ce, and the smooth Edna, seeing the proper Cricket"
[another howl] "struggling in the water with the contrary Will,
immediately jumped out after them, leaving the rough Archie and forlorn
auntie in command of the boat. Suddenly a bold gnome popped up his
dainty head from behind a rock, saying, 'Welcome, Englishmen! You are in
the cave of accident. Look out for yourselves.' As he spoke, his watery
head fell off. He felt around but could not find it, since his eyes had
gone with his head, so he said, politely, 'Will some of you immense, raw
people pick up my jealous head for me, and kindly put it on?' Snub-nosed
Hilda" ["Ah, you've caught it now, young lady," from Archie] "being
nearest, handed him his head, which had rolled to her idolatrous feet.
The hysterical gnome immediately clapped it on--wrong side before.
'Never mind,' he said. 'Now I can go _to_ school, or _from_ school, just
as I like, and nobody will ever know what I'm doing.' The dumpy party
then went on their way exploring, leaving the squealing Archie and
uncanny auntie calling after them, and weeping unmixed tears of terror,
lest by some accident they should never come back. The noble gnome went
along in front of them, when suddenly he began walking right up, in the
water. When the others came up to the same place, to their surprise,
they found themselves doing the same thing. They couldn't possibly stay
on the ground. 'I don't want to go up,' said erratic Cricket, kicking,
and shamefaced Will called to the sparkling gnome, to know what was the
matter. 'Nothing at all,' he called back, cheerfully, 'only gravity
doesn't happen to act just there. Sometimes it doesn't and then you're
just as likely to go somewhere else.'

"'Let's go back!' said prim Eunice.

"'Very well. There's nowhere to go but back,' called back the rickety
gnome. 'Stand on your heads, and go the other way.'

"The humble party upset themselves, and got along very nicely, and soon
found themselves on the ground again.

"'I don't like to walk all sorts of ways,' said flighty Hilda. 'I like
to go on my grateful feet best.' So they decided to go back to the boat
as best they could. But when they came to the suave boat it wasn't
there, for the ground had opened accidentally, and cowardly Archie and
generous auntie had fallen right through the earth, to China, probably,
if nothing happened to stop them. This was quite a disappointment to the
naughty party, who didn't know what to do next. So