DAVY FALLS INTO THE ELASTIC SPRING.DAVY FALLS INTO THE ELASTIC SPRING.
"Another minute and you wouldn't have been bigger than a peanut!"
"What's the matter with me?" said Davy, not knowing what to make of it all.
"Matter?" cried the Goblin. "Why, you've been and gone and fallen into an Elastic Spring, that's all. If you'd got in at stretch tide, early in the morning, you'd have been a perfect giraffe; but you got in at shrink tide and—oh, my! oh, my!" and here he went off into another fit of laughter.
"I don't think it's anything to laugh at," cried Davy, with the tears starting to his eyes, "and I'm sure I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Oh! don't worry," said the Goblin, good-naturedly. "I'll take a dip myself, just to be companionable, and tomorrow morning we can get back to any size you like."
"I wish you'd take these things in with you," said Davy, pointing to his shoes and stockings. "They're big enough now for Badorful."
"All right!" cried the Goblin. "Here we go;" and, taking the shoes and stockings in his hand, he plunged into the spring, and a moment afterward scrambled out exactly Davy's size.
"Now, that's what I call a nice, tidy size," said the Goblin, complacently, while Davy was squeezing his feet into his wet shoes. "What do you say to a ride on a field-mouse?"
"That will be glorious!" said Davy.
"Well, there goes the sun," said the Goblin; "it will be moonlight presently, and moonlight is the time for mouse-back riding;" and as he spoke, the sun went down with a boom like a distant gun, and left them in the dark. The next moment the moon rose above the trees
"'FRECKLES,' SAID THE GOBLIN, 'WHAT TIME IS IT?'""'FRECKLES,' SAID THE GOBLIN, 'WHAT TIME IS IT?'"
and beamed down pleasantly upon them, and the Goblin, taking Davy by the hand, led him into the wood.
"Freckles," said the Goblin, "what time is it?"
They were now in the densest part of the wood, where the moon was shining brightly on a little pool with rushesgrowing about it, and the Goblin was speaking to a large Toad.
"Forty croaks," said the Toad, in a husky whisper; and then, as a frog croaked in the pool, he added, "That makes it forty-one. The Snoopers have come in, and Thimbletoes is shaking in his boots." And with these words the Toad coughed, and then hopped heavily away.
"What does he mean?" whispered Davy.
"He means that the fairies are here, andthatmeans that we won't get our ride," said the Goblin, rather sulkily.
"And who is Thimbletoes?" said Davy.
"He's the Prime Minister," said the Goblin. "You see, if any one of the Snoopers finds out something the Queen didn't know before, out goes the Prime Minister, and the Snooper pops into his boots. Thimbletoes doesn't fancy that, you know, because the Prime Minister has all the honey he wants, by way of a salary. Now, here's the mouse-stable, and don't you speak a word—mind!"
As the Goblin said this they came upon a little thatched building, about the size of a baby-house, standing just beyond the pool; and the Goblin, cautiously pushing open the door, stole noiselessly in, with Davy following at his heels, trembling with excitement.
The little building was curiously lighted up by a vast number of fire-flies, hung from the ceiling by loops of cobweb; and Davy could see several spiders hurrying about among them and stirring them up when the lightgrew dim. The field-mice were stabled in little stalls on either side, each one with his tail neatly tied in a bow-knot to a ring at one side; and, at the farther end of the stable was a buzzing throng of fairies, with their shining clothes and gauzy wings sparkling beautifully in the soft light. Just beyond them Davy saw the Queen sitting on a raised throne, with a little mullen-stalk for a sceptre, and beside her was the Prime Minister, in a terrible state of agitation.
"Now, here's this Bandybug," the Prime Minister was saying. "What doesheknow about untying the knots in a cord of wood?"
"Nothing!" said the Queen, positively. "Absolutely nothing!"
"And then," continued the Prime Minister, "the idea of his presuming to tell your Gossamer Majesty that he can hear the bark of the dogwood trees"—
"Bosh!" cried the Queen. "Paint him with raspberry jam, and put him to bed in a bee-hive. That'll make him smart, at all events."
Here the Prime Minister began dancing about in an ecstasy, until the Queen knocked him over with the mullen-stalk, and shouted, "Silence! and plenty of it, too. Bring in Berrylegs."
Berrylegs, who proved to be a wiry little Fairy, with a silver coat and tight, cherry-colored trousers, was immediately brought in. His little wings fairly bristled with defiance, and his manner, as he stood before theQueen, was so impudent, that Davy felt morally certain there was going to be a scene.
"May it please your Transparent Highness,"—began Berrylegs.
"DAVY FELT MORALLY CERTAIN THERE WAS GOING TO BE A SCENE.""DAVY FELT MORALLY CERTAIN THERE WAS GOING TO BE A SCENE."
"Skip all that!" interrupted the Queen, flourishing her mullen-stalk.
"Skip, yourself!" said Berrylegs, boldly, in reply. "Don't you suppose I know how to talk to a Queen?"
The Queen turned very pale, and, after a hurried consultationwith the Prime Minister, said faintly, "Have it your own way;" and Berrylegs began again.
"May it please your Transparent Highness, I've found out how the needles get into the haystacks."
As Berrylegs said this a terrible commotion arose at once among the fairies. The Prime Minister cried out, "Oh, come, I say! That's not fair, you know," and the Queen became so agitated that she began taking great bites off the end of the mullen-stalk in a dazed sort of way; and Davy noticed that the Goblin, in his excitement, was trying to climb up on one of the mouse-stalls, so as to get a better view of what was going on. At last the Queen, whose mouth was now quite filled with bits of the mullen-stalk, mumbled, "Get to the point."
"It ought to be a sharp one, being about needles," said the Prime Minister, attempting a joke, with a feeble laugh, but no one paid the slightest attention to him; and Berrylegs, who was now positively swelling with importance, called out, in a loud voice, "It comes from using sewing-machines when they sow the hay-seed!"
The Prime Minister gave a shriek, and fell flat on his face, and the Queen began jumping frantically up and down, and beating about on all sides of her with the end of the mullen-stalk, when suddenly a large Cat walked into the stable, and the fairies fled in all directions. There was no mistaking the Cat, and Davy, forgetting entirely the Goblin's caution, exclaimed, "Why! it's Solomon!"
The next instant the lights disappeared, and Davyfound himself in total darkness, with Solomon's eyes shining at him like two balls of fire. There was a confused sound of sobs and cries and the squeaking of mice, among which could be heard the Goblin's voice, crying, "Davy! Davy!" in a reproachful way; then the eyes disappeared, and a moment afterward the stable was lifted off the ground and violently shaken.
"That's Solomon, trying to get at the mice," thought Davy. "I wish the old thing had stayed away," he added aloud, and as he said this the little stable was broken all to bits, and he found himself sitting on the ground in the forest.
The moon had disappeared, and snow was falling rapidly, and the sound of distant chimes reminded Davy that it must be past midnight, and that Christmas-day had come. Solomon's eyes were shining in the darkness like a pair of coach-lamps, and, as Davy sat looking at them, a ruddy light began to glow between them, and presently the figure of the Goblin appeared, dressed in scarlet, as when he had first come. The reddish light was shining through his stomach again, as though the coals had been fanned into life once more, and as Davy gazed at him it grew brighter and stronger, and finally burst into a blaze. Then Solomon's eyes gradually took the form of great brass balls, and presently the figure of the long-lost Colonel came into view just above them, affectionately hugging his clock. He was gazing mournfully down upon the poor Goblin, who was now blazinglike a dry chip, and as the light of the fire grew brighter and stronger the trees about slowly took the shape of an old-fashioned fireplace with a high mantel-shelf above it, and then Davy found himself curled up in the big easy-chair, with his dear old grandmother bending over him, and saying gently, "Davy! Davy! Come and have some dinner, my dear!"
In fact, the Believing Voyage was ended.