Captain Salt in Oz

by Ruth Plumly Thompson

"I'll be very quiet and stay wherever you put me," murmured Nikobo in a meek voice. "I'll go on a diet and eat whatever is left."

"Well, why couldn't she go?" proposed Ato, who already had formed a great liking for Tandy's devoted guardian. "Why couldn't she? Nice kind motherly creature that she is!"

"But a hippopotamus needs fresh water and tons of food and—" Then suddenly Samuel brought his hands together with a resounding smack.

"Have you thought of something?" asked Ato hopefully, shifting his oranges from one shoulder to the other.

"Yes," stated the former Pirate solemnly, "I have." Samuel was secretly delighted to have found a way to carry this superb herbivorous specimen back to Oz. "I'll build her a raft and tow her along after the ship. We'll stop at all the islands we come to for fresh water and grass, and meanwhile she'll have to do with salt baths and such food as we have in the hold."

"Oh, KOBO! Did you hear that?" Springing up with the first signs of life or feeling he had yet shown, Tandy flung himself on his huge champion and friend. "So you're really going. Then I'll go too."

"Can't be all bad, if he's as fond of her as all that," whispered Ato in Samuel's ear.

"Not bad, just a pest," wheezed Samuel, reaching for his ax. "Needs a taste of the rope, if you ask me." Then, while Nikobo went for a last swim in the Biggenlittle River and bade goodbye to her numerous and wondering relatives, Samuel felled trees, split wood, and with nails Roger fetched from the ship fashioned a splendid strong raft for their new pet. Round the edge he built a sturdy railing to keep Nikobo from sliding off in a rough sea. Ato and Roger, taking thought for the evening meal, heaped one end of the raft with grass and twigs and all the jungle roots they could gather. Without moving or offering to help, Tandy sat watching, and just as the sun sank down behind the palms, a strange procession started out for the Crescent Moon. Ahead with the keg of nails soared Roger. Then came the hippopotamus moving like a small dreadnought through the water. On her back sat Ato, the haughty young King of Ozamaland, and Samuel Salt. Samuel rode last, holding in his hand the long cable he had attached to the raft and with which he meant to fasten it to the Crescent Moon.

Following his orders, Nikobo swam close to the side of the ship so Tandy and Ato could climb the rope ladder, then she paddled round to the stern where Samuel drew his cable through an iron ring in the ship's hull and made the raft fast. There was a runway at the back of the raft and the rails on that side let down so that Nikobo had no trouble clambering aboard. By pulling a rope with her teeth, she could raise or lower the back of her pen and take a swim whenever she felt the need of one. After giving her a bit of advice about voyaging, and seeing her comfortably settled, Samuel climbed the cable and nimbly pulled himself aboard his ship. Roger had already stowed their precious specimens in the hold and rubbing his hands with brisk satisfaction, the Captain of the Crescent Moon weighed anchor and dropped with the tide down the Biggenlittle River to the sea. Then touching the automatic controls, he set his sails to catch the evening breeze, adjusted his steering gear for a course east by sou'east and strode happily into his cabin. The Salamander chirped cheerfully as he passed her hot box and after tapping a cheerful greeting on the lid, the weary explorer stripped off his ruined and muddy shore-going outfit, took a shower and climbed thankfully back into his old sea clothes.