So eager was he, indeed, that his teeth lost their hold of the big briar, which cannoned from branch to branch, and dropped, somewhat forcibly, into the girl's hand. The prospective Peri was naturally a little startled, and more than a little angry, because the pipe had hurt her considerably. She slipped out of the hammock and stood looking about her with an air of enraged bewilderment. And from the clouds there came, as it were, a voice independent of any human tabernacle, a _vox et preterea nihil_. "I'm awfully sorry--upon my word, most careless of me--may I come down and make my apologies in proper form?" "Please, where are you?" demanded the girl. The tree was so constructed that Hampton could more easily see her than she him; and moreover it is one of the most difficult things in the world to locate an unexpected sound. "I'm tree'd," laughed the voice, "straight above your head." "That sounds odd," returned the other, beginning to enter into the spirit of the situation; "how on earth did you get there, and who are you?" "An aeronaut. If you will leave the shelter of this particularly fine tree and look up above, you will see a balloon; attached to the balloon is a car, and attached to the car is myself." "And do you propose to stay up there indefinitely? It isn't very amusing, is it?" "Not particularly. If you can suggest a method of escape, I shall be only too happy to descend." "Climb out of the car, and then down the tree-trunk. Nothing could be simpler." "Pardon me, but have you ever tried that particular form of gymnastic exercise? Directly I begin to get out of the car, she will topple over, and I wouldn't for the world give you the trouble of collecting my fragments at the bottom." "Please don't. It would be like making one of those wretched toy-houses out of bricks, and I know I should never fit in the pieces properly. Still, you can't stay up there for ever, can you, now?" "Not possibly. For one thing, I have not tasted food for twelve hours, and I shall expire if I don't get some presently." "I might bring you a sandwich, if you have got a piece of string you can let down," said the girl, with the easy _badinage_ of an old friend. It is not every day that one is privileged to encounter a tree'd balloonist, and she felt that the proprieties were not particularly at home in such an _al fresco_ environment. "Thanks," responded the aerial voice, "but I prefer to reach firm ground, if it can any way be managed. I say, could you get me a ladder?" "Yes. I'll hunt up the gardener, and tell him to bring one. You think you can get down that way?" [Illustration: "'WHAT THE MISCHIEF ARE YOU DOING IN MY PEAR TREE?'"]