"Oh," said the Clown, "I tell myself funny stories to make me laugh, and then I have my hand-springs to make; that keeps me pretty busy," and he rolled along the shelf, head over heels. "Well, I always thought a Clown was a silly fellow," said Kernel Cob, "but now I'm sure of it," and he turned upon his heel and walked out of the store. When he got outside he told the others that it was no use trying to find out anything that way. So they walked along till night came and they crawled into a boat, which is called a gondola, and wait to sleep. During the night, they were wakened by the movement of the boat, and looking out they saw that they were in motion. A man in a white suit and a red sash was paddling the gondola with a long oar, and he was singing a very beautiful song, and the moonlight was on the water. And they passed many other gondolas, and all the men who paddled were singing beautiful songs. "I would like to live here," whispered the Villain, "everybody seems to be so happy." "So would I," said Sweetclover. "I love to hear beautiful music, but we have to find Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather." And being tired, they fell asleep and early in the morning their gondola was resting at the side of some marble steps which led up to a great square called Saint Mark's. So they got out of the gondola and walked across the square, for there wasn't anybody to be seen at so early an hour in the morning. And a great number of pigeons were flying about. Thousands and thousands of them. And Jackie Tar had a wonderful idea. "Let's ask the pigeons if they will help us." "Goodie!" said Sweetclover. So they went up to a group of pigeons which were strutting along the ground, picking grain which the people throw to them in the day time. "Hello! hello!" said Jackie Tar, and in a minute about a hundred pigeons gathered about them. And he said he wanted some of them to help him get to the South Pole. "I'll do it," said one of them, and he stepped up to Jackie Tar. "Good for you, matey," said Jackie Tar. "I've always wanted to travel," said the pigeon, "for I'm tired flying around here and I'd like to see the world." "So would I," said another. "And I." [Illustration] "And I." "And I," cried three or four more. You see pigeons are like people, for, lots of times, people want to do things but they wait and wait and wait till some one starts it. "Four are all we need," said Jackie Tar, "one for each of us." So the pigeons crowded about and begged and begged to be taken, and Kernel Cob and Sweetclover and the Villain and Jackie Tar chose the biggest and strongest, and the ones that they liked the color of the best. But one of the pigeons didn't want to go to the South Pole, for, said she, "You don't hear as much of the South Pole as you do of the North Pole, and unless you go to the North Pole, I won't go."