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The Magic Island
Chapter IV.
On The Island .

(By Nellie E. Donovan.)

As Tiny Toes said the words, “The Magic Island,” Michael in his excitement jumped up from his seat, and the boat rocked alarmingly.

“Sit down!” exclaimed Tiny Toes, “or you will upset the boat. With four of us in it we've got to be very careful.”

The boat glided over tree-tops and houses. Higher and higher they climbed. Stars twinkled overhead and wisps of cloud floated by. Dimples steered the boat carefully by a tiny wheel. Swiftly they glided out to sea. Barbara and Michael began to grow nervous as New Zealand was left far behind, and they sat very still on the seat and held hands.

Far down below the sea looked cold and uninviting. The boat still flew steadily onward. Then suddenly Tiny Toes broke the silence. “Barbara, Michael, come here,” he called.

The children came over to the side of the boat where he was standing. Tiny Toes pointed to the ocean below. “What do you see down there?” he asked.

“Why!” exclaimed Barbara, “It looks like a giant pear!”

“A pear!” laughed Tiny Toes, “Well, I never! That's the Magic Island!”

“Well,” replied Barbara, a little indignant, “even if it is the Magic Island, it looks just as if someone had thrown a pear into the ocean.

And Barbara did not know how near she was to being right.

For in the dim and distant past when the world was very young, the goblins were the bitter enemies of the fairies and elves as they are to-day. In the Palace of the Fairy Queen over the throne there hung a beautiful golden pear. It was a symbol of righteousness and it had hung there as long as the oldest elf or fairy could remember. The goblins had always had a great desire to obtain it for they thought by doing so, the elves and fairies would lose their power and they would be able to rule over them. But in this they were wrong.

One dark night, a daring goblin flew over Elfin Land in a goblin plane, crept into the Palace, stole the golden pear and flew away. But an elfin guard saw him leave the Palace and had hidden at the back of the goblin's plane. There was a great fight in the air between the elf and the goblin. In the fight the goblin fell overboard with the golden pear in his hand. He fell right into the ocean and slowly sank from sight, but the golden pear, floated.

That night a great storm arose and the ocean tossed and turned in its fury. The pear grew and grew into an island, though it still retained its shape. The goblins claimed it as their island, and the elves and fairies let them have it, for they thought that if they did the goblins would become their friends. But the goblins had always hated the elves and fairies, and they were determined to fight them for the supremacy of the Elfin world.

And because a golden pear grew mysteriously into an island, the goblins said it was magic and so it became known as the Magic Island.

“Are we going down?” asked Michael.

“Yes,” answered Tiny Toes.

The boat gave a slight turn and they glided downward.

“Look!” exclaimed Barbara, “The sun is coming up over the sea!”

There, sure enough, coming over the horizon like a great fiery ball was the sun. Higher and higher it came, until it was in the centre of the sky. There it stopped and sent its warm beams onto the island lying in the now sparkling sea.

The boat glided lower. It scraped the top of a tree and landed with a bump on a small green patch of grass.

“Welcome,” said Tiny Toes, “to the Magic Island.”

They all jumped out of the boat. Dimples tied the boat to a tree, so that it would not drift away with the breeze.

“Now,” said Tiny Toes, “Let's sit on this log and think what we are going to do.”

“Is Peter really a prisoner on this island?” asked Michael.

“Yes,” answered Tiny Toes, “somewhere on this island, but where I don't know. That's what we must find out.”

“And is Mr. Wiggins here, too?” asked Barbara.

“That I can't say,” replied Tiny Toes, “what we must do is to find out in what part of the island the goblins live.”

“And then!” asked Michael eagerly.

“We will wait till we come to that,” said Tiny Toes. “What I think we all should do is to sleep for a little while.”

“Oh,” said Michael, “we can't find Peter if we're sleeping; I'm not tired.”

“You'll want a great deal of energy to find Peter, which you won't have if you don't sleep,” said Tiny Toes wisely.

He took out of his pocket some Fairy Sleeping Dust and sprinkled it over the children's heads. In an instant they were yawning. They curled up by the log and fell fast asleep in the warm sun. Dimples and Tiny Toes lay down beside them and were soon asleep, too.

They awoke some two hours after, feeling very refreshed and ready to carry on the search for Peter.

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“Now,” said Tiny Toes, when they were fully awake, “we must go. Follow me.”

They set off in single file, Dimples following last. Dimples was much fatter than his brother and consequently could not walk so fast, and as for running, well, at the elfin sports held each year, Dimples always entered and he aways came last. It had happened so often that the elfin officials had him down for the booby prize even before the race was run. But even though he could not run, Dimples was a good-hearted fellow and would only be too ready to help anyone in trouble.

They pushed through the dense bush and crossed over streams. They stopped at one stream and drank long of the cool, clear water. They ate nuts which Tiny Toes picked off the trees as they went along, and after they had eaten one or two nuts, Barbara and Michael found that their hunger was satisfied.

They had not gone far along the track when Tiny Toes stopped. “I can hear music!” he exclaimed excitedly.

They all listened intently. Faintly they could hear the strains of weird goblin music. To the children's ears it did not sound a bit like music, just a collection of terrifying sounds.

“We're on the right track!” said Tiny Toes, “they're not far away!”

“Ooh!” exclaimed Barbara, “I'm so excited, I'm all wobbly inside!”

Tiny Toes pressed on, the children keeping close to him. The music became louder; suddenly Tiny Toes stopped by a clump of bushes.

“Hush!” he whispered, “They're here! Don't make a noise!”

Quietly he pulled the bushes apart and peered through. Barbara and Michael stood on tip-toes and could just see over his shoulder. They saw a green space enclosed by bushes and trees. Dozens of goblins were dancing madly round in a circle. At one end of the green space, three goblins were playing the weird music. Then suddenly the music ceased and the goblins stopped dancing.

“What have they stopped for?” whispered Barbara.

“I don't know,” answered Tiny Toes in puzzled tones.

Then, all unseen to them, little faces peeped out from the leaves of the trees, little bodies wriggled down the branches and keeping in line, crept close to the children.

“I hope they haven't seen us,” whispered Michael.

“Ooh! So do I!” shivered Barbara.

“Perhaps I can find out why they've stopped,” whispered Dimples, “I'll creep through the bushes over there on the left.”

He turned round, then screamed out. “Look! Look!” and pointed with a shaking hand at the advancing line of wriggling bodies.

Tiny Toes, Barbara and Michael turned round quickly.

“Oh! Oh!” exclaimed Barbara, and clung to Michael in fear.

And the goblins crept nearer.

(to be continued