They clung tightly to the ropes, but the breeze was with them, so after
a few moments, when they became accustomed to the motion, they began to
enjoy the ride immensely.
Larger and larger grew the island, and although they were headed
directly toward it, the umbrella seemed to rise higher and higher into
the air the farther it traveled. They had not journeyed ten minutes
before they came directly over the island, and looking down they could
see the forests and meadows far below them. But the umbrella kept up
its rapid flight.
"Hold on, there!" cried Cap'n Bill. "If it ain't keerful, the ol' thing
will pass by the island."
"I--I'm sure it has passed it already," exclaimed Trot. "What's wrong,
Button-Bright? Why don't we stop?"
Button-Bright seemed astonished, too.
"Perhaps I didn't say it right," he replied after a moment's thought.
Then, looking up at the umbrella, he repeated distinctly, "I said I
wanted to go to Sky Island! Sky Island, don't you understand?"
The umbrella swept steadily along, getting farther and farther out to
sea and rising higher and higher toward the clouds.
"Mack'rel an' herrings!" roared Cap'n Bill, now really frightened.
"Ain't there any blamed way at all to stop her?"
"None that I know of," said Button-Bright anxiously.
"P'raps," said Trot after a pause during which she tried hard to think.
"P'raps 'Sky Island' isn't the name of that island at all."
"Why, we know very well it ain't the name of it," yelled Cap'n Bill
from below. "We jus' called it that 'cause its right name is too hard
to say."
"That's the whole trouble, then," returned Button-Bright. "Somewhere in
the world there's a real Sky Island, and having told the Magic Umbrella
to take us there, it's going to do so."
"Well, I declare!" gasped the sailorman. "Can't we land anywhere else?"
"Not unless you care to tumble off," said the boy. "I've told the
umbrella to take us to Sky Island, so that's the exact place we're
bound for. I'm sorry. It was your fault for giving me the wrong name."
They glided along in silence for a while. The island was now far behind
them, growing small in the distance. "Where do you s'pose the real Sky
Island can be?" asked Trot presently.
"We can't tell anything about it until we get there," Button-Bright
answered. "Seems to me I've heard of the Isle of Skye, but that's over
in Great Britain, somewhere the other side of the world, and it isn't
Sky Island, anyhow."
"This miser'ble ol' umbrel is too pertic'ler," growled Cap'n Bill. "It
won't let you change your mind an' it goes ezzac'ly where you say."
"If it didn't," said Trot, "we'd never know where we were going."
"We don't know now," said the sailor. "One thing's certain, folks:
we're gett'n' a long way from home."
"And see how the clouds are rolling just above us," remarked the boy,
who was almost as uneasy as Cap'n Bill.
"We're in the sky, all right," said the girl. "If there could be an
island up here among the clouds, I'd think it was there we're going."
"Couldn't there be one?" asked Button-Bright. "Why couldn't there be an
island in the sky that would be named Sky Island?"
"Of course not!" declared Cap'n Bill. "There wouldn't be anything to
hold it up, you know."
"What's holding US up?" asked Trot.
"Magic, I guess."
"Then magic might hold an island in the sky. Whee-e-e! What a black
cloud!"
It grew suddenly dark, for they were rushing through a thick cloud that
rolled around them in billows. Trot felt little drops of moisture
striking her face and knew her clothing was getting damp and soggy.
"It's a rain cloud," she said to Button-Bright, "and it seems like an
awful big one, 'cause it takes so long for us to pass through it."
The umbrella never hesitated a moment. It made a path through the
length of the heavy, black cloud at last and carried its passengers
into a misty, billowy bank of white, which seemed as soft and fleecy as
a lady's veil. When this broke away, they caught sight of a majestic
rainbow spanning the heavens, its gorgeous colors glinting brightly in
the sun, its arch perfect and unbroken from end to end. But it was only
a glimpse they had, for quickly they dove into another bank of clouds
and the rainbow disappeared.
Here the clouds were not black, nor heavy, but they assumed queer
shapes. Some were like huge ships, some like forest trees, and others
piled themselves into semblances of turreted castles and wonderful
palaces. The shapes shifted here and there continually, and the
voyagers began to be bewildered by the phantoms.
"Seems to me we're goin' down," called Trot.
"Down where?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"Who knows?" said Button-Bright. "But we're dropping, all right."
It was a gradual descent. The Magic Umbrella maintained a uniform
speed, swift and unfaltering, but its path through the heavens was now
in the shape of an arch, as a flying arrow falls. The queer shapes of
the clouds continued for some time, and once or twice Trot was a little
frightened when a monstrous airy dragon passed beside them or a huge
giant stood upon a peak of cloud and stared savagely at the intruders
into his domain. But none of these fanciful, vapory creatures seemed
inclined to molest them or to interfere with their flight, and after a
while the umbrella dipped below this queer cloudland and entered a
clear space where the sky was of an exquisite blue color.
"Oh, look!" called Cap'n Bill. "There's land below us." The boy and
girl leaned over and tried to see this land, but Cap'n Bill was also
leaning over, and his big body hid all that was just underneath them.
"Is it an island?" asked Trot solemnly.
"Seems so," the old sailor replied. "The blue is around all one side of
it an' a pink sunshine around the other side. There's a big cloud just
over the middle, but I guess it's surely an island, Trot, an' bein' as
it's in the sky, it's likely to be Sky Island."
"Then we shall land there," said the boy confidently. "I knew the
umbrella wouldn't make a mistake."
Presently Cap'n Bill spoke again. "We're goin' down on the blue part o'
the island," he said. "I can see trees an' ponds an' houses. Hold
tight, Trot! Hold tight, Butt'n-Bright! I'm afeared we're a'goin' to
bump somethin'!"
They were certainly dropping very quickly now, and the rush of air made
their eyes fill with water so that they could not see much below them.
Suddenly, the basket that was dangling below Cap'n Bill struck
something with a loud thud, and this was followed by a yell of anger.
Cap'n Bill sat flat upon the ground, landing with such a force that
jarred the sailorman and made his teeth click together, while down upon
him came the seat that Trot and Button-Bright occupied, so that for a
moment they were all tangled up.
"Get off from me! Get off from my feet, I say!" cried an excited voice.
"What in the Sky do you mean by sitting on my feet? Get off! Get off at
once!"
THE BOOLOOROO OF THE BLUES