“Isn’t it funny?” she said.

The boy was startled and his eyes were big.  Dorothy had a green streak through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.

“I—­I don’t s-s-see any-thing funny—­’bout it!” he stammered.

Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the horse tipping also.  But they continued to fall, all together, and the boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they were before.  Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll slowly over until they were right side up again.  During this time Jim struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of voice: 

“Well, that’s better!”

Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.

“Can your horse talk?” she asked.

“Never knew him to, before,” replied the boy.

“Those were the first words I ever said,” called out the horse, who had overheard them, “and I can’t explain why I happened to speak then.  This is a nice scrape you’ve got me into, isn’t it?”

“As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves,” answered Dorothy, cheerfully.  “But never mind; something will happen pretty soon.”

“Of course,” growled the horse, “and then we shall be sorry it happened.”

Zeb gave a shiver.  All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.

Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close beside them.  The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes, and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded.  There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing rays so that the boy and girl could open their eyes again.

“We’ve got to come to the bottom some time,” remarked Zeb, with a deep sigh.  “We can’t keep falling forever, you know.”

“Of course not,” said Dorothy.  “We are somewhere in the middle of the earth, and the chances are we’ll reach the other side of it before long.  But it’s a big hollow, isn’t it?”

“Awful big!” answered the boy.

“We’re coming to something now,” announced the horse.

At this they both put their heads over the side of the buggy and looked down.  Yes; there was land below them; and not so very far away, either.  But they were floating very, very slowly—­so slowly that it could no longer be called a fall—­and the children had ample time to take heart and look about them.

They saw a landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very like those upon the earth’s surface; but all the scene was splendidly colored by the variegated lights from the six suns.  Here and there were groups of houses that seemed made of clear glass, because they sparkled so brightly.