Gran’ma, Janey and Mrs. Tiptoe rushed to the Princess and, raising her between them, they half carried and half dragged her back down the marble steps.

The Chief of Detectives, the Dancing Master, Johnny and Gran’pa sprang up the steps to meet the Magician. But the Chief of Detectives and Johnny caught their feet together and went tumbling to the foot of the hard stone steps, where they lay dazed.

The Dancing Master, who was very active, sprang up the steps two at a time and met the Magician on the broad landing and attacked him, although he scarcely reached to the Magician’s waist.

Old Jingles struck at the Dancing Master with his cane, but the Dancing Master dodged in under the blow and grappled with the Magician.

The good people of Nite were terror stricken, and stood motionless as the two struggled together.

Finally the Magician pulled his tiny bellows from his pocket and blew it toward the Dancing Master’s back, and the Dancing Master fell to the steps, just as Gran’pa struck the bellows from the Magician’s hand with his cane.

With a roar of pain and rage the wicked Jingles swung his crooked stick at Gran’pa’s head. Gran’pa warded off the blow with his own polished cane and, using it as a sword, he jabbed old Jingles in the stomach.

The Magician swung his large crooked stick again, and Gran’pa again poked him in the stomach, and then, as the wicked creature backed away, Gran’pa gave him a smart tap on the head, sending his tall hat spinning down the steps.

The Princess had recovered and was watching the duel with fascination. Gran’ma was struggling between Janey and Mrs. Tiptoe.

“Let me go!” she cried. “Let me get to him! I’ll tweak his nose! He shan’t hurt Gran’pa! Let me go!”

But Janey and Mrs. Tiptoe held her and tried to watch at the same time.

“Why don’t the people help?” Gran’ma cried. “Let me go, I tell you! I’ll show him, the wicked old thing!”

Gran’pa had just swung his cane at the Magician’s head again hoping to finish him with one more blow, but the Magician stepped to one side and struck Gran’pa on the head, sending him to his knees. Gran’pa, however much the blow hurt, never uttered a groan, and as he struggled dizzily to his feet he tried to ward off the blows that old Jingles showered upon him.

Part of the blows Gran’pa received on his left arm, the others slid harmlessly off his cane.

Gran’pa backed away from the Magician and his face was worried, for the blow upon his head had made Gran’pa weak in the knees.

But although he dodged and gave ground Gran’pa waited for an opening and at last, as the Magician missed a swing at Gran’pa’s head, Gran’pa drew his cane back over his shoulder and brought it down with all his might upon old Jingles’ crown.

The blow was of such force it would have broken the Magician’s head if the cane had not split in two, and as it was the wicked man staggered from the blow.

Gran’pa, with but the handle of his cane in his hand, jumped forward to strike again, but he missed his footing and went rolling down the stone steps.

When Gran’pa fell in front of the Magician, the Princess, Janey and Mrs. Tiptoe started running.

“Run for your lives!” cried the Princess. “He will change all of us into animals! Run!”

The Magician staggered after Gran’pa who had rolled clear to the bottom of the long flight of steps. The Magician in his anger did not see Johnny or the Chief of Detectives, who still sat in a daze part of the way down the steps, so as he passed them, Johnny stuck his foot out and tripped up the Magician.

Down the long flight of steps the Magician fell, his long arms and legs hitting the steps and his crooked stick flying high in the air as he turned over and over.

Johnny, though still dazed, got to his feet and started down the steps, hoping he could get the Magician’s crooked stick.

The Magician rolled to the bottom of the steps and he found Gran’ma there to meet him; for as soon as the others had started to run, they had released Gran’ma.

So Gran’ma waited until old Jingles had stopped rolling, then she rushed at him, and, catching his long nose in her hands, she gave it a tweak.

With one scream of pain, the Magician lay still, and as Johnny raised the crooked stick to bring it down upon Jingles’ head, Gran’ma stopped him.

“I said I’d tweak his nose,” Gran’ma cried, “and I’ll tweak it again just as soon as he awakens!”

Gran’pa sat up and looked around.

“Give me another sack of peanuts,” he said.

The Magician showed signs of awakening, so Gran’ma gave his long nose another tweak which made him lie still.

The Princess called to the people still standing around the door of the Castle.

“Call the Guards!” she shouted. “We’ll tie him and keep him chained up for ever!”

The voice of their Princess seemed to arouse the people from their numbness and fear and eight Guards came running out from behind the great doors where they had hidden themselves.

When the Guards came to pick up the Magician to carry him away Gran’ma pushed them back.

“No you don’t!” she told them. “He stays right here while I tweak his nose until he never has another speck of magic in him!”

And as the Magician stirred again, Gran’ma gave his long nose another hard tweek.

“But Gran’ma,” Janey cried, “the Princess must be obeyed! She wants the wicked creature put in chains and in prison!”

“Now, you let me be!” Gran’ma said. “I’m boss here and here he stays until I—”

Just as this moment the Dancing Master rushed down the steps and blew a puff from the magic bellows upon the face of old Jingles. It first formed a puffy white cloud, then it settled grain by grain. There was a breathless silence.

Gran’ma did not finish what she was about to say, for as the magic powder touched the Magician’s face, his long nose disappeared, his wicked eyes changed and his face took on the appearance of a young man. And as they all watched in wonder and amazement they saw his long, thin fingers change into young hands, and the thin form beneath the torn, dusty clothes alter until a fine young man lay before them.

The Dancing Master blew another puff of the powder upon the prostrate form and the old torn clothes changed into silk and velvet.

“Dear me!” Gran’ma cried. “Perhaps we have made a mistake! It isn’t old Jingles!”

And when the Strange Young Man opened his eyes and saw the crowd standing around him, he ran his hand across his forehead as if trying to recollect something.

“Where am I?” he asked.

“You are in the City of Nite,” answered the Princess. “Guards, assist him into the Castle!”

“I believe I can walk,” said the Strange Young Man, “but I cannot imagine how I got here, for I have never heard of the City of Nite before.” And with this he stood upon his feet.

“This is indeed strange,” said the Princess. “Let us all go into the Castle.” And as the people drew aside to let them pass, the Princess, Mrs. Tiptoe, Gran’ma and Janey went up the steps, followed by the Strange Young Man, the Tiptoe Brothers, Gran’pa and Johnny.

“My name is David,” the Strange Young Man said, when all had taken chairs in the Princess’ drawing room and he saw that they looked to him for an explanation, “and my home is in Dayland, or at least,” he continued, “it used to be there.”

“Dayland is on the other side of the Moon!” said the Princess. “My father and mother and I visited there once!”

“If Dayland is on the other side of the Moon,” said David, “this must be the Land Back of the Moon.”

“It is,” the Princess replied. “If you looked through the Moon you would see it. It’s the Magical Land of Noom.”

“How strange that I should be here!” and David passed his hand over his forehead in a puzzled manner. “I faintly remember strange rhymes and jingles of which I dreamed.”

“You did not dream them,” Gran’ma hastened to explain. “You were old Jingles the Magician until a few moments ago, then Mr. Tiptoe puffed the magic powder on you and changed you back to your own self.”

“Dear me,” sighed David. “If this is true tell me how long I have been in this strange shape, for I speak truly when I tell you that I am really at a loss to account for the cruel and wicked things which I must have done while I was not myself.”

“You first came to the City of Nite as a witch and said you were the Princess,” the Chief of Detectives told him.

“But you will remember,” the Princess said, turning to the Chief of Detectives, “that I met him first as Old Jingles, when I saw the Queer Horse who had eaten his head off, and that was over eighty years ago.”

“Dear me,” David sighed. “Then there is no telling how long I have been old Jingles or the Witch. I’m awfully sorry,” he told the Princess. “I wouldn’t have harmed you for the world.”

“Isn’t it just like a fairy tale!” Janey cried.

“Perhaps it is,” David smiled, “but it seems like a disagreeable dream to me and until I get back to my own country, I really cannot explain how it all came about.”

“What is the last thing you remember?” Johnny asked.

“Let me see! We were having a great ball or something at the Castle and I had just stepped outside the door to look at the Sun when—when—well, that is the last thing I can recall, except the queer dreams about rhymes and jingles.”

“You don’t remember what you did with our Flying Boat, do you?” Johnny asked.

“No, I can not recall a Flying Boat, at all,” David answered.