Back to Earth Chapter VIII

In the middle of the night, Mr. Gray-Squirrel woke up to find Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny in his blue-and-white nightcap, standing by his bedside, with a lighted candle in his paw.

“What is the matter?” asked Mr. Gray-Squirrel, sitting up in bed.

“Oh dear me!” groaned poor Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, “I can’t go to sleep, for every time that I do, I dream that the furniture is falling off the ceiling, or that I am walking on my head. Would you be willing to leave this awful place before breakfast?”

“Yes, indeed,” replied Mr. Gray-Squirrel; “I am ready to go whenever you are.”

“Besides,” continued Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny, “I think that the people here are becoming much too fond of us, and if we stay any longer, they may not let us go away at all. I am sure that I don’t wish to spend the rest of my life walking on my head in an upside-down house.”

They waked up Mrs. Bunny, Mrs. Gray-Squirrel, and the children as soon as it was light, and creeping quietly up the big staircase, they stole out of the house.

At each street corner, Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny had a fresh scare, but they met no one, and before the people were stirring in the village, they were safely on board the airship.

“If you don’t mind, I would rather not stop at any more islands,” said Mr. Bunnikins. “In fact, I think I should like to go home.”

Mr. Gray-Squirrel was quite willing, so down they went, circling round and round, lower and lower, until at the end of the second day they were close to the Earth.

What a sigh of relief Mr. Bunnikins-Bunny gave as he set his foot once more on familiar ground!

As they said good-by, he thanked Mr. Gray-Squirrel warmly, and assured him that he had had a most wonderful trip. But as they walked towards home, he said to Mrs. Bunnikins: “Well, my dear, I have always thought that I should like to be a bird and fly in the air; but now, I am quite contented to be myself, and stay on the good old solid Earth!”