Ten minutes more "swimming" brought them within sight of the orchard about which the bird had told them. "The Hightown sign said 'altitude 15,000 feet,'" said Tom. "That's almost three miles. I can't believe we've been swimming that far." "Probably they boosted that figure as high as their opinion of Hightown," said Twiffle, "and anyway, it did say the altitude varied. Varies very much, I'd say." A few minutes later they were standing on the earth in a grove of apple, plum, and cherry trees. Every branch was filled with ripe, luscious fruit. Twink looked for their friend, the wren, but saw nothing of him. The Shaggy Man began looking about the ground for apples. Suddenly he laughed. "That was really stupid of me," he called to Twink and Tom. "Of course there aren't any apples on the ground. They can't fall off the trees!" "This must be where the Hightowners get their fruit," said Twink. "Of course," replied Shaggy. "They thought they would keep us with them by not telling us how easy it is to reach the earth from Hightown." "But they must have known we would see some of them coming and going to the orchard, and find out sooner or later how to escape," said Tom. "Well, thanks to that bird, we found out sooner," said Twiffle. Before they left the grove, Shaggy walked in the air to the upper branches of the biggest apple tree in the orchard and filled his pockets with the largest and ruddiest of the fruit. "Can't tell where we'll find our next meal," he explained. Knowing the area that was freed from the force of gravity was of very small extent, Shaggy and his friends walked steadily in one direction, treading several feet in the air, since that was easier than walking on the earth. As there was no difference in the appearance of the countryside, where gravity exerted itself again, they had no way of telling when they would suddenly emerge from the gravity-less land. Shaggy was in the lead when he suddenly experienced that curious sensation that comes when you step unexpectedly into a hole. The result was that Shaggy toppled forward and found himself sprawled on the grass. Following him came Twink, Tom and Twiffle. Only Tom managed to maintain his balance. What he had realized in time, was simply that the others had stepped off the air, on which they had been walking, to the earth a foot or two below them. The Shaggy Man sighed. "Give me the earth to crawl around on any day, as our friend the Lord High Mayor would put it, even though it does mean an occasional tumble." CHAPTER 9 The Valley of Romance