It grew suddenly dark, for they were rushing through a thick cloud that
rolled around them in billows. Trot felt little drops of moisture
striking her face and knew her clothing was getting damp and soggy.
"It's a rain cloud," she said to Button-Bright, "and it seems like an
awful big one, 'cause it takes so long for us to pass through it."
The umbrella never hesitated a moment. It made a path through the
length of the heavy, black cloud at last and carried its passengers
into a misty, billowy bank of white, which seemed as soft and fleecy as
a lady's veil. When this broke away, they caught sight of a majestic
rainbow spanning the heavens, its gorgeous colors glinting brightly in
the sun, its arch perfect and unbroken from end to end. But it was only
a glimpse they had, for quickly they dove into another bank of clouds
and the rainbow disappeared.
Here the clouds were not black, nor heavy, but they assumed queer
shapes. Some were like huge ships, some like forest trees, and 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 of
it an' a pink sunshine around the other side. There's a big cloud just
over the middle, but I guess it's surely an island, Trot, an' bein' as
it's in the sky, it's likely to be Sky Island."
"Then we shall land there," said the boy confidently. "I knew the
umbrella wouldn't make a mistake."
Presently Cap'n Bill spoke again. "We're goin' down on the blue part o'
the island," he said. "I can see trees an' ponds an' houses. Hold
tight, Trot! Hold tight, Butt'n-Bright! I'm afeared we're a'goin' to
bump somethin'!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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