it would only jar you slightly. You'd just hit the earth and then bounce
back again, but there's no use of talking about that, because it never
happened but once. It happened to a chap named Blenkinson, who took an
Oscillator that hadn't any brake on it. He was one of those smart fellows
that want to show how clever they are. He whizzed down one side and up the
other, and pouf! First thing he knew he was flying off into space."

"And what became of him?" demanded Tom.

"He had the luck not to hit anything, but he suffered just the same," said
Righty. "He flew on until he got to a point where he was held fast up in
the air by the force of gravity of 1,600 different planets, and he's there
yet. At a distance he looks like another new star, but when you get close
to him he's nothing more than just a plain, everyday Smarty."

"I should think he'd starve to death," said Tom, as he reflected on the
horrid fate of Blenkinson.

"He would if he had any appetite," said the Bellows. "But he hasn't. He's
so worried all the time that he can't eat, so he gets along very well
without food."

"Let's quit talking now," suggested the Poker, "and get a ride, eh?"

"I'm ready," said Tom eagerly. "Where do we start?"

"There's the station up on the hill. It's only about 700 miles. We can
walk it in a year," said Righty.

"I move we take this cloud that's coming up," said the Bellows. "I'm
winded."

Tom looked in the direction in which the Bellows had pointed, and, sure
enough, there was a cloud coming slowly along, shaped very much like a
trolley car, and on the front of it, as it drew nearer, the lad was soon
able to discern the funny little figure of a Brownie acting as motorman.

"Why, it's really a trolley!" he cried.

[Illustration: "Why it's really a trolley!"]

"Certainly it is!" laughed Righty. "Didn't you know that? When you have
watched the moon from your window at home and seen constant lines of
clouds passing up to it and stopping before its face night after night
what did you suppose they did it for? Fun? I guess not. They're clever
people up here, these moonfolk are, and they make use of everything going.
They've taken these electric clouds and turned 'em into a sort of Sky
Traction Company, and instead of letting 'em travel all around the
universe doing nothing and raising thunder generally, some of the richer
Brownies have formed a company to control them."

By this time the cloud had reached the point where ou