Adventure stories; Fantasy fiction; Oz (Imaginary place) -- Juvenile fiction
"The _Crescent Moon_," began Roger with an impressive jerk of his head,
"is a square rigged three-masted sailing vessel. Normally 'twould take
from sixty to eighty men in a crew to set and make sail and bring
her about in a blow. But Samuel Salt has magic sail controls, so we
three manage quite easily, and now that YOU are here and the handy
hippopotamus below 'twill be easier still. The mast we're riding is the
foremast. The mast second from the bow, as we call the front of the
ship, is the mainmast, and the mast at the back or, as we salt water
birds say, the stern of the boat, is the mizzenmast. And now for the
sails." Roger took a deep breath. "Those below, beginning from the
bottom up, are the course, the topsail, the topgallant sail, the royal
and the sky sail. And don't forget!" Roger wagged his claw sternly.
"Before each sail you must put the name of the mast to which it is
attached. As, for instance, this ahead of us is the fore-topgallant
sail. SEE? And everything to the left of the ship's center we say is on
the port side and anything to the right is on the starboard."
"Then tell me why is the water on the port side bluer than the water on
the starboard?" asked Tandy, who had been listening very solemnly as he
tried to fix all of these strange sea terms in his head.
"Bravo!" cried Roger. "Right the first time, Mate. And the water is
bluer on the port side of the vessel because it is saltier. The bluer
the saltier," declared Roger, who, besides his first voyage with the
_Crescent Moon_, had read all the sea books in Ato's library and was
simply crammed with deep sea facts and information. "And what is more,"
he continued, pursing his bill mysteriously, "we're sailing in a magic
circle never knowing what may pop up over the edge. A ship? An island?
A hurricane? Or even a fabulous monster! That's what makes sea voyaging
so glorious, and sailing so much fun!"
Tandy, staring at the empty circle of blue falling away from the ship
on all sides, nodded dreamily. The White City--Patrippany Island--all
his former life and existence seemed unreal and far away and he hoped
in his heart of hearts the _Crescent Moon_ would not reach his native
shores for many a long gay day. As Roger said, being a person _was_ fun.
"M--mm!" Roger sniffed suddenly. "Wonder what Ato's cooking? Smells
like taffy. I'll bet a ship's biscuit we're going to have a candy pull."
"A candy pull!" exclaimed Tandy, taking a furious sniff himself.
"What is that?" As Roger started in to explain about candy pulls, a
large green column shot up on the skyline, a column so surprising and
shocking in appearance Tandy felt positively stunned.
"Oh, look! LOOK!" he screamed, grabbing Roger's wing. "There's
something now. Oh, Roger, what fun! What terrible fun!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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