"Roger, fetch the AX." Samuel Salt spoke so loud and sternly Nikobo lapsed into a shocked silence and Tandy hastily drew back into a far corner of his cage. "Never argue with a sea-going man," whispered Ato, winking solemnly as Roger flew off to obey Samuel's order. Having settled the matter in his own mind, Samuel turned his back on Tandy and began to examine with deep interest the fungus growth on one of the gnarled old trees. "So you really are a King?" Leaning against the huge body of Nikobo, Ato folded his hands comfortably on his stomach and regarded the boy in the leopard skin earnestly. "Now what country do you hail from and what do they call you at home?" "I am Tazander Tazah of Ozamaland," announced the boy proudly, "the land of the creeping bird and flying reptile. Ozamaland on the long continent of Tarara is my home." "OZAMALAND!" shouted Samuel Salt, swinging round like a teetotum. "So there really IS such a place. I have always said so, Ato, but no one would believe me. Lies to the east of here, doesn't it, sonny, and is twice as large as any known land bordering on the Nonestic?" Somewhat impressed to find that Samuel Salt knew something of his homeland, the little boy nodded. "And do you suppose we could snare one of those creeping birds and flying reptiles if we managed to reach Ozamaland?" Grasping the bars of the cage, Samuel peered anxiously into the young King's face. "Do you suppose you ever could reach Ozamaland?" sighed Tazander, returning Samuel's eager look with gloomy aloofness. "Do you know that a ship has never touched our shores?" "Then the _Crescent Moon_ shall be the first!" cried Samuel Salt, snapping his fingers joyfully. "Why, this will be tremendous and the most momentous discovery in a thousand years! But how do you happen to be so far from Ozamaland yourself?" asked Samuel Salt immediately afterward. "Did you come by air or sea?" "That I cannot tell." Tazander seated himself soberly on a log before he continued. "One night I was sleeping soundly in my tower in the White City, next thing I remember I was here in this jungle. The Leopard Men, wild and savage as they were, fed me when they remembered on raw fish and chunks of hard, bitter bread they made from the roots of the Brima Tree. But I could not understand their talk, nor they mine, and till Kobo found me a month after my imprisonment I had no one to talk to at all. But she has come every day to keep me company and try to set me free, and since the Leopard Men were drowned she has fed me, too. See, through this little door." Tazander opened a small door in the bars and stuck both hands through. "But how did you learn the language?" asked Ato, turning round to gaze up into Nikobo's huge face.