"Four hundred and fifty little worlds?" asked Harry.
"Where can there be room for them all, and don't they knock against each
other in the sky?"
"No, there is plenty of room for them up there. Besides, they are so
small, some of them being only ten miles wide."
"Why, Uncle Robert walked ten miles the other day," said Harry; "he could
walk all around those little worlds. And if they are so little, I suppose
he would weigh scarcely anything at all if he lived on one of them. I
should think he would be almost like the giant with the seven-league
boots. Don't you remember, Nellie, you were reading about him the other
day. Poor little Jack the Giant Killer would not have much chance there,
but perhaps he could fly if he weighed so little. And how would football
be on these little worlds?"
"You might give the ball such a kick that it would leave the planet
altogether and circle around the sun as a planet on its own account."
How Harry and Nellie laughed at the idea of a football circling around
the sun as a planet!
"And is this really true?" inquired Harry. "Why, this is better than
any fairy story I ever heard. Now, tell me some more. Don't you think
we might be able to fly on these tiny worlds?"
"If you could get someone to make you a pair of wings up there, it would
be quite easy to fly. Our bodies would only weigh a few pounds, so we
ought to be able to flap a pair of wings strong enough to keep us flying.
That is, if the air around these little worlds is as dense as ours."
"Don't I wish I lived there, then," said Harry regretfully, "because
it would not matter about my being lame. And I could put on my wings
whenever I wanted to see you, Nellie, and fly across the park, and way,
way up into the sky, and----"
"Oh, don't! Harry," said Nellie, throwing her doll on the ground and
catching hold of her cousin in dismay; "if you go you must take me with
you too. And poor little dollie," she continued, suddenly remembering
her precious charge, "and Cousin Mary and Uncle Robert and Aunt Agnes
and everybody in the world. What would we do if you flew away from us?"
"But I can't," said Harry, laughing at her dismay; "and it's just like a
little girl to think I would go and leave her all alone. No, we'll all
go some day, won't we?" he continued, turning to his sister Mary; "and
we'll be with the angels--and have wings. You and Nellie and I--why, we
will all fly, and I shall forget I ever was lame on planet earth then."
"And will father have wings, too?" asked Nellie curiously. "He will want
a very big pair, something like the big eagle's down at the aquarium."
"Will he, you little rogue?" exclaimed the loud, good-natured voice of
her father, as he appeared on the scene. "So this is where you are, and
I have been looking for you all over the house and grounds."
"I told nurse I would be back in a minute," she replied.
"A minute!" said her father, laughing heartily; "why, you have been
here nearly an hour. So you want your father to have wings, do you, you
little rogue! Wait till I show you how you would fly if you had wings."
The next moment he put her up on his shoulder, dollie and all, and ran
with her across the meadow at full speed, while she laughed merrily and
clapped her hands with delight.
"So the party is broken up," said Harry's nurse, who came to look after
her charge.
"Yes; one of the audience has flown," said Harry, laughing.
"And I must fly, too," said Mary, as she kissed Harry lovingly. "And I
shall tell you about the rest of Giant Sun's family to-morrow. Good-by."