ound anything in the twinkling of an eye and held fast
until it was unwound again.

Trot decided these Blueskins must have stolen into the garden when
summoned by the bells the Boolooroo had rung, but they had kept out of
sight and crept up behind the bench on which our friends were seated
until a signal from the king aroused them to action.

The little girl was greatly surprised by the suddenness of her capture,
and so was Button-Bright. Cap'n Bill shook his head and said he was
afeared they'd get into trouble. "Our mistake," he added, "was in
stoppin' to eat our lunch. But it's too late now to cry over spilt
milk."

"I don't mind, not much anyhow," asserted Trot bravely. "We're in no
hurry to get back, are we, Button-Bright?"

"I'm not," said the boy. "If they hadn't taken the umbrella, I wouldn't
care how long we stopped in this funny island. Do you think it's a
fairy country, Trot?"

"Can't say, I'm sure," she answered. "I haven't seen anything here yet
that reminds me of fairies, but Cap'n Bill said a floating island in
the sky was sure to be a fairyland."

"I think so yet, mate," returned the sailor. "But there's all sorts o'
fairies, I've heard. Some is good, an' some is bad, an' if all the
Blueskins are like their Boolooroo, they can't be called fust-class."

"Don't let me hear any more impudence, prisoners!" called the Boolooroo
sternly. "You are already condemned to severe punishment, and if I have
any further trouble with you, you are liable to be patched."

"What's being patched?" inquired the girl.

The soldiers all laughed at this question, but the King did not reply.
Just then a door in the palace opened and out trooped a group of girls.
There were six of them, all gorgeously dressed in silken gowns with
many puffs and tucks and ruffles and flounces and laces and ribbons,
everything being in some shade of blue, grading from light blue to deep
blue. Their blue hair was elaborately dressed and came to a point at
the top of their heads. The girls approached in a line along the garden
path, all walking with mincing steps and holding their chins high.
Their skirts prevented their long legs from appearing as grotesque as
did those of the men, but their necks were so thin and long that the
ruffles around them only made them seem the more absurd.

"Ah," said the King with a frown, "here come the Six Snubnosed
Princesses, the most beautiful and aristocratic ladies in Sky Island."

"They're snubnosed,