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Page 44
Then he stopped, and knocked the pink ball from each of their heads
with a little tap of his long stick.
"There we are," said he, and he carefully picked up the little
creatures and put them on a table in front of a looking-glass, that
they might see how they liked his work.
It was admirably done. Every proportion had been perfectly kept.
"It seems to me that it couldn't be better," said the Condensed Pirate,
looking at himself from top to toe.
"No," said the Practicing Wizard, smiling rather more than usual, "I
don't believe it could."
"But how are we to get away from here?" said Corette to her friend. "A
little fellow like you can't sail that big boat."
"No," replied he, ruefully, "that's true; I couldn't do it. But
perhaps, sir, you could condense the boat."
"Oh no!" said the old gentleman, "that would never do. Such a little
boat would be swamped before you reached shore, if a big fish didn't
swallow you. No, I'll see that you get away safely."
So saying, he went to a small cage that stood in a window, and took
from it a pigeon.
"This fellow will take you," said he. "He is very strong and swift, and
will go ever so much faster than your boat."
[Illustration: "'IT SEEMS TO ME THAT IT COULDN'T BE BETTER,' SAID THE
CONDENSED PIRATE."]
Next he fastened a belt around the bird, and to the lower part of this
he hung a little basket, with two seats in it. He then lifted Corette
and the Condensed Pirate into the basket, where they sat down opposite
one another.
"Do you wish to go directly to the cottage of the fairy sisters?" said
the old gentleman.
"Oh yes!" said Corette.
So he wrote the proper address on the bill of the pigeon, and, opening
the window, carefully let the bird fly.
"I'll take care of your boat," he cried to the Condensed Pirate, as the
pigeon rose in the air. "You'll find it all right, when you come back."
And he smiled worse than ever.
The pigeon flew up to a great height, and then he took flight in a
straight line for the Fairy Cottage, where he arrived before his
passengers thought they had half finished their journey.
The bird alighted on the ground, just outside of the boundary fence;
and when Corette and her companion had jumped from the basket, he rose
and flew away home as fast as he could go.
The Condensed Pirate now opened a little gate in the fence, and he and
Corette walked in. They went up the graveled path, and under the
fruit-trees, where the ripe peaches and apples hung, as big as peas,
and they knocked at the door of the fairy sisters.
When these two little ladies came to the door, they were amazed to see
Corette.
"Why, how did you ever?" they cried. "And if there isn't our old friend
the Reformed Pirate!"
"Condensed Pirate, if you please," said that individual. "There's no
use of my being reformed while I'm so small as this. I couldn't hurt
anybody if I wanted to."
"Well, come right in, both of you," said the sisters, "and tell us all
about it."
So they went in, and sat in the little parlor, and told their story.
The fairies' were delighted with the whole affair, and insisted on a
long visit, to which our two friends were not at all opposed.
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