“I would be glad to look,” said Edelweiss, for he was a very polite little flower and had very pretty manners.

And turning to Silverfloss he asked her if she had seen two earth-people on the Moon.

“Ting-a-ling,” answered Silverfloss and you would have thought it was two bells tinkling.

“She says there never was a human being on the Moon,” said Edelweiss.

“Well if they are not here,” said Kernel Cob, “we had better go before we freeze to death,” and his teeth chattered.

“How’ll we get off?” asked Sweetclover.

“I’ll tell Silverfloss to weave you a strand of silver,” and he turned to Silverfloss and said some tinkling words to her.

“She’s doing it,” he said.  “It’s a thread of silver so thin that it can’t be seen and yet it is so strong that it can easily bear your weight.”

“But I can’t climb all the way down,” said Kernel Cob.

“You won’t have to,” said Edelweiss.  “All you have to do is to catch hold of the end of the silver thread and hang on to it, and, as Silverfloss weaves the thread it gets longer and longer, until you have reached the Earth.  You’d better start now, if you are going.”

So Kernel Cob wound the silver thread around his waist, and, lifting Sweetclover, was ready to start.  “Good-bye,” said Kernel Cob.  “Good-bye,” said Sweetclover.

“Good-bye,” said Edelweiss, “Hold on tight!”

“All right,” said Kernel Cob.

“Thank you very much,” cried Sweetclover.

And down they went, Kernel Cob hanging to the silver thread and Sweetclover snuggled close against his jacket.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV

Kernel Cob and Sweetclover went down and down and down through the sky from the Moon.

And after they had gone down and down and down a long time Sweetclover suddenly cried: 

“What’s that?” and pointed below.  “It’s like a great ball turning round and round.”

“It looks like another Moon with the lights out.”

“It’s the Earth!” cried Sweetclover with delight, for she could now see the tops of trees as the sun began to show his golden head above the hills in the East.  And little by little, as Kernel Cob and Sweetclover neared the Earth, they could see rivers and lakes and steeples and houses and after awhile, people and horses in the fields.

And down, down, down they came, getting nearer and nearer and nearer until they saw, beneath their very feet, a great tall house with sails on it going round and round at a rapid rate, and, before you could say, “Look out!” Kernel Cob was caught in one of the sails and dashed to the ground.

“Are you hurt?” asked Sweetclover sitting on the ground where she had been thrown.

“No,” said Kernel Cob, for a soldier must bear pain without complaint and pretend he isn’t hurt even if he is.