SEE-SAW.
Punkydoodle was at one end of the see-saw, and Jollapin at the other. (Those are not the boys’ real names, but they will do just as well, and they look better on paper than Joe, and,—oh! well, no matter!) It was a very high see-saw, and they meant to have a fine time on it.
“I am an eagle!” cried Jollapin, as his end went up, up, till his breath was almost gone, and he had to hold on with all his might to keep from slipping. “I—am—an eagle, I say. Ho! see me fly up among the clouds! I am sailing—Oh, I say! don’t shake her like that, Punk, or you’ll have me off!”
“Well, you’ve been up long enough!” cried Punkydoodle. “It’s my turn now. Look at me! I am a flying dragon! Observe my fiery eyes, and my long wiggling tail! Hoish! I am going to descend on the fields and dwellings of men, and lay them waste; and I’ll never stop till they give me the king’s daughter for my bride. I may eat her up, but I am not sure. Depends upon how pretty she is! Hoish! I descend upon the—” Here he descended with such swiftness that speech became impossible, and Jollapin soared aloft again.
“I am a balloon this time!” he cried.
“You look like one!” said Punkydoodle, who had not relished his sudden descent on the fields and dwellings of men.
“I’m not an old Skinny, anyhow!” retorted Jollapin. “I am a splendid balloon, and my name is the Air King. Proudly I ascend, rising triumphant through the ambient air.” (Jollapin had been reading the papers, and his speech was inflated, like the balloon he represented.) “I pass through the clouds; I pierce them; I rise above them. The earth lies beneath me like a—like a—”
“Like a pancake!” suggested Punkydoodle, who had little imagination.