“Oh, dear me!” exclaimed ever so many voices.
“Did it hurt him?” asked Phronsie piteously.
“Oh, no! I guess not, Pet,” answered Polly; “he was running so fast I don’t believe he felt it much. Anyway, he couldn’t get it off, try as hard as he would. And so on he ran, worse than ever.”
“Can’t he ever stop?” asked little Dick suddenly, in great excitement.
“You’ll see, Dicky,” said Polly with a smile, while the others begged her not to stop but to hurry on. “‘Shut up that dreadful green umbrella, then,’ screamed out one of the boot-men with the first thing that came in his head; and in a minute, before they could take another step, flap! went the green umbrella; snap! went the green umbrella; and stop! the poor little legs and arms of the queer little man came to a standstill.
“‘How very queer!’ he gasped. ‘Why didn’t you tell me that before?’ he snapped out as the boot-men all came up, for he was very cross by this time. ‘Why didn’t you think of it yourself instead of making us chase you all over the world?’ they snapped back; for you see they were very cross too.”
“O Polly! had they been all over the world?” cried Percy in astonishment.
“Pretty much,” said Polly; “and you see they were very tired; and besides they didn’t like it, for they never had been obliged to take such a chase before.”
“I should like to ask,” said Ben, “what this queer little man happened to be standing on when the green umbrella got shut up? You stopped him in the air, you know, Polly.”
“Oh! I forgot to say,” Polly answered briskly, with a little laugh, “that they happened to be just running over a very high mountain. So when the green umbrella got shut up, why, of course, all he had to do was to stand still on the top of it.”