L. Frank Baum

“ Duncan, however, sprang out and gave his hand to Ilalah, who needed no such support. Her cheeks glowed pink through their rich tinting, her eyes sparkled brightly and there could be no question of her delight in her recent novel experience.
As soon as her feet touched the ground she ran to the king and seized his arm affectionately, crying aloud in her native tongue:
“Oh, my father, it is a miracle! The white man’s wagon is alive, and more fleet than an arrow.” ”

“ But I fled for dear life and in a jiffy was free of the house and heading across the enclosure toward the automobile.
They saw me coming and opened the door for me to tumble in. A spear crashed into the netted glass just as the door swung into place again, hurled with such force that its point stuck half way into the car and taught us we were not so secure within the dome as we had imagined. But now I lay panting upon the floor while Bryonia emptied a couple of revolvers into the crowd of my pursuers and brought them to an abrupt halt.
“Getting a little warm,” remarked Duncan Moit, calmly. ”

“ We could kill you in a flash, even where you stand. We could destroy your village and all your people. If we so desired, there would be no more a nation of Techlas on the face of the earth. But we let you live, because we have called you our friend. To break that friendship would be to destroy yourselves. I beg you will not again ask us to give up our slaves to your cruel and unjust vengeance.”
It did me much good to watch Nalig-Nad’s face. He did not like to risk defying the unknown power of the strangers, but if his own authority was thus ignored he would hereafter be a king only in name. ”

“ For three whole days luck was our bedfellow; then, as Uncle Naboth drily remarked, it “went a fishin’” and left us to take care of ourselves.
With gentle sighs our hitherto faithful breeze deserted us and our sails flapped idly for a time and then lay still, while the ship floated upon a sheet of brilliant blue glass, the tropic sun beat fiercely down upon us, and all signs of life and animation came to an end.
No sailor is partial to calms. A gale he fights with a sense of elation and a resolve to conquer; a favoring breeze he considers his right ”

“ It was only because Uncle Naboth had saved the lives of these two blacks and been kind to them that they came to love us and to abandon the fierce hatred for the whites that had been a part of their training from youth up.
“I will buy your white slaves,” said the king, coolly, “and then you may go where you will in my kingdom.”
“We will not part with them. They must work for us and make our machine go.”
“If it is magic, it does not need slaves to make it go,” observed the king, with a smile. ”

“ Nux put the wrong end of the cigar in his mouth, and begun to splutter and make faces. Bryonia looked at the king, stern and indignant.
“Do you judge us by the whites?” he cried.
“No; I have found that the whites are quick to acknowledge their love of gold.”
“If you were in my country,” said Bry, proudly, “I would not insult my brother king.”
“What would you do if I lied to you?” asked Nalig-Nad, quickly.
“You would not lie,” declared Bry. “Kings do not lie to each other—unless they are white.” ”

“ But this girl, whose birth and station are so high that she is entitled to succeed me as ruler of the Techlas, has violated our most sacred sentiments. She has favored and protected a band of white invaders; she has dared to love their chief, who has lied to us and tricked us; she has even forgotten her maidenly dignity and run away with him, preferring him to her own people. ”

“ There, gentlemen, stands one of the most important mechanical inventions the world has ever known, and its inventor has no protection whatever—as yet. If I attempted to run the machine overland to the Pacific coast, a dozen automobile experts would see it and promptly steal my ideas. Such a risk was too great to run. I must manage to reach my rich and selfish uncle, prove to him how wonderful my invention is, offer him a half interest in it, and so procure the money to protect it and to establish a manufactory. ”

“ Since he had secured the diamonds and loved their beauty it would be difficult to wrest them from him.
233 While the princess had spoken the little Techla had been regarding her with an uneasy look.
“I see trouble in Ilalah’s path,” he now remarked gravely.
“Am I not the princess?” she asked, proudly.
“You are the princess, and one day you will succeed your father as ruler of the Techlas—if you live. If you do not live, Nalig-Nad’s children by another mother will succeed him. Will you live, Ilalah—you who defy the traditional hatred of your race for the cursed white people?” ”

“ The tracery of every leaf of the golden bower imitated accurately nature itself, the veins and stems being so perfect as to cause one to marvel. Not only had a vast amount of pure gold been used in this work, but years must have been consumed in its execution.
“Oh, Tcharn!” cried Ilalah, in a shocked tone, as soon as she had recovered from the wonder of her first look; “you have broken the law!”
“It is true,” answered the arrow-maker, calmly. ”

“ Afterward we assembled on the deck. Uncle Naboth smoked his pipe instead of the big cigar, but said nothing. Ned put his face between his hands and resting his elbows upon his knees stared fixedly at the deck in meditative silence. Duncan Moit hung over the rail and gazed at the river as it murmured by.
I looked at my comrades and smiled at their absorption. This longing for treasure and sudden wealth is natural enough, and few men are able to escape it. I knew very well that all of us were pondering on a way to get at the diamonds Maurice Kleppisch had left secreted in the forest of San Blas. ”

“ Surely we had created enough excitement at the time we left the king’s village to ensure a degree of interest in our return. If the savages imagined their puny ditch any protection they were likely to find themselves much mistaken.
Presently we saw something that aroused us to action. Ilalah appeared, crossing the enclosure from one of the side huts to the king’s palace. Her hands were bound firmly behind her back and her eyes were covered with a thick scarf which effectually blindfolded her. She was led and pushed along by two sour visaged old women, who showed their princess scant courtesy. ”

“ Then he escorted the blacks around his village, showing them the various huts and storehouses for fruits and grain; and while they were thus occupied the princess came nearer and leaned again upon the side of the car, Moit and I being seated within it.
“If you are slaves,” she said, in a low voice, “I will befriend you. Do not fear, but call on Ilalah if you meet trouble or enemies threaten you.”
“Thank you, sweet Princess,” replied Duncan. “We may be slaves at present, but soon we shall be free. We fear no danger.” ”

“ The king let out a disdainful roar, but Ilalah’s words impressed many in the crowd and caused the Techlas to murmur again.
“What can they do?” asked Nalig-Nad, derisively. “They are but human and they are in our power.”
“They have their magic chariot,” she said, “which you all know can deal death and destruction to their foes.”
“Magic!” retorted the king, laughing boisterously; “do you call that poor, man-made contrivance magic?”
All eyes turned toward the opening, where a hundred yards beyond the broken wall poor Moit’s automobile was standing motionless as we had left it. ”

“ I’m going to live with Ilalah.”
301 “Here?”
“Here; in the half savage and almost unknown land of the Techlas. The result of years of labor has been wiped out of existence in a flash, and I have not the courage to begin all over again. I have no patterns of the machine and the drawings and specifications all were destroyed with it. I could never build another that would equal it in perfection. But why should I attempt it? I do not need an automobile here. I do not need fortune, or fame, or anything but love; and this Ilalah has given me freely.” ”

“ But if Nux and Bryonia pose as the masters, and we are merely their slaves to run and care for their magic travelling machine, then we need have no special fear.”
“Magic travellin’ machine is good!” cried my uncle. “You’ve hit the nail on the head, Mr. Moit, as sure as fate!”
The inventor smiled, as if pleased with the compliment.
“If I can get a share of those diamonds,” said he, “I will be independent of my rich uncle in Los Angeles, and will have the means to secure my patents, erect my own factory, and manufacture the machines myself. It is something to work for, is it not?” ”

“ The natives, at first furious at my insults, now paused to wonder what the big white slave was shooting at, and I saw that the inventor’s nervousness or lack of marksmanship was likely soon to plunge us into a deal of trouble. Leaping to his side I pushed him away and took careful aim with my own revolver.
A crash that seemed to rend the very air followed. The machine was hurled backward against the king’s palace, from which a rain of mud bricks and bits of wood rattled down upon us, while all the open space of the enclosure was filled with falling debris. ”

“ Tcharn was thoughtful. He sat upon the stump and for a moment studied the various faces turned toward him.
“Some time ago,” said he, “a white man came to this valley, which our laws forbid the whites to enter. Perhaps he did not know that I rule the forest which is my home—that I am the Master Workman of the Techla nation. Why should he know that? But the white beast was well aware that his race is by us hated and detested”—here he cast a sinister glance at Duncan and myself—“and barred from our domain. ”

“ I have a glycerine explosive which is so condensed that an atom is all that is required to prime the engines. In a little chamber that contains about a pint I can carry enough explosive to last me for a year. And wherever there is air I have power that is perpetual.”
“That’s great!” cried Uncle Naboth, with an enthusiasm so plainly assumed that Ned and I had much ado to keep from laughing outright.
“In other ways,” continued Duncan Moit, “I have made marked improvements upon the ordinary motor car. Will you allow me, gentlemen, to show you my machine, and to explain it to you?” ”

“ In an instant we were surrounded by the stern-visaged natives, while one of them, a tall, powerful fellow and evidently a chief, stepped close to the machine and answered in a quiet voice:
“I the English speak.”
“Very good,” said Bry. “I am great chief of Tayakoo. My name is Honorable Bryonia. Here is my brother, also great chief of Tayakoo—he name Senator Nux. We come to visit the chiefs and great king of the San Blas. Then, say to me, oh, Chief, are we welcome? Are we all brothers?” ”

“ Without more ado Duncan ran the machine over to the house, passing a man who stood in a field staring at us. As we drew up at the door of the primitive hut and Moit leaped out of the car, a woman sprang away like a startled deer carrying a child in her arms and screaming lustily, although Ilalah called to her not to be afraid. ”

“ The lightness of the machine prevented many serious casualties, however, and while Duncan chased them here and there, managing the huge automobile with consummate skill, the warriors gathered up the stunned and maimed and, dodging the onslaught as nimbly as they could, fled into the palace and houses where the terrible monster could not follow them. ”

“ The natives looked on one another curiously, but satisfaction lurked in their dark eyes.
I began to like these people. In themselves they were not especially disposed to evil, but their fiendish king had dictated their thoughts and actions for so long that they were virtually the slaves of his whims.
“Therefore,” said the chief, speaking in a firm voice, “who will execute our decree of death upon the royal princess?”
292 “I will!” cried Nalig-Nad, springing to his feet. “The king is bound by no law save his own will. The girl is condemned to death, and die she shall!” ”

“ She was very sweet and lovely, this Indian maiden, and I did not blame the inventor for worshipping her as he evidently did.
“You cannot today with me run away,” she said, laughing and pointing a slender finger at the barricade.
“You are wrong, Ilalah,” answered Moit, smiling into her fair face. “When I wish to go the walls cannot stop me. But we would like to stay another day in your village.”
She became serious at this. Thinking someone in the crowd might understand the English language as well as she did, I motioned to Nux and Bry to enter the car, and I followed them and closed the door. ”