“Try again,” said Hugh, and try again they did.  But no—­the second try succeeded no better than the first—­and the children looked at each other in perplexity.  Suddenly there was a movement among the animals, who had all been standing round watching the children’s attempts; Jeanne felt a sort of little pecking tug at her skirts—­how it came about I cannot say, but I think I forgot to tell you that, unlike Hugh in his red flannel dressing gown, she was arrayed for their adventures in her best Sunday pelisse, trimmed with fur—­and, looking round, lo and behold! there was Houpet holding on to her with his beak, then came Nibble, his two front paws embracing Houpet’s feathered body, Grignan behind him again, clutching with his mouth at Nibble’s fur, and the two chickens at the end holding on to Grignan and each other in some indescribable and marvellous way.  It was, for all the world, as if they were preparing for the finish-up part of the game of “oranges and lemons,” or for that of “fox and geese!”

The sight was so comical that it was all the children could do to keep their gravity, they succeeded in doing so, however, fearing that it might hurt the animals’ feelings to seem to make fun of their well-meant efforts.

“Not that they can be any use,” whispered Hugh, “but it’s very good-natured of them all the same.”

“I am not so sure that they can’t be of any use,” returned Jeanne.  “Think of how well Houpet drove.”

“Here goes, then,” said Hugh.  “One, two, three;” and with “three” he gave a tremendous tug—­a much more tremendous tug than was required, for, to his surprise, the stone yielded at once without the slightest resistance, and back they all fell, one on the top of the other, Hugh, Jeanne, Houpet, Nibble, Grignan, and the two chickens!  But none of them were any the worse, and with the greatest eagerness to see what was to be seen where the stone had been, up jumped Hugh and Jeanne and ran forward to the spot.

“There should be,” said Jeanne, half out of breath—­“there should be a little staircase for us to go down, if it is like the stories in the Arabian Nights.”

And, wonderful to relate, so there was!  The children could hardly believe their eyes, when below them they saw the most tempting little spiral staircase of white stone or marble steps, with a neat little brass balustrade at one side.  It looked quite light all the way down, though of course they could distinguish nothing at the bottom, as the corkscrew twists of the staircase entirely filled up the space.

Houpet hopped forward and stood at the top of the steps crowing softly.

“He means that we’re to go down,” said Hugh.  “Shall we?”

“Of course,” said Jeanne.  “I’m not a bit afraid.  We won’t have any fun if we don’t go on.”

“Well then,” said Hugh, “I’ll go first as I’m a boy, just in case, you know, Jeanne, of our meeting anything disagreeable.”