"Take this," said Fatima. "It is a magic key, and there is never a lock it will not fit nor a catch it will not undo."
Ellen was slow about taking it. She glanced at the gander. "I don't believe I want to go back, but I don't know."
The gander answered her look. "We'll go on then," he said, "and if we have that key they can't keep us locked up, and my wings will be always good to carry us out of trouble."
"And you'll bring me back word?" cried Fatima.
And now Fatima was eager for them to go. It seemed as though she could not wait to have her curiosity satisfied. Sister Anne would have had them stay and rest awhile and have some refreshment after their long journey, but Fatima could not hide her impatience to have them start. And indeed Ellen and the gander were in as much haste as she.
Fatima went with them to the very edge of the wall of mist and the last thing they heard as they plunged into it was her voice calling after them, "Don't forget, you are to bring me word, and make haste; make haste."
"Oh how cold and still and gray," cried Ellen. They were in the very heart of the mist. She could hear the steady beat of the gander's wings, but the grayness around was so thick that she could see nothing but the dim outline of his neck before her. She would not have known whether they were moving at all if it had not been for the stir of air against her face.
"Mistress, do you see light before us?" asked the gander.
"One might travel around and around in this mist, and yet never find one's way out," said the gander half to itself.
On and on it flew. "Is there no light before us yet?" it asked again, and its wings seemed to flag.
Ellen listened. "Nothing but the beating of your wings."
"Mistress, I no longer know whether I am flying forward or not. For all I can tell I may be going around in a circle."
"I wonder if I were to blow upon the horn the huntsman gave me whether some one would hear and answer?" she suggested.
Ellen raised the horn to her lips and blew. They both listened, but there was no reply.
The third time she drew a deep breath and blew with all her might. The gander stayed his flight to listen, and now, away toward the right hand, there sounded a faint halloo. The gander turned and flew in that direction, and they had gone but a little way when the grayness before them grew lighter. Another moment or so, and they were through the mists and out upon the other side.