So Tommy stopped walking in the air, and then Mary and Johnny wiggled their feet, and as true as I’m telling you, they, also, could move along, the balloons holding them up as easily as an airship could have done.
“Oh, this is great fun!” cried Johnny.
“Yes, let’s look down and see how high up we are,” said Tommy.
So Mary and Johnny and Tommy looked down, and surely enough, they were almost as high as the church steeple. They were floating along over the trees, and the roofs of the houses, and the people walking along in the streets below them didn’t even know that the three little Trippertrots were away up over their heads in the air.
“Oh, suppose we should ever fall!” exclaimed Mary, shivering like.
“Nonsense!” said Tommy. “You mustn’t suppose anything of the kind.”
“Especially as the man said these were very strong balloons,” put in Johnny. “They can lift an elephant, and we’re not as heavy even as a baby elephant.”
“No, I guess not,” said Mary. “But I am just wondering what will happen when we get over our house, if we ever do. How are we going to get down to see papa and mamma? It won’t be any fun for us to be up in the air, and have them down on the ground, or in the house. Maybe we can talk to them, but they can’t hold us in their arms and—and——”
“And they can’t reach up, and give us anything to eat,” exclaimed Tommy, sorrowfully.
“Oh, yes, they can!” cried Johnny.