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And when Twisty turned round to go back and finish his quarrel with Sleep-Alone, there was no castle there! It had gone on its wanderings again!

"Oh dear—I wish we could stay and see the gi¬ant looking for his castle," said Mollie. "What a shock he's having! His prisoners all escaping, the Wishing-chair gone—and his castle wandering away in the forest with Sleep-Alone in charge. Won't your cousin be thrilled to have such a fine place to sleep in, Chinky?"

The Wishing-Chair didn't go back to the play¬room—it went to Mrs. Spell's room.

They went in to see Mrs. Spells, and told her their extraordinary adventures. To their surprise, Cinders was there and produced some excellent fruit buns that Mrs. Spells said he had just made. He really was a most remarkable cat.

Mollie glanced out of the window that looked out on the sea. "Oh, look!" she cried, "there's our ship! The Molliel I wondered what would happen to her. She's come back, Mr. Spells." "Cinders brought her back," said Mrs. Spells. "He knew the ship wouldn't be needed again."

"It was a grand adventure," said Mollie. "I was scared at times, you know—but somehow I knew everything would be all right with Mr. Spells there. Thank you, Mr. Spells, for being such a good friend."

"Delighted," said the enchanter. "Now it's time you went home."

The children went to find the Wishing-Chair, which was still in the back yard. They climbed into it with Winks and Chinky.

"Take us home, Chair!" cried Peter—and up into the air it rose, flapping its big wings—and in five minutes' time they were all back in the play¬room once more.

XXII

WINKS AND CHINKY ARE SILLY

The Wishing-Chair seemed tired with all its ad¬ventures. It stood in its place for ten whole days and didn't grow its wings.

"We've only got a week and two days left be¬fore we go back to school," said Mollie, who was a bit worried. "1 do hope we have another adven¬ture before we have to say good-bye to you, Chinky. Where's Winks?"

"I don't know. He was here last night, lookingvery mysterious," said Chinky. "You know, the way he looks when he's up to some kind of mischief. I just hope he won't get into trouble."

"You know he lost my doll's gloves on the last adventure? He says he dropped them into the sea," said Mollie. "Now his hands show up again—that awful blue colour!"

"I know. The things he loses!" said Chinky. "He came in without his shoes the other day, and said he'd lost them. 1 said: 'Well, where did you take them off, Winks?' And he said he'd lost them with¬out even taking them off. How could anyone do that?"

"Sh! Here he is!" said Mollie. "Oh, Winks! Your hands aren't blue any more! They're the right colour! How did you manage that?"

"Aha-ha-ha!" said Winks. "I've got a secret."

"What is it?" asked Chinky at once.

"Well, it won't be a secret if I tell it," said Winks annoyingly.

"Have you been to see Mr. Spells?" said Mollie.

"No. I went to see Witch Wendle," said Winks. "I borrowed her wand—it's got very good magic in it."

"Do you mean to say old Witch Wendle lent you her wand?" said Chinky disbelievingly. "Why, it was only last week you told me you put her chim¬ney pot upside down so that her smoke blew down into her kitchen. I don't believe you!"

"All right, then—but here's the wand, see?" said Winks, and he suddenly produced the wand from under his coat. It was a small, neat wand, not long and slender like Chinky's. He waved it about.

Mollie and Peter stared in surprise—and Chinky jumped up in alarm.

"WINKS! You took it without asking? 1 know you did. Witch Wendle would never lend her wand to you—why, look, it's absolutely full of magic!"

So it was. All wands glitter and shine and gleam and shimmer when they are full of magic, and this one was quite dazzling.

"I just borrowed it for a little while," said Winks. "The witch has gone to call on her sister. She won't miss it. I'll take it back soon. I wished my hands the right colour again—wasn't I pleased when they came all right!"

"You're a very bad, naughty brownie," said Chinky. "You ought to go back to Mister Grim's school. I've a good mind to make you go back!"

"Don't you talk like that to me, or I shall lose my temper," said Winks, crossly, and he poked the wand at Chinky.

"Stop it," said Chinky. "You should never poke people with wands. Surely you know that? And let me tell you this—I shall talk to you how I like. You take that wand back to Witch Wendle AT ONCE!"

"I don't like you, Chinky," said Winks, looking suddenly cross. "I shall wish for a Maggle-Mig to 159

chase you!"

He waved his wand in the air —and goodness gracious, whatever was this extraordinary creature running in at the door?

It was rather like a small giraffe, but it had feath¬ers, and it wore shoes on its four feet. It galloped round the room after Chinky. The children fled to a cupboard. If this was a Maggle-mig, they didn't like it! Winks sat down on the sofa and roared with laughter. Chinky was furious.

He rushed to the toy cupboard and felt about for his wand. He waved it in the air. "Maggle- mig, change to a Snickeroo and chase Winks!" he cried. And at once the little giraffe-like creature changed to a thing like a small crocodile with horns. It ran at Winks, who leapt off the sofa in a hurry.

Winks waved his wand at the Snickeroo and it ran into the fireplace and completely vanished. Winks pointed the wand at Chinky.

"Horrid Chinky! Grow a long nose!"

And poor Chinky did! It was so long that he almost fell over it! Winks took hold of it and pulled it.

Chinky hit out at Winks with his own wand. "Grow a tail!" he yelled.

And, hey presto! Winks grew a tail—one like a cow's, with a tuft at the end. It swung to and fro, and Winks looked down at it in alarm. He tried to run away from the swinging tail, but you can't leave a tail that's growing on you, of course, and the tail followed him, swinging to and fro.

"Ha, ha!" said Chinky. "A brownie with a tail!"

Winks was crying now. He picked up his wand, 160

which he had dropped. He and Chinky hit out at each other at the same moment.

"I'll change you into a puff of smoke!" shouted Winks.

"I'll change you into a horrid smell!" cried Chinky.

And then they both disappeared! Mollie and Peter stared in the utmost dismay. A little puff of green smoke blew across the room and disappeared out of the door. A horrid smell drifted about the room for a few minutes and then that went, too.

Mollie burst into tears. "Now look what's hap¬pened!" she sobbed. "We've lost both Chinky and Winks."

Peter saw that the two wands were on the floor. He picked up Chinky's and put it into the toy cup¬board. Then he picked up the one Winks had taken from Witch Wendle's and looked at it. Mollie gave a cry.

"Don't meddle with it, Peter. Don't!"

"I'm not going to," said Peter. "I'm just won¬dering what to do about all this. It's very serious. I think we ought to take this wand back to Witch Wendle."

"Oh, let's take it back quickly then," said Mollie. "And perhaps if we do she'll tell us what to do about Chinky and Winks. How shall we find the way?"

"We might ask Mr. Spells, began Peter, and then suddenly stopped in delight. He pointed behind Mollie.

She turned and saw that the Wishing-Chair was growing its wings again! The buds on its four legs burst into feathers, and soon the big green and yel¬low wings were waving gently in the air.

"Oh! What a bit of luck!" cried Mollie. "Now we can get in the Wishing-Chair and just tell it to go to Witch Wendle's!"

Peter sat in the chair and pulled Mollie down beside him. He had the witch's wand in his hand.

"Wishing-Chair, we want to go to Witch Wendle's," he said. "Go at once!"

The chair rose into the air, and made for the door. Out it went and up into the cloudy sky. It made for an opening in the clouds and shot through it. Now the children were in the sunshine above.

They flew for a long way. and then Mollie shouted in surprise, and pointed. "Look! What's that? It's a castle in the clouds!"

Both children stared. It was a very surprising sight indeed. A big purple could loomed ahead, thick and gloomy. Set in its depths was what looked exactly like a castle, with towers and turrets. The chair flew straight to the cloud and stopped. It hovered just above the cloud, and the children couldn't get down.

"Go lower, Chair!" cried Peter. But the chair didn't. A head popped out of a window of the castle.

"Wait! I'll get you cloud-shoes! If you walk on the cloud without them you'll fall."

The head disappeared. Then out of the castle came Witch Wendle, a bright star glinting at the top of her pointed hat. She carried what looked like snowshoes, big flat things, to fasten to their feet.

"Here you all!" she said. "Put these on your feet and you will be able to walk easily on the clouds. That's why your Wishing-Chair wouldn't land—it knew it would be dangerous for you with¬out cloud-shoes.'

"Oh, thank you," said Mollie. She liked Witch Wendle very much, because her face smiled and her eyes twinkled. The children put on the cloud- shoes and then stepped down on the cloud. Ah, they could get along quite well now—it felt rather as if they were sliding on very, very soft snow.

"What a strange home you have, set high in the clouds," said Peter.

"Oh, people often build these," said the witch. "Have you never heard of people building castles in the air? Well, this is one of them. They don't last very long, but they are very comfortable. I've had this one about two months now."

She led the way to her curious castle. "We've come to bring you your wand," said Peter. "I must tell you all that happened."

So he did, and the witch listened in silence. "That tiresome Winks!" she said. "He should never have left Mister Grim's school."

"What can we do about Chinky and Winks," said Mollie, "now that they are a puff of smoke and a horrid smell? Where have they gone?"

"To the Land of Spells," said the witch. "We'll have to get your Wishing-Chair to go there—come along!"

XXIII

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAND OF SPELLS

The witch led the way to where the Wishing-Chair stood waiting patiently on the edge of the cloud, its wings flapping gently.

"That's a really wonderful chair of yours," she said. "I only wish I had one like it!"

They all sat in it. "To the Land of Spells!" com¬manded the witch, and the chair at once rose into the air. It left the cloud and the curious castle built in the air, and flew steadily to the north.

"I'm very glad to have back my wand," said Witch Wendle. "Luckily it is only my third best one. If it had been my best one, the magic would have been so powerful that it would have shriv¬elled Winks up as soon as he touched it."

Mollie and Peter at once made up their minds that they would never, never touch any wand be¬longing to a witch or wizard. Goodness—what a blessing that it had been the witch's third best wand and not her best one!

The chair flew on for a long while and the witch pointed out the interesting places they passed— the Village of Stupids, the Country of No-Goods, the Land of Try-Again, and all kinds of places the children had never heard of before. They stared down at them in interest.

"What's the Land of Spells like?" asked Mollie.

"It's a strange land, really," said the witch. "All

kinds of spells wander about, and bump into you— Invisible Spells to make you invisible, Tall Spells to make you tall, Laughter Spells to make you laugh—they've only got to touch you to affect you at once."

"Oh dear," said Mollie in alarm. "I don't like the sound of that at all."

"You needn't worry," said Witch Wendle. "They only affect you whilst they bump into you— as soon as they drift away you're all right again. We shall have to look for a puff of smoke and detect a horrid smell—then we shall know we've got Winks and Chinky and I must do my best to put them right for you."

The Chair flew rapidly downwards, and landed in a very peculiar place. It was full of a blue-green mist and queer sounds went on all the time— sounds of rumbling, sounds of music, of bells, and of the wind blowing strongly.

They got off the chair. "Now take hands," said the witch. "And keep together, please. You're all right so long as you're with me, because I am a mistress of all spells—but don't slip away for goodness' sake, or you may get changed into a white butterfly or a blue beetle, and I would find it difficult to know you again."

Mollie and Peter held hands very hard indeed, and Mollie took the witch's hand, too. And then all kinds of extraordinary things began to happen.

A little trail of yellow bubbles bumped into Mollie—and, to Peter's great alarm, Mollie's neck grew alarmingly long, and shot up almost as tall as a tree! She was very alarmed, too.

"It's all right," said Witch Wendle. "It will pass as soon as the trail of bubbles goes."

She was right. When the bubbles flew off in another direction, Mollie's neck came down to its right size! "You did look queer, Mollie," said Pe¬ter. "Don't do that again!"

It was queer to think of spells wandering about like this. Mollie began to look out for them and try to dodge them. She dodged a silvery mist, but it wound itself round Witch Wendle—and she at once disappeared completely.

"Where's she gone?" cried Peter in fright.

"I've still got hold of her hand," said Mollie. "I think she's only invisible—but she's here all right."

"Yes, I'm here," said the witch's voice. As soon as the silvery mist cleared away she became vis¬ible again and smiled down at the children. "I didn't see that spell coming or I would have dodged it," she said. "Oh dear—here's an annoying one com¬ing!"

Something that looked like a little shower of white snowflakes came dropping down on them. The witch changed into a big white bear, Peter changed into a white goat and Mollie into a white cat! That lasted about two minutes, and they were all very glad when they were back to their right shapes again.

They went wandering through the queer misty land, listening to the queer noises around, trying to dodge the spells that came near them. The witch put out her hand and captured a tiny little spell floating through the air. It looked like a small white daisy.