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