When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so
fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an
umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated
downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to
bear. The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this
great crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was
about to overtake them at any moment. Crash after crash echoed far
above their heads, as the earth came together where it had split, and
stones and chunks of clay rattled around them on every side. These
they could not see, but they could feel them pelting the buggy top, and
Jim screamed almost like a human being when a stone overtook him and
struck his boney body. They did not really hurt the poor horse,
because everything was falling together; only the stones and rubbish
fell faster than the horse and buggy, which were held back by the
pressure of the air, so that the terrified animal was actually more
frightened than he was injured.
How long this state of things continued Dorothy could not even guess,
she was so greatly bewildered. But bye and bye, as she stared ahead
into the black chasm with a beating heart, she began to dimly see the
form of the horse Jim--his head up in the air, his ears erect and his
long legs sprawling in every direction as he tumbled through space.
Also, turning her head, she found that she could see the boy beside
her, who had until now remained as still and silent as she herself.
Dorothy sighed and commenced to breathe easier. She began to realize
that death was not in store for her, after all, but that she had merely
started upon another adventure, which promised to be just as queer and
unusual as were those she had before encountered.
With this thought in mind the girl took heart and leaned her head over
the side of the buggy to see where the strange light was coming from.
Far below her she found six great glowing balls suspended in the air.
The central and largest one was white, and reminded her of the sun.
Around it were arranged, like the five points of a star, the other five
brilliant balls; one being rose colored, one violet, one yellow, one
blue and one orange. This splendid group of colored suns sent rays
darting in every direction, and as the horse and buggy--with Dorothy
and Zeb--sank steadily downward and came nearer to the lights, the rays
began to take on all the delicate tintings of a rainbow, growing more
and more distinct every moment until all the space was brilliantly
illuminated.
Dorothy was too dazed to say much, but she watched one of Jim's big
ears turn to violet and the other to rose, and wondered that his tail
should be yellow and his body striped with blue and orange like the
stripes of a zebra. Then she looked at Zeb, whose face was blue and
whose hair was pink, and gave a little laugh that sounded a bit nervous.
"Isn't it funny?" she said.
The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak
through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came
together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.
"I--I don't s-s-see any-thing funny--'bout it!" he stammered.
Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the
horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the
boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they
were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll
slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim
struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding
himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of
voice:
"Well, that's better!"
Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.
"Can your horse talk?" she asked.
"Never knew him to, before," replied the boy.
"Those were the first words I ever said," called out the horse, who had
overheard them, "and I can't explain why I happened to speak then.
This is a nice scrape you've got me into, isn't it?"
"As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves," answered Dorothy,
cheerfully. "But never mind; something will happen pretty soon."
"Of course," growled the horse, "and then we shall be sorry it
happened."
Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could
not understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.
Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close
beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes,
and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded.
There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had
passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing
rays so that the boy and girl could open their eyes again.
"We've got to come to the bottom some time," remarked Zeb, with a deep
sigh. "We can't keep falling forever, you know."
"Of course not," said Dorothy. "We are somewhere in the middle of the
earth, and the chances are we'll reach the other side of it before
long. But it's a big hollow, isn't it?"
"Awful big!" answered the boy.
"We're coming to something now," announced the horse.
At this they both put their heads over the side of the buggy and looked
down. Yes; there was land below them; and not so very far away,
either. But they were floating very, very slowly--so slowly that it
could no longer be called a fall--and the children had ample time to
take heart and look about them.
They saw a landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very
like those upon the earth's surface; but all the scene was splendidly
colored by the variegated lights from the six suns. Here and there
were groups of houses that seemed made of clear glass, because they
sparkled so brightly.
"I'm sure we are in no danger," said Dorothy, in a sober voice. "We
are falling so slowly that we can't be dashed to pieces when we land,
and this country that we are coming to seems quite pretty."
"We'll never get home again, though!" declared Zeb, with a groan.
"Oh, I'm not so sure of that," replied the girl. "But don't let us
worry over such things, Zeb; we can't help ourselves just now, you
know, and I've always been told it's foolish to borrow trouble."
The boy became silent, having no reply to so sensible a speech, and
soon both were fully occupied in staring at the strange scenes spread
out below them. They seemed to be falling right into the middle of a
big city which had many tall buildings with glass domes and
sharp-pointed spires. These spires were like great spear-points, and
if they tumbled upon one of them they were likely to suffer serious
injury.
Jim the horse had seen these spires, also, and his ears stood straight
up with fear, while Dorothy and Zeb held their breaths in suspense.
But no; they floated gently down upon a broad, flat roof, and came to a
stop at last.
When Jim felt something firm under his feet the poor beast's legs
trembled so much that he could hardly stand; but Zeb at once leaped out
of the buggy to the roof, and he was so awkward and hasty that he
kicked over Dorothy's bird-cage, which rolled out upon the roof so that
the bottom came off. At once a pink kitten crept out of the upset
cage, sat down upon the glass roof, and yawned and blinked its round
eyes.
"Oh," said Dorothy. "There's Eureka."
"First time I ever saw a pink cat," said Zeb.
"Eureka isn't pink; she's white. It's this queer light that gives her
that color."
"Where's my milk?" asked the kitten, looking up into Dorothy's face.
"I'm 'most starved to death."
"Oh, Eureka! Can you talk?"
"Talk! Am I talking? Good gracious, I believe I am. Isn't it funny?"
asked the kitten.
"It's all wrong," said Zeb, gravely. "Animals ought not to talk. But
even old Jim has been saying things since we had our accident."
"I can't see that it's wrong," remarked Jim, in his gruff tones. "At
least, it isn't as wrong as some other things. What's going to become
of us now?"
"I don't know," answered the boy, looking around him curiously.
The houses of the city were all made of glass, so clear and transparent
that one could look through the walls as easily as through a window.
Dorothy saw, underneath the roof on which she stood, several rooms used
for rest chambers, and even thought she could make out a number of
queer forms huddled into the corners of these rooms.
The roof beside them had a great hole smashed through it, and pieces of
glass were lying scattered in every direction. A nearby steeple had
been broken off short and the fragments lay heaped beside it. Other
buildings were cracked in places or had corners chipped off from them;
but they must have been very beautiful before these accidents had
happened to mar their perfection. The rainbow tints from the colored
suns fell upon the glass city softly and gave to the buildings many
delicate, shifting hues which were very pretty to see.
But not a sound had broken the stillness since the strangers had
arrived, except that of their own voices. They began to wonder if
there were no people to inhabit this magnificent city of the inner
world.
Suddenly a man appeared through a hole in the roof next to the one they
were on and stepped into plain view. He was not a very large man, but
was well formed and had a beautiful face--calm and serene as the face
of a fine portrait. His clothing fitted his form snugly and was
gorgeously colored in brilliant shades of green, which varied as the
sunbeams touched them but was not wholly influenced by the solar rays.
The man had taken a step or two across the glass roof before he noticed
the presence of the strangers; but then he stopped abruptly. There was
no expression of either fear or surprise upon his tranquil face, yet he
must have been both astonished and afraid; for after his eyes had
rested upon the ungainly form of the horse for a moment he walked
rapidly to the furthest edge of the roof, his head turned back over his
shoulder to gaze at the strange animal.
"Look out!" cried Dorothy, who noticed that the beautiful man did not
look where he was going; "be careful, or you'll fall off!"
But he paid no attention to her warning. He reached the edge of the
tall roof, stepped one foot out into the air, and walked into space as
calmly as if he were on firm ground.
The girl, greatly astonished, ran to lean over the edge of the roof,
and saw the man walking rapidly through the air toward the ground.
Soon he reached the street and disappeared through a glass doorway into
one of the glass buildings.
"How strange!" she exclaimed, drawing a long breath.
"Yes; but it's lots of fun, if it IS strange," remarked the small voice
of the kitten, and Dorothy turned to find her pet walking in the air a
foot or so away from the edge of the roof.
"Come back, Eureka!" she called, in distress, "you'll certainly be
killed."
"I have nine lives," said the kitten, purring softly as it walked
around in a circle and then came back to the roof; "but I can't lose
even one of them by falling in this country, because I really couldn't
manage to fall if I wanted to."
"Does the air bear up your weight?" asked the girl.
"Of course; can't you see?" and again the kitten wandered into the air
and back to the edge of the roof.
"It's wonderful!" said Dorothy.
"Suppose we let Eureka go down to the street and get some one to help
us," suggested Zeb, who had been even more amazed than Dorothy at these
strange happenings.
"Perhaps we can walk on the air ourselves," replied the girl.
Zeb drew back with a shiver.
"I wouldn't dare try," he said.
"Maybe Jim will go," continued Dorothy, looking at the horse.
"And maybe he won't!" answered Jim. "I've tumbled through the air long
enough to make me contented on this roof."
"But we didn't tumble to the roof," said the girl; "by the time we
reached here we were floating very slowly, and I'm almost sure we could
float down to the street without getting hurt. Eureka walks on the air
all right."
"Eureka weights only about half a pound," replied the horse, in a
scornful tone, "while I weigh about half a ton."
"You don't weigh as much as you ought to, Jim," remarked the girl,
shaking her head as she looked at the animal. "You're dreadfully
skinny."
"Oh, well; I'm old," said the horse, hanging his head despondently,
"and I've had lots of trouble in my day, little one. For a good many
years I drew a public cab in Chicago, and that's enough to make anyone
skinny."
"He eats enough to get fat, I'm sure," said the boy, gravely.
"Do I? Can you remember any breakfast that I've had today?" growled
Jim, as if he resented Zeb's speech.
"None of us has had breakfast," said the boy; "and in a time of danger
like this it's foolish to talk about eating."
"Nothing is more dangerous than being without food," declared the
horse, with a sniff at the rebuke of his young master; "and just at
present no one can tell whether there are any oats in this queer
country or not. If there are, they are liable to be glass oats!"
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I can see plenty of nice gardens and
fields down below us, at the edge of this city. But I wish we could
find a way to get to the ground."
"Why don't you walk down?" asked Eureka. "I'm as hungry as the horse
is, and I want my milk."
"Will you try it, Zeb?" asked the girl, turning to her companion.
Zeb hesitated. He was still pale and frightened, for this dreadful
adventure had upset him and made him nervous and worried. But he did
not wish the little girl to think him a coward, so he advanced slowly
to the edge of the roof.
Dorothy stretched out a hand to him and Zeb put one foot out and let it
rest in the air a little over the edge of the roof. It seemed firm
enough to walk upon, so he took courage and put out the other foot.
Dorothy kept hold of his hand and followed him, and soon they were both
walking through the air, with the kitten frisking beside them.
"Come on, Jim!" called the boy. "It's all right."
Jim had crept to the edge of the roof to look over, and being a
sensible horse and quite experienced, he made up his mind that he could
go where the others did. So, with a snort and a neigh and a whisk of
his short tail he trotted off the roof into the air and at once began
floating downward to the street. His great weight made him fall faster
than the children walked, and he passed them on the way down; but when
he came to the glass pavement he alighted upon it so softly that he was
not even jarred.
"Well, well!" said Dorothy, drawing a long breath, "What a strange
country this is."
People began to come out of the glass doors to look at the new
arrivals, and pretty soon quite a crowd had assembled. There were men
and women, but no children at all, and the folks were all beautifully
formed and attractively dressed and had wonderfully handsome faces.
There was not an ugly person in all the throng, yet Dorothy was not
especially pleased by the appearance of these people because their
features had no more expression than the faces of dolls. They did not
smile nor did they frown, or show either fear or surprise or curiosity
or friendliness. They simply started at the strangers, paying most
attention to Jim and Eureka, for they had never before seen either a
horse or a cat and the children bore an outward resemblance to
themselves.
Pretty soon a man joined the group who wore a glistening star in the
dark hair just over his forehead. He seemed to be a person of
authority, for the others pressed back to give him room. After turning
his composed eyes first upon the animals and then upon the children he
said to Zeb, who was a little taller than Dorothy:
"Tell me, intruder, was it you who caused the Rain of Stones?"
For a moment the boy did not know what he meant by this question.
Then, remembering the stones that had fallen with them and passed them
long before they had reached this place, he answered:
"No, sir; we didn't cause anything. It was the earthquake."
The man with the star stood for a time quietly thinking over this
speech. Then he asked:
"What is an earthquake?"
"I don't know," said Zeb, who was still confused. But Dorothy, seeing
his perplexity, answered:
"It's a shaking of the earth. In this quake a big crack opened and we
fell through--horse and buggy, and all--and the stones got loose and
came down with us."
The man with the star regarded her with his calm, expressionless eyes.
"The Rain of Stones has done much damage to our city," he said; "and we
shall hold you responsible for it unless you can prove your innocence."
"How can we do that?" asked the girl.
"That I am not prepared to say. It is your affair, not mine. You must
go to the House of the Sorcerer, who will soon discover the truth."
"Where is the House of the Sorcerer?" the girl enquired.
"I will lead you to it. Come!"
He turned and walked down the street, and after a moment's hesitation
Dorothy caught Eureka in her arms and climbed into the buggy. The boy
took his seat beside her and said: "Gid-dap Jim."
As the horse ambled along, drawing the buggy, the people of the glass
city made way for them and formed a procession in their rear. Slowly
they moved down one street and up another, turning first this way and
then that, until they came to an open square in the center of which was
a big glass palace having a central dome and four tall spires on each
corner.