us. As we make the
jump do you look down to the foot of the tree and see whether Harold
is in his place and the fire still burning.'

Hardly had Tom done speaking, when the cloud sailed by, passing, as he
had said, within two yards of the top of the pine-tree to which they
were clinging. The cat jumped, and alighted very cleverly on the
cloud's edge, and a moment's scramble brought them to the top.
Meanwhile, Hilda had looked downward to the foot of the tree as they
took their leap; and she had caught a glimpse of Harold sitting within
the ring, beside the enchanted fire, and seeming rather disconsolate.
But the fire was burning brightly, yellow, red, and blue.

The cloud sailed away, and took them to a part of the sky which Hilda
had never seen before. It was full of a strange white light, and no
darkness ever came there. On went the cloud, moving slowly but
steadily, like a great ship steering its way amidst the sky. The
kingdom of the Air Spirits soon loomed in sight. Rainbow bridges
spanned its shining rivers; its forests were like the tracery of the
Northern Lights; and the houses and palaces in which the people lived
were stars of different sizes, along whose rays was the only path to
get to them.

At length the cloud entered the harbour, and, letting down an anchor
of raindrops, its motion ceased.

'You must go the rest of the way alone, Hilda,' said the cat. 'I shall
wait for you, and you will find me here on your return.'

'But which way am I to go, and what am I to do?' asked Hilda in a
tremulous tone; for being so high above the earth almost took her
breath away.

'You must ask the first Air Spirit you meet to show you the star where
the Queen lives, and then you must get there the best way you can,'
Tom replied. 'When you have found her you must ask her for the Diamond
Waterdrop. But be very careful not to sit down, however much you may
be tempted to do so; for if you do, your little brother Hector never
can be saved.'

Hilda did not much like the idea of making so perilous a journey as
this promised to be, without even the cat to go with her; but since it
was for Hector's sake she never dreamed of refusing: only she made up
her mind on no account to sit down, no matter what happened. She bade
Tom farewell, therefore, and walked off.

She had not gone far when she met an Air Spirit, carrying its nose in
the air--as, of course, all Air Spirits do.

'Can you tell me which star the Queen sits in?' H