L. Frank Baum Read Online Free Page A

this season, so he determined to
travel all night, that he might reach by morning some place he had
never before visited.
    Cuba had always interested him, and he judged it ought to lie in a
southeasterly direction from Boston. So he set the indicator to that
point and began gliding swiftly toward the southeast.
    He now remembered that it was twenty-four hours since he had eaten the
first electrical tablet. As he rode through the air he consumed
another. All hunger at once left him, while he felt the same
invigorating sensations as before.
    After a time the moon came out, and Rob amused himself gazing at the
countless stars in the sky and wondering if the Demon was right when he
said the world was the most important of all the planets.
    But presently he grew sleepy, and before he realized what was happening
he had fallen into a sound and peaceful slumber, while the indicator
still pointed to the southeast and he continued to move rapidly through
the cool night air.

5 - The Cannibal Island
*
    Doubtless the adventures of the day had tired Rob, for he slept
throughout the night as comfortably as if he had been within his own
room, lying upon his own bed. When, at last, he opened his eyes and
gazed sleepily about him, he found himself over a great body of water,
moving along with considerable speed.
    "It's the ocean, of course," he said to himself. "I haven't reached
Cuba yet."
    It is to be regretted that Rob's knowledge of geography was so
superficial; for, as he had intended to reach Cuba, he should have
taken a course almost southwest from Boston, instead of southeast. The
sad result of his ignorance you will presently learn, for during the
entire day he continued to travel over a boundless waste of ocean,
without the sight of even an island to cheer him.
    The sun shone so hot that he regretted he had not brought an umbrella.
But he wore a wide-brimmed straw hat, which protected him somewhat, and
he finally discovered that by rising to a considerable distance above
the ocean he avoided the reflection of the sun upon the water and also
came with the current of good breeze.
    Of course he dared no stop, for there was no place to land; so he
calmly continued his journey.
    "It may be I've missed Cuba," he thought; "but I can not change my
course now, for if I did I might get lost, and never be able to find
land again. If I keep on as I am I shall be sure to reach land of some
sort, in time, and when I wish to return home I can set the indicator
to the northwest and that will take me directly back to Boston."
    This was good reasoning, but the rash youth had no idea he was speeding
over the ocean, or that he was destined to arrive shortly at the
barbarous island of Brava, off the coast of Africa. Yet such was the
case; just as the sun sank over the edge of the waves he saw, to his
great relief, a large island directly in his path.
    He dropped to a lower position in the air, and when he judged himself
to be over the center of the island he turned the indicator to zero and
stopped short.
    The country was beautifully wooded, while pretty brooks sparkled
through the rich green foliage of the trees. The island sloped upwards
from the sea-coast in all directions, rising to a hill that was almost
a mountain in the center. There were two open spaces, one on each side
of the island, and Rob saw that these spaces were occupied by
queer-looking huts built from brushwood and branches of trees. This
showed that the island was inhabited, but as Rob had no idea what
island it was he wisely determined not to meet the natives until he had
discovered what they were like and whether they were disposed to be
friendly.
    So he moved over the hill, the top of which proved to be a flat,
grass-covered plateau about fifty feet in diameter. Finding it could
not be easily reached from below, on account of its steep sides, and
contained neither men nor animals, he alighted on the hill-top and
touched his feet to the earth for the first time in twenty-four