Chapter the 26th

The phoenix saw only the outlines of the mountains that he flew over in the weakening twilight. If there was any civilization beneath him, there were no signs of it. The phoenix remembered hearing something about blackouts during the war as a protection from bombing raids. But he wasn’t carrying any bombs; he was carrying two unarmed humans, so why should cities be blacked out against him? The flock of blackbirds who had sung the phoenix to sleep before he burned himself up rejoined him and formed a squadron around him. In the dark they were mostly invisible but they made their presence known by their weird singing.

 “I think even your harmonica is better to listen to than these birds,” said one of the riders, a girl who once asked the phoenix to push her on a swing, a time when he had a different body.

“I like their singing,” said the other rider, a boy the phoenix remembered as a friend with a limp, “but I could play my harmonica along with them if you think you’d like that better.”

“It’s up to you.”

The phoenix’s friend with the limp added his harmonica to with the birds’ singing with weird musical results. The birds didn’t seem to mind the harmonica at all. The mountains melted away in the darkness and the phoenix flew over a broad expanse of water that seemed endless, but the music helped the phoenix pass the time. Not until the phoenix had concluded that the ocean was as empty as it was infinite did he see a shadow in the water. He swooped down to investigate.

“Now we're getting somewhere,” said the girl.

“Looks like a shipwreck,” said the harmonica player.

It was clear enough to the phoenix that a ship had broken apart on the rocky shore of an island. As he flew by, the phoenix stirred up just enough flame to reveal the pale insignia of a skull and crossbones on the flag flapping on its mast.

“It’s a pirate ship!” exclaimed the boy.

“So I see,” said the girl. “If a wrecked pirate ship is here, then buried treasure is not far away. I just might have the opportunity to add something to the royalty treasury.”

The phoenix saw a small pool of light and signs of activity on the rocky island and he heard the sound of high-pitched voices competing with the song of the blackbirds. He lowered his flight to investigate. A group of pirates were standing around a large treasure chest with a group of boys who were singing. One boy awkwardly waved his arms in front of the other boys, as if he was trying to conduct them but didn’t know how. The boys’ voices started to blend surprisingly well with the voices of the blackbirds. The jaws a few boys who looked upward dropped open and they lost track of the music. The edge of the treasure chest glittered as if studded with jewels. It looked like an inviting perch and. A few more boys who saw the phoenix land faltered. The blackbirds turned into black cassocks and draped themselves over the boys, entangling them to the point where none of them could sing coherently. The boy who was waving his arms clapped his hands to stop the singing, but there was hardly any singing to stop.

“That was so exquisite I can hardly stand it,” sobbed a burly pirate with a parrot on his shoulder.

“Stand it,” chirped the parrot.

The pirate pulled out a handkerchief as large as his paunch and cried his heart out. The boys and the other pirates stared at the phoenix, looked at each other, and then stared at the phoenix again. In return, the phoenix stared at the boys and the pirates. That was when the phoenix realized that the light that illuminated the faces of the pirates and the boys came out of an eye of one of the pirates. What the phoenix had thought were jewels glittering on the edge of the treasure chest turned out to be light purple threads hanging over the lid. Even so, his perch was much to good for commanding the attention of the boys and pirates for the phoenix to consider moving off.

“Could that possibly be the phoenix?” a boy asked quietly.

The pirate with a beam of light streaming out of his eye came up to the bird and squinted at it.

“If that ain’t the phoenix,” said the pirate, “then I’m a shark with its shirt tail sticking out.”

“And if that ain't the Crown Princess Mona herself come to help us find the treasure in this treasure chest,” said the pirate with a wooden eagle claw for a hand, “then I’m a starfish with its pantaloons on backwards.”

“And if that ain’t Scott, the friend of Michael the Dragon Appeaser,” said a boy, “then I’m a seahorse with his horseshoes washed away.”

The names of Michael and Scott sounded familiar to the phoenix and made him think he should know who those two people were. He also vaguely thought that he had appeased a dragon’s appetite once by letting the dragon eat him.

“If I'm not the Crown Princess, then I don't know who I am,” the girl replied.

“If you’re not the Crown Princess, I suppose you could be Black Betty of the Badlands Bay Bounty,” suggested one of the pirates.

“I don’t know who I could be if I’m not Scott Simpson,” said Scott.

“I see you have found a treasure on this island,” said Mona as she peered into the chest. “Are you going to share this treasure with Black Betty, or does Black Betty have to take it all?”

The pirates and the boys looked at her uneasily.

“Uh—we found a treasure chest,” said one of the boys.

“We can share that with you,” said another boy.

“Master Hilary of the Carelin Royal Boys’ Choir, that is a most kind offer which I feel bound to accept for the sake of the Badlands Bay Bounty,” said the princess in her most haughty voice. “You do have me wondering, however, if you might be suggesting in a roundabout way that you have not found any treasure in the treasure chest as yet.”

There was an uneasy silence among the pirates and the choirboys where nobody looked at anybody else.

“Well, it’s like this,” said the pirate with the parrot on his shoulder, “Captain Nigel and Captain Edmund reached into this here chest to get the treasure, and they haven’t been seen or heard of since.”

“Do you mean to tell me that these two choristers in the Carelin Royal Boys’ Choir are lost in a treasure chest when they should be on this island singing with you?” asked Princess Mona.

“I’m afraid so,” said the pirate as tears formed in his eyes.

“Then Chief Captain Karen went after Captain Nigel and Captain Edmund,” said Captain Hilary, “and she hasn’t been seen or heard of since, either.”

“Is Karen in danger?” Scott asked.

“She’s okay if she stays with Melanie’s Web like I told her to because my Great Aunt would tell her to,” squeaked on of the younger boys.

“And you can see this here thread from that web still hanging over the edge of the chest,” said the pirate with the parrot on his shoulder.

“Do you mean to tell me that royal choristers Nigel and Edmund and Karen have all gotten a head start on me in their quest for the treasure within this treasure chest?” asked Princess Mona.

“Well, I suppose it’s true enough in a manner of speaking that Captain Nigel, Captain Edmund and Chief Captain Karen have gotten themselves inside this here treasure chest sooner than you did, seeing as how you are still outside this here chest and Captain Nigel, Captain Edmund, and Chief Captain Karen are somewheres inside,” said one of the pirates.

“Well, I must say that my suspicions are highly roused,” said Princess Mona, “seeing as how I can see the jewels at the bottom of this treasure chest from here, jewels that surely belong in the royal treasury.”

The phoenix looked down into the treasure chest for himself, but all he saw in the pitch darkness was the slender purplish thread dropping further into the chest than even his bird’s eye could see, and so he doubted that he was seeing any jewels.

“Actually, we weren’t hunting for jewels or even pieces of eight out of this treasure chest,” said Captain Hilary.

“We were too looking for jewels and pieces of eight and every kind of fabulous, tangible wealth we could get our hands on!” insisted one of the pirates.

“My Great Aunt wouldn’t approve our hunting for jewels or pieces of eight when we’ve got to get the missing light out of the Dark Lake,” said the small boy with the squeaky voice.

“Your Great Aunt always knows what is right, my dear Dennis of the Carelin Royal Boys’ Choir,” said Princess Mona. “I would not want to do anything she thinks is not right, else she will tell stories about me that every great aunt for centuries hence will tell their grand nieces and nephews. Surely our honorable royal choristers Nigel and Edmund would seek the missing light rather than seek out jewels or pieces of eight, and I am sure the same honor applies to Karen, the Sister of Kevin the Weaver Maker. So now, thanks to you, Dennis, I know which quest Nigel and Edmund and Karen have gotten a head start on. It is, however, my royal prerogative to be the one who rescues the lost light and, indeed, I see that the lost light is well within my reach.”

“My Great Aunt says that light is always further away than you think it is,” said Dennis.

“But if I lean over just a bit more,” said Princess Mona, “I will have my hands around the light.”

“Careful,” Scott warned. “You’re leaning over too far!”

“My Great Aunt says. . .”

But Scott’s warning and Dennis’ words came too late. In reaching over too far, Mona tipped the phoenix and Scott into the chest where they dropped into the darkness. A thunderous snap of the top slamming shut the treasure chest cut off the light from the one-eyed pirate, leaving the phoenix and his riders in darkness save for the fire in his feathers.

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Karen felt as if she were dancing effortlessly as the web guided her movements through the dark. Even when the boys’ voices grew so distant that they sounded like tinkling bells, she still heard their singing clearly.

“I hope Captain Dennis and his Great Aunt are right about this spider web,” Karen thought to herself. “If he isn’t, than I’ll wander around this thing forever.”

Melanie’s Web continued to move her gracefully, giving her a sense that she was going somewhere, although she had no idea of where that could be. When she saw a star in the distance, she thought that perhaps her destination was in sight. The bright light began to grow larger and Karen’s hopes rose. She swam along the web in the direction of the star and the light continued to grow in intensity. The tinkling bell-like sound of the boys’ singing faded out. The silence made Karen apprehensive about the start, the more so as she saw the star speeding in her direction like a fiery torpedo. Karen clutched the thread of Melanie’s Web, hoping it could protect her from whatever was coming. When the star reached Karen, it snorted and a pair of red eyes and then the tusks of the golden boar shot out of each side of its mouth. Before Karen could twist herself out of the way, the boar brushed past her and knocked her out of the web just as a deafening clap of thunder sounded overhead.

Karen’s scream was absorbed by the darkness. She could not tell whether she was falling or floating. There was no sign of the golden boar that had knocked her over, neither was there any sign of Melanie’s Web. In this state of limbo she quickly became lightheaded. Thoughts about her hardworking mother and her talented but troubled brother scurried through her mind, but she could not think straight about them or about anything else. The whole adventure on the pirate ship with the choristers receded to a distant dream. In the darkness, Karen and her memories began to dissolve.

But before her memories dissolved entirely, Karen landed on something soft but firm, with a minimum of impact. Whatever she had landed on seemed to be moving with a slow, jerky motion. The motion was soothing, almost hypnotic, and comforting. Karen moved her hands along the surface she was sitting on. The surface was smooth, sort of leathery. Under this surface, she felt a spine and other bones and muscles moving in the same rhythm as the motion that she felt. Moving very carefully so as not to fall off what she suspected was an animal of some sort, Karen crawled forward until she felt a short tail hanging in the back. Then she turned around and crawled in the opposite direction for quite a distance until her hands moved up a large head flanked by two large, floppy ears.

“Is there a chance this I am riding an elephant?” Karen asked herself.

“There is more than a chance that you are riding an elephant,” said the creature in a gentle, milky voice. “I am Bertha the Elephant.”

Karen almost slid off the large animal, she was so startled to have the outlandish tales of the choirboys and pirates confirmed.

“Bertha? Bertha the-the-the Elephant?” Karen stammered. “Do you mean to tell me that you’re-that you’re real?”

“I assure you that I am as real as you need me to be,” replied Bertha the Elephant. “I hope you landed comfortably on my back.”

“Oh yes, very comfortably,” said Karen. “I couldn’t have landed on anything any more comfortably after a fall like that.”

“I am so glad to hear that.”

“Bertha?”

“Yes, dear.”

“Is it true that Sylvester the Turtle holds up the world and that you hold up Silvester the Turtle?”

“Yes, dear. That is most certainly true all of the time except for the present moment,” Bertha the Elephant answered. “But in order to find you this far down in the Dark Lake, I had to dive so deeply that Sylvester the Turtle lost his foothold on my back. Even when I am supporting him, he complains unceasingly about how heavy the world is on top of his shell. Now that he does not have my support, he must be complaining even more strenuously and morosely than he ever did before, the poor turtle.”

“And—is it true—that—that Cornelius the Beetle holds you up?”

“Why yes, dear, Cornelius is the most dependable beetle in the world. He would never—Oh no! It can’t be!”

“What’s the matter?” asked Karen.

“I have just lost Cornelius the Beetle! He was just under my foot a second ago and now he’s gone, and I have no idea where he’s gone to.”

“Then—perhaps Cornelius the Beetle is not as dependable as you thought he was?” Karen asked cautiously.

“Cornelius the Beetle is totally dependable, Dear,” said Bertha the Elephant. “I am sure that wherever he went, he went there for the purpose of being most dependable for somebody. You can count on that.”

“Bertha?”

“Yes, Dear.”

“Can you help me find Captain Nigel and Captain Edmund? They fell into this treasure chest ahead of me.”

“I don’t know, my dear,” the elephant replied. “I really don’t know where I can take you or when I can get there, or who we might find when I get there. Neither do I know if I can manage to take you anywhere at all.”

“Bertha?”

“Yes, dear.”

“You aren’t lost, too, are you?”

Karen heard a long, sad sigh from the elephant that broke her heart, and made her fear that she had hurt the elephant’s feelings.

“I wouldn’t say that I am lost, Dear,” Bertha the Elephant answered. “It is just that I have no idea of where I am, or where I will be, or when I will get there, or if I will ever get anywhere ever again. I have not even have the slightest idea of where the world is, assuming the world is anywhere at all as of now. I hope you are comfortable riding on my back.”

“Yes,” Karen replied. “It’s very comfortable here. You are the most comfortable animal in the world.”

“I’m glad to hear it, my dear.”

“But I’m worried about your not knowing where we are, or where we are going,” said Karen.

“I am worried about the same things, my dear,” said Bertha the Elephant, “very worried indeed.”

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“Nice going, Tipsy Tumbler,” Princess Mona chided her companion on the phoenix’s back.

The phoenix had only just managed to get himself straightened out in the darkness. One wing still hurt where its tip had gotten clipped when the top of the treasure chest slammed shut on it. The lid had also ripped off a feather which the phoenix saw floating downward into the darkness until it disappeared from sight. Light purple threads extended from each side of him which the phoenix assumed were part of the Web spun by that spider that the boys and pirates talked about. He felt that it was the Web that was supporting his wings, making his flight easier for him.

“How come you’re blaming me?” Scott asked. “You’re the one who got greedy for a fistful of jewels and then a fistful of light and tipped us over.”

“If you had balanced yourself properly on the phoenix in relation to me, this would not have happened,” Mona complained.

The phoenix wished he could shake off the princess without losing his friend, the one with the limp and the harmonica, but he did not know how that could be done.

“I think you have to learn to take more responsibility for your greed and your actions,” said Scott.

“You have to learn how to speak more politely to a princess,” Mona reproved him.

“Is it polite to tell a princess that she’s wonderful girl when she’s making it harder for everybody to find the lost light?” asked Scott.

“If you would be polite enough to tell me, a princess, how wonderful I am, I would have an easier time fulfilling my responsibility of finding the light,” Princess Mona replied. “In fact, if you should help me properly even now, I will surely beat my brother to the light, and that will greatly enhance my prestige at his expense.”

“Don’t you like your brother?”

“Of course I like my brother, Prince Moroch the Pickled, as long as I win our little competitions.”

The phoenix began to feel an irritating itch somewhere on his back. He tried to reach it with his left wing, but couldn’t. He tried with his right wing, but with even less success.

“Can you scratch my back, right in the middle?” asked the phoenix, shocked to realize he could speak.

“Yes, I think we can,” said the princess. The phoenix felt the princess scratching just a short distance from where the itch was. “Am I getting warmer?”

“Try a bit further up,” the phoenix requested.

“Okay.”

“OH!” cried somebody with a raspy voice.

“What’s the matter?” asked Scott.

“The princess of Carelin almost knocked me off the phoenix,” the person with a thin, raspy voice complained. “I was almost brushed off like a common insect, in which case the whole world would have been plunged into the deepest darkness.”

“Well, it is the responsibility of the Princess of Carelin to make sure the world is not plunged into the deepest darkness,” said Princess Mona.

“I’m glad you see it that way,” said the person with the raspy voice.

“Surely you aren’t Cornelius the Beetle, are you?” Mona asked the creature.

“If I’m not surely Cornelius, than I’m not surely anything, or anybody at all,” replied the beetle.

“Then I’m glad I didn’t brush you off like a common insect,” said Mona.

“So am I.”

“Cornelius, why are you riding on the back of the phoenix and not holding up Bertha the Elephant?” Mona asked him.

“Because the phoenix needs to have me ride him and take him to his destination, and I’m too small to get to my destination without the help of this phoenix,” Cornelius the Beetle replied.

“Isn’t the world getting a bit unstable with you away from the job?” asked Mona.

“Don’t blame me for the instability of the world,” replied Cornelius the Beetle. “First, Sylvester the Turtle swam off on a mission without telling anybody where he was going. Second, Bertha the Elephant left her post to rescue somebody who fell beneath Melanie’s Web. Third, just as I was getting my bearings after Bertha the Elephant left me, Humphrey the Bull Frog, who has held me up for more centuries than even Melanie the Web Spinner could count, hopped away on another mission without telling me what he was up to, either. As a result, I have been left all on my own with nobody to hold up and nobody to hold me up. If the phoenix hadn’t come along to pick me up, I don’t know where I’d be.”

“Do you know where I am now?” the phoenix asked the beetle, whose presence was no longer causing such an uncomfortable itch now that the phoenix knew who it was.

“No, I haven’t the slightest idea,” Cornelius confessed.

“Then how are we going to get anywhere?” asked Scott.

“Now, that is a different matter,” said Cornelius. “I know exactly where we’re headed. We’re headed to the broken wall of the Lost City where the Carelin Express train has been wrecked.”

“Whatever could the Carelin Express train be doing in the treasure chest?” asked Mona.

“I assume that the Carelin Express train is waiting for Cornelius the Beetle to fix it up so it can run again and fulfill its mission. And if my eyes don’t deceive me, that thing down there that looks like a long twisted snake is the train I’m headed for.”

Once Cornelius the Beetle mentioned it, the phoenix could see purple threads running down parallel below him until they ended in a dark clump that looked very much like a wreck of some sort.

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A resounding crash from far above shook the pink toy piano and cut off the piano’s sound as if it were a hatchet.

“Theodora!” Sheila cried.

She floundered about the piano’s top in search of her teddy bear

“I’ve got you!” said the engineer as he grabbed Sheila by the wrist.

“I’ve got you said Roger!”

“And Roger’s got me!” added Samantha.

But just as she got a hold of Theodora with her free hand, Sheila slid off the piano, dragging everybody else with her.

After a moment of screaming, Sheila and her companions seemed to settle in space without even the sensation of floating in the air. The pink piano quickly dropped out of sight, plunging the three children into darkness. Sheila never thought she would miss the ugly toy so much.

“Is everybody okay?” asked the engineer.

“Not bad for a boy lost in the Dark Lake without a violin,” said Roger, sounding almost cheerful.

“I’m doing pretty good for a girl lost in the Dark Lake without any drums to play,” said Samantha.

Sheila’s throat filled up with a lump and tears filled her face. She clutched Theodora to her chest as the only comfort left her.

“The piano. . .:” Sheila sobbed.

“I think somebody else needs the piano now,” said Samantha.

“Sheila, do you have the candle?” Roger asked.

“Oh no!” Sheila cried out.

“I guess that answers my question,” said Roger.

“I saved—Theodora, though,” said Sheila, barely getting the words out. “I-I should have—I should have reached for the candle, first.”

“Yes, you should have,” said Roger, sounding very self-righteous.

“Don’t feel bad,” said the engineer. “I’m sure that candle knows right where it is, even if we don’t. That’s what counts.”

“Theodora will feel bad if you wish you had dropped her to save the candle instead,” said Samantha.

“It seems everything I do is wrong,” Sheila moaned.

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” said the engineer. “Something is sure to turn up.”

“What?” asked Sheila.

“Maybe Sylvester the Turtle will come along and give us a lift,” said the engineer. “I hear he’s been known to do that when the need is great enough. If Sylvester is too busy, then maybe Bertha the Elephant or Cornelius the Beetle will come along.”

“What if they don’t come?” asked Sheila.

“Then somebody else will have to come, that’s all,” said the engineer, his confidence waning.

Sheila couldn’t believe that anybody was going to just happen to come along in the darkness and emptiness, but she didn’t say so because she didn’t want to dampen the spirits of her friends. Although she felt bad about losing the candle and feared that she may have doomed the quest for the light, she had to admit that Theodora was much more comforting to hold on to than a candle. She could almost imagine the teddy bear purring into her ear that everything was going to be all right, even though she no longer had a piano to put her paws on.

“I wish I had my violin,” said Roger.

“I wish I had my drums,” said Samantha.

“I wish I could go home an play my piano,” Sheila sobbed.

With the darkness concealing her tears and knowing that her companions wouldn’t make fun of her, Sheila did not try to restrain herself from crying. When she first heard the sound of swishing water, Sheila thought perhaps she had cried enough to create a pond of tears the way Alice did in Wonderland.

“I think I hear something like the sound of water and I think I hear the sound of something in the water,” said the engineer. “I told you something would turn up.”

“Do you think it’s Sylvester the Turtle?” asked Samantha.

“I’ll bet it’s the great sea monster, Cowbanga the Crusher, who eats up ships for dinner,” suggested Roger.

“Very funny,” said Samantha.

A loud grunt like a belch broke the silence, and then a pair of dark yellow eyes popped up in front of Sheila. Sheila shrank back against the engineer’s chest as a reptilian face with streaks of gold and sparks of fire in its mouth showed itself.

“Well I'll be a giraffe with its neck caught in a flying squirrel's laundry!” exclaimed the engineer.

 “I’ll bet mother never thought we’d see a bullfrog this far under the foundations of the world, and this deep in the Dark Lake,” said Roger.

“I’ll bet mother didn’t thing we’d see a bullfrog carrying scraps of parchment in its mouth, either,” said Samantha.

The bull frog grunted and shook the scraps of parchment at the faces of the children.

“What are you carrying in your mouth?” asked Samantha.

“Mmmm,” grunted the bullfrog.

“Even a bullfrog has a hard time talking with its mouth full,” said Roger.

“Is there a chance that you are Humphrey the Bullfrog?” Samantha asked him.

“Mhm,” answered the bullfrog.

“Do you want me to take the papers out of your mouth?” asked Roger.

“Mhm.”

Roger reached over and carefully extracted several scraps of parchment. When he saw that there was also a fiery feather in the bullfrog’s mouth, he took that out as well. Sheila noted that, although she still heard the sound of water close by, she didn’t feel it at all.

“Thank you very much for taking these scraps parchment and that feather out of my mouth,” said the bullfrog in a deep voice. “The parchment didn’t exactly taste good and that feather was burning up my mouth.”

“What are they?” asked Roger.

“Don’t ask me,” Humphrey the Bullfrog replied. “I only know that, right when I was minding my own business, holding up Cornelius the Beetle so that he could do his share of holding up Bertha the Elephant and Sylvester the Turtle, so as to help them hold up the world, this burning feather hit me in the mouth. Next thing I knew, the feather was pulling me into the primordial waters under the Dark Lake to get these scraps of drawings.”

“This sure feels good in my hand,” said Roger.

“Can I feel it?” asked Samantha.

“Sure.”

Roger handed the feather to Samantha and consolidated his grip on the scraps of parchment.

“This feels good,” said Samantha. “Want to feel it, Sheila?”

“I—I don’t know,” said Sheila, intimidated by the sparks the feather was giving off.

“Give it a try,” the engineer urged her. “A phoenix’s feather won’t hurt you in a million years.”

“Okay,” said Sheila.

Samantha handed the feather to Sheila. She felt better about everything instantly. Meanwhile, Roger started to examine the scraps in the light of the bullfrog’s eye with Samantha looking over his shoulder..

“Do these buildings look to you what they look like to me?” Samantha asked in a subdued voice.

“If these are drawings look to you like the buildings we saw in the Lost City where they sacrificed us they do,” said Roger, his voice just as subdued.

Sheila crowded in to look at the drawings for herself. Seeing drawings that matched the buildings she had just seen made her feel queer all over.

“That’s—what they look to me, too,” she said. “The drawings aren’t finished. Just like the buildings in the Lost City are unfinished.”

“I have a feeling these are the drawings of the Lost City that Kevin the Illuminator didn’t finish,” said Roger.

“I have a feeling that Kevin the Illuminator himself tore up these drawings,” said Samantha.

“And I have a feeling that tearing them up didn’t do anybody any good,” said Roger.

“The only harm Kevin the Illuminator did by tearing up these drawings that I know of is that it tore up the whole world,” said Humphrey the Bullfrog.

“Then we just have to put the drawings and the world back together again,” said the engineer cheerfully.

“But who’s going to draw the pictures now?” asked Sheila. “I told you not to leave Kevin behind when he dropped out of the train.”

“Never would have found him anyway,” said the engineer, “but I must admit it’s an ugly pickle we’re in on account of our not having Kevin the Illuminator with us.”

“Humphrey the Bullfrog, can you help us find Kevin the Illuminator?” Roger asked.

“I think it will be easier for Kevin the Illuminator to find me than for me to find him,” Humphrey the Bullfrog replied grumpily. “I’ve never found anybody in centuries. But I can try to be found by him, if that’s any help.”

“I’m sure that will help a lot,” said the engineer. “Something is bound to turn up.”

“Humphrey the Bullfrog,” asked Roger, “Can we please ride on your back while we try to get found by Kevin the Illuminator?”

“Please, oh pretty please?” added Samantha.

“I suppose that will make it easier for Kevin the Illuminator to find us if you are riding me,” Humphrey the Bullfrog answered.

“Thanks a lot, Humphrey the Bullfrog,” said Samantha.

Sheila cringed at the idea of climbing up on the bullfrog’s slimy back, but she knew she had no choice, once Roger, Samantha and the engineer who had done it and Roger was reaching for her. To her surprise, she was much more comfortable than she thought possible.

“Humphrey the Bullforg,” said Samantha, “I hope we aren’t too heavy for you to carry.”

“Don’t worry,” the bull frog replied. “Gertrude the Walrus is holding me up. I can count on her to stay where she is and support me, provided nobody needs a sewing job and provided that nobody who needs a sewing job remembers her great sewing skill happens to think to call on her for help. If a sewing job should ever come along and if somebody remembered her—and she hasn’t been remembered for centuries—she’ll drop the whole universe and come running. That’s how much she likes sewing.”

“Sounds pretty safe to me,” said the engineer.

Proceed to Chapter the 27th

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