“Well,” Bob declared triumphantly, “I could take those things and make me a balloon.”
“Of course you could,” grinned Fitz Mee, “if you were going to stay at home.”
“And couldn’t I have fun showing off before the other boys!” Bob chuckled, gloatingly.
“You’ll have lots more fun with me, in Goblinland,” his companion said quickly.
“Maybe I will,” the boy murmured reflectively, a little sadly. Then observing that the balloon had stopped rising:
“Why, what made us stop going up?”
“Don’t you know?” the goblin returned with a half sneer.
“No, I don’t,” the lad admitted.
“Ho, ho!” Fitz Mee laughed, “You’re wonderfully dumb, you are, Roberty-Boberty.”