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story of what had happened to the Ozamandarins.
"Then they're all gone and done for," sniffed Ato, seating himself at the
head of the table. "Well, a couple of hundred years at the bottom of the
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sea should soak all the sin and wickedness out of 'em! And you say it was
an unbrellaphant that carried Tandy off? My! and MY! Dear, dear and DEAR!
Just pour me a cup of coffee, Roger. I'm feeling weaker than soup!"
"Well, how do you suppose I feel," grumbled Samuel Salt, throwing his
hat up on a bronze figure, "to lose an elegant specimen like that? Why,
I'll wager we'll never see another creature like it!"
"There! There! Always talking about the elephant that got away instead of
appreciating your good fortune!" scolded Ato, throwing a corn muffin down
to Nikobo and lifting the gold cover off the roast fowl.
"Yes, and you'd better listen to OUR news, Master Salt!" Roger said, pouring
a cup of coffee for all hands.
"News? NEWS? Has anything happened here?" Samuel looked more anxious than
interested.
"Oh, YES!" cried Tandy, running round to his side of the table and pressing
eagerly against Samuel's knee. "Roger has a wonderful plan, and I as King
of Ozamaland have agreed to it, and oh, Samuel, SAMUEL!" Forgetting he
usually called the tremendous seaman "Captain," Tandy flung both arms round
his neck and almost squeezed the breath out of him. "I'm going straight
back on the Crescent Moon, and I'm not coming ashore for years and
years. I'm going with you to Ev, Oz, Elbow Island, and everywhere!"
"What?" spluttered Samuel Salt, disentangling himself with great difficulty
and holding Tandy off at arm's length. "Are you joking? Are you crazy? Have
you abdicated or what? Why, this is too good to be true!"
"But it is true!" insisted Roger, strutting up and down the table and
illy concealing his pride and satisfaction.
"Oh, tell him, tell him," begged Tandy, too happy to speak for himself.
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"Well," said Roger, spreading his wings self-consciously, for the plan was
his, and he felt prouder of it every minute, "we are placing Ozamaland
under the general rule and protection of Oz and leaving as Ruler in Tandy's
place that long-legged son of the desert, Chunum. Now there's a fellow who
can handle these scary Nobles and natives and wild elephant and camel
riders. A King must complete his education before he starts ruling, you
know." Roger paused to scratch his head and wink gaily at Samuel Salt. "And
if this King chooses to finish his education on our ship, that is his own
affair."
"Oh, quite! Quite!" Samuel began to rock backward and forward and roar with
merriment. "Roger, you rascal, you've done as good a job of reasoning as a
whole flock of Wise Men! Fall to, Mates, now we can enjoy our victuals, and
I give you a toast to King Tandy, Cabin Boy, Explorer and Artist
Extraordinary to this Expedition!"
"Tandy! Tandy!" echoed Ato and Roger, lifting their coffee cups.
"Tandy! Tandy!" mumbled Nikobo, who was lunching largely and luxuriantly on
the flowers in a low window box. "When do we sail?"
CHAPTER 21
A VOYAGE RESUMED
Anxious as Tandy was to return to the Crescent Moon and continue the
voyage, it was a whole week before they finally shoved off. Chunum, true to
his word, had rounded up the frightened citizens of the capital and
explained to them the wicked plots of the Ozamandarins and their punishment
by Boglodore, the Old Man of the Jungle. Then Tandy, addressing them from
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the castle balcony, called upon them to consider Chunum as their King until
he himself should have20completed his education in foreign parts and
aboard the Crescent Moon, during which time he promised to keep them
always in mind and have their welfare always at heart. Next, Tandy
explained how Ozamaland was now a province and under the general rule and
protection of Ozma of Oz, how settlers from that famous fairyland would
soon arrive to help them build new cities and towns, tame the wild jungles
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