“P. S.—Please bring back the balloons, because they are just borrowed. “P. S.—The White-White Horse is invited, too.” The message completed, Diggeldy Dan produced a piece of string from one of his wonderful pockets and, aided by Monkey, tied all the sticks of all the balloons tightly together and then fastened the letter to the tip of the sticks. “Now, then,” said Lion, “we are ready to let loose the balloons. You, Elephant, take hold of the sticks with your trunk. You, Puma, will leap to the top of your cage and hold open the eaves of the tent with your paws so that Elephant can thrust the balloons through the space and hand them to the wind as it comes out of the east.” “I can make out the curve of a hill to the west,” called Puma, who had jumped from the ground to the roof of the cage. “Only I can’t get quite high enough to see over the top.” “I’ll be the lookout,” cried Monkey, “that is, if Giraffe will lend me his head and step over near the eaves of the tent.” And, as Giraffe nodded assent, up the long neck he scampered and was soon perched aloft, holding tight with both hands to Giraffe’s pointed ears. “All right, up there?” called Lion from below. “All ready,” answered Monkey, “and here comes the east wind around the side of the tent.” “Cast off, then, Elephant,” commanded Lion. “Let go the balloons!” At the very same moment, Elephant gave a great “swish” with his trunk and away went the balloons through the space at the eaves. “There they go!” shouted Monkey. “Up, up, up! Goodness, how they’re sailing! Oh! they’ve caught in a tree! No, they haven’t! Now the east wind has them again! Once more they’re off! They’re going higher and higher! And they’re bound straight for the hill! Yes, straight for the brow of the hill!” And so, from his perch, Monkey described every inch of the flight until, to the great relief of the animals who were grouped down below, he announced that the balloons had passed over the hill. Indeed the word came in good time, for just then there followed a quick shout from Dan, crying, “Get back to your places as fast as you can!” Then came a wild scurrying to right and to left. “Now, I’ll bid you good night,” said Diggeldy Dan, when the very last door had been locked. “And to-morrow we’ll learn if we were right when we guessed that the one we have written makes her home in the west.” CHAPTER VII IN WHICH THE ANIMALS MEET WITH A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A SURPRISE AND A STORY IS BEGUN Now, had the keepers who slept so soundly at the foot of the big blue poles in the great menagerie tent suddenly wakened at a little after half-past twilight on the evening following that which saw the balloons go sailing over the hill, they no doubt would have rubbed their eyes, pinched themselves and then exclaimed: “Well, of all things! Wherever can those animals be?”