Cautiously he sat on the
edge of the bed, and stretched out one foot and touched the floor.
Excitement ran through him like a wave. There was a great change, a
tremendous change; for as he stepped out gingerly on to the floor
_something followed him from the bed_. It clung to his back; it touched
both shoulders at once; it stroked his ribs, and tickled the skin of his
arms.

Half frightened, he brought the other leg over, and stood boldly upright
on both feet. But the weight still clung to his back. He looked over his
shoulder. Yes! it was trailing after him from the bed; it was
fan-shaped, and brilliant in colour. He put out a hand and touched it;
it was soft and glossy; then he took it deliberately between his
fingers; it was smooth as velvet, and had numerous tiny ribs running
along it.

Seizing it at last with all his courage, he pulled it forward in front
of him for a better view, only to discover that it would not come out
beyond a certain distance, and seemed to have got caught somehow between
his shoulders--just where the pains had been. A second pull, more
vigorous than the first, showed that it was not caught, but _fastened_
to his skin; it divided itself, moreover, into two portions, one half
coming from each shoulder.

"I do believe they're feathers!" he exclaimed, his eyes almost popping
out of his head.

Then, with a sudden flash of comprehension, he saw it all, and
understood. They were, indeed, feathers; but they were something more
than feathers merely. _They were wings!_

Jimbo caught his breath and stared in silence. He felt dazed. Then bit
by bit the fragments of the weird mosaic fell into their proper places,
and he began to understand. Escape was to be by flight. It filled him
with such a whirlwind of delight and excitement that he could scarcely
keep from screaming aloud.

Lost in wonder, he took a step forward, and watched with bulging eyes
how the wings followed him, their tips trailing along the floor. They
were a beautiful deep red, and hung down close and warm beside his body;
glossy, sleek, magical. And when, later, the sun burst into the room and
turned their colour into living flame, he could not resist the
temptation to kiss them. He seized them, and rubbed their soft surfaces
over his face. Such colours he had never seen before, and he wanted to
be sure that they really belonged to him and were intended for actual
use.

Slowly, without using his hands, he raised them into the a