Then darkness swallowed the Cloud Horse again, and the blazing island
was left far behind.

After that, Neville began to feel a little drowsy. Perhaps he did
sleep a little, for the next thing he saw was a faint light in the sky
before him, as though the dawn were coming. But he knew it must be the
evening, because he was coming back to the place from which he had
started, and was catching up with the sun. You see, he had only been
gone a few minutes.

The Cloud Horse flew very low now; and rapidly the darkness grew less.
Then, long before he expected it, Neville saw the roof of his own home
below him. He could see the garden in the twilight and his own dog
sniffing about among the trees as though in search of him.

Neville began to think about jumping now, and he was rather nervous.
He might land softly and he might not. He only had the wee yellow
man's word for that.

Then, to his horror, he saw that they had passed his home and were
over the bald hill. There was no time to lose. The Cloud Horse was
taking him into the sunset again, and, if he did, what would the head
scene-shifter say then?

So, grasping the Sky Flower very tightly, Neville closed his eyes and
jumped. He half expected to fall quickly and be dashed to pieces upon
the earth; but, instead, he floated in the air like a feather, swaying
and drifting, and slowly sinking all the time towards the ground. It
was a very pleasant sensation indeed.