“Yes,” they answered.
“That is another island like the one we are on now, only it is under the rays of Saturn, as we are under the rays of Mercury. It is also called the Island of Knowledge, because the people of Saturn’s land are very intellectual. Now that you are up here you should visit all of our islands in turn and see for yourself what they and their people are like. First allow me to make a suggestion,” continued the guide. “Leave your heavy Elephant on our island, as you will have no use for the balloon until you wish to return to Earth. At present avail yourself of our means of locomotion.”
“A splendid suggestion!” they all exclaimed, “But how can we with our heavy bodies of flesh expect to fly around as you people do?”
“Come with me and I will show you.”
The guide secured a pair of scales and each one in turn having been weighed, they found that no one exceeded five pounds in weight.
“Your scales must be wrong,” exclaimed Harold.
“Oh, no, it is only because your bodies become lighter in this atmosphere, though they look the same as ever. Your magic robes will bear you up while your wings are carrying you from place to place.
“You will have to take our Flying Machines to reach many places at great distances from here, or else a boat on the Milky Way. I would advise you, after visiting all of our planet islands, to take what is called ‘The Circle Trip.’ That is a trip in a beautiful boat up the Milky Way, which encircles the heavens like a belt. You are borne along on its silvery waters in little shell-like boats to whatever place you wish to visit along its shores, for you must know that both sides of the stream are lined with cities, towns, villages, meadows, hills, and mountains, where people live as Earth people do beside their seas and rivers.”
“How perfectly entrancing it would be to visit all of the cities and islands you have up here among the stars!” said Ione. “And just think of it! we on Earth when looking at the little twinkling stars above us imagine them to be only bright, silvery balls of light, and now we find them inhabited. Will wonders ever cease?”
“Not while you are up here,” said the guide. “They will go on increasing until you will feel as if your very brain would crack in trying to grasp them all. Now, if you don’t mind,” said he, presently, “we will rise a hundred feet or so above the surface here, then you can look down and view our home from above as we fly over it on our way to other islands.”