L. Frank Baum Read Online Free PDF Page B

when he reached the place he
found the sides so steep he could not climb them, so he adjusted the
indicator to the word "up" and found it had still had enough power to
support his body while he clambered up the rocks to the level,
grass-covered space at the top.
    Then, reclining upon his back, he gave himself up to thoughts of how he
might escape from his unpleasant predicament.
    "Here I am, on a cannibal island, hundreds of miles from civilization,
with no way to get back," he reflected. "The family will look for me
every day, and finally decide I've broken my neck. The Demon will call
upon me when the week is up and won't find me at home; so I'll miss the
next three gifts. I don't mind that so much, for they might bring me
into worst scrapes than this. But how am I to get away from this
beastly island? I'll be eaten, after all, if I don't look out!"
    These and similar thoughts occupied him for some time, yet in spite of
much planning and thinking he could find no practical means of escape.
    At the end of an hour he looked over the edge of the plateau and found
it surrounded by a ring of the black cannibals, who had calmly seated
themselves to watch his movements.
    "Perhaps they intend to starve me into surrender," he thought; "but
they won't succeed so long as my tablets hold out. And if, in time,
they should starve me, I'll be too thin and tough to make good eating;
so I'll get the best of them, anyhow."
    Then he again lay down and began to examine his electrical traveling
machine. He did not dare take it apart, fearing he might not be able
to get it together again, for he knew nothing at all about its
construction. But he discovered two little dents on the edge, one on
each side, which had evidently been caused by the pressure of the rope.
    "If I could get those dents out," he thought, "the machine might work."
    He first tried to pry out the edges with his pocket knife, but the
attempt resulted in failure, Then, as the sides seemed a little bulged
outward by the dents, he placed the machine between two flat stones and
pressed them together until the little instrument was nearly round
again. The dents remained, to be sure, but he hoped he had removed the
pressure upon the works.
    There was just one way to discover how well he had succeeded, so he
fastened the machine to his wrist and turned the indicator to the word
"up."
    Slowly he ascended, this time to a height of nearly twenty feet. Then
his progress became slower and finally ceased altogether.
    "That's a little better," he thought. "Now let's see if it will go
sidewise."
    He put the indicator to "north-west,"—the direction of home—and very
slowly the machine obeyed and carried him away from the plateau and
across the island.
    The natives saw him go, and springing to their feet began uttering
excited shouts and throwing their spears at him. But he was already so
high and so far away that they failed to reach him, and the boy
continued his journey unharmed.
    Once the branches of a tall tree caught him and nearly tipped him over;
but he managed to escape others by drawing up his feet. At last he was
free of the island and traveling over the ocean again. He was not at
all sorry to bid good-by to the cannibal island, but he was worried
about the machine, which clearly was not in good working order. The
vast ocean was beneath him, and he moved no faster than an ordinary
walk.
    "At this rate I'll get home some time next year," he grumbled.
"However, I suppose I ought to be glad the machine works at all." And
he really was glad.
    All the afternoon and all the long summer night he moved slowly over
the water. It was annoying to go at "a reg'lar jog-trot," as Rob
called it, after his former swift flight; but there was no help for it.
    Just as dawn was breaking he saw in the distance a small vessel,
sailing in the direction he was following, yet scarcely moving for lack
of wind. He soon caught up with it, but saw no one on deck, and the
craft had a dingy and uncared-for