too near, Sam-u-el. How'd you like to be
pinned to the mast with a spear or flattened on the deck with a
boulder?"
"Ah, now, they're just excited!" answered Samuel Salt, squinting
curiously up at the Bridgemen, but Nikobo, with her short legs resting
on the top rail of her raft, squealed out a dolorous warning.
"Fighters! Fighters! These Pikers look savager than the Leopard Men.
Best back away, Master Captain, while there's still time."
"Oh, look! LOOK! There's a ship on the mountain," cried Tandy, jerking
Samuel's sleeve, "right there where that torrent comes down between the
bridges, a three-master, larger than the _Crescent Moon_."
"Then it's a battle!" boomed Samuel, bringing his helm hard around.
"Stand by to man the guns. 'Hoy, all hands, 'hoy!" While his shipmates
sprang to attention, Samuel darted from mast to mast, touching the
buttons on his sail controls.
"AYE DE AYE OH LAY!" The shrill unexpected cry came from the highest
bridge on the island, and was immediately taken up and repeated by all
the Pikemen on the lower bridges. It resulted in such a mad medley of
yodels that Ato clapped both hands to his ears and Nikobo plunged her
head in her drinking tub.
"Not only fighters, but singers!" grunted Ato, swinging the port
gun into an upright position. "Beef, beans and barley bread! What a
rumpus!" Tandy, who with Roger had charge of the other gun, could not
help but admire the calm way Samuel Salt ignored the dreadful outcry
from the bridges. Whether the pikes of the islanders could be flung
down upon them was still a question, but as Tandy looked anxiously
aloft, he saw the great white-sailed ship of the Mountain Men sweeping
toward the torrent. It paused for a breathless instant on the top and
then came rushing down upon them. They were right in the path of the
descending vessel which would strike them with such force both ships
would surely be demolished.
"I am a King's son and the son of a King's son," shuddered Tandy,
gritting his teeth and waiting desperately for the order to fire. "I
can bear anything."
"Not this! Not this!" chattered Roger, sliding wildly up and down the
shiny cannon. "It will shiver your timbers--it will shiver all of our
timbers. What in salt ails the Captain? Why doesn't he give the order
to fire and pepper these rascals before they reach us? Oh, oh! Oh--hh!"
But the only orders that came from the Captain were for Nikobo.
"Overboard, Lassie! Dive off! Quick, now, and swim for your life,"
bawled Samuel Salt, waving both arms frantically at the hippopotamus.
As Nikobo with a frightened squeal let down the back rail of her pen
and slid into the sea, Tandy felt a quiver and jerk through the whole
length of the _Crescent Moon_. Glancing aloft, he saw a strange change
in the sails. Where before they had been sturdy single stretches of
canvas, they were now great swelling balloon sails, each a perfect
air-filled sphere. As the ship from the mountain with an angry swish
catapulted down from the torrent into the sea, the _Crescent Moon_ rose
buoyantly into the air, allowing the enemy craft to shoot harmlessly
beneath her bow.
"What in Monday!" gasped Ato, flinging both arms round the cannon.
"What in Monday are you up to now? How'd we do this? Stop! Stop! I'm
no flier. No higher! No higher! Do you intend to impale us on yonder
Peaks?" Samuel Salt, hanging desperately to the wheel, made no reply
and as the ship, dipping and swaying, soared higher and higher the
deafening yodels of the Bridgemen ceased abruptly.
"Wha--wha--where are you heading?" demanded Roger, spreading his wings
in order to keep his balance on the sloping deck. "You never told us
you had balloon sails, Master Salt."
"Ahoy, but we never needed them before!" panted Samuel. "Look sharp
below, Roger. Tell me whether I'm over that lake or basin. Look sharp,
mind you, or we'll come to grief yet."
"Aye, aye!" quavered the Read Bird, dropping obediently over the side.
"It all looks sharp to me."
"Mean to say you're coming down in the middle of these pikes, peaks
and bridges?" moaned Ato, holding his head with both hands. "Avast and
belay, Mate, I signed up for a sea voyage and not a balloon ride. The
altitude's got you, Sammy, that's what. You've air holes in your head.
How do you expect the four of us to conquer this whole pesky peaky
island? How could we even take half of them?"
"By surprise," announced Samuel Salt grimly. "We'll take them by
surprise. Look, they're too surprised to even yodel. Fetch up the Oz
flags, Tandy, and all hands aft for further orders."
"Aft and daft!" choked Ato, hanging on to the rail as he made his
way toward the wheel. When Tandy came hurrying up from the hold, his
arms full of Oz flags, the _Crescent Moon_ hung directly over the
glittering Island. Roger fluttered anxiously just below calling up
hoarse information as to the size, possible depth and shape of the
sparkling blue lake between the peaks.
Listening carefully to Roger's directions, Samuel deflated his balloon
sails so skillfully the _Crescent Moon_ came down lightly as a swan in
the exact center of the Lake. Above and around the ship on all sides
hung the glittering spans of a beautiful Bridge City, and in stunned
silence and dismay the Bridgemen looked down on the flying ship and its
curious crew.
"Ahoy and hail, Men of the Mountain!" challenged Samuel in a ringing
voice. "You are now part and parcel of the great Kingdom of Oz, free as
before to govern yourselves, but from this day and henceforth on, an
island possession and colony under the protection and puissant rule of
her Majesty Queen Ozma of Oz!"
"OZ! Ozay Oz Oh Lay?" The cry came from the tallest and most splendid
of the Islanders, who was standing with folded arms on the lacy span
connecting the two highest peaks on the Mountain.