CHAPTER XIII.

IN THE ARMS OF THE MIST MAIDENS

Coppertop was so terrified when she beheld Tibbs and Kiddiwee floating down the stream of the great river that she cried out--

“Oh, don’t let them be drowned! Please don’t!” and hid her eyes.

“Look again, little one,” said Waomba. “Look closely!”

And as Coppertop did so, she seemed to be standing at the edge of a mighty waterfall, which sent up clouds of rainbow-coloured spray, in which were the forms of Maidens, transparent and airy as soap bubbles.

Hundreds of feet below, the water seethed round a beautiful island covered with trees, and looking quite peaceful, in spite of the angry torrent.

While she stood there, wondering, two tiny forms were borne along by the river, and flung out over the edge of the waterfall.

“Oh, Tibbs! Oh, Kiddiwee!” screamed Coppertop. “Oh, how terrible! They will fall and be smashed into a thousand pieces!”

But this was not to be. For the Mist Maidens clustered round them, and bore them upward, high above the falls. And there in the sunlight, Coppertop could see them clearly.

The two boys seemed to be asleep in the arms of the Mist Maidens, who bent and kissed them. And at each kiss they grew smaller, until Coppertop feared, if it went on much longer, they would be kissed away.

And to be sure, the boys grew so small at length that they slipped from the arms of the Maidens, and floated down gently, like autumn leaves, on to the island at the foot of the falls.

* * * * *

“Oh, horrors! Look!” exclaimed Coppertop, in tones of fear; and well she might, for as she watched Tibbs and Kiddiwee, a large crocodile--a crusty, carnivorous crocodile--came slowly out of the water and crawled towards her brothers.

“Oh, I must save them!” she cried, and with that one thought in her mind, she spread her wings for flight.

“But what of the West Wind, little one--and the December day?” said Waomba.

“Oh, how can you ask me to think of such a thing now,” almost sobbed Coppertop, “when they are in such dreadful danger?” So saying, she flew from the arms of Waomba toward the island in front of her.

* * * * *

“You’ve missed the West Wind entirely,” said a queer little voice beside her. “You’d better try the East Wind, now!”

Coppertop thought she recognised the voice, but there was no one to be seen.

“You’ve grown so big now that you can’t even see your old friends,” continued the small voice, good-naturedly. “But I’m here all the same--in fact, I’m everywhere. Come, come, my dear! Don’t say you’ve forgotten Mr. A. Tom.”

“No, of course I haven’t. But it’s hard to remember someone you can’t even see,” cried Coppertop. “And I’m so miserable!”

“Oh, don’t be miserable, my dear. It’s a silly habit! Get out of it. How would the world go along if I became miserable? Why there wouldn’t be an atom of happiness left!”

“But whatever am I to do?” pouted the child. “I’ve missed the West Wind--all through the horrid Clerk of the Weather and his old storm! And now Tibbs and Kiddiwee are in awful danger. I simply don’t know what to do,” she added.

“Yes, you do! I have told you. Find the East Wind as soon as you can. He may have a December day to spare. You’ll probably meet him in Pyramid Land, and can pick up your brothers on the way. Ta-ta!” And he was gone.

“I expect they will be ‘picked up’ before I get there!” thought Coppertop, and she shuddered.

Before long she arrived at the waterfall, and, flying through the rainbow spray, landed safely upon the island.

Her heart almost stood still as she drew near, at the thought of what she might see. But with great courage she clambered down the steep bank to the water’s edge, expecting every moment to be faced by the monster.

But neither the crusty, carnivorous crocodile nor her brothers were to be seen.

With beating heart she knelt down to examine the ground, as she had read that trackers and hunters always did, and there, surely enough, she made out the footprints of the crocodile!

This discovery made her tremble, but she clenched her teeth and continued her search for Tibbs and Kiddiwee.

She had only gone a few steps, however, when her sharp eyes caught the gleam of gold upon a twig near by. Going closer, she saw that it was a long golden hair.

Once more her heart stood still! It was Kiddiwee’s, pulled from his tiny head as he and Tibbs fell through the branches.

Then the crocodile had them! There was no doubt of that.

And having made up her mind on that point, she decided that the creature must be found at once, and induced to smile! She would tell him the funniest joke she could think of, and if she could only succeed in making the reptile laugh really heartily, why then it would be the easiest thing in the world for her brothers to walk out unobserved.

“I don’t see a bit why they shouldn’t,” she said aloud. “Jonah was quite comfy in the whale! And I expect the crocodile is the same inside, only not quite such large rooms! I think they will be quite all right, if they didn’t get too much chewed up going in!”

It was no use flying, as she had to follow the footprints very closely, which was not easy to do on the rocky ground.

“What a good thing it was that he didn’t go back into the water,” thought Coppertop; “I could never have found him then, and Tibbs and Kiddiwee would have got damp, I expect, and have started sneezing!” And she smiled at the thought of the crocodile’s expression when this happened.

It was back-achy work stooping down to follow the crocodile’s tracks, but she was in the mood to endure things bravely.

“Tearful heart goes lame they say, But smiling heart runs all the way!”

she repeated, remembering an old rhyme her mother used to sing to her when she was “quite a little thing” out in India.