Pittypat and the Mifkets
"This invention works better than I thought it would, after gettingthat bump," John remarked, as they flew onward over the vast expanse ofrolling waves.
"It's a bit wobbly, though," said Chick. "Don't you notice it flops alittle sideways?"
"Yes," answered John, "and it seems to me the bird does not move soswiftly as it did at first."
"Guess the 'lectricity's giving out," returned Chick, calmly. "If itdoes, what'll happen?"
"We'll be drowned, I suppose," said John. "I don't understandelectricity, for the wisdom I derive from the magic Elixir dates farback beyond the discovery of electric fluid."
"Your wisdom's bald-headed, I'm afraid," observed the child, smiling atthe solemn countenance of the gingerbread man. "But, say! Isn't thatanother island over there?" Chick continued, after a look through oneof the little windows.
"It appears to be an island," replied John, also gazing through thewindow.
Even as he spoke the bird gave a lurch and swooped downward toward thesea, tipping at such an angle that Chick and the gingerbread man wereboth tumbled off their seats. John's glass eyes had a look of fear inthem, but Chick laughed as merrily as if there was no danger at all,and began pushing the electric buttons with great vigor, one afteranother.
The result was that the flying-machine paused, righted itself, plungedhigher into the air, circled around a few times, and then sailedrapidly toward the west. Chick scrambled back to the seat and threwover the steering wheel in order to make the machine head directlytoward the island they had seen.
"If we can keep her going till we get to that island, I don't care whathappens afterward," said the child. "But if we're dumped in the sea I'mafraid we can't swim far."
"I can't swim at all," John returned; "for in three strokes mygingerbread would become soaked through and fall to pieces. And thewater would dilute the Elixir that I am mixed with and destroy all itsmagic powers. By the way, what's the thing doing now?"
"It's getting more wobbly. But never mind. It's lots of fun, isn't it,John Dough?"
"Not exactly fun," said John, seriously; "but I will admit this voyageis rather exciting."
Just then something snapped, and they heard a rapid whir of machineryinside the bird, a squeak that sounded like a wail of despair, andthen a dull crash. The big machine trembled, ceased flopping its wings,and remained poised in the air like an immense kite.
"It's all up," said Chick. "The thing's busted."
"What's going to happen?" asked John, anxiously.
"Wait and see," returned Chick, with a laugh.
"It's cruel to laugh when we are in such grave danger!" said John,reproachfully.
"Shucks!" cried the child. "It might be my last laugh, and I'd befoolish to miss it."
The bird was still floating, for its broad wings were rigidly spreadout to their fullest extent; but every moment the machine sailed nearerto the sea, and although it was surely nearing the island, neither Johnnor Chick could decide whether it would finally succeed in reaching theshore or fall into the water.
Even the careless Cherub paused with bated breath to watch the finalcatastrophe, and John, resigned to whatever fate might befall him,nevertheless passed the most anxious moments of his brief lifetime.
The bird sailed down, rested upon the water a few feet from the shore,and floated upon the surface.
Chick and John dared not open the door for fear of letting in the oceanand so being drowned. Neither could they now see where they were, forthe green water pressed close against the little windows. So they satsilently within the machine until there came a sudden jar and the birdrolled over upon one side and lay still.
"We're saved!" cried the Cherub. For now one of the windows was raisedabove the water and enabled them to see that the bird had drifted tothe shore of the island and was fast upon the beach.
Chick unfastened the door and crawled out; and then the child assistedJohn to leap from the machine to the shore without even wetting hisfeet. And it was indeed fortunate they acted so promptly, as no soonerwere they safely upon the island than a big wave dashed up, caught thebroken flying-machine in its grasp, and rolled it out to sea again,where it quickly sank to the bottom and disappeared from their viewforever.
"That's all right," said the child. "I wouldn't care to ride in thething again, anyhow. Would you, John Dough?"
"No," answered the gingerbread man. "But what a shame it was to accuseImar of being a successful inventor! If the Kinglet of Phreex couldhave watched our flight he would know that Imar hasn't solved theflying-machine problem yet."
CHICK ASSISTS JOHN TO LAND]
"Still, it carried us away from two bad places," said Chick, "andthat's all we wanted of it. Come on, John Dough; let's go and exploreour island."
It did not take our adventurers long to discover they were in a reallyremarkable place. Near the shore was a strip of land that at firstsight seemed thickly covered with grass; but when Chick examined itclosely it was found to be a mass of tiny trees set close together, andeach tree was full of small and tender green leaves. And, as the treeswere only an inch or two high, they really looked like grass from adistance and proved to be soft and pleasant to walk upon.
But behind this green sward towered a forest so strange and magnificentthat both Chick and John Dough held their breaths in amazed awe as theygazed upon it. For they beheld a confused group of the most gorgeousplants imaginable, most of them having broad leaves as big as the sailsof a ship and of exceedingly vivid colorings. There were violet andcarmine leaves side by side with brilliant yellows and pinks, bluesand ambers, and among them great bunches of pure white leaves that infairness rivaled those of a lily. Some of the huge forest plants werelow and broad--no taller than an ordinary house--but many of them shotup into the sky like spires and church steeples. And another strangething was the fact that they were all filled with clusters of flowersof many beautiful shapes and designs. And the flowers were of varioustints of greens--running from a delicate pea-green through all thedifferent shades to bright emerald, and then to deep bottle-greens.Yet the flowers were the only green colors in all the vast forest ofbrilliant plants--which glowed so magnificently under the rays of thesun that the eyes of our friends were fairly dazzled as they gazed.
"My!" gasped Chick. "Isn't it splendiferous, John Dough?"
"It is, indeed very gorgeous and beautiful," answered the gingerbreadman. "But has it occurred to you, little friend, that there may benothing for you to eat in all this wilderness of color."
"Eat?" exclaimed Chick. "Why, John Dough, I'm hungry this very minute!I haven't had a bite to eat since I left the Palace of Romance, and nowyou mention it, I'm half starved. But perhaps there isn't a smitch ofoatmeal or cream on all this island!"
"Couldn't you eat anything else?" asked John.
"Oh, I could, I suppose. But other food might make me ill, you know.Incubator Babies have to be very careful of their diet."
"But if you don't eat you will die," said John; "so it will be best foryou to dine upon whatever you may find."
"There may be fruits in the forest," said Chick, thoughtfully; "butit's such a queer forest that quite likely the fruits are poisonous."
"Still, you'd better try them," persisted the gingerbread man. "If youdon't you'll die; and if you are poisoned you'll die. But there is achance of your finding healthful fruits instead of poisonous ones. Iregret that in all my store of wisdom, derived from the Arabian Elixir,there is no knowledge of such a forest or the fruits these gay plantsmay bear."
"Well, you wait here till I come back," said Chick, more cheerfully."I'll explore and see what I can find. There's no need to worry untilthe time comes, anyhow."
With that the little one waved a chubby hand toward John Dough, andthen ran into the forest and disappeared beneath the great purple andorange colored leaves.
And now it occurred to the gingerbread man to make an examination ofhimself and see what an extent of damage he h
ad suffered since he hadcome, hot and fresh, from Monsieur Jules' bakery.
His lovely shirt-front was cracked in several places and speckled withtiny black spots where the powder of the rocket had burned it. Hisleft shoulder was also blackened with burned powder, and he had lostone of the lozenge buttons from his red vest. Also, one of his heelswas slightly crumbled, and there were three marks in his body wherethe diamonds had been pressed into him, beside the lance-thrust of theBlunderer.
These damages were not at all serious, however, and he was beginningto congratulate himself upon his escape, when he discovered a curioussensation in his nose. Raising his hand, he found that the extreme endof his nose had been chipped off in some way during his escape fromthe Palace of Romance, and this rather marred his personal appearance.The discovery made him sigh regretfully; and when he looked around,in the newly arrived sunlight, it seemed that his vision had becomein some way twisted and unnatural. He could not understand this atfirst, and rose to his feet rather dazed and unhappy. Then an ideaoccurred to him, and he felt of his glass eyes and found that one--theleft eye--had become loose in its socket and turned inward, makinghim cross-eyed. He remedied this by turning it with his fingers untilit looked straight ahead again, and matched the other eye; but oftenthereafter that left eye would get twisted and bother him until heturned it straight again.
While he awaited Chick's return, John strolled to the edge of theforest and sat down upon a big yellow mushroom that was strong enoughto bear his weight. It seemed to be a peaceful island, and thegingerbread man was well pleased with his surroundings, having at thattime no idea of all the desperate adventures that were to befall himbefore he saw the last of those brilliant shores.
From his feet the beach sloped gently to meet the waves of the blueocean, and on the sands were many shells of curious shapes and colors.The breath of the wind was full of the fragrance of the flowers, and inthe forest plants many birds sang sweet songs.
As he watched the waves, the birds, and the flowers, John heard aslight rustling sound, and turning his glass eyes downward saw at hisfeet a small animal which sat upon its haunches and regarded him withbig and earnest eyes.
"Who are you?" asked the gingerbread man; "and what is your name?"
"My name is Pittypat, and I'm a rabbit," answered the animal. "But tellme, please, who _you_ are, and what may be your name; for I have neverseen your like before."
"I am a gingerbread man, and my name is John Dough," he replied,readily. And then, more anxiously, he asked: "Do you eat gingerbread,friend Pittypat?"
"No, indeed," was the reply. "I prefer clover and sweet roots. Butplease answer another question. How is that you understand mylanguage, and can talk to me?"
"I cannot tell you that, I'm sure," said John, "unless it's the effectof the Elixir. That seems to be responsible for almost everything, youknow."
The rabbit did not know, of course, and looked at its new acquaintancein a puzzled sort of way.
"Are there any more like you on this island?" inquired John Dough.
"Oh, yes; there are lots of us!" exclaimed the rabbit. "But not so manyof us as there are Mifkets."
"And what is a Mifket?" asked John.
"A sort of creature that is neither an animal nor a man," answeredPittypat. "And the Mifkets rule this island because they are biggerand fiercer than we rabbits are. Also I know many squirrels and birdsand mice, and the Fairy King of the beavers--for I am well acquaintedhere. But I do not like the Mifkets, and scamper away when they comenear. There is a bouncing brown bear, also, who lives on a hill yonder,and once he claimed to be king of all the animals. But the Mifketsfound out that our bear is not nearly so dreadful as he seems; so theyrefused to obey him, and now have a king of their own. For my part,however, I like the brown bear best of all our inhabitants, for he hasa jolly nature and never hurts any one."
"But are there no men--no people like _me_ upon this island?" askedJohn.
"No one like you, most surely," answered Pittypat, staring at thegingerbread man with its big eyes. "But as for human creatures, thereare three who dwell with the Mifkets, near the other side of theforest."
"Dear me!" sighed John; "I'm sorry to hear that. Who are the humans?"
"Well, one is the Princess, and the Princess is very beautiful andlovely," answered Pittypat. "She isn't much bigger than the child I sawhere with you a few minutes ago; but our little Princess is beloved byevery creature on the island--except, perhaps, the Mifkets, who loveonly themselves."
"Does the Princess live in a palace?" asked John.
"Oh, yes; a beautiful palace made by bending downward the big leaves ofthe roi-tree and fastening the ends to the ground. One of the leavesis left loose, for a doorway, and in the room thus formed the Princesslives in great state and loneliness, and sleeps upon a bed of fragrantmosses."
"Does she like gingerbread?" inquired John, after a thoughtful pause.
"I don't believe she knows what gingerbread is," the rabbit replied."But you may be sure the Princess will not harm you, however fond shemight be of gingerbread."
THE HOME OF THE PRINCESS]
"I'm glad to hear that," said John. "But your Princess is the only oneof the three human creatures you mentioned. Who are the others?"
"Her father and mother," said the rabbit. "The three landed here in asmall boat some years ago. They were shipwrecked, I suppose, and theboat is still lying upon the north shore. But the terrible Mifketscaptured the father and mother of the Princess and made them slaves,to wait upon them and obey their wishes; and as the little girl wasdelicate and not very strong, they let her live by herself in thepalace of the roi-tree, and mocked her by calling her a Princess. Ifshe grows up to be strong I think they will make her a slave, too; butshe is so frail and weak that none of us rabbits believe she will livevery long."
"This is all very interesting," said John. "I'd really like to meetthese humans."
"Then come with me and I will guide your steps to where they are,"promised the rabbit.
"I must wait until Chick comes back," said the gingerbread man, lookingtoward the plant forest.
"Is Chick the child I saw going into the forest?" asked the rabbit.
"Yes," replied John. "It's an Incubator Baby and very jolly and kind.Chick ought to be back in a few minutes."
"I'm rather nervous when children are around," declared the rabbit,hesitating. "Are you sure Chick is kind?"
"Very," said John, with conviction; "so don't you worry, friend Rabbit."
At that moment the Cherub came running up with both hands full offruits, which were indeed odd in shape, but delicious in odor andenticing in appearance.
"I won't starve, John Dough!" was the merry greeting. "The forest isfull of fruit plants, and I've eaten some already, and haven't beenpoisoned. But where did you find this pretty rabbit? And how tame itseems to be!"
"It's a friend of mine named Pittypat, and I've discovered I can speakits language," replied John. "Also there's a Princess living near by,and Pittypat has promised to guide us to her royal palace."
"All right!" exclaimed Chick, busily eating of the fruit. "Let's gonow."
John turned to the little animal beside him and said, in the rabbitlanguage: "We are ready to start, my friend."
"You'll have to meet the Mifkets, you know," said Pittypat, ratherfearfully.
"Never mind; we're not afraid," answered John, boldly; and Chick, whoas yet had heard nothing of the Mifkets, continued to munch the fruitwith perfect composure.
So the rabbit whisked around, lifted its big ears a moment, sniffed theair, and then sprang away with long and graceful leaps along a tinypath that led through the magnificent forest.
John Dough and the Cherub Page 10
