THE SUNRISE TRIBE AND THE SUNSET TRIBE
CHAPTER 15.
Although Trot and her comrades were still prisoners they were far morecomfortable than they had been in the Blue Country. Coralie took them toher own home, where she lived in great luxury, being one of theprominent women of the Pinkies. In this country the women seemed fullyas important as the men, and instead of being coddled and petted theyperformed their share of the work, both in public and private affairs,and were expected to fight in the wars exactly as the men did.
Our friends learned considerable about the Pinkies during that afternoonand evening, for their hostess proved kind and agreeable and franklyanswered all their questions. Although this half of Sky Island was nolarger than the Blue Country, being no more than two miles square, ithad several hundred inhabitants. These were divided into two tribes,which were called the Sunrise Tribe and the Sunset Tribe. The SunriseTribe lived in the eastern half of the Pink Country and the Sunset Tribein the west half, and there was great rivalry between them and,sometimes, wars.
It was all a question of social importance. The Sunrise Tribe claimedthat every day the sun greeted them first of all, which proved they werethe most important; but, on the other hand, the Sunset Tribe claimedthat the sun always deserted the other tribe and came to them, which wasevidence that they were the most attractive people. On Sky Island--atleast on the Pink side--the sun arose in wonderful splendor, but also itset in a blaze of glory, and so there were arguments on both sides andfor want of something better to argue about, the Pinkies took this queersubject as a cause of dispute.
Both Tribes acknowledged Tourmaline their Queen and obeyed the laws ofthe country, and just at this time there was peace in the land and allthe inhabitants of the east and west were friendly. But they had beenknown, Coralie said, to fight one another fiercely with the sharpsticks, at which times a good many were sure to get hurt.
"Why do they call this an Island?" asked Button-Bright. "There isn't anywater around it, is there?"
"No, but there is sky all around it," answered Coralie; "and, if oneshould step off the edge, he would go tumbling into the great sky andnever be heard of again."
"Is there a fence around the edge?" asked Trot.
"Only a few places are fenced," was the reply. "Usually there are rowsof thick bushes set close to the edge, to prevent people from fallingoff. Once there was a King of the Pinkies who was cruel and overbearingand imagined he was superior to the people he ruled, so one day hissubjects carried him to the edge of the island and threw him over thebushes."
"Goodness me!" said Trot. "He might have hit some one on the Earth."
"Guess he skipped it, though," added Cap'n Bill, "for I never heard of aPinky till I came here."
"And I have never heard of the Earth," retorted Coralie. "Of coursethere must be such a place, because you came from there, but the Earthis never visible in our sky."
"No," said Button-Bright, "'cause it's _under_ your island. But it'sthere, all right, and it's a pretty good place to live. I wish I couldget back to it."
"So do I, Button-Bright!" exclaimed Trot.
"Let's fly!" cried the parrot, turning his head so that one brightlittle eye looked directly into the girl's eye. "Say good-bye and let'sfly through the sky, far and high!"
"If we only had my umbrella, we'd fly in a minute," sighedButton-Bright. "But the Boolooroo stole it."
"Naugh-ty, naugh-ty Boo-loo-roo; What a wicked thing to do!"
wailed the parrot; and they all agreed with him.
Coralie belonged to the Sunset Tribe, as she lived west of the queen'spalace, which was the center of the Pink Country. A servant came to theroom where they were conversing, to state that the sun was about to set,and at once Coralie arose and took the strangers to an upper balcony,where all the household had assembled.
The neighboring houses also had their balconies and roofs filled withpeople, for it seemed all the Sunset Tribe came out every night towitness the setting of the sun. It was really a magnificent sight andTrot scarcely breathed as the great golden ball sank low in the sky andcolored all the clouds with gorgeous tints of orange, red and yellow.Never on the Earth was there visible such splendor, and as the littlegirl watched the ever-changing scene she decided the Sunset Tribe wasamply justified in claiming that the West was the favored country of thesun.
"You see," said Cap'n Bill, "the sky is all around us, an' we're highup; so the sun really loses itself in the clouds an' leaves a trail ofbeauty behind him."
"He does that!" agreed Trot. "This is almost worth comin' for, Cap'n."
"But not quite," said Button-Bright, sadly. "I'd get along without thesunset if only we could go home."
They went in to dinner, after this, and sat at Coralie's own table, withher husband and children, and found the meal very good. After a pleasantevening, during which no reference was made to their being prisoners,they were shown to prettily furnished rooms--all in pink--and sleptsoundly in the soft beds provided for them.
Trot wakened early the next morning and went out on the balcony to seethe sunrise. The little girl was well repaid, for the splendor of therising sun was almost equal to that of the setting sun. Surely this wasa wonderful country and much more delightful than the Blue side of theisland, where the sun was hidden by the great Fog Bank and only the moonwas visible.
When she went in she found that both Button-Bright and Cap'n Bill wereup and dressed, so they decided to take a walk before breakfast. No onerestrained them or interfered with them in any way.
"They know we can't get away," observed the sailor, "so they don't needto watch us."
"We could go into the Fog Bank again," suggested Trot.
"We could, mate, but we won't," answered Cap'n Bill. "If there's no wayfor us to get clean off'n Sky Island, I'd rather stay with the Pinkiesthan with the Blues."
"I wonder what they'll do with us," said Button-Bright. "The Queen seemslike a nice girl and I don't think she'll hurt us, whatever happens."
They walked freely along the circular street, seeing such sights as thePink City afforded, and then returned to Coralie's house for breakfast.Coralie herself was not there, as she had been summoned to the Queen'spalace, but her husband looked after the guests and when breakfast wasfinished he said to them:
"I am to take you to Tourmaline, who has promised to decide your fatethis morning. I am curious to know what she will do with you, for in allour history we have never before had strangers intrude upon us."
"We're curious, too," said Trot; "but we'll soon find out."
As they walked down the street they observed that the sky was nowcovered with dark clouds, which entirely hid the sun.
"Does it ever rain here?" inquired Button-Bright.
"Certainly," answered Coralie's husband; "that is the one drawback ofour country; it rains quite often, and although it makes the flowers andthe grass grow I think rain is very disagreeable. I am always glad tosee the rainbow, which is a sign that the sun will shine again."
"Looks like rain now," remarked Cap'n Bill.
"It does," said the man, glancing at the sky. "We must hurry, or we mayget wet."
"Haven't you any umbrellas?" asked Button-Bright.
"No; we don't know what umbrellas are," replied the Pinky man.
It did not rain at once and they reached Tourmaline's wretched hut insafety. There they found quite a number of Pinkies assembled, and aspirited discussion was taking place when they arrived.
"Come in, please," said Tourmaline, opening the door for them, and whenthey had entered she placed a pinkwood bench for them to sit upon andwent back to her throne, which was a common rocking-chair.
At her right were seated six men and women of the Sunrise Tribe and onher left six men and women of the Sunset Tribe, among the latter beingCoralie. The contrast between the plain, simple dress of the Queen andthe gorgeous apparel of her Counselors was quite remarkable, yet herbeauty far surpassed that of any of her people and her demeanor was somodest and unas
suming that it was difficult for the prisoners to believethat her word could decree life or death and that all the others weresubservient to her. Tourmaline's eyes were so deep a shade of pink thatthey were almost hazel, and her hair was darker than that of the others,being a golden-red in color. These points, taken with her light pinkskin and slender form, rendered her distinctive among the Pinkies,whatever gown she might wear.
When the strangers were seated she turned to them and said:
"I have searched through the Great Book of Laws and found nothing aboutforeign people entering our land. There is a law that if any of theBlueskins break through the Fog Bank they shall be driven back withsharp sticks; but you are not Blueskins, so this Law does not apply toyou. Therefore, in order to decide your fate, I have summoned a Councilof twelve of my people, who will vote as to whether you shall bepermitted to remain here or not. They wanted to see you before they casttheir final vote, that they may examine you carefully and discover ifyou are worthy to become inhabitants of the Pink Country."
"The rose is red, the violet's blue, But Trot is sweeter than the two!"
declared the parrot in a loud voice. It was a little verse Cap'n Billhad taught the bird that very morning, while Trot was seeing the sunrise.
The Pinkies were startled and seemed a little frightened at hearing abird speak so clearly. Trot laughed and patted the bird's head in returnfor the compliment.
"Is the Monster Man whose legs are part wood a dangerous creature?"asked one of the Sunrise Tribe.
"Not to my friends," replied Cap'n Bill, much amused. "I s'pose I couldfight your whole crowd o' Pinkies, if I had to, an' make you run foryour lives; but bein' as you're friendly to us you ain't in any danger."
The sailor thought this speech was diplomatic and might "head off anytrouble," but the Pinkies seemed uneasy and several of them picked uptheir slender, pointed sticks and held them in their hands. They werenot cowardly, but it was evident they mistrusted the big man, who onEarth was not considered big at all, but rather undersized.
"What we'd like," said Trot, "is to stay here, cosy an' peaceable, tillwe can find a way to get home to the Earth again. Your country is muchnicer than the Blue Country, and we like you pretty well, from whatwe've seen of you; so, if you'll let us stay, we won't be any moretrouble to you than we can help."
They all gazed upon the little girl curiously, and one of them said:
"How strangely light her color is! And it is pink, too, which is in herfavor. But her eyes are of that dreadful blue tint which prevails in theother half of Sky Island, while her hair is a queer color all unknown tous. She is not like our people and would not harmonize with theuniversal color here."
"That's true," said another; "the three strangers are all inharmonious.If allowed to remain here they would ruin the color scheme of thecountry, where all is now pink."
"In spite of that," said Coralie, "they are harmless creatures and havedone us no wrong."
"Yes, they have," replied a nervous little Sunrise man; "they wronged usby coming here."
"They could not help doing that," argued Coralie, "and it is theirmisfortune that they are here on Sky Island at all. Perhaps, if we keepthem with us for awhile, they may find a way to return safely to theirown country."
"We'll fly through the sky by-and-by--ki-yi!" yelled the parrot withstartling suddenness.
"It that true?" asked a Pinky, seriously.
"Why, we would if we could," answered Trot. "We flew to this island,anyhow."
"Perhaps," said another, "if we pushed them off the edge they could flydown again. Who knows?"
"We know," answered Cap'n Bill hastily. "We'd tumble, but we wouldn'tfly."
"They'd take a fall-- And that is all!"
observed the parrot, fluttering its wings.
There was silence for a moment, while all the Pinkies seemed to thinkdeeply. Then the Queen asked the strangers to step outside while theycounseled together. Our friends obeyed, and leaving the room theyentered the courtyard and examined the rows of pink marble statues fornearly an hour before they were summoned to return to the little room inTourmaline's palace.
"We are now ready to vote as to your fate," said the pretty Queen tothem. "We have decided there are but two things for us to do: eitherpermit you to remain here as honored guests or take you to an edge ofthe island and throw you over the bushes into the sky."
They were silent at hearing this dreadful alternative, but the parrotscreamed shrilly:
"Oh, what a dump! Oh, what a jump! Won't we all thump when we land with a bump?"
"If we do," said Cap'n Bill, thoughtfully, "we'll none of us know it."