THE LARGOL-RIKD ISLAND
Chapter 1
The Second International Beast War. -- In the captivity. --
The meeting. -- The plan of the liberation.
It was 20th April, 1921. It is known that one year ago the Second
International Beast War began. The war was in England already. Geo
Konsel and his friends were in the captivity.
"Grin's liberated!" suddenly said Geo Konsel. "And we can run away."
"But they guard us," objected Uxus Gitr.
"But some of watchmen sleep at night."
"I've forgotten!"
*
On the next day, 21st April, a tortoise came up to the captives.
"Keshey!" exclaimed Omone Giflar. "Are you all there?"
"We're all," answered Keshey.
Ben Krabor, Jup, Kerandendy, Pentes Wille came in into the room.
"Are you going to escape?" asked Pentes Wille.
"Yes," answered Deo.
By the evening, Keshey composed the plan of the liberation. The frogs
had to hide themselves into the tortoises' and Jup's rucksacks. The
watchmen had to let tortoises and Jup pass.
Chapter 2
The night. -- The escape. -- The balloon. -- The flying away.
-- The storm.
The night began. The captives thought when better to escape. The most
clever watchmen were sleeping...
At last the frogs got into the <rucksacks> of the tortoises. The
tortoises went out, and the watchmen let them pass.
"Run away!" cried Keshey and run.
His friends hardly were in time (the watchmen noticed something
suspicious).
"Look! A balloon!" cried Jup.
"We can go out of here only by a balloon," added Geo.
They sat into the balloon.
"But what to cut?" asked Ben Krabor. "There's no a rope!"
"And what's that?" objected Jup. "A gentara[1]!"
Jup cut the gentara, and the balloon flew up. The wind carried it to
the South-East.
* * *
On the next day, 22nd April, Geo and Keshey noticed, that the wind
strengthened.
"Well, Geo," said Keshey, "'Declare'!"
"Soon will be the storm!" said Geo.
And really, in half a hour the balloon was carried away by the wind to
Afghanistan.
"Where are we flying to?" asked Pentes Wille.
"To the South," answered Jup.
Suddenly the balloon was 'thrown up' for 20 feet. It was carried with so
great force that the 'travellers' hardly held in the basket.
Chapter 3
The shouts. -- The balloon is falling. -- The Indian Ocean. --
The ballast is thrown out. -- The land.
"Geo! Geo! What's that?!"
"The storm is strengthening!"
"Where are we?"
"I don't know!"
"Are we falling?"
"Yes!"
"What can we do?"
"To throw out the ballast!"
"Where's it?"
"Mr. Uxus! I can't see something!"
"Deo, correct the <burner>!"
"Sior, I can't!"
Nobody of former captives knew, where they were. The balloon was falling.
The storm was strengthing, nobody could see something. It was the downpour
with hail.
"Is there a compass?"
"It's thrown out!"
"It's at me!"
They found out that the balloon was in the Indian Ocean. The balloon was
falling with immense speed. It was the first time when such storm was in
the Indian Ocean.
It was 23rd of April.
"But we can throw out the compass or the notebook of Mr. Kerandendy," said
Geo.
"Throw!"
The balloon went up a little.
"More! More! The food, the guns!"
They threw out the cartridges, the guns, the food.
The balloon now went up now fell.
"There's nothing to throw out!"
"No, there is!"
"What?"
"Harzina[2]!"
"Wait a little! At first the mirror and the shelves!"
All flew into the water. And suddenly resounded a voice:
"What's there?"
"The land!"
And exactly, they could see a land in the distance. The balloon
approahed to it for three miles.
Chapter 4
The balloon is on the water. -- The island. -- The swimming
to the coast. -- The uninhabited island. -- The search of a
house. -- 'The sand-house'.
The balloon fell on the water.
"We're falling!" cried Sior Gitr.
"We have fallen already," corrected Geo.
The balloon floated.
"It's an island!" suddenly cried Ben.
The balloon approached to the island. It wasn't a large island. They could
see at once, that the island was tropical. The wrecked began to swim. But
they had to swim to the island a half mile without a metre[3].
Kerandendy, when he swam, usually got tired and had a headache.
"I can't more," he said.
"Kerand!" answered Deo. "<Relax>!"
Kerandendy felt he got to swim easily.
"We've <reached the shore>!" suddenly cried Keshey Wilson.
They went out on the coast.
"It's an uninhabited island," said Omone Giflar.
"Is it?!"
The island was uninhabited.
"Let's go to look for a house!" said Keshey.
They went to look for a house at the South. Jup proposed to make the house
of roots.
"We can find a better one," objected Ben.
But soon the frogs and the tortoises with Jup 'meet' a sand hill.
"It's our house," said Jup. "We nust only 'trim' it, make the rooms, the
door and the windows."
Chapter 5
The beginning of the construction. -- The glue. -- The nails. --
The passages. -- The room. -- The furniture. -- The house is
ready. -- The walk. -- The beaver.
The next day, 24 April, they began to build the house. Keshey Wilson and
Pentes Wille with Jup were gathering lianas. Nobody of them said, what
did they did it for.
"It's ready!" said Jup.
Pentes Wille had gathered 20-25 kilograms of <lianas>.
Jup rubbed the lianas, added rubbed bark, mixed, and so he made the glue.
Ben Krabor took some glue and smeared the branches with it.
"The nails," said Ben.
At that time, Geo Konsel dug through a passage in the sand and made
a door. Having made some more passages, he stopped in the narrowest
of them and smeared the walls with the glue. There were made 9 passages.
There was enough of glue for the other passages. In the narrowest
passage, he <fastened> the glue with the nails and made a room.
That the sand don't <fall> in the passages, Keshey made the Vurf's
<putty>. He made the Dirr's hammer of the <putty> and <...>
[1] Gentara -- rope made of the stalks of <lianas>.
[2] Harzina -- basket (frog. akmanus.)
[3] Here bears in mind a metre of elephants, equal 200 cm.
The words enclosed in <> brackets are not
translated in the manuscript. Their translations are added while
preparing this edition.
