Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/128

THE CHILDREN went through it before! How soft it was to rest on the green moss and how safe from dangers it was below the Nixie's pool!

He came near to the Nixie's pool again without his knowing it. He came to the well where he had left the cup that Philemon had given him. He went to drink. Then as he stood by the edge he remembered the cup that he had left there. And he saw that the cup was floating upon the water.

The cup of carved wood that Philemon had given him was there. As it floated near another cup came out of the shadows, floating too. The two cups came together, touching rim to rim. Valentine thought he was dreaming when he looked upon them. He put his hands down and he took up the cups. The carvings on them were the same, and they had the same covering of yellow wax inside. No cups could be so alike except the cups that Philemon had given to John Ball and himself.

Valentine's heart lifted again. John Ball had