CHAPTER 5
The Little Old Man of the Island
A few steps brought them to the shed, which was merely a roof of boughsbuilt over a square space, with some branches of trees fastened to thesides to keep off the wind. The front was quite open and faced the sea,and as our friends came nearer they observed a little man, with a longpointed beard, sitting motionless on a stool and staring thoughtfully outover the water.
"Get out of the way, please," he called in a fretful voice. "Can't yousee you are obstructing my view?"
"Good morning," said Cap'n Bill, politely.
"It isn't a good morning!" snapped the little man. "I've seen plentyof mornings better than this. Do you call it a good morning when I'mpestered with such a crowd as you?"
Trot was astonished to hear such words from a stranger whom they hadgreeted quite properly, and Cap'n Bill grew red at the little man'srudeness. But the sailor said, in a quiet tone of voice:
"Are you the only one as lives on this 'ere island?"
"Your grammar's bad," was the reply. "But this is my own exclusiveisland, and I'll thank you to get off it as soon as possible."
"We'd like to do that," said Trot, and then she and Cap'n Bill turnedaway and walked down to the shore, to see if any other land was in sight.
The little man rose and followed them, although both were now tooprovoked to pay any attention to him.
"Nothin' in sight, partner," reported Cap'n Bill, shading his eyes withhis hand; "so we'll have to stay here for a time, anyhow. It isn't a badplace, Trot, by any means."
"That's all you know about it!" broke in the little man. "The trees arealtogether too green and the rocks are harder than they ought to be. Ifind the sand very grainy and the water dreadfully wet. Every breezemakes a draught and the sun shines in the daytime, when there's no needof it, and disappears just as soon as it begins to get dark. If youremain here you'll find the island very unsatisfactory."
Trot turned to look at him, and her sweet face was grave and curious.
"I wonder who you are," she said.
"My name is Pessim," said he, with an air of pride. "I'm called theObserver."
"Oh. What do you observe?" asked the little girl.
"Everything I see," was the reply, in a more surly tone. Then Pessim drewback with a startled exclamation and looked at some footprints in thesand. "Why, good gracious me!' he cried in distress.
"What's the matter now?' asked Cap'n Bill.
"Someone has pushed the earth in! Don't you see it?"
"It isn't pushed in far enough to hurt anything," said Trot, examiningthe footprints.
"Everything hurts that isn't right," insisted the man. "If the earth werepushed in a mile, it would be a great calamity, wouldn't it?"
"I s'pose so," admitted the little girl.
"Well, here it is pushed in a full inch! That's a twelfth of a foot,or a little more than a millionth part of a mile. Therefore it isone-millionth part of a calamity--Oh, dear! How dreadful!" said Pessim ina wailing voice.
"Try to forget it, sir," advised Cap'n Bill, soothingly. "It's beginningto rain. Let's get under your shed and keep dry."
"Raining! Is it really raining?' asked Pessim, beginning to weep.
"It is," answered Cap'n Bill, as the drops began to descend, "and I don'tsee any way to stop it--although I'm some observer myself."
"No; we can't stop it, I fear," said the man. "Are you very busy justnow?"
"I won't be after I get to the shed," replied the sailor-man.
"Then do me a favor, please," begged Pessim, walking briskly along behindthem, for they were hastening to the shed.
"Depends on what it is," said Cap'n Bill.
"I wish you would take my umbrella down to the shore and hold it overthe poor fishes till it stops raining. I'm afraid they'll get wet," saidPessim.
Trot laughed, but Cap'n Bill thought the little man was poking fun at himand so he scowled upon Pessim in a way that showed he was angry.
They reached the shed before getting very wet, although the rain was nowcoming down in big drops. The roof of the shed protected them and whilethey stood watching the rainstorm something buzzed in and circled aroundPessim's head. At once the Observer began beating it away with his hands,crying out:
"A bumblebee! A bumblebee! The queerest bumblebee I ever saw!"
Cap'n Bill and Trot both looked at it and the little girl said insurprise:
"Dear me! It's a wee little Ork!"
"That's what it is, sure enough," exclaimed Cap'n Bill.
Really, it wasn't much bigger than a big bumblebee, and when it cametoward Trot she allowed it to alight on her shoulder.
"It's me, all right," said a very small voice in her ear; "but I'm in anawful pickle, just the same!"
"What, are you _our_ Ork, then?" demanded the girl, much amazed.
"No, I'm my own Ork. But I'm the only Ork you know," replied the tinycreature.
"What's happened to you?" asked the sailor, putting his head close toTrot's shoulder in order to hear the reply better. Pessim also put hishead close, and the Ork said:
"You will remember that when I left you I started to fly over the trees,and just as I got to this side of the forest I saw a bush that was loadeddown with the most luscious fruit you can imagine. The fruit was aboutthe size of a gooseberry and of a lovely lavender color. So I swoopeddown and picked off one in my bill and ate it. At once I began to growsmall. I could feel myself shrinking, shrinking away, and it frightenedme terribly, so that I alighted on the ground to think over what washappening. In a few seconds I had shrunk to the size you now see me;but there I remained, getting no smaller, indeed, but no larger. It iscertainly a dreadful affliction! After I had recovered somewhat from theshock I began to search for you. It is not so easy to find one's way whena creature is so small, but fortunately I spied you here in this shed andcame to you at once."
Cap'n Bill and Trot were much astonished at this story and felt grievedfor the poor Ork, but the little man Pessim seemed to think it a goodjoke. He began laughing when he heard the story and laughed until hechoked, after which he lay down on the ground and rolled and laughedagain, while the tears of merriment coursed down his wrinkled cheeks.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear!" he finally gasped, sitting up and wiping his eyes."This is too rich! It's almost too joyful to be true."
"I don't see anything funny about it," remarked Trot indignantly.
"You would if you'd had my experience," said Pessim, getting upon hisfeet and gradually resuming his solemn and dissatisfied expression ofcountenance. "The same thing happened to me."
"Oh, did it? And how did you happen to come to this island?" asked thegirl.
"I didn't come; the neighbors brought me," replied the little man, with afrown at the recollection. "They said I was quarrelsome and fault-findingand blamed me because I told them all the things that went wrong, ornever were right, and because I told them how things ought to be. So theybrought me here and left me all alone, saying that if I quarreled withmyself, no one else would be made unhappy. Absurd, wasn't it?"
"Seems to me," said Cap'n Bill, "those neighbors did the proper thing."
"Well," resumed Pessim, "when I found myself King of this island Iwas obliged to live upon fruits, and I found many fruits growing herethat I had never seen before. I tasted several and found them good andwholesome. But one day I ate a lavender berry--as the Ork did--andimmediately I grew so small that I was scarcely two inches high. It was avery unpleasant condition and like the Ork I became frightened. I couldnot walk very well nor very far, for every lump of earth in my way seemeda mountain, every blade of grass a tree and every grain of sand a rockyboulder. For several days I stumbled around in an agony of fear. Once atree toad nearly gobbled me up, and if I ran out from the shelter of thebushes the gulls and cormorants swooped down upon me. Finally I decidedto eat another berry and become nothing at all, since life, to one assmall as I was, had become a dreary nightmare.
"At last I found a small tree that I
thought bore the same fruit as thatI had eaten. The berry was dark purple instead of light lavender, butotherwise it was quite similar. Being unable to climb the tree, I wasobliged to wait underneath it until a sharp breeze arose and shook thelimbs so that a berry fell. Instantly I seized it and taking a last viewof the world--as I then thought--I ate the berry in a twinkling. Then,to my surprise, I began to grow big again, until I became of my formerstature, and so I have since remained. Needless to say, I have nevereaten again of the lavender fruit, nor do any of the beasts or birds thatlive upon this island eat it."
They had all three listened eagerly to this amazing tale, and when it wasfinished the Ork exclaimed:
"Do you think, then, that the deep purple berry is the antidote for thelavender one?"
"I'm sure of it," answered Pessim. "Then lead me to the tree at once!"begged the Ork, "for this tiny form I now have terrifies me greatly."
Pessim examined the Ork closely.
"You are ugly enough as you are," said he. "Were you any larger you mightbe dangerous."
"Oh, no," Trot assured him; "the Ork has been our good friend. Pleasetake us to the tree."
Then Pessim consented, although rather reluctantly. He led them to theright, which was the east side of the island, and in a few minutesbrought them near to the edge of the grove which faced the shore of theocean. Here stood a small tree bearing berries of a deep purple color.The fruit looked very enticing and Cap'n Bill reached up and selected onethat seemed especially plump and ripe.
The Ork had remained perched upon Trot's shoulder but now it flew downto the ground. It was so difficult for Cap'n Bill to kneel down, withhis wooden leg, that the little girl took the berry from him and held itclose to the Ork's head.
"It's too big to go into my mouth," said the little creature, looking atthe fruit sidewise.
"You'll have to make sev'ral mouthfuls of it, I guess," said Trot; andthat is what the Ork did. He pecked at the soft, ripe fruit with his billand ate it up very quickly, because it was good.
Even before he had finished the berry they could see the Ork begin togrow. In a few minutes he had regained his natural size and was struttingbefore them, quite delighted with his transformation.
"Well, well! What do you think of me now?" he asked proudly.
"You are very skinny and remarkably ugly," declared Pessim.
"You are a poor judge of Orks," was the reply. "Anyone can see that I'mmuch handsomer than those dreadful things called birds, which are allfluff and feathers."
"Their feathers make soft beds," asserted Pessim.
"And my skin would make excellent drumheads," retorted the Ork."Nevertheless, a plucked bird or a skinned Ork would be of no value tohimself, so we needn't brag of our usefulness after we are dead. But forthe sake of argument, friend Pessim, I'd like to know what good _you_would be, were you not alive?"
"Never mind that," said Cap'n Bill. "He isn't much good as he is."
"I am King of this Island, allow me to say, and you're intruding on myproperty," declared the little man, scowling upon them. "If you don'tlike me--and I'm sure you don't, for no one else does--why don't you goaway and leave me to myself?"
"Well, the Ork can fly, but we can't," explained Trot, in answer. "Wedon't want to stay here a bit, but I don't see how we can get away."
"You can go back into the hole you came from."
Cap'n Bill shook his head; Trot shuddered at the thought; the Ork laughedaloud.
"You may be King here," the creature said to Pessim, "but we intend torun this island to suit ourselves, for we are three and you are one, andthe balance of power lies with us."
The little man made no reply to this, although as they walked back tothe shed his face wore its fiercest scowl. Cap'n Bill gathered a lot ofleaves and, assisted by Trot, prepared two nice beds in opposite cornersof the shed. Pessim slept in a hammock which he swung between two trees.
They required no dishes, as all their food consisted of fruits and nutspicked from the trees; they made no fire, for the weather was warm andthere was nothing to cook; the shed had no furniture other than the rudestool which the little man was accustomed to sit upon. He called it his"throne" and they let him keep it.
So they lived upon the island for three days, and rested and ate to theirhearts' content. Still, they were not at all happy in this life becauseof Pessim. He continually found fault with them, and all that they did,and all their surroundings. He could see nothing good or admirable in allthe world and Trot soon came to understand why the little man's formerneighbors had brought him to this island and left him there, all alone,so he could not annoy anyone. It was their misfortune that they hadbeen led to this place by their adventures, for often they would havepreferred the company of a wild beast to that of Pessim.
On the fourth day a happy thought came to the Ork. They had allbeen racking their brains for a possible way to leave the island,and discussing this or that method, without finding a plan that waspractical. Cap'n Bill had said he could make a raft of the trees,big enough to float them all, but he had no tools except those twopocketknives and it was not possible to chop down trees with such smallblades.
"And s'pose we got afloat on the ocean," said Trot, "where would we driftto, and how long would it take us to get there?"
Cap'n Bill was forced to admit he didn't know. The Ork could fly awayfrom the island any time it wished to, but the queer creature was loyalto his new friends and refused to leave them in such a lonely, forsakenplace.
It was when Trot urged him to go, on this fourth morning, that the Orkhad his happy thought.
"I will go," said he, "if you two will agree to ride upon my back."
"We are too heavy; you might drop us," objected Cap'n Bill.
"Yes, you are rather heavy for a long journey," acknowledged the Ork,"but you might eat of those lavender berries and become so small that Icould carry you with ease."
This quaint suggestion startled Trot and she looked gravely at thespeaker while she considered it, but Cap'n Bill gave a scornful snort andasked:
"What would become of us afterward! We wouldn't be much good if we weresome two or three inches high. No, Mr. Ork, I'd rather stay here, as Iam, than be a hop-o'-my-thumb somewhere else."
"Why couldn't you take some of the dark purple berries along with you, toeat after we had reached our destination?" inquired the Ork. "Then youcould grow big again whenever you pleased."
Trot clapped her hands with delight.
"That's it!" she exclaimed. "Let's do it, Cap'n Bill."
The old sailor did not like the idea at first, but he thought it overcarefully and the more he thought the better it seemed.
"How could you manage to carry us, if we were so small?" he asked.
"I could put you in a paper bag, and tie the bag around my neck."
"But we haven't a paper bag," objected Trot.
The Ork looked at her.
"There's your sunbonnet," it said presently, "which is hollow in themiddle and has two strings that you could tie around my neck."
Trot took off her sunbonnet and regarded it critically. Yes, it mighteasily hold both her and Cap'n Bill, after they had eaten the lavenderberries and been reduced in size. She tied the strings around the Ork'sneck and the sunbonnet made a bag in which two tiny people might ridewithout danger of falling out. So she said:
"I b'lieve we'll do it that way, Cap'n."
Cap'n Bill groaned but could make no logical objection except that theplan seemed to him quite dangerous--and dangerous in more ways than one.
"I think so, myself," said Trot soberly. "But nobody can stay alivewithout getting into danger sometimes, and danger doesn't mean gettinghurt, Cap'n; it only means we _might_ get hurt. So I guess we'll have totake the risk."
"Let's go and find the berries," said the Ork.
They said nothing to Pessim, who was sitting on his stool and scowlingdismally as he stared at the ocean, but started at once to seek thetrees that bore the magic fruits. The Ork remembered very well wh
ere thelavender berries grew and led his companions quickly to the spot.
Cap'n Bill gathered two berries and placed them carefully in his pocket.Then they went around to the east side of the island and found the treethat bore the dark purple berries.
"I guess I'll take four of these," said the sailor-man, "so in case onedoesn't make us grow big we can eat another."
"Better take six," advised the Ork. "It's well to be on the safe side,and I'm sure these trees grow nowhere else in all the world."
So Cap'n Bill gathered six of the purple berries and with their preciousfruit they returned to the shed to bid good-bye to Pessim. Perhaps theywould not have granted the surly little man this courtesy had they notwished to use him to tie the sunbonnet around the Ork's neck.
When Pessim learned they were about to leave him he at first lookedgreatly pleased, but he suddenly recollected that nothing ought to pleasehim and so began to grumble about being left alone.
"We knew it wouldn't suit you," remarked Cap'n Bill. "It didn't suit youto have us here, and it won't suit you to have us go away."
"That is quite true," admitted Pessim. "I haven't been suited since I canremember; so it doesn't matter to me in the least whether you go or stay."
He was interested in their experiment, however, and willingly agreed toassist, although he prophesied they would fall out of the sunbonnet ontheir way and be either drowned in the ocean or crushed upon some rockyshore. This uncheerful prospect did not daunt Trot, but it made Cap'nBill quite nervous.
"I will eat my berry first," said Trot, as she placed her sunbonnet onthe ground, in such manner that they could get into it.
Then she ate the lavender berry and in a few seconds became so small thatCap'n Bill picked her up gently with his thumb and one finger and placedher in the middle of the sunbonnet. Then he placed beside her the sixpurple berries--each one being about as big as the tiny Trot's head--andall preparations being now made the old sailor ate his lavender berry andbecame very small--wooden leg and all!
Cap'n Bill stumbled sadly in trying to climb over the edge of thesunbonnet and pitched in beside Trot headfirst, which caused the unhappyPessim to laugh with glee. Then the King of the Island picked up thesunbonnet--so rudely that he shook its occupants like peas in a pod--andtied it, by means of its strings, securely around the Ork's neck.
"I hope, Trot, you sewed those strings on tight," said Cap'n Billanxiously.
"Why, we are not very heavy, you know," she replied, "so I think thestitches will hold. But be careful and not crush the berries, Cap'n."
"One is jammed already," he said, looking at them.
"All ready?" asked the Ork.
"Yes!" they cried together, and Pessim came close to the sunbonnet andcalled out to them: "You'll be smashed or drowned, I'm sure you will! Butfarewell, and good riddance to you."
The Ork was provoked by this unkind speech, so he turned his tail towardthe little man and made it revolve so fast that the rush of air tumbledPessim over backward and he rolled several times upon the ground beforehe could stop himself and sit up. By that time the Ork was high in theair and speeding swiftly over the ocean.
The Scarecrow of Oz Page 7
