The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Master Key, by L. Frank Baum This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Master Key An Electrical Fairy Tale Author: L. Frank Baum Illustrator: F. Y. Cory Release Date: April 7, 2014 [EBook #45347] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER KEY *** Produced by David Edwards, Chris Whitehead and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Cover The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. THE MASTER KEY Rob was surrounded by a group of natives Rob was surrounded by a group of natives Title page Copyright 1901 The Bowen-Merrill Company PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. To my son Robert Stanton Baum Contents Headpiece CONTENTS Chapter Page I. Rob's Workshop 1 II. The Demon of Electricity 9 III. The Three Gifts 18 IV. Testing the Instruments 29 V. The Cannibal Island 43 VI. The Buccaneers 60 VII. The Demon Becomes Angry 78 VIII. Rob Acquires New Powers 86 IX. The Second Journey 97 X. How Rob Served a Mighty King 104 XI. The Man of Science 126 XII. How Rob Saved a Republic 136 XIII. Rob Loses His Treasures 146 XIV. Turk and Tatar 160 XV. A Battle With Monsters 182 XVI. Shipwrecked Mariners 192 XVII. The Coast of Oregon 206 XVIII. A Narrow Escape 214 XIX. Rob Makes a Resolution 225 XX. The Unhappy Fate of the Demon 230 Contents Tailpiece Illustrations Headpiece ILLUSTRATIONS Page Rob was surrounded by a group of natives of hideous appearance—Frontispiece From his workshop ran a network of wires throughout the house—Headpiece 1 A quick flash of light almost blinded Rob 6 A curious being looked upon him from a magnificent radiance—Tailpiece 8 Scientific men think the people of Mars have been trying to signal us—Headpiece 9 I am here to do your bidding, said the Demon—Tailpiece 17 Men have not yet discovered what the birds know—Headpiece 18 These three gifts may amuse you for the next week—Tailpiece 28 Rob's action surprised them all—Headpiece 29 "He'll break his neck!" cried the astounded father 36 The red-whiskered policeman keeled over—Tailpiece 42 Rob's captors caught up the end of the rope and led him away—Headpiece 43 "If it's just the same to you, old chap, I won't be eaten to-day"—Tailpiece 59 Rob soared through the air with five Buccaneers dangling from his leg—Headpiece 60 It was a strange sight to see the pirates drop to the deck and lie motionless 66 When night fell his slumber was broken and uneasy—Tailpiece 77 When Rob had been kissed by his mother, he gave an account of his adventures—Headpiece 78 Rob sat staring eagerly at the Demon—Tailpiece 85 The Being drew from an inner pocket something resembling a box—Headpiece 86 These spectacles will indicate the character of every one you meet—Tailpiece 96 Rob is in truth a typical American boy—Headpiece 97 Rob placed the indicator to a point north of east and began his journey—Tailpiece 103 A crowd assembled, all shouting and pointing toward him in wonder—Headpiece 104 A man rushed toward it, but the next moment he threw up his hands and fell unconscious 108 Rob reached the entrance of the palace, only to face another group of guardsmen 114 Rob only smiled in an amused way as he marched past them—Tailpiece 125 A tremendous din and clatter nearly deafened him—Headpiece 126 The eyes of the Frenchman were actually protruding from their sockets 128 From an elevation of fifty feet or more Rob overlooked a pretty garden—Headpiece 136 Placing the record so that the President could see clearly, Rob watched the changing expressions upon the great man's face 140 Rob experienced a decided sense of relief as he mixed with the gay populace—Tailpiece 145 Beneath him stretched a vast sandy plain, and speeding across this he came to a land abounding in vegetation—Headpiece 146 "Those fellows seem to be looking for trouble" 150 Uttering cries of terror and dismay, the three Turks took to their heels 158 Rob was miserable and unhappy, and remained brooding over his cruel fate—Tailpiece 159 The Tatars arrived swiftly and noiselessly—Headpiece 160 The Turk rose slowly into the air, with Rob clinging to him with desperate tenacity 176 Without more ado Rob mounted into the air, leaving the Turk staring after him—Tailpiece 181 Coming toward him was an immense bird—Headpiece 186 With one last scream the creature tumbled downward to join its fellow—Tailpiece 191 During the next few hours Rob suffered from a severe attack of homesickness—Headpiece 192 The disappointment of the sailors was something awful to witness 196 As they slowly mounted into the sky the sailor gave a squeal of terror—Tailpiece 205 Rob mounted skyward, to the unbounded amazement of the fishermen, who stared after him—Headpiece 206 Rob hovered over the great tower of the Lick Observatory until he attracted the excited gaze of its inhabitants—Tailpiece 213 Finding himself upon the lake front, Rob hunted up a vacant bench and sat down to rest—Headpiece 214 As he started downward he saw the old gentleman looking at him with a half-frightened, half-curious expression—Tailpiece 224 At precisely ten o'clock Rob reached the front door of his own house—Headpiece 225 Rob boldly ascended the stairs, entered the workshop and closed and locked the door—Tailpiece 229 The Demon sank into a chair nerveless and limp, but still staring fearfully at the boy—Headpiece 230 A flash of white light half-stunned and blinded Rob. When he recovered himself the Demon had disappeared—Tailpiece 245 Illustrations Tailpiece WHO KNOWS? These things are quite improbable, to be sure; but are they impossible? Our big world rolls over as smoothly as it did centuries ago, without a squeak to show it needs oiling after all these years of revolution. But times change because men change, and because civilization, like John Brown's soul, goes ever marching on. The impossibilities of yesterday become the accepted facts of to-day. Here is a fairy tale founded upon the wonders of electricity and written for children of this generation. Yet when my readers shall have become men and women my story may not seem to their children like a fairy tale at all. Perhaps one, perhaps two—perhaps several of the Demon's devices will be, by that time, in popular use. Who knows? "In wonder all philosophy began; in wonder it all ends; and admiration fills up the interspace. But the first wonder is the offspring of ignorance: the last is the parent of adoration." —Coleridge. W Chapter One Headpiece THE MASTER KEY CHAPTER ONE ROB'S WORKSHOP hen Rob became interested in electricity his clear-headed father considered the boy's fancy to be instructive as well as amusing; so he heartily encouraged his son, and Rob never lacked batteries, motors or supplies of any sort that his experiments might require. He fitted up the little back room in the attic as his workshop, and from thence a net-work of wires soon ran throughout the house. Not only had every outside door its electric bell, but every window was fitted with a burglar alarm; moreover no one could cross the threshold of any interior room without registering the fact in Rob's workshop. The gas was lighted by an electric fob; a chime, connected with an erratic clock in the boy's room, woke the servants at all hours of the night and caused the cook to give warning; a bell rang whenever the postman dropped a letter into the box; there were bells, bells, bells everywhere, ringing at the right time, the wrong time and all the time. And there were telephones in the different rooms, too, through which Rob could call up the different members of the family just when they did not wish to be disturbed. His mother and sisters soon came to vote the boy's scientific craze a nuisance; but his father was delighted with these evidences of Rob's skill as an electrician, and insisted that he be allowed perfect freedom in carrying out his ideas. "Electricity," said the old gentleman, sagely, "is destined to become the motive power of the world. The future advance of civilization will be along electrical lines. Our boy may become a great inventor and astonish the world with his wonderful creations." "And in the meantime," said the mother, despairingly, "we shall all be electrocuted, or the house burned down by crossed wires, or we shall be blown into eternity by an explosion of chemicals!" "Nonsense!" ejaculated the proud father. "Rob's storage batteries are not powerful enough to electrocute one or set the house on fire. Do give the boy a chance, Belinda." "And his pranks are so humiliating," continued the lady. "When the minister called yesterday and rang the bell a big card appeared on the front door on which was printed the words: 'Busy; Call Again.' Fortunately Helen saw him and let him in, but when I reproved Robert for the act he said he was just trying the sign to see if it would work." "Exactly! The boy is an inventor already. I shall have one of those cards attached to the door of my private office at once. I tell you, Belinda, our son will be a great man one of these days," said Mr. Joslyn, walking up and down with pompous strides and almost bursting with the pride he took in his young hopeful. Mrs. Joslyn sighed. She knew remonstrance was useless so long as her husband encouraged the boy, and that she would be wise to bear her cross with fortitude. Rob also knew his mother's protests would be of no avail; so he continued to revel in electrical processes of all sorts, using the house as an experimental station to test the powers of his productions. It was in his own room, however,—his "workshop"—that he especially delighted. For not only was it the center of all his numerous "lines" throughout the house, but he had rigged up therein a wonderful array of devices for his own amusement. A trolley-car moved around a circular track and stopped regularly at all stations; an engine and train of cars moved jerkily up and down a steep grade and through a tunnel; a windmill was busily pumping water from the dishpan into the copper skillet; a sawmill was in full operation and a host of mechanical blacksmiths, scissors- grinders, carpenters, wood-choppers and millers were connected with a motor which kept them working away at their trades in awkward but persevering fashion. The room was crossed and recrossed with wires. They crept up the walls, lined the floor, made a grille of the ceiling and would catch an unwary visitor under the chin or above the ankle just when he least expected it. Yet visitors were forbidden in so crowded a room, and even his father declined to go farther than the doorway. As for Rob, he thought he knew all about the wires, and what each one was for; but they puzzled even him, at times, and he was often perplexed to know how to utilize them all. One day when he had locked himself in to avoid interruption while he planned the electrical illumination of a gorgeous pasteboard palace, he really became confused over the network of wires. He had a "switch-board," to be sure, where he could make and break connections as he chose; but the wires had somehow become mixed, and he could not tell what combinations to use to throw the power on to his miniature electric lights. So he experimented in a rather haphazard fashion, connecting this and that wire blindly and by guesswork, in the hope that he would strike the right combination. Then he thought the combination might be right and there was a lack of power; so he added other lines of wire to his connections, and still others, until he had employed almost every wire in the room. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] A quick flash of light almost blinded Rob A quick flash of light almost blinded Rob Yet it would not work; and after pausing a moment to try to think what was wrong he went at it again, putting this and that line into connection, adding another here and another there, until suddenly, as he made a last change, a quick flash of light almost blinded him, and the switch-board crackled ominously, as if struggling to carry a powerful current. Rob covered his face at the flash, but finding himself unhurt he took away his hands and with blinking eyes attempted to look at a wonderful radiance which seemed to fill the room, making it many times brighter than the brightest day. Although at first completely dazzled, he peered before him until he discovered that the light was concentrated near one spot, from which all the glorious rays seemed to scintillate. He closed his eyes a moment to rest them; then re-opening them and shading them somewhat with his hands, he made out the form of a curious Being standing with majesty and composure in the center of the magnificent radiance and looking down upon him! Chapter One Tailpiece [7] [8]