natch in the air
with his hands. He thinks I'm somewhere in the air. That's
because I'm sitting on his think-furrows, and he can't work out
so quickly where I really am. At last he does. He mutters and
jabs at me. Now then, Miss Maya, or whatever your name is, now
then, you've got to have your wits about you. I see the hand
coming, but I wait until the last moment, then I fly nimbly to
one side, sit down, and watch him feel to see if I am still
there.-- We kept the game up often for a full half hour. You have
no idea what a lot of endurance the man has. Finally he jumps up
and pours out a string of words which show how ungrateful he is.
Well, what of it? A noble soul seeks no reward. I'm already up
on the ceiling listening to his ungrateful outburst."

"I can't say I particularly like it," observed Maya. "Isn't it
rather useless?"

"Do you expect me to erect a honeycomb on his nose?" exclaimed
Puck. "You have no sense of humor, dear girl. What do _you_ do
that's useful?"

Little Maya went red all over, but quickly collected herself to
hide her embarrassment from Puck.

"The time is coming," she flashed, "when I shall do something
big and splendid, and good and useful too. But first I want to
see what is going on in the world. Deep down in my heart I feel
that the time is coming."

As Maya spoke she felt a hot tide of hope and enthusiasm flood
her being.

Puck seemed not to realize how serious she was, and how deeply
stirred. He zigzagged about in his flurried way for a while,
then asked:

"You don't happen to have any honey with you, do you, my dear?"

"I'm so sorry," replied Maya. "I'd gladly let you have some,
especially after you've entertained me so pleasantly, but I
really haven't got any with me.-- May I ask you one more
question?"

"Shoot," said Puck. "I'll answer, I'll always answer."

"I'd like to know how I could get into a human being's house."

"Fly in," said Puck sagaciously.

"But how, without running into danger?"

"Wait until a window is opened. But be sure to find the way out
again. Once you're inside, if you can't find the window, the
best thing to do is to fly toward the light. You'll always find
plenty of windows in every house. You need only notice where the
sun shines through. Are you going already?"

"Yes," replied Maya, holding out her hand. "I have some things
to attend to. Good-by. I hope you quite recover from the effects
of the ice age."

And with her fine confident bu