"Tell us about the tricks," said Sweetclover.
"Well," said Jackie Tar, "there isn't a trick which they can't do. Once I saw them make a little boy run up a long pole and when he came to the top he disappeared."
"You mean to say they can do that?" asked the Villain.
"They sure can," answered Jackie Tar. "And my idea is this: If they can do that, maybe they can show you where Jackie and Peggs' motheranfather are."
"What makes you so smart, Jackie Tar?" asked the Villain.
"I don't know," said he, "I guess I was just born that way."
"Well, let's go ashore and ask one of them to help us," said Kernel Cob.
"Aye, aye, mates," said Jackie Tar.
So they went ashore, and walked along the streets until they came to a little house that Jackie Tar said he remembered as being the house where a magician lived.
And they knocked upon the door and it opened. And they went inside and all was quiet and black as night. And they groped their way till they heard a low mumbling sound, and, pulling aside a curtain, they saw an old man with a long white beard, sitting in a room with black furniture and curtains.