THE MAGIC BALLOONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 744, 17 August 1929, Page 33

THE MAGIC BALLOONS

An Up-in-the-Air Story

Peter s uncle bad given him a bright new shilling and, no sooner had he driven away, than round the corner came the Balloon Man.

“Oh, Mr. Balloon Man.*’ cried Peter, running to the gate. "I want some balloons. How many will you give me for a shilling?”

“Four, Peter,” answered the Balloon Man, “but they are very big ones. What colours do you want?”

Peter chose a red. an orange, a purple and a green balloon, and carried them carefully back to the house. For a little while he just sat on the , front steps and looked at. those balloons. It was such fun to have four balloons all at once. Then he had a wonderful idea. Why not tie those balloons on to mother’s clothes basket and see what would happen? Away Peter ran to pull the big clothes basket into the back yard with one hand, while he held on to the balloons with the other. Then Peter got in the clothes basket and tied the red balloon and the green balloon to the front handle and the purple balloon and the orange balloon to the back handle. He had just finished tying the orange one. when along came a puff of Wind and Peter went sailing up in the air—up, up. until he was higher than the houses and higher than the trees. It was great fun to sail along and. lookinsr down, to see trains, and street cars and buildings and automobiles, and even a fire engine! Once in a while a bird would come near and cock its head on one side as though trying to decide what sort of a bird this was. Suddenly, in front of him, Peter saw the lake. Now sailing over the city was all right, for Peter’s home was near the city, but to cross that big lake was going to take him too far from home. Poor Peter began to cry. “What’s the matter with you? Mercy, what a noisy bird you are! ” Peter heard a queer voice, and, taking his fist out of his eye, he saw a big sea gull staring at him. “Oh, please, Mr. Sea Gull. I'm not a bird. I’m a boy and I tied balloons to my mother’s clothes basket and they’re running away with me.” Peter’s howls were louder than ever. “For goodness sake, stop screeching, and I’ll try to help you. I know what I’ll do. I'll peck a hole in one of your

balloons. Maybe that will help. " And so saying. Mr. Sea Gull pecked the red balloon with his sharp bill. The balloon immediately exploded with a loud pop that much astonished Mr. Sea Gull. “I should say you’re not a bird,” said he when he could get his breath. “N«> bird ever acted like that. Is that an> better?” “Yes it did help a little. I'm nearer the ground,” replied X'cter, “but I think you’ll have to peck another balloon." “It makes a terrible noise and the explosion almost blows my feathers off.” said the gull. “But I'll try again.’ and this time he pecked the purple balloon. Pop, went the purple balloon, and down went Peter still closer to the ground. “Do it again,” said Peter, and, pop. Went the green balloon. "Again.” and the orange balloon popped. With that the clothes basket bit the ground with a bump and Peter found himself sitting in his mother’s clothes basket in the park very near the lake. After Peter thanked the gull for all he had done, the bird flew away to tell the other gulls what queer things boys do. Peter was left sitting there, wondering how in the world he was going to get home. Then he heard a voice say, “Well. I’m bothered!” and there stood Peter’s old friend. Policeman Brown, looking down at him. “Oh! Policeman Brown.” said Petei. “I want to go home. Won’t you help me?” and Peter told about his ride through the air in the clothes basket. Policeman Brown scratched his head and looked at Peter very* hard indeed. Then he took Peter by the hand and put him on a street car bound for home, telling the conductor where to lot Peter off. So Peter wont clickety-clickety back home. Mother was calling him to lunch when he came up the walk. She asked him where in the world he had been all morning and Peter told the whole story. Then she looked at Peter very hard, just as Policeman Brown had done, and told him to eat hi« lunch. But she never did find her clothes basket. Perhaps the sea gulls carried it off under a pier and made an apartment house out of it.