The Master Key Page 4

  "Ouch!" yelled the boy; "stop that!"

  He twisted his head around, and seeing the black again make a movementwith the spear, Rob turned his electric tube upon him and keeled himover like a ten-pin.

  The natives, who had looked up at his cry of pain, again prostratedthemselves, kicking their toes against the ground in a terrified tattooat this new evidence of the god's powers.

  The situation was growing somewhat strained by this time, and Rob didnot know what the savages would decide to do next; so he thought itbest to move away from them, since he was unable to rise to a greaterheight. He turned the indicator towards the south, where a level spaceappeared between the trees; but instead of taking that direction hemoved towards the northeast, a proof that his machine had now becomeabsolutely unreliable. Moreover, he was slowly approaching the fire,which, although it had ceased blazing, was a mass of glowing red embers.

  In his excitement he turned the indicator this way and that, tryingto change the direction of his flight, but the only result of hisendeavor was to carry him directly over the fire, where he came to afull stop.

  "Murder! Help! Fire and blazes!" he cried, as he felt the glow of thecoals beneath him. "I'll be roasted, after all! Here; help, Fatty,help!"

  The fat chief sprang to his feet and came to the rescue. He reached up,caught Rob by the heels, and pulled him down to the ground, away fromthe fire. But the next moment, as he clung to the boy's feet, they bothsoared into the air again, and, although now far enough from the fireto escape its heat, the savage, finding himself lifted from the earth,uttered a scream of horror and let go of Rob, to fall head over heelsupon the ground.

  The other blacks had by this time regained their feet, and now theycrowded around their chief and set him upright again.

  Rob continued to float in the air, just above their heads, and nowabandoned all thoughts of escaping by means of his wrecked travelingmachine. But he resolved to regain a foothold upon the earth and takehis chances of escape by running rather than flying. So he turned theindicator to the word "down," and very slowly it obeyed, allowing him,to his great relief, to sink gently to the ground.

  _CHAPTER SIX_

  THE BUCCANEERS

  Once more the blacks formed a circle around our adventurer, who coollydrew his tube and said to the chief:

  "Tell your people I'm going to walk away through those trees, and ifany one dares to interfere with me I'll paralyze him."

  The chief understood enough English to catch his meaning, and repeatedthe message to his men. Having seen the terrible effect of the electrictube they wisely fell back and allowed the boy to pass.

  He marched through their lines with a fine air of dignity, although hewas fearful lest some of the blacks should stick a spear into him orbump his head with a war-club. But they were awed by the wonders theyhad seen and were still inclined to believe him a god, so he was notmolested.

  When he found himself outside the village he made for the high plateauin the center of the island, where he could be safe from the cannibalswhile he collected his thoughts. But when he reached the place hefound the sides so steep he could not climb them, so he adjustedthe indicator to the word "up" and found it had still enough powerto 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 hemight 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 meevery day, and finally decide I've broken my neck. The Demon will callupon me when the week is up and won't find me at home; so I'll missthe next three gifts. I don't mind that so much, for they might bringme into worse scrapes than this. But how am I to get away from thisbeastly 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 ofmuch 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 foundit surrounded by a ring of the black cannibals, who had calmly seatedthemselves to watch his movements.

  "Perhaps they intend to starve me into surrender," he thought; "butthey 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 travelingmachine. He did not dare take it apart, fearing he might not beable to get it together again, for he knew nothing at all about itsconstruction. But he discovered two little dents on the edge, one oneach 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 theattempt resulted in failure. Then, as the sides seemed a little bulgedoutward by the dents, he placed the machine between two flat stonesand pressed them together until the little instrument was nearly roundagain. The dents remained, to be sure, but he hoped he had removed thepressure upon the works.

  There was just one way to discover how well he had succeeded, so hefastened 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. Thenhis progress became slower and finally ceased altogether.

  "That's a little better," he thought. "Now let's see if it will gosidewise."

  He put the indicator to "north-west,"--the direction of home--and veryslowly the machine obeyed and carried him away from the plateau andacross the island.

  The natives saw him go, and springing to their feet began utteringexcited shouts and throwing their spears at him. But he was alreadyso high and so far away that they failed to reach him, and the boycontinued 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 hewas free of the island and traveling over the ocean again. He was notat all sorry to bid good-by to the cannibal island, but he was worriedabout the machine, which clearly was not in good working order. Thevast ocean was beneath him, and he moved no faster than an ordinarywalk.

  "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." Andhe really was glad.

  All the afternoon and all the long summer night he moved slowly overthe water. It was annoying to go at "a reg'lar jog-trot," as Rob calledit, 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 lackof wind. He soon caught up with it, but saw no one on deck, and thecraft had a dingy and uncared-for appearance that was not reassuring.But after hovering over it for some time Rob decided to board the shipand rest for a while. He alighted near the bow, where the deck washighest, and was about to explore the place when a man came out of thelow cabin and espied him.

  This person had a most villainous countenance, and was dark-skinned,black-bearded and dressed in an outlandish, piratical costume. Onseeing the boy he gave a loud shout and was immediately joined by fourcompanions, each as disagreeable in appearance as the first.

  Rob knew there would be trouble the moment he looked at this evilcrew, and when they drew their daggers and pistols and began fiercelyshouting in an unknown tongue, the boy sighed and took the electrictube from his coat pocket.

  The buccaneers did not notice the movement, but rushed upon him soquickly that he had to press the button at a lively rate. The tubemade no noise at all, so it was a strange and remarkable sight tosee the pirates suddenly drop to the deck and lie motionless. Indeed,one was so nearly upon him when the electric current struck him thathis head, in falling, bumped into Rob's stomach and sent him reelingagainst the side of the vessel.

  It was a strange sight to see
the pirates drop to thedeck and lie motionless]

  He quickly recovered himself, and seeing his enemies were renderedharmless, the boy entered the cabin and examined it curiously. It wasdirty and ill-smelling enough, but the corners and spare berths wereheaped with merchandise of all kinds which had been taken from those sounlucky as to have met these cruel and desperate men.

  After a short inspection of the place he returned to the deck and againseated himself in the bow.

  The crippled condition of his traveling machine was now his chieftrouble, and although a good breeze had sprung up to fill the sailsand the little bark was making fair headway, Rob knew he could neverexpect to reach home unless he could discover a better mode ofconveyance than this.

  He unstrapped the machine from his wrist to examine it better, andwhile holding it carelessly in his hand it slipped and fell with abang to the deck, striking upon its round edge and rolling quicklypast the cabin and out of sight. With a cry of alarm he ran after it,and after much search found it lying against the bulwark near the edgeof a scupper hole, where the least jar of the ship would have sent itto the bottom of the ocean. Rob hastily seized his treasure, and uponexamining it found the fall had bulged the rim so that the old dentsscarcely showed at all. But its original shape was more distorted thanever, and Rob feared he had utterly ruined its delicate mechanism.Should this prove to be true, he might now consider himself a prisonerof this piratical band, the members of which, although temporarilydisabled, would soon regain consciousness.

  He sat in the bow, sadly thinking of his misfortunes, until he noticedthat one of the men began to stir. The effect of the electric shockconveyed by the tube was beginning to wear away, and now the buccaneersat up, rubbed his head in a bewildered fashion and looked around him.When he saw Rob he gave a shout of rage and drew his knife, but onemotion of the electric tube made him cringe and slip away to the cabin,where he remained out of danger.

  And now the other four sat up, groaning and muttering in theiroutlandish speech; but they had no notion of facing Rob's tube a secondtime, so one by one they joined their leader in the cabin, leaving theboy undisturbed.

  By this time the ship had begun to pitch and toss in an uncomfortablefashion, and Rob noticed that the breeze had increased to a gale. Therebeing no one to look after the sails, the vessel was in grave dangerof capsizing or breaking her masts. The waves were now running high,too, and Rob began to be worried.

  Presently the captain of the pirates stuck his head out of the cabindoor, jabbered some unintelligible words and pointed to the sails. Theboy nodded, for he understood they wanted to attend to the rigging. Sothe crew trooped forth, rather fearfully, and began to reef the sailsand put the ship into condition to weather the storm.

  Rob paid no further attention to them. He looked at his travelingmachine rather doubtfully and wondered if he dared risk its power tocarry him through the air. Whether he remained in the ship or trustedto the machine, he stood a good chance of dropping into the sea at anymoment. So, while he hesitated, he attached the machine to his wristand leaned over the bulwarks to watch the progress of the storm. Hemight stay in the ship until it foundered, he thought, and then takehis chances with the machine. He decided to wait until a climax arrived.

  The climax came the next moment, for while he leaned over the bulwarksthe buccaneers stole up behind him and suddenly seized him in theirgrasp. While two of them held his arms the others searched his pockets,taking from him the electric tube and the silver box containing histablets. These they carried to the cabin and threw upon the heap ofother valuables they had stolen. They did not notice his travelingmachine, however, but seeing him now unarmed they began jeering andlaughing at him, while the brutal captain relieved his anger by givingthe prisoner several malicious kicks.

  Rob bore his misfortune meekly, although he was almost ready to crywith grief and disappointment. But when one of the pirates, to inflictfurther punishment on the boy, came towards him with a heavy strap, heresolved not to await the blow.

  Turning the indicator to the word "up" he found, to his joy and relief,that it would yet obey the influence of the power of repulsion. Seeinghim rise into the air the fellow made a grab for his foot and held itfirmly, while his companions ran to help him. Weight seemed to makeno difference in the machine; it lifted the pirate as well as Rob; itlifted another who clung to the first man's leg, and another who clungto him. The other two also caught hold, hoping their united strengthwould pull him down, and the next minute Rob was soaring through theair with the entire string of five buccaneers dangling from his leftleg.

  At first the villains were too astounded to speak, but as they realizedthat they were being carried through the air and away from their shipthey broke into loud shouts of dismay, and finally the one who graspedRob's leg lost his hold and the five plunged downward and splashed intothe sea.

  Finding the machine disposed to work accurately, Rob left thebuccaneers to swim to the ship in the best way they could, while hedropped down to the deck again and recovered from the cabin his boxof tablets and the electric tube. The fellows were just scrambling onboard when he again escaped, shooting into the air with considerablespeed.

  Indeed, the instrument now worked better than at any time since he hadreached the cannibal island, and the boy was greatly delighted.

  The wind at first sent him spinning away to the south, but he continuedto rise until he was above the air currents, and the storm ragedfar beneath him. Then he set the indicator to the northwest andbreathlessly waited to see if it would obey. Hurrah! away he sped ata fair rate of speed, while all his anxiety changed to a feeling ofsweet contentment.

  His success had greatly surprised him, but he concluded that the jarcaused by dropping the instrument had relieved the pressure upon theworks, and so helped rather than harmed the free action of the electriccurrents.

  While he moved through the air with an easy, gliding motion he watchedwith much interest the storm raging below. Above his head the sun waspeacefully shining and the contrast was strange and impressive. Afteran hour or so the storm abated, or else he passed away from it, forthe deep blue of the ocean again greeted his eyes. He dropped downwarduntil he was about a hundred feet above the water, when he continuedhis northwesterly course.

  But now he regretted having interfered for a moment with the actionof the machine, for his progress, instead of being swift as a bird'sflight, became slow and jerky, nor was he sure that the damaged machinemight not break down altogether at any moment. Yet so far his progresswas in the right direction, and he resolved to experiment no furtherwith the instrument, but to let it go as it would, so long as itsupported him above the water. However irregular the motion might be,it was sure, if continued, to bring him to land in time, and that wasall he cared about just then.

  When night fell his slumber was broken and uneasy, for he wakened morethan once with a start of fear that the machine had broken and hewas falling into the sea. Sometimes he was carried along at a swiftpace, and again the machine scarcely worked at all; so his anxiety wasexcusable.

  The following day was one of continued uneasiness for the boy, whobegan to be harrassed by doubts as to whether, after all, he was movingin the right direction. The machine had failed at one time in thisrespect and it might again. He had lost all confidence in its accuracy.

  In spite of these perplexities Rob passed the second night of hisuneven flight in profound slumber, being exhausted by the strain andexcitement he had undergone. When he awoke at daybreak, he saw, to hisprofound delight, that he was approaching land.

  The rising sun found him passing over a big city, which he knew to beBoston.

  He did not stop. The machine was so little to be depended upon thathe dared make no halt. But he was obliged to alter the direction fromnorthwest to west, and the result of this slight change was so great areduction in speed that it was mid-day before he saw beneath him thefamiliar village in which he lived.

  Carefully marking the location of his father's house, he came
to a stopdirectly over it, and a few moments later he managed to land upon theexact spot in the back yard whence he had taken his first successfulflight.

  _CHAPTER SEVEN_

  THE DEMON BECOMES ANGRY

  When Rob had been hugged and kissed by his mother and sisters, and evenMr. Joslyn had embraced him warmly, he gave them a brief account of hisadventures. The story was received with many doubtful looks and muchgrave shaking of heads, as was quite natural under the circumstances.

  "I hope, my dear son," said his father, "that you have now passedthrough enough dangers to last you a lifetime, so that hereafter youwill be contented to remain at home."

  "Oh, Robert!" cried his mother, with tears in her loving eyes, "youdon't know how we've all worried about you for the past week!"

  "A week?" asked Rob, with surprise.

  "Yes; it's a week to-morrow morning since you flew into the air anddisappeared."

  "Then," said the boy, thoughtfully, "I've reached home just in time."

  "In time for what?" she asked.

  But he did not answer that question. He was thinking of the Demon, andthat on the afternoon of this very day he might expect the wise andsplendid genius to visit him a second time.

  At luncheon, although he did not feel hungry, he joined the familyat table and pleased his mother by eating as heartily as of old. Hewas surprised to find how good the food tasted, and to realize what apleasure it is to gratify one's sense of taste. The tablets were allright for a journey, he thought, but if he always ate them he wouldbe sure to miss a great deal of enjoyment, since there was no taste tothem at all.