right when they had safely landed.

"All right. I'll tie on the lunch-basket," answered the sailor. He
fastened it so it would swing underneath his own seat, and they all
took their places again.

"Ready?" asked the boy.

"Let 'er go, my lad."

"I want to go to Sky Island," said Button-Bright to the umbrella, using
the name Trot had given him. The umbrella started promptly. It rose
higher than before, carrying the three voyagers with it, and then
started straight away over the ocean.

THE ISLAND IN THE SKY

CHAPTER 4

They clung tightly to the ropes, but the breeze was with them, so after
a few moments, when they became accustomed to the motion, they began to
enjoy the ride immensely.

Larger and larger grew the island, and although they were headed
directly toward it, the umbrella seemed to rise higher and higher into
the air the farther it traveled. They had not journeyed ten minutes
before they came directly over the island, and looking down they could
see the forests and meadows far below them. But the umbrella kept up
its rapid flight.

"Hold on, there!" cried Cap'n Bill. "If it ain't keerful, the ol' thing
will pass by the island."

"I--I'm sure it has passed it already," exclaimed Trot. "What's wrong,
Button-Bright? Why don't we stop?"

Button-Bright seemed astonished, too.

"Perhaps I didn't say it right," he replied after a moment's thought.
Then, looking up at the umbrella, he repeated distinctly, "I said I
wanted to go to Sky Island! Sky Island, don't you understand?"

The umbrella swept steadily along, getting farther and farther out to
sea and rising higher and higher toward the clouds.

"Mack'rel an' herrings!" roared Cap'n Bill, now really frightened.
"Ain't there any blamed way at all to stop her?"

"None that I know of," said Button-Bright anxiously.

"P'raps," said Trot after a pause during which she tried hard to think.
"P'raps 'Sky Island' isn't the name of that island at all."

"Why, we know very well it ain't the name of it," yelled Cap'n Bill
from below. "We jus' called it that 'cause its right name is too hard
to say."

"That's the whole trouble, then," returned Button-Bright. "Somewhere in
the world there's a real Sky Island, and having told the Magic Umbrella
to take us there, it's going to do so."

"Well, I declare!" gasped the sailorman. "Can't we land anywhere else?"

"Not unless you care to tumble off," said the boy. "I've told the
umbrella to take us to S