"What!" exclaimed the Cow,--"while the horse was running away? Oh, come, I say!" "He was, truly," said Davy, laughing; "you never saw anything half so ridiculous." "I certainly never did--that I can remember," said the Cow; "but then, you see, I haven't always been a cow." "Really?" said Davy. "Really," said the Cow, very solemnly. "The fact is, I've been changed." "And what did you use to be?" said Davy, who was now fully prepared for something marvellous. "A calf," said the Cow, with a curious rumbling chuckle. "I don't think _that's_ a very good joke," said the disappointed little boy. "It's a deal funnier than your cab story," said the Cow. "And, what's more, it's true! Good-afternoon." And with this the Cow disappeared from the opening, and the cab door shut to with a loud bang. Davy sat still for a moment, hoping that Mother Hubbard, or perhaps the dog, or even the cat, would appear, so that he might explain his story about the cab. None of them came; but meanwhile a very extraordinary thing happened, for the house itself began to _go_. First the chimneys sank down through the roof, as if they were being lowered into the cellar. Then the roof itself, with its gables and dormer windows, softly folded itself flat down upon the top of the house, out of sight. Then the cab door and the latticed windows fluttered gently for a moment, as if rather uncertain how to dispose of themselves, and finally faded away, one by one, as if they had been soaked into the bricks. Then the porch gravely took itself to pieces and carried itself, so to speak, carefully in through the front door; and finally the front door went in itself, and nothing was left of the house that Jack built but a high brick wall, with the climbing roses running all over it like a beautiful pink vine. All this was so unexpected and so wonderful that Davy sat quite still, expecting something marvellous of this wall; but it proved to be a very matter-of-fact affair, with no intention whatever of doing anything or going anywhere, and, after watching it attentively for a few moments, Davy got up and resumed his journey along the road. CHAPTER XI. ROBINSON CRUSOE'S ISLAND.