s, like the rainbow, or iridescent glass, or the beautiful scum
that sometimes floats on water that is not at all nice to drink.

"Oh--but how can we fly?" Jane said, standing anxiously first on one
foot and then on the other.

"Look out!" said Cyril; "you're treading on my wing."

"Does it hurt?" asked Anthea with interest; but no one answered, for
Robert had spread his wings and jumped up, and now he was slowly rising
in the air. He looked very awkward in his knickerbocker suit--his boots
in particular hung helplessly, and seemed much larger than when he was
standing in them. But the others cared but little how he looked,--or how
they looked, for that matter. For now they all spread out their wings
and rose in the air. Of course you all know what flying feels like,
because everyone has dreamed about flying, and is seems so beautifully
easy--only, you can never remember how you did it; and as a rule you
have to do it without wings, in your dreams, which is more clever and
uncommon, but not so easy to remember the rule for. Now the four
children rose flapping from the ground, and you can't think how good the
air felt as it ran against their faces. Their wings were tremendously
wide when they were spread out, and they had to fly quite a long way
apart so as not to get in each other's way. But little things like this
are easily learned.

All the words in the English Dictionary, and in the Greek Lexicon as
well, are, I find, of no use at all to tell you exactly what it feels
like to be flying, so I will not try. But I will say that to look _down_
on the fields and woods instead of _along_ at them, is something like
looking at a beautiful live map, where, instead of silly colors on
paper, you have real moving sunny woods and green fields laid out one
after the other. As Cyril said, and I can't think where he got hold of
such a strange expression, "It does you a fair treat!" It was most
wonderful and more like real magic than any wish the children had had
yet. They flapped and flew and sailed on their great rainbow wings,
between green earth and blue sky; and they flew over Rochester and then
swerved round towards Maidstone, and presently they all began to feel
extremely hungry. Curiously enough, this happened when they were flying
rather low, and just as they were crossing an orchard where some early
plums shone red and ripe.

[Illustration: They flew over Rochester]

They paused on their wings. I cannot explain to yo