<h2>CHAPTER 9<br/> <small>Sea Legs for Tandy</small></h2>
<p>"If what Roger tells us is so, little Sauce Box yonder has had a
pretty dull life," said Ato as he and the Captain sat finishing their
breakfast next morning. "Lucky for him we happened along and anyway,
the hippopotamus will be good company, eh, Samuel? She seems downright
sensible and jolly. Reminds me of Pigasus and I suppose she does belong
to the pig family when you come to think of it."</p>
<p>"Well, she's a pretty big pig if she does," laughed Samuel Salt,
swallowing his coffee with gusty relish. "Pretty big any way you take
her. Personally, I like the animal, but the King and son of a King's
son! PAH! Reminds me of Peter, he's so different, and the sooner we
reach Ozamaland and set him ashore, the better. Meals in his own cabin.
Hoh!"</p>
<p>"Oh, give him time," drawled Ato, helping himself a second time to
fried potatoes. "If there's any good in the lad, a sea voyage will
bring it out, and what chance has he had shut up in a tower for ten
years and in a cage for five months? Though how an aunt managed to
have him carried so far and why she left him with those savages in the
jungle I can't get through my head at all."</p>
<p>"Maybe it was a gi-ant," whistled Roger, swooping down on Ato's plump
shoulder and flapping his wings cheerfully. "How far do you figure it
is to Ozamaland, Master Salt?"</p>
<p>"Well, that I couldn't just say," answered Samuel in a milder voice.
Pushing back his chair, he stepped over to the map on the west wall.
"Maybe a thousand leagues or so from Patrippany Island, maybe more,
in a line east by sou'east from Ev. If that is so, we're bound to
bump into it sometime, as I've set my course east by sou'east, and
anyway it's all in the year's sailing." Samuel bent over with pride
to examine the newest island discovery he had marked on the chart the
evening before. "And when we do come to it," he announced firmly,
"we'll trade this useless young one for some of those flying snakes and
creeping birds, eh, Mates?"</p>
<p>"If we bring any more animals aboard we might as well set up an ark and
be done with it," warned Ato, shaking his fork at the Captain. "By the
way, how's Sally this morning?'</p>
<p>"Tiptopsails!" grinned Samuel. "She eats nothing but hot air and water
and is no more trouble than a hair in a flea's whisker. I can carry her
round in my pipe when I want company. Now there's a lass for you!"</p>
<p>"Well, I'll just see to Nikobo, for she's the girl for me," retorted
Ato, rolling briskly out of his seat. "I saved all the potato peelings
from last night, and that, with a dozen cans of peas, corn, carrots and
beets, should stay her appetite till lunch time."</p>
<p>"Forty cans at one swallow," groaned Roger, clapping a claw to his head
in mock dismay. "She'll eat us out of ship and home at this rate. Can't
you think of something else, King dear? A nice wind pudding or a tub of
sea soup sprinkled with faggots."</p>
<p>"Oh, go along with you," roared Ato, and picking up his precious coffee
pot, he waddled cheerfully off to his storeroom.</p>
<p>The day was bright and breezy and the <i>Crescent Moon</i> going free,
breasted the waves like a white-winged sea witch. It was SUCH a
morning that even Tandy, peering inquiringly from his cabin, felt an
uncontrollable impulse to slide down the deck. So he did, coming up
smartly by Roger, who was perched on the rail.</p>
<p>"That's it! That's it! Now you're catching on," approved the Read Bird,
hopping cheerfully from one foot to the other. "Now match your step to
the sea's roll, sonny, get into her rhythm. You've got to breathe with
the ship to carry your rations on a voyage. Watch the Captain, there,
and do as he does," finished Roger as Samuel Salt left his cabin and
came striding aft.</p>
<p>"Rather watch you!" exclaimed Tandy, who sensed the Captain's dislike.
Uneasily he moved a little nearer the Read Bird.</p>
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<p>"All right, come on then!" shouted Roger, heading recklessly for the
foremast. "Ever climb a tree?" Tandy shook his head, looking with
deep misgiving into the maze of sail and rigging above. But Roger
was already aloft and beckoning for him to follow. "Not that way,
Brainless!" scolded Roger anxiously as Tandy, gritting his teeth, made
a desperate leap upward. "See those rope ladders by the rail? Put your
feet in the ratlins, boy, and come along hand over hand. It's easy as
flying once you get the swing of it. There, that's better! Come on!
Come on! Don't stop! Don't look down." So up—up and up the narrow rope
ladders toiled Tandy, till Roger, growing impatient, seized his collar
and helped him straddle the crosstree of the fore t'gallant mast.
"Ahoy! And isn't this better than riding an elephant?" beamed Roger,
winking a knowing eye. "Ahoy, this is fun and NO fooling." Seeing Tandy
was too dizzy and breathless to talk for a moment, Roger cheerfully set
himself to teach the young Ozamander a bit about ships and sailing.
Soon Tandy was so interested he forgot the leap and plunge of the ship,
the rattle and creak of the cordage and his own precarious perch in the
foremast.</p>
<p>"The <i>Crescent Moon</i>," began Roger with an impressive jerk of his head,
"is a square rigged three-masted sailing vessel. Normally 'twould take
from sixty to eighty men in a crew to set and make sail and bring
her about in a blow. But Samuel Salt has magic sail controls, so we
three manage quite easily, and now that YOU are here and the handy
hippopotamus below 'twill be easier still. The mast we're riding is the
foremast. The mast second from the bow, as we call the front of the
ship, is the mainmast, and the mast at the back or, as we salt water
birds say, the stern of the boat, is the mizzenmast. And now for the
sails." Roger took a deep breath. "Those below, beginning from the
bottom up, are the course, the topsail, the topgallant sail, the royal
and the sky sail. And don't forget!" Roger wagged his claw sternly.
"Before each sail you must put the name of the mast to which it is
attached. As, for instance, this ahead of us is the fore-topgallant
sail. SEE? And everything to the left of the ship's center we say is on
the port side and anything to the right is on the starboard."</p>
<p>"Then tell me why is the water on the port side bluer than the water on
the starboard?" asked Tandy, who had been listening very solemnly as he
tried to fix all of these strange sea terms in his head.</p>
<p>"Bravo!" cried Roger. "Right the first time, Mate. And the water is
bluer on the port side of the vessel because it is saltier. The bluer
the saltier," declared Roger, who, besides his first voyage with the
<i>Crescent Moon</i>, had read all the sea books in Ato's library and was
simply crammed with deep sea facts and information. "And what is more,"
he continued, pursing his bill mysteriously, "we're sailing in a magic
circle never knowing what may pop up over the edge. A ship? An island?
A hurricane? Or even a fabulous monster! That's what makes sea voyaging
so glorious, and sailing so much fun!"</p>
<p>Tandy, staring at the empty circle of blue falling away from the ship
on all sides, nodded dreamily. The White City—Patrippany Island—all
his former life and existence seemed unreal and far away and he hoped
in his heart of hearts the <i>Crescent Moon</i> would not reach his native
shores for many a long gay day. As Roger said, being a person <i>was</i> fun.</p>
<p>"M—mm!" Roger sniffed suddenly. "Wonder what Ato's cooking? Smells
like taffy. I'll bet a ship's biscuit we're going to have a candy pull."</p>
<p>"A candy pull!" exclaimed Tandy, taking a furious sniff himself.
"What is that?" As Roger started in to explain about candy pulls, a
large green column shot up on the skyline, a column so surprising and
shocking in appearance Tandy felt positively stunned.</p>
<p>"Oh, look! LOOK!" he screamed, grabbing Roger's wing. "There's
something now. Oh, Roger, what fun! What terrible fun!"</p>
<p>"Fun?" Roger spun round like a weather cock in a gale. "Fun?" he
repeated, stretching out his neck as far as it would go and a few
inches besides. "Oh, my best bill and feathers. That's not fun—that's
a SEA-Serpent. Help! Help! Deck ahoy! 'Hoy! 'Hoy! Below! King! Captain!
Ato! SAMMY! SAMU-EL!" As if calling them not only by their titles
but by their names would increase the number of the ship's officers
and crew, Roger tugged wildly at Tandy's arm. "Below! Below! All
hands below," shrilled the Read Bird. "Cover all ports and batten the
hatches!"</p>
<p>Urged on by Roger, Tandy, still more interested than frightened,
descended rapidly to the main deck. At Roger's cries, Ato had run out
with a pan of bubbling molasses in one hand and his trusty bread knife
in the other. Right behind him stood Samuel Salt, his eye pressed to
his largest spyglass.</p>
<p>"Well, tar and tarry barrels!" exclaimed the Captain exultantly. "Why,
this is a sea serpent second to none, the finest example of a marine
ophidian I've ever met in all my voyages!"</p>
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<p>"Oh, fiddlesticks!" blustered Ato, shaking him angrily by the arm. "Are
you a Captain or a Collector? Quick, now, make up your mind before your
ship is crunched down like a cracker and we're all swallowed up with
the crumbs. Quick, Sammy! For the love of salt mackerel, DO something!"
Squeezing himself between the cook and the Captain, Tandy saw that
there were now three immense shiny curves showing above the water, and
with scarcely a splash the tremendous monster was moving toward the
ship. Then suddenly it was upon them, and its huge horrid unbelievable
head came curling far over the bow of the <i>Crescent Moon</i>.</p>
<p>"Avast and belay! Avast and belay, you villain!" yelled Samuel Salt,
dropping his spyglass and grasping his blunderbuss while Roger beat his
wings together like castanets and screamed like a fire siren.</p>
<p>Tandy, rather frightened himself, and not knowing what else to do, fell
flat on his stomach and pulling a pad from his blouse, began making
a quick and frantic sketch of the dreadful sea beast. Its body was
leagues long and yards through, the head was large as a whole elephant
with a long curling silver tongue and darting green fangs. But it was
the teeth that made even the stout heart of Ato hammer against his
ribs. Each tooth of this singular sea serpent was a live white goblin
brandishing a long spear. Leaning far out of the yawning mouth, they
screamed, hissed and yelled at the defenseless company below. The next
forward thrust of the monster brought its head curling right down among
them. This so startled Tandy he could neither move nor scream. Samuel
fired his blunderbuss so fast and furiously it sounded like a dozen
guns, but it was Ato who really saved the day and his shipmates.</p>
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<p>With calm and deadly precision, the ship's cook flung the pan of
still bubbling molasses straight into the cavernous mouth. Screaming
with surprise, pain and fury, the monster clamped its jaws together,
and finding them stuck fast on the taffy, fell writhing back into
the sea, dashing and slashing its head under water to ease the burn
and setting the <i>Crescent Moon</i> to dancing like a cocklebur. But the
taffy, hardened by contact with the cold water, stuck faster than ever,
and unable to bite and scarcely able to breathe, the discomfited sea
monster backed away from the ship and went slithering and thrashing
away toward the skyline.</p>
<p>"Well, there goes our candy pull!" sighed Roger, falling in a limp heap
to Ato's shoulder. "Nice work! Nice work, King dear. There's a certain
touch about your fighting that is well nigh irresistible."</p>
<p>"Mains'ls and tops'ls! You certainly pulled a trick THAT time!" puffed
Samuel Salt, picking up his spyglass to have a last look at his lovely
specimen. "You saved us and the ship, that time, Mate. My bullets
rattled off its hide like hailstones off a roof."</p>
<p>"Pooh! Just happened to have the taffy handy," answered Ato, looking
rather regretfully into the empty pot. "Here, child, run back and tell
Kobo everything's all right." The ship's cook pulled Tandy quickly to
his feet. "Just listen to her squealing. The poor lass is probably
frightened out of her skin." As Tandy started aft on a run, Ato picked
up the sketch he had made of the monster. "Ahoy and what's this?" he
panted. "What did I tell you, Sammy? Look, the boy's drawn as lively a
picture of that varmint as you'd ever hope to paste in a scrap book.
Here it is—tail, teeth and everything!"</p>
<p>"Mean to say he drew that while we were all standing here ready to
perish and go down with the ship? Hah! That's what I call bravery in
action!" exclaimed Samuel. "And goosewing my topsails! If the young
lubber can draw like this he'll be a monstrous help to us, Mates. Why,
I'll make him cabin boy and Royal Artist of the Expedition with extra
rations and pay."</p>
<p>"Hurray! And I'll tell him," puffed Roger, spreading his wings
gleefully. "Hi, King! Hi, Tandy! Ho, Tandy! You've been promoted from
King to cabin boy and Royal Drawer of Animals and Islands and extry
rations and pay!"</p>
<p>Nikobo was as pleased as Tandy at her little charge's rise to favor,
and after they had both listened in rapt silence to Roger's news,
Tandy told her how Ato had routed the sea serpent. Meanwhile, Roger
had carried all the sketches Tandy had made of the Leopard Men and
Patrippany Island to the main cabin. Samuel's delight and enthusiasm
at having such spirited and authentic records of the lost tribe and
strange animals on Patrippany Island knew no bounds. He beamed on Tandy
so kindly and approvingly next time they met, the little boy felt warm
and jolly all the way down to his heels. Roger had already explained
his new duties to him and when Ato sounded the gong for dinner Tandy
was the first to answer. But when he started to pass the vegetables and
wait on the table, the Captain gruffly pushed him into a chair.</p>
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<p>"All equals here," roared Samuel, slapping him affectionately on the
shoulder. "You've earned your place and your salt, sonny, and we'll all
help ourselves and each other." Tilting back his chair and keeping
time with his teacup, Samuel began to sing lustily:</p>
<div class="poetry"><div class="stanza">
<div class="verse">"Blow high—blow low—</div>
<div class="verse"> 'Tis a salt sea life for me—</div>
<div class="verse">With a good ship's crew I'll sail the blue</div>
<div class="verse"> With a good ship going free—eeeh—eeeh!</div>
<div class="verse">With a good ship going free!"</div>
</div></div>
<p>Almost before he knew it, Tandy was singing, too.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><SPAN name="CHAPTER_10" id="CHAPTER_10"></SPAN></p>
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