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“Just a little boy,” said the yellow man–for Neville was far too frightened to speak. “Just a little boy that the Cloud Horse has been playing tricks on. I think he’d like to be getting home–just over by the bald hill, if you don’t mind, sir.”

“Certainly not!” shouted the man with the large ears. “The Cloud Horse is not to go out there again to-night, nor the silly little boy either. I’m not going to have the sunset upset by any such silly nonsense. You mind what I say and attend to your work.”

And, without another glance at Neville, the man with the large ears strode off to arrange for the sunset on the next range, miles and miles away.

Neville gazed at the wee yellow man hopelessly, and the wee yellow man gazed at Neville, and neither spoke a word until the man with the large ears was well out of the way. Then the Last Sunbeam grew quite cheerful again.

“Well,” said he, “you heard what the head scene-shifter said. You certainly can’t go home by the way you came. The only thing for you to do is to go round. You’ll just about have time to do it, if you hurry.”

“Go round?” repeated Neville in a puzzled voice. “Go round what, round where?”

“Round the world, of course,” replied the little yellow man.

“Round the world?” cried Neville. “Why you must be making fun of me, and I think that is very unkind.”

“Not a bit of it,” laughed the little yellow man. “You need not make such as fuss about it. Why, I go round the world once every day with the sunset. You have only to go a bit faster so as to do it in a few minutes, and with the Cloud Horse to help you that’s easily managed. Don’t you worry about the Cloud Horse. He has got to do just whatever I tell him. Now, excuse me for one moment and I’ll give you full directions.”

With that the wee yellow man went behind a pink cloud and came back with a beautiful blue flower in his hand.

“This,” he said, handing the flower to Neville, “is a Sky Flower. It is made entirely out of a genuine piece of sky, and it is a talisman–that’s a longer word for charm, you know–which takes you free round the world. The one thing you have to remember is that you mustn’t, on any account, lose that flower until you get home again. Now, just exactly what you have to do is to travel West and race round the world until you catch up with this evening again. It is quite simple.”

“Simple!” cried Neville. “Why I don’t understand it at all.”

“Dear me!” said the wee yellow man rather impatiently, “you are very dense. Now listen carefully. The world, you know, turns round from West to East, and that makes it seem as if the sun is going round the world from East to West. Very well. So what you have to do is to ride West upon the Cloud horse much faster than the sun appears to travel, and catch him up again before he gets well away from here. The Cloud horse is in good condition, and you should easily do it in a few minutes.”

“A few minutes!” gasped Neville.

“Keep quiet and listen,” snapped the wee yellow man. “A few miles West from here you will come into broad daylight. That will be afternoon. After that you will meet mid-day, and, passing that, you will reach the place where it is only dawn. That’s about half-way round the earth. Show the Sky Flower to the porter of the Dawn, and he will let you through. Then you get to the half of the world where it is night, and you must race round that till you reach the place where it is only evening. That will be THIS evening, somewhere about here, for you will have taken only a few minutes altogether. And when you see your own home or the bald hill again, grasp the Sky Flower tightly in your hand, jump off the Cloud horse, and you will float gracefully down to the earth. It won’t hurt you. Then you can go home, and I hope you will not be late for dinner.”