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“Congratulations, ole man, you’ve won!”

And somehow Marmaduke liked to be called “ole man,” and felt quite as proud over that as over winning the game.

Now the Toyman had to get down on his hands and knees and try to pull the peg out of the ground with his teeth. And oh, what a time he made of it, growling like a dog over a bone, all for the fun of the thing, until Marmaduke shouted in glee and Echo answered back from her cave again.

So for a long time they played Mumbledy Peg on the hill, while the shadows grew longer and longer on the grass at their feet. Then they stopped to rest and sat quiet “for a spell.”

Opposite them, in the West, were other hills, higher ones too, rising way up in the sky. And far above them curled great white clouds, standing still as still could be.

For a long while they watched those clouds, the man and the boy, then Marmaduke said,–

“I wonder if you see what I see.”

“What do you see, Sonny?” the Toyman replied.

“A great big city–look, there it is!” And the little boy pointed straight at the clouds.

“Why, to be sure!” exclaimed the Toyman, “there it is, an’ it looks mighty pretty. But just what do you make out?”

“Well!” replied Marmaduke, squinting his eye thoughtfully, “I see a big wall and towers on it–a whole lot of towers. There’s about fifty, I guess.”

The Toyman squinted too, and pointed his brown finger at the clouds, counting slowly under his breath.

“Fifty-one towers I make,” he said as he finished–“some little and some big; and some have little peaks on ’em, and some are all scalloped out on top.”

“And there’s a church–a whopper of a big one!” went on Marmaduke.

“Where?” asked the Toyman, craning his neck.

Marmaduke pointed at the Cloud City.

“There–just behind the biggest tower.”

“Just a little to the right, you mean?” again asked the Toyman, trying hard to see so as not to miss anything in that wonderful city. Then he added,–“oh, I get it now–it’s got a gold cross on it an’ little diamonds at the tips. My! how they shine in the sun.”

Then Marmaduke put in,–

“An’ there’s flags on the towers, red, yellow and blue–“

“How nice they look!” the Toyman murmured, “all a wavin’ in the wind.”

“And there’s soldiers in the streets, with helmets on their heads, an’ spears, an’ things–“

“You bet–an’ you kin hear the silver shoes of their horses on the cobbles–“

“What kind of cobbles?”

The Toyman thought a moment–

“Oh, let me see–wh-h-y, I’d say they were all cut outo’ agate like your shooters–leastways they look like that at this distance. An’ the sidewalks, of course, are of gold–a blind man could tell that–“

“What else?” demanded Marmaduke, a little out of breath, and dazzled by all this sudden glory.

“Oh, a lot else–” the Toyman replied, “for one thing, the door-knobs in all the castles are silver–but then that’s nothin’–silver’s so common even their frying-pans are made outo’ that. But you ought to see their lamp-posts in the street. Their poles are built of ivory from the tusks of elephants of the first water; an’ the glass on top is nothing but rubies–“

“Whew!” exclaimed Marmaduke, “that’s a great city.”

“Yes,” added the Toyman, “it’s a great city.”

So for a little while they watched that great Cloud City with all its towers, and flags and banners waving in the wind; and heard the horses prance over the bright cobbles, and the glorious music coming from out the great church doors. Suddenly Marmaduke asked,–

“Do you ‘spose we could take that city?”

“‘Spose!” exclaimed the Toyman, “why, I’m sure of it. Just call up your horses an’ call up your men.” And he put his hands to his lips and hallooed through them as through a trumpet, Echo answering back as if she had a trumpet, too.

“Hurry,” the Toyman went on in excitement, “there’s your horse–come, put your foot in the stirrup an’ lick him up an’ away we’ll go!”