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the old Saucepan Man fought Mr. Change-About.
And Mr. Change-About fought back-but what was the good of that? Saucepan was so
hung about with pans of all kinds that nobody could possibly hit him anywhere
without grazing their knuckles and hurting themselves very much indeed!
Clang, clatter, clang, clatter, clash! The kettles and saucepans made an enormous
noise, and everyone began to laugh, for really Saucepan looked too funny for words,
dancing about on the floor, hitting and slapping at Mr. Change-About.
     
   
Mr. Change-About suddenly got very big and fierce-looking, but old Saucepan didn't
seem to mind at all. He just went on hitting out at him, and shouted: "The
bigger you are, the more there is to hit!"
So then Mr. Change-About got very small indeed, as small as a mouse, and ran squealing
across the floor in fright. Quick as lightning, Saucepan picked him up, popped
him into a kettle, and put the lid on him!
"Oh, Saucepan! Whatever will you do next?" said Jo, wiping tears of
laughter from his eyes. "I've never seen such a funny fight in my life. Be
careful Mr. Change-About doesn't squeeze out of the spout."
"I'll stuff it with paper," said Saucepan, tearing some from the box
of chocolates. "Now he's safe. Well -what do we do next?"
"We'd better get out of here," said Jo, standing up. He turned towards
the doorway -but what was this! There was no doorway-and no door! Only a wall
of rock that ran all round the underground room now.
     
   
"Goodness! How do we get out?" said Jo, puzzled. "This is a very
magic kind of place."
"There's no window, of course, because we are underground," said Dick.
"What in the wide world are we going to do?"
"What about the chimney?" asked Fanny, running to the fire. "It
looks pretty big. We could put the fire out and climb up, perhaps."
"Well, that looks about our only chance of getting out of here," said
Jo. He looked round for some water to put out the fire. He saw a tap jutting out
from the wall and went to it. He put a pail underneath and turned on the tap.
The water was bright green, and soon filled the pail. Jo threw it on the fire.
It made a terrific sizzling noise and went out at once, puffing clouds of green
smoke into the room.
     
   
Jo stepped on to the dead fire and looked up the chimney. "There's an iron
ladder going right up!" he called in excitement. "Come on! We shall
get dirty, but we can't help that. Hurry, before anything else queer happens!"
Up the ladder he went. It was hot from the heat of the fire, but grew colder the
higher he went.
     
   
"What an enormously long chimney!" called back Jo. "Is everyone
coming?"
"Yes! Yes!" called six voices below him. Jo climbed steadily upwards.
At last the ladder came to an end. Joe clambered over the top of it and found
himself in a most peculiar place.
     
   
"This looks like some kind of cellar," he said to the others, as they
scrambled up beside him. "Look at all those sacks piled up! What do you suppose
is in them?"
"Let's look," said Dick, who was always curious about everything. He
undid a sack-and, goodness gracious me! -out poured a great stream of bright golden
pieces of money! Everyone looked at it in astonishment.
     
   
"Somebody VERY rich must live here," said Jo at last. "I never
in my life saw so much gold. I can't believe that all the sacks are full of it!"
He undid another sack-and out poured gold again. Just as everyone was running
their fingers through it, marvelling at the gleam and shine of so much gold, there
came the sound of quick footsteps overhead.
     
   
A door above them opened, and a gleam of sunlight shone on to a flight of stone
steps leading up from the cellar to the door. A tall man in a pointed hat looked
down.
     
   
"Golly! It's an enchanter!" whispered Moon-Face in a fright. "We
must still be in the Land of Spells. Oh, dear!"
"Robbers! Thieves! Burglars!" shouted the enchanter in a loud voice.
"Servants, come here! Capture