the sky. Straight toward it the Cloud Horse rushed, and stopped so
suddenly that Neville almost fell off.

"What's all this? What's all this?" cried a small voice; and Neville
saw beside the silver gateway, a little man dressed from top to toe in
silver grey. It was the Porter of the Dawn, sometimes called the First
Sunbeam.

Before Neville could answer, the little grey man had caught sight of
the Sky Flower.

"Ah, you have the talisman," said he. "Pass in! and don't stop to
gossip, because I'm very busy this morning. A pleasant journey," he
added as he smacked the cloud horse on the shoulder; and in an instant
Neville had passed through the dawn and plunged into the night.

It was a dark night, with no moon, for the sky was overcast with dense
clouds. Above these the Cloud horse flew, and overhead Neville saw the
rushing stars, and below only the blackness of heavy clouds. But more
often the Cloud horse flew low, and then there was little to be seen.
By the lights of moving ships Neville knew that sometimes he was above
the sea. Sometimes twinkling lights in towns or solitary farms, or the
sudden blaze of a great city told him that the land was beneath him.
Once, through the blackness, he saw a great forest fire upon an
island, and the light of it lit up the sea, and showed the natives
crowded upon the beach and in the shallows, and some making off in
canoes.

Then darkness swallowed the Cloud Horse again, and the blazing island
was left far behind.

After that, Neville began to feel a little drowsy. Perhaps he did
sleep a little, for the next thing he saw was a faint light in the sky
before him, as though the dawn were coming. But he knew it must be the
evening, because he was coming back to the place from which he had
started, and was catching up with the sun. You see, he had only been
gone a few minutes.

The Cloud Horse flew very low now; and rapidly the darkness grew less.
Then, long before he expected it, Neville saw the roof of his own home
below him. He could see the garden in the twilight and his own dog
sniffing about among the trees as though in search of him.

Neville began to think about jumping now, and he was rather nervous.
He might land softly and he might not. He only had the wee yellow
man's word for that.

Then, to his horror, he saw that they had passed his home and were
over the bald hill. There was no time to lose. The Cloud Horse was
taking him into the sunset again, and, if he did