e bird, and to the lower part of this
he hung a little basket, with two seats in it. He then lifted Corette
and the Condensed Pirate into the basket, where they sat down opposite
one another.

"Do you wish to go directly to the cottage of the fairy sisters?" said
the old gentleman.

"Oh yes!" said Corette.

So he wrote the proper address on the bill of the pigeon, and, opening
the window, carefully let the bird fly.

"I'll take care of your boat," he cried to the Condensed Pirate, as the
pigeon rose in the air. "You'll find it all right, when you come back."

And he smiled worse than ever.

The pigeon flew up to a great height, and then he took flight in a
straight line for the Fairy Cottage, where he arrived before his
passengers thought they had half finished their journey.

The bird alighted on the ground, just outside of the boundary fence;
and when Corette and her companion had jumped from the basket, he rose
and flew away home as fast as he could go.

The Condensed Pirate now opened a little gate in the fence, and he and
Corette walked in. They went up the graveled path, and under the
fruit-trees, where the ripe peaches and apples hung, as big as peas,
and they knocked at the door of the fairy sisters.

When these two little ladies came to the door, they were amazed to see
Corette.

"Why, how did you ever?" they cried. "And if there isn't our old friend
the Reformed Pirate!"

"Condensed Pirate, if you please," said that individual. "There's no
use of my being reformed while I'm so small as this. I couldn't hurt
anybody if I wanted to."

"Well, come right in, both of you," said the sisters, "and tell us all
about it."

So they went in, and sat in the little parlor, and told their story.
The fairies' were delighted with the whole affair, and insisted on a
long visit, to which our two friends were not at all opposed.

They found everything at this cottage exactly as they had been told.
They ate the daintiest little meals off the daintiest little dishes,
and they thoroughly enjoyed all the delightful little things in the
little place. Sometimes, Corette and the fairies would take naps in
little hammocks under the trees, while the Condensed Pirate helped the
little man drive up the little cows, or work in the little garden.

On the second day of their visit, when they were all sitting on the
little portico after supper, one of the sisters, thinking that the
Condensed Pirate might like to have someth