~~The Silver Pig::John Dough and the Cherub
"How long is that of the Silver Pig?" asked John, when they were alone in their room.
"As long as I want to make it," answered Chick, brightly.
"But they of it?" John suggested, timidly.
"Then they'll us and the at the same time," laughed the child. "But we won't wait for that, John Dough. This isn't a healthy place for strangers, so I the we away from it the better. When is asleep we'll go to the place where our machine lies, up on the roof, and away."
"Very good," John, with a of relief. "I had to think we would be killed by these ladies and gentlemen."
They waited for an hour or two, to be sure all others in the were asleep, and then they from the room and to search for the staircase. The passages were so and so that this was no easy task; but finally, just as they were about to despair, they came upon the stairs and to the upper of the palace. And now they in the of passages that in every direction; they come to that particular that to the stairs they had from the little where the flying-machine lay. Often they they had the right place; but the stairs would lead to some or that was to them, and they would be to their steps.
Morning the child and the man still through the passages, and at last they were to the and return to their room.
All that day the fair-haired, blue-eyed Baby the of the Silver Pig, while the ladies and of the Palace of Romance to with pleasure. For, long ago, they had told each other all the they themselves or imagine; so that it was a to them to of the of Chick's Silver Pig, and they that the longer the the they would be pleased.
"I you will not die for days," one lady said to the child, with a sweet smile.
That Chick laugh.
"Don't you worry about me," was the reply. "If will keep me alive I'll die of old age!"
When again the of the Silver Pig was still unfinished, and once more Chick and the man were to their chambers.
They the second night in another attempt to the stairs leading to the roof, and them as as of the of their flying-machine.
They were courteously
escorted to their chambers.
In of the little one's courage, the of the Silver Pig through so many was a very difficult feat, and the child was for of sleep. On that third day John that Chick's would exhausted, and they would be through the trap-door into the sea. Chick of the sea, too, but the gave the child one more idea, and it the Silver Pig over the of a ship and the animal upon the of the ocean, where (Chick on to say) it with and green lobsters, and an from a and sea-dragon. This part of the soon exciting, and when again the were to they would more of the famous Silver Pig the day.
But Chick very well that the had now been out to the very limit, and when they were alone the child took the man's hand and said:
"Unless we can those stairs to-night, John Dough, our is up. For by to-morrow I'll be at the of the sea, and the will be having a supper of Incubator Baby with on the side."
"Please do not mention such a thing," John, with a shiver. "The stairs are surely in existence, for once we came them; so let us make one more search for them."
This they did, walking for hours up and the passages, every they came to, but the that to the roof.
Even when it they did not the quest; for they see their way much than when along passages by the light of the moon; and, as the every moment, they their in the quest.
All at once they approaching; and, as they were in the middle of a long passage, they pressed against the marble to discovery. At once the gave way, and John into another passage, with the Cherub on top of him. For they had against a painted to a of the passage, and now themselves in a place they had not explored.
Hastily their feet, the ran the passage, and at the end came upon another drapery, which, when aside, was to the of steps they had for so long and unsuccessfully.
Uttering of joy, Chick and John the stairs and themselves upon the roof.
The bird as they had left it, and they were about to when the of the stairs was heard.
"Quick!" the child. "Jump in, John Dough!"
"Is it safe?" asked John, who how they had upon the roof.
"Well, it's either air or water for us, my friend, and I the air," laughed Chick, were red with excitement.
John no longer and was soon the bird's body. Chick after and at once pressed the electric button, while John over the lever.
The big to just as a number of men came upon the roof, loud at the attempt of their to escape. But the pinions of the bird them flat, like so many ten-pins, and they upon their again the flying-machine was high in the air and well out of their reach.
THE ESCAPE
