Then the man gave Mary a big toy, green balloon, and he gave one to Tommy, and one to Johnny. And then a very strange thing happened. All at once Mary found herself rising up in the air. Up and up she floated, for the balloon lifted her, just as an airship would have done.
“Oh! Oh!” she cried.
“Don’t get excited,” said the balloon man, kindly. “Hold on tight, and you will soon be home. The balloons will take you there.”
Then Johnny and Tommy began to float up into the air also, holding fast to the strings of their big toy balloons, and Mary held on to the string of hers, too, and there the three little Trippertrots were, sailing away just as if they were in airships.
And, down below them, looking up, was Jiggily Jig, and the newsboy, and the toy balloon man, standing near the box-ship.
“Good-by!” called Jiggily Jig, waving his hand to the children. “I’ll see you again soon.” Then the man and the newsboy waved their hands, and Mary and Tommy and Johnny went floating softly off, blown by a gentle wind.
“Oh, isn’t this the most surprising adventure!” exclaimed Mary.
“It’s jolly fun!” declared Tommy.
“I think so, too,” added Johnny. “It’s nicer to go home this way than in a box-ship.”
So they floated on for quite some time.