The Wonder Island Boys: Exploring the Island Part 23

"There were 48 before we sailed. How many, if any, were added since I do not know."

The next day the boys were anxious to set to work on the flag. There was plenty of the ramie cloth at hand, but it was quite yellow. George noticed this, and said: "It seems to me we shall have to be content with making the flag red, yellow and blue, that is, if we can get the red and the blue."

"No," was the Professor's rejoinder; "we must make it red, white and blue."

"But how can we make the ramie cloth white?"

"By bleaching it."

That was a new idea; to make white cloth.

"How can we do it?"

"Wet it and put it in the sun. If we want to hurry it up we can use some chloride of lime."

"But where is the chloride of lime?"

"Do you remember that black ore we have in the laboratory, which is called manganese? If we put some of the sulphuric acid on that a gas will be formed, called chlorine, one of the most powerful bleaching compounds known. We can use it in that form, or subject some of our lime to the gases, and in that case make chloride of lime."

The decision was to make the flag sixteen feet long and nine feet nine inches wide, so that each stripe would be nine inches wide. The blue field would be five feet wide and seven feet long.

This was certainly a task, and the boys were directed to prepare four strips of red and three strips of white, each nine feet long, and also three strips of white and three strips of red sixteen feet long. Four of the short strips and three of the long strips were then laid aside to be dyed red. The other strips were put out to bleach.

When all this was prepared George was troubled about the colors.

"Professor, I do not see what we can use to make the blue and red colors."

"I think we are fortunate in having one of the varieties of the madder plant all about here."

"Is that a good dye plant?"

"It is a plant that is more extensively used for dyeing than any other in the world. For many years, until the products from petroleum began to come in, it was the only source for the red colors, because of its permanence. The dye is so powerful that it will turn the bones of animals red, if they are fed on it, and it also colors the claws and beaks of birds."

"Have you seen any of it here?"

"There is plenty of it growing here. You cannot mistake it. It is the plant with the elongated, smooth-edged leaf, which grows on the main stem, from which the small, thin stems branch out that carry the little red flowers."

"I know what you mean; let me get some of them at once." And George was off after the plant.

Meanwhile Harry was busily at work cutting out the double set of stars required for the blue field.

Several days before this George had prepared the roots of the chicory plant, as will be remembered, and it had been dried, and was ready to be ground up. At the noon meal he served the first cup of "coffee," to the delight of Harry, who was completely taken by surprise, and afforded much amus.e.m.e.nt for George and the Professor.

"It seems to be rather strong," was Harry's only comment, "and even if it isn't real coffee, it is good enough, I a.s.sure you."

"Wouldn't it be injurious to take too much of it?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 33. Betel Nut._]

"Exactly with this as with everything else. It is not the use, but the abuse, that causes trouble. Of course, chicory does not have the soothing and hunger-staying qualities of the real coffee, but the bitter principle in the root is a tonic, and the extract is used as a medicine for that purpose. The leaves of the endive, of which we are using the roots, make a most delicious salad."

"Don't many people use this as a kind of an intoxicant?"

"If used to excess it has an exhilarating influence, on account of its tonic properties."

"I have often thought it was wonderful," said Harry, "that people all over the world have some kind of a weed or plant that they use to stimulate themselves with."

"There seems to be a universal instinct in man to select the strong and bitter principles for that purpose. The aborigines of Central America used rolled tobacco leaves ages before Columbus was born; and the coca leaf, chewed by the lowest orders of the Peruvians, was for ages, and is now, their main source of strength and comfort. So opium, hemp and the betel-nut have been used by eastern Asiatics from the remotest antiquity; and the same is true of the pepper plants of the South Sea Islands and the Indian Archipelago; also of the thorn apples used among the natives of the Andes, and on the slopes of the Himalayas. In northern Europe the ledum and the hop have been so used, and in Siberia the narcotic fungus has been eaten from time immemorial."

At that moment Baby appeared on the scene, his hands and one side of his head dyed a beautiful red, presenting a ludicrous appearance. The first glance at him was one of astonishment; but realizing that he had been testing George's newly made dye, all burst out in laughter at the amusing sight.

"You really look like a red angel," was George's greeting, and Baby seemed to relish the joke. From that time forward Baby's name was "Red Angel," but it took him some time to learn what the new t.i.tle was. It took him much longer to acquire it than it did to learn what honey meant.

"Red Angel is certainly a very smart little chap," said the Professor, with a laugh, "because he was really doing what is done in the dyeing art and in chemistry every day, furnishing a test sample."

"Test sample; what is that?"

"In the art of dyeing it is the custom, before commencing to dye goods, to make a test sample, and all goods dyed must come up to the standard set by that sample. That is called the 'test sample.'"

"But how do the chemists use it?"

"In the a.n.a.lyses of chemicals one of the processes is by what is called the color metric test--that is, the test by color. The chemist makes a solution with a known quant.i.ty of the element in it which is of full strength and purity, and is therefore of a well-defined color. Now, if any substance is to be a.n.a.lyzed, the same reagent is used in the tested sample as was used to make the well-known sample. The color of the unknown sample is then compared with the known sample, and the quant.i.ty determined by the difference of color in the two."

"What do you mean by reagent?"

"A substance used to effect a chemical change in another substance. For instance, what is called Nessler's Reagent is a substance which, if put into water, will detect one part of ammonia in twenty million parts of water, and give a perceptible reddish-yellow tinge."

"Well, Red Angel has certainly made a good test sample for us; isn't that a good color?"

The blue color was still wanting when the other parts were ready, and the Professor came to the laboratory with a sample of bitter-sweet, the common hedge plant of North America. The boys both recognized the plant and were surprised to learn that it contained a dye suitable for their purpose.

"We can use this or take some of the copper ore, that is, the blue vitriol part of the ore, and by putting it in a lime-water solution a beautiful blue color can be obtained."

The flag, when completed, was really a work of art. They gave many days to the task, and were proud of it. The question of a suitable pole or flagstaff was one which now absorbed their energies. As nothing of the kind was found in the immediate neighborhood, it was suggested that on their regular hunting day it should be made a part of their duty to find a staff worthy to be installed. The trips to the cave, and the absorbing work of preparing the flag, had so taken up the time, that they had entirely forgotten the regular outings.

On this occasion they insisted that the Professor should accompany them, and George declared that the only place available for a good pole would be in the forest below the South River, where they had shot the ocelots.

The yaks were prepared, as usual, and it was a merry party which started off on that bright morning for the forest. They did not, you may be sure, forget the spears and the guns, and before leaving home Harry thought it would be a good idea to provide a small two-wheeled truck, which could be used as a trailer, for the pole.

On the way down, Harry said: "How large a pole shall we get?"

George had his opinions, as usual: "Let us get a pole at least 50 feet long. We must have something which will match the flag."

"A pole that length will be a difficult matter to raise; have you thought of that?" was the Professor's observation.

"Can't we rig up something to raise it with?"

"Yes; and for a pole a hundred feet long, if necessary."