"This sleigh can run on air just as well as on snow," the odd little driver
explained.
Another touch of the icicle whip, a jingle of bells, a snort from the
reindeer, and they were off--off through the air towards the sailing moon.
Marmaduke was so interested in looking up that he didn't see little
Wienerwurst run ahead of all the animals. That doggie beat them all to the
top of the hill. And when he came to the top he just jumped out in the air
and landed safe on the runner of the sleigh, and curled up there and hid
and didn't make any noise.
It was very clear high up in the air, and Marmaduke looked down.
The houses had shrivelled all up. As small as Wienerwurst's own little
house they seemed. And the trees were as small as plants in the garden.
He looked down again. The earth was far below them.
By the white steeple of the church they flew. In the steeple was a little
window. The bell-rope hung out. Jack jerked it as they went past.
"_Ding, dong--
Something's wrong_."
So spoke the deep voice of the old bell. He was a hundred years old, and
such strange things had never happened in his life before.
And the minister threw up his window and stuck his head out. And the
minister's wife stuck her head, in her nightcap, out of the window, too.
And the sexton ran out in the snow, in his shirt-tail, to see what was the
matter.
And all the other people, in the farmhouses and in the town houses, threw
up their windows or ran out of doors to see where the fire was.
Then, after looking all around the houses and barns and the haystacks, they
looked up at the sky and saw Marmaduke in the sleigh, racing towards the
moon.
They were very funny, like little toy people, all looking up and pointing
at the sky and all shouting at once.
But Marmaduke didn't care--he was having the time of his life!
Then a still stranger and funnier sight he saw,--all the animals on the
top of the hill--the horses, the dogs, the cows, the sheep, the pigs,
the ducks, the geese, the turkeys, and the White Wyandottes, all sitting
on their haunches and barking or neighing or howling or squawking at
Marmaduke, as on--up and up--he went, a-sailing through the sky.
But he missed his little pet doggie. Where _could_ he be?
He was worried about that until all of a sudden he heard a little bark and
looked behind, and there on the red runner, hanging on for dear life, was
little Wienerwurst. Marmaduke reached down, and picked him up by the scruff
of his neck, and set him on his lap, under the robe, so that he wouldn't
catch cold.
So Wienerwurst too had the time of his life, and his little pink tongue
hung out in delight as they raced toward the moon.
They hadn't gone more than a hundred miles or so, when something strange
floated past them--a cloud all puffy and soft and white, like the floating
islands in the puddings Mother makes.
The reindeer nearly ran into it. That would have been too bad, for the
sleigh would have torn it in two. And as they passed, Marmaduke saw little
baby angels lying there, curled up in the cloud, fast asleep, with their
wings folded.
A whole fleet of the clouds passed by and there was only clear air ahead of
them, they thought, but no!
"Bang." They had bunked into something high up in the sky.
"Very careless," said Jack Frost, as he pulled on the reins.
It was very bright, and Marmaduke blinked hard.
Ahead of them lay another island, but this one was round and flat and shiny
like a gold shield, with a little hill in the centre. And there upon the
hill sat a jolly old man, round and fat, with a pipe in his mouth and a
sack on his back.
"Hello, old Top!" said Jack Frost.
"Good evening, you mischief-maker," replied the Man-in-the-Moon. "What are
you up to now?"
"Oh, I've brought one of the little earth children to see you. This is
Marmaduke Green. He's been sick, so I thought I'd give him a ride."
"Oh, ho! That's it. You _do_ do someone a good turn now and then,
after all."
Then the old man turned to Marmaduke.
"Howdy," he said, "I hope you'll get better very soon."
"Thank you," replied Marmaduke politely. He was so well brought up that he
didn't forget his manners, even up high in the sky.
"Well, here's something to play with when you get back to earth," said the
Old Man-in-the-Moon. And he reached his hand inside the sack on his back,
and pulled out a fistful of bright gold pennies--oh, such a lot of them!
Marmaduke reached for them. But alas! he was in too much of a hurry, and
they spilled out of his hand and rolled right over the edge of the moon.
Down, down, down, through the sky they dropped, past the stars and the
clouds, down, down, down to the earth.
There were all the animals still, on the top of the hill, looking up at the
moon. And one of the bright pennies landed on Black-eyed Susan's nose. She
was a timid old cow and she was startled. And she was still more frightened
at the howling, the barking, the squawking, which the animals set up, one
and all.
So frightened was she that she jumped. So hard did she jump that she leaped
way over the hill and over the clouds and the stars.
"There's that critter again," complained the Man-in-the-Moon.
On, with her tail spread out behind her, and her legs sprawling in the sky,
came old Black-eyed Susan, straight towards them. Jack Frost and Marmaduke
jumped back; the Old Man-in-the-Moon moved a little too. They were afraid
she would land on their toes.
But she didn't.
"She's still pretty chipper," observed the old man. "That's a great jump.
Most beats the record."
So it did, for she sailed right over them, coming down on the other side of
the moon, hitting one poor little star on the way with her hoof, and
putting out its light entirely.
And down, down old Susan fell till she hit the earth and lay there, panting
and mooing so loud that the people on earth thought it was thunder, and
shut their windows tight for fear of the rain.
"Well!" said the Old Man-in-the-Moon, blowing clouds of smoke from his
pipe, "that's over. Now here's some more pennies. Be careful this time," he
warned him.
And from his sack he drew forth another great handful of gold pennies. How
they did shine! But as Marmaduke reached for them, Jack Frost jiggled his
elbow with his icicle whip--and again they rolled over the edge of the
moon.
And again Marmaduke was too eager. He ran after them, and Wienerwurst ran
too, and when they reached the edge they couldn't stop themselves at all.
They were falling, down, down through the sky. A hundred somersaults they
turned. Marmaduke tried to hold on to a cloud, but his hands went right
through it. He tried to hold on to the stars, but he missed every one.
Then suddenly--bang went his head against the church steeple - - - and all
the stars danced - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Then he woke.
He looked around. Why-he was sitting up in the bed, his very own bed, by
the red fire!
It was just a trick of the dream fairy's, after all.
But it was all right, for at the foot of the bed rested the little red and
blue sleigh and the tiny reindeer, just as still as still could be.
And at the side of the bed stood Father and Mother--and the Toyman.
They seemed very happy.