Produced by David Clarke, S.D., and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net JIMBO MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON . BOMBAY . CALCUTTA . MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . BOSTON . CHICAGO DALLAS . ATLANTA . SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED TORONTO JIMBO A FANTASY _By_ ALGERNON BLACKWOOD MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1930 COPYRIGHT _First Published_ 1909 _The Caravan Library_ 1930 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. "RABBITS" 7 II. MISS LAKE COMES--AND GOES 24 III. THE SHOCK 40 IV. ON THE EDGE OF UNCONSCIOUSNESS 49 V. INTO THE EMPTY HOUSE 54 VI. HIS COMPANION IN PRISON 69 VII. THE SPELL OF THE EMPTY HOUSE 87 VIII. THE GALLERY OF ANCIENT MEMORIES 102 IX. THE MEANS OF ESCAPE 111 X. THE PLUNGE 131 XI. THE FIRST FLIGHT 142 XII. THE FOUR WINDS 153 XIII. PLEASURES OF FLIGHT 165 XIV. AN ADVENTURE 177 XV. THE CALL OF THE BODY 193 XVI. PREPARATION 204 XVII. OFF! 219 XVIII. HOME 232 JIMBO CHAPTER I "RABBITS" Jimbo's governess ought to have known better--but she didn't. If she had, Jimbo would never have met with the adventures that subsequently came to him. Thus, in a roundabout sort of way, the child ought to have been thankful to the governess; and perhaps, in a roundabout sort of way, he was. But that comes at the far end of the story, and is doubtful at best; and in the meanwhile the child had gone through his suffering, and the governess had in some measure expiated her fault; so that at this stage it is only necessary to note that the whole business began because the Empty House happened to be really an Empty House--not the one Jimbo's family lived in, but another of which more will be known in due course.