The Wishing-Chair Again (13 page)

“Horrid Mister Grim,” said Mollie. Then the marching brownies suddenly caught sight of the Wishing-Chair hovering in the air, and they set up a great shout.

“Look! They've come back! Hurrah for Chinky and Peter and Mollie!”

Mister Grim stared up, too. He looked really furious, and, to the children's dismay, he bent down and picked up a big stone. It came whizzing through the air at them, but the Wishing-Chair did a little leap to one side and the stone passed harmlessly by.

Then Chinky gave the others a nudge. “Here comes the army! DO look!”

The children looked—and, dear me, up the lane marched the strangest little army the children had ever imagined. First came the grey-haired golliwog, swinging a little sword. Then came a row of wooden soldiers, beating drums. Then another row blowing trumpets. After them came a whole collection of clockwork animals.

“There's a jumping kangaroo!” cried Chinky in glee. “And a dancing bear!”

“And a running dog—and a walking elephant!” said Mollie in delight.

“And look—a pig that turns head-over-heels, and a duck that waddles!” shouted Peter, almost falling out of the chair in his excitement. “And behind them all are the sailor dolls. Don't they look smart!”

The strange army came to the gate. The clockwork kangaroo jumped right over it to the other side. He undid the gate and opened it for the army to walk through. In it came, boom-didd-boom, tan-ran-tara clickity clock, jerkity-jerk, led by the grey-haired golliwog.

The brownies saw the toys before Mister Grim did and shouted in joy. They ran to meet them. “Who are you? Where have you come from?” they called. “Can we play with you? We never have any toys here!”

“We've come for Mister Grim,
We don't like Mister Grim,
We've come to capture him,
We've come for Mister Grim!”

chanted all the toys.

Mister Grim stared at them as if he couldn't believe his eyes. “After him!” shouted the golliwog, and after him they went! He turned to run—but the jumping kangaroo got between his legs and tripped him up, and there he was, bumping his nose on the ground, yelling for mercy!

The toys swarmed all over him in delight. “We've come for Mister Grim, we've come for Mister Grim!” they chanted again and again.

“Don't pull my hair! Don't cut off my beautiful beard,” begged Mister Grim. The golliwog seemed just about to saw the long beard off with his sword! The children and Chinky saw it all from their seat up in the Wishing-Chair and were just as excited as the toys and the brownies.

“I'll leave you your beard on one condition,” said the golliwog, solemnly. “Go and get the toys you have imprisoned here and bring them out to us.”

Mister Grim got up, looking very frightened. Ah—
he
knew what it was to feel frightened now. He had often frightened his little brownie pupils—now he had a taste of his own medicine! He went indoors, holding his beard as if he was afraid it might drop off.

He came out with all the toys. Mollie gave a scream of delight when she saw Rosebud.

“He's even got the teapot that grew wings, too,” said Peter, pleased. The chair flew down to Mister Grim, and the children took all their toys from him. Mollie cuddled Rosebud happily.

“Thank you,” she said to the grey-haired golliwog. “You and your army have done very, very well. Do please bring any of them to see us whenever you can.”

The brownies crowded round the chair. “Take us back with you, take us back.”

“We've only room for one of you, and that's Winks,” said Chinky, firmly. “Come on, Winks.”

Up got Winks, grinning all over his little brownie face. The Wishing-Chair rose up in the air. “Goodbye, goodbye!” shouted Chinky and the others. “Let us know if Mister Grim behaves too badly to you and we'll send the army once again! Goodbye!”

Off they went, with all the toys and brownies waving madly. Mister Grim didn't wave. He looked very down in the mouth indeed—but nobody was sorry for him, not even Mollie!

THE summer days went on and on. The Wishing-Chair seemed to have had enough of adventures for a time, and stayed quietly in its corner, without sprouting so much as one wing.

One day Chinky came tapping at the children's window. They came to it at once.

“Has the Wishing-Chair grown its wings again?” asked Peter, in excitement. Chinky shook his head.

“No. I haven't come to tell you that. I've just come to show you this.”

He pushed a piece of paper into their hands. This is what it said:

‘DEAR COUSIN CHINKY,
You haven't been to see my new house yet, so do come. I expect you have heard that I have moved to the Land of Goodies. It's simply lovely. Do come and see me soon. I have a biscuit tree growing in my garden, just coming into fruit, and a jelly plant growing round my front door.

Yours ever,
PIPKIN.’

“Well! Does your cousin
really
live there?” said Mollie, in wonder. “How lucky you are, Chinky. Now you can go and eat as many goodies as you like. I only wish we could come too.”

“I came to ask if you'd like to go with me,” said Chinky. “My cousin Pipkin won't mind. He's a very nice fellow, though I always thought he was a bit greedy. I expect that's why he bought a house in the Land of Goodies really—so that he could always have lots of things to eat. Why, if you pass a hedge you'll probably see that it's growing bars of chocolate.”

This sounded so exciting that the children felt they wanted to go at once.

“We can't,” said Chinky. “We'll have to wait for the Wishing-Chair to grow its wings again. The Land of Goodies is too far unless we go by Wishing-Chair.”

“How disappointing!” said Mollie. “I feel awfully hungry even at the thought of going. Do you suppose ice-creams grow there, Chinky? I never, never get enough ice-creams.”

“Oh, Mollie—you had eleven at a party the other day,” said Peter. “And you said you couldn't eat any more.”

“Oh, don't be silly. I was only being polite,” said Mollie. “I could have eaten eleven more. But what about Winks, Chinky? Is he coming, too?”

Winks had come back with them to the playroom, and had stayed a night with Chinky, and then gone to tell his people that he wasn't going back to Mister Grim's again. He meant to bring back some of his things with him, and spend some of the time with Chinky in the playroom and some with his other friends. He was very pleased indeed at being free.

“Winks can come if he's back in time,” said Chinky. “I don't know where he is at the moment. He's really rather naughty, you know, although he's nice, and very good fun. I hear that he met my Cousin Sleep-Alone the other evening and, as soon as poor old Sleep-Alone was fast asleep in a little shed in the middle of a field, Winks took along two donkeys that had lost themselves and told them to cuddle up to Sleep-Alone.”

“Oh, dear—what happened?” said Mollie.

“Well, Sleep-Alone woke up, of course, and tried to throw the donkeys out,” said Chinky, “but one of them gave him such a kick with its hind legs that he flew into the clouds, got caught on a big one, and hung there for a long time.”

“Well, it would certainly be a good place to sleep alone in,” said Mollie. “What a monkey Winks is!”

“Yes. I'm not surprised really that his family sent him to Mister Grim's school,” said Chinky. “Well, will you come with me to the Land of Goodies, then?”

“Of
course,”
said the children. “You needn't ask us that again.”

The next day was rainy. The children went down to the playroom as usual, but mother made them take a big umbrella to walk under. “It really is such a downpour,” she said.

They shook the raindrops off the umbrella as soon as they reached the playroom door. Chinky's voice came to them, raised in joy. “Is that you, Mollie and Peter? The Wishing-Chair has
just
grown its wings.”

“Oh, good!” cried Mollie, and ran in. Sure enough the chair was already waving its green and yellow wings.

“But it's pouring with rain,” said Peter, looking in at the door as he struggled to put down the big umbrella. “We shall get soaked if we go miles through this rain.”

“We'll take the umbrella,” said Mollie. “It will cover all three of us easily.”

“
Four
of us,” said Winks, and he popped out of the cupboard and grinned at them. “I've come back for a day or two. I hid in the cupboard in case it was your mother or somebody coming.”

“Oh, Winks, I'm so glad you're coming, too,” said Mollie. “Can we go now, this very minute, Chinky?”

“I don't see why not,” said Chinky. “Don't put down that umbrella, Peter, we'll come now and you can hold it over us as we fly.”

So very soon all four were sitting in the Wishing-Chair, flying through the rain. Peter held the big umbrella over them, and although their legs got a bit wet, the rest of them was quite dry.

“It's quite a long journey, so I hope the chair will fly fast,” said Chinky. “It will be a bit dull because the rain-clouds stop us from seeing anything.”

The Chair suddenly began to rise high. It went right through the purple-grey clouds, higher and higher and higher—and then at last it was through the very last of them, and the children found themselves far above the topmost clouds, full in the blazing sun!

“Well,” said Peter, trying to shut the umbrella, “what a brainy idea of yours, Wishing-Chair. Now we shall soon be warm and dry again. Blow this umbrella! I simply
can't
shut it.”

So it had to remain open and, as it happened, it was a very good thing it did, because Winks tried to catch a swallow going past at sixty miles an hour, and overbalanced out of the chair! He clutched at the umbrella as he fell and down he went, with the umbrella acting just like a parachute!

“Very clever of you, Winks!” said Chinky, as the chair swooped down and hovered by the umbrella for Winks to climb on to the seat again. “I hope you only do this sort of thing when there's an open umbrella to catch hold of!”

Winks looked rather pale. He sat panting on the seat. “I got a fright,” he said. “I really did.”

“Well, don't be frightened if you do fall,” said Mollie. “Do what Chinky did when he once fell! He changed himself into a large snow-flake and fell gently to earth! He hadn't even a bruise when he changed back to himself again.”

“Very clever. I must remember that,” said Winks. “I say, doesn't this Wishing-Chair fly fast?”

It certainly did. It flew even faster than the swallows, and passed over miles and miles of country, which lay spread out like a coloured map far below. The children caught glimpses of it through openings in the clouds.

“What's your cousin Pipkin like?” asked Mollie.

“Well, he was a bit plump,” said Chinky. “And I expect he's plumper still now that he lives in the Land of Goodies. He's very generous and kind, though he's rather greedy, too. He could easily beat Mollie at eating ice-creams.”

“Could he really?” said Mollie, who hadn't thought there was anyone who could possibly do that. “Oh, look, Chinky-—we're going downwards. Are we there?”

They went down and down through layers of clouds. When they came below them they found that the rain had stopped. Chinky peered down.

“Yes—we're there. Now just remember this, all of you—you can eat whatever is growing on bushes, hedges, or trees, but you mustn't eat anybody's house.”

Peter and Mollie stared at him in wonder.

“
Eat
anybody's house! Are the houses made of eatable things, then?”

“Good gracious, yes,” said Chinky. “Everything is eatable in the Land of Goodies—even the chimneys! They are usually made of marzipan.”

The Wishing-Chair landed on the ground. The children jumped off quickly, anxious to see this wonderful land. They looked round.

Mollie's eyes grew wide. “Look—look, Peter— there's a bush growing currant buns. It is really. And look, there's a hedge with a funny-looking fruit—it's bars of chocolate!”

“And look at that house!” cried Peter. “It's all decorated with icing sugar—isn't it pretty? And it's got little silver balls here and there in its walls—and all down its front door too.”  

“Look at these funny flowers in the grass!” cried Mollie. “I do believe they are jam tarts! Chinky, can I pick one?''