After the Pinkies had been dismissed, their new Queen Rosalie, by
means of a clever charm, conjured up a dinner table set with very
nice things to eat. They all enjoyed a hearty meal and afterward sat
and talked over their adventures.
"Will you take the parrot home with you, Trot?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"Guess not, Cap'n," she answered. "Mother wouldn't like to have him
hangin' 'round an' screechin' bad po'try ev'ry minute. I'll give him
to Rosalie, for I'm sure she'll take good care of him."
Rosalie accepted the gift with pleasure, but the parrot looked sober
for a while and then said,
"This looks to me like a giveaway; But here I am, and here I'll stay. The country's pink, but we'll all be blue When Trot goes home as she says she'll do."
They now packed the lunchbasket with the remains of the feast, for
they knew a long journey was before them and feared they might be
hungry before they landed again. Cap'n Bill straightened out the
ropes and adjusted the seats, while Button-Bright examined the
umbrella to see if it had been injured in any way when the elephant
tramped through the Fog Bank.
The boy looked into the small red eyes of the carved elephant's-head
handle with some misgivings, but as seen in the strong sunshine the
eyes were merely red stones, while the handle plainly showed the
marks of the tool that had carved it.
When all was ready, they went into the Court of the Statues, where
all the Pinkies were assembled--together with their Pink Band--and
Cap'n Bill hooked the swinging seats onto the handle of the Magic
Umbrella.
Trot kissed Rosalie and Coralie and Tourmaline goodbye and said to
them:
"If you ever happen to come to Earth, you must be sure to visit me, and I'll try to give you a good time. But p'raps you'll stay here all your lives."
"I think we shall," replied Rosalie, laughing, "for in all Sky
Island there will be no Magic Umbrella for us to fly with."
"And when you see Polychrome," added Trot, "jus' give her my love."
Then she and Button-Bright seated themselves in the double seat, which was flat upon the pink ground, and Cap'n Bill sat before them on his own seat, to which the lunch basket had been fastened by means of a stout cord.
"Hold fast!" said the sailor man, and they all held fast to the
ropes while the boy, glancing up toward the open umbrella he held, said solemnly and distinctly:
"Take us to Trot's house on the Earth." The umbrella obeyed, at once
mounting into the air. It moved slowly at first, but gradually
increased its speed. First it lifted the seat of the boy and the
girl, then Cap'n Bill's seat, and finally the lunch basket.
"Fly high!--Mind your eye! Don't cry!--Bye-bye!"
shouted the parrot from the Pink Witch's shoulder.
Trot leaned over and waved her hand. The Pink Band played as loud as
it could--in order that the travelers might hear it as long as
possible--and Rosalie and Coralie and Tourmaline threw kisses to
their vanishing friends as long as they remained in sight.
* * * * * * * *
"Seems good to be on the way home again," remarked Trot as the
umbrella bumped into a big, black cloud.
"It reely does, mate," answered the sailorman joyously.
Fast through the cloud the umbrella swept, and then suddenly it
sailed into a clear, blue sky, across which a great and gorgeous
Rainbow spread its radiant arch. Upon the bow danced the dainty
Daughters of the Rainbow, and the umbrella passed near enough to it
for the passengers to observe Polychrome merrily leading her
sisters, her fleecy robes waving prettily in the gentle breeze.
"Goodbye, Polly!" cried Button-Bright, and Trot and Cap'n Bill both
called out, "Goodbye!"
Polychrome heard and nodded to them smilingly, never halting in her
graceful dance. Then the umbrella dropped far below the arch, which
presently faded from view.
It was an exciting ride. Scenes presented themselves entirely
different from those they had seen on their former voyage, for the
sky changes continually, and the clouds of a moment ago are not the
clouds of an hour ago. Once they passed between two small stars as
brilliant as diamonds, and once an enormous bird whose wings spread
so wide that they shadowed the sun soared directly over them and
lost itself in the vague distance of the limitless sky.