“Oh, but then there will be no day at all for them to arrive on--and that will be worse than ever. How awfully puzzling it all is!” cried Coppertop. CHAPTER VIII. TOWARDS THE GREAT WEST LAND “We don’t seem to have done much good,” grumbled Tibbs. “And you never will, if you grumble,” said a cheery voice, which they knew belonged to Mr. Atom, although he was far too small for them to see. “You’ll never find a December day in these cold parts, if you stay here till the moon turns into cheese.” “I suppose not. But whatever are we to do?” said Coppertop. “See if the West Wind has one to spare.” “’Es, but how are we to find him?” asked Kiddiwee, in a tired little voice. “That’s easy,” said Mr. Atom cheerily. “He lives in the Great West Land.” “How shall we get there?” asked all three children, excitedly. “Just-- Walk with the Sunshine Upon your right shoulder, And you’ll reach the West Land Before you’re much older. Ta-ta!” And with this advice he left them. “Come on! Let’s try it,” cried Tibbs, beaming. And turning their backs on the South Wind’s Castle, they commenced their long tramp to the West. “I do wish I was my right size again,” sighed Coppertop. “It’s so tiring walking, and we simply can’t fly whilst we’re so large.” As she uttered this wish she suddenly commenced to grow smaller and smaller, until, to her great joy, she was her right size again. “That’s strange!” she exclaimed, and then she noticed that she had her foot upon a bright green stone, frozen into the ice. “It’s a Wishing Stone!” explained Tibbs, who was also growing rapidly smaller. “’Es, so it is,” cried Kiddiwee. But how either of them knew anything about it was a puzzle, for they had never seen it before. “Hurrah!” exclaimed Coppertop joyfully, realising the power that the Wishing Stone gave her. “I’ll wish for a fine, hot----” Before she could say “December day” a gust of warm wind blew round them, and the sun came out through the hazy sky and shone brightly upon them. “It IS a December day!” she cried, clapping her hands with joy. “It is the right day at last!” “But in the wrong place!” sneered a voice from a passing cloud. And looking up, the children saw the mean, spiteful face of the Clerk of the Weather. “What does he mean by that?” growled Tibbs. “I’d like to punch that chap!” But they soon found out what he meant. For the snow and the ice all round them were melting rapidly with the heat of the December day sun upon it. The icebergs thawed into waterfalls, and the snow melted from under their feet, and in a very short while they were floating helplessly in a vast sea, where the field of ice had been. * * * * * “Cheer up!” said the familiar voice of Mr. Atom. “Things are seldom as bad as they seem. Keep up your hearts and your heels, and you’ll never drown.”