Both Tribes acknowledged Tourmaline their Queen and obeyed the laws of the country, and just at this time there was peace in the land, and all the inhabitants of the east and west were friendly.  But they had been known, Coralie said, to fight one another fiercely with their sharp sticks, at which times a good many were sure to get hurt.

“Why do they call this an Island?” asked Button-Bright.  “There isn’t any water around it, is there?”

“No, but there is sky all around it,” answered Coralie.  “And if one should step off the edge, he would go tumbling into the great sky and never be heard of again.”

“Is there a fence around the edge?” asked Trot.

“Only a few places are fenced,” was the reply.  “Usually there are rows of thick bushes set close to the edge to prevent people from falling off.  Once there was a King of the Pinkies who was cruel and overbearing and imagined he was superior to the people he ruled, so one day his subjects carried him to the edge of the island and threw him over the bushes.”

“Goodness me!” said Trot.  “He might have hit someone on the Earth.”

“Guess he skipped it, though,” added Cap’n Bill, “for I never heard of a Pinky till I came here.”

“And I have never heard of the Earth,” retorted Coralie.  “Of course, there must be such a place, because you came from there, but the Earth is never visible in our sky.”

“No,” said Button-Bright, “’cause it’s under your island.  But it’s there, all right, and it’s a pretty good place to live.  I wish I could get back to it.”

“So do I, Button-Bright!” exclaimed Trot.

“Let’s fly!” cried the parrot, turning his head so that one bright little eye looked directly into the girl’s eye.  “Say goodbye and let’s fly through the sky, far and high!”

“If we only had my umbrella, we’d fly in a minute,” sighed Button-Bright.  “But the Boolooroo stole it.”

“Naughty, naughty Boolooroo,
What a wicked thing to do!”

wailed the parrot, and they all agreed with him.

Coralie belonged to the Sunset Tribe, as she lived west of the queen’s palace, which was the center of the Pink Country.  A servant came to the room where they were conversing to state that the sun was about to set, and at once Coralie arose and took the strangers to an upper balcony, where all the household had assembled.

The neighboring houses also had their balconies and roofs filled with people, for it seemed all the Sunset Tribe came out every night to witness the setting of the sun.  It was really a magnificent sight, and Trot scarcely breathed as the great, golden ball sank low in the sky and colored all the clouds with gorgeous tints of orange, red and yellow.  Never on the Earth was there visible such splendor, and as the little girl watched the ever-changing scene, she decided the Sunset Tribe was amply justified in claiming that the West was the favored country of the sun.