NSET
Once upon a time--it was not so very long ago, either--a little boy,
named Neville, lived with his people in a house which was almost in
the country. That is to say, it was just at the edge of the city; and
at the back of the house was a rather large hill, which was quite
bald.
Neville, who was fond of playing by himself, would often wander to the
top of the bald hill; and if he stood right on top of it and looked
one way, toward the East, he could see right over the city, with all
its tall buildings and domes and spires and smoking chimneys. But
looking the other way, to the West, he could see for miles over the
beautiful country, with its green fields and orchards and white roads
and little farm houses.
One evening Neville was playing alone on the top of the hill when he
noticed that one of the very finest sunsets he had ever seen was just
coming on. The sky in the West, away over the broad country lands, was
filled with little clouds of all sorts and shapes, and they were just
beginning to take on the most wonderful colours.
Neville had often before amused himself with watching clouds and the
strange shapes into which they changed themselves--sometimes like
great mountain ranges, sometimes like sea-waves, and very often like
elephants and lions and seals and all manner of interesting things of
that sort. But never before had he been able to make out so many
animal shapes in the clouds. The sky was almost as good as a Zoo.
There were kangaroos and elephants and a hen with chickens and
wallabies and rabbits and a funny man with large ears and all sorts of
other peculiar shapes.
The sun was sinking behind a distant range of hills, where a golden
light shone out as if through a gateway. It was so much like a great
golden gateway that Neville fell to wondering what might be found on
the other side of it.
Suddenly, right in the middle of all the coloured clouds, he saw one
little cloud which was perfectly white, and, as he watched it, he
noticed that it seemed to be shaped like a small horse. A very small
horse it seemed at that distance; but, as Neville gazed, it grew
bigger and bigger, just as if it were coming toward him very fast, and
he was almost certain he could see its legs moving.
That startled him a little, and so he rubbed his eyes to make sure
that they were not playing him tricks.
When he looked again he was more startled than ever; for the little
white cloud was no longer a cloud, but
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