In the middle of the street some boys were very busy at a game, carts and lorries passing over them occasionally.

They came to the pavement to play marbles, and then Tommy noticed that one of them wore what was probably a glengarry bonnet.

Could he be a Thrums boy?
At first he played in the stupid London way, but by and by he had to make a new ring, and he did it by whirling round on one foot.

Tommy knew from his mother that it is only done in this way in Thrums.

Oho! Oho! By this time he was prancing round his discovery, saying, "I'm one, too--so am I--dagont, does yer hear?
dagont!" which so alarmed the boy that he picked up his marble and fled, Tommy, of course, after him.
Alas! he must have been some mischievous sprite, for he lured his pursuer back into London and then vanished, and Tommy, searching in vain for the enchanted street, found his own door instead.
His mother pooh-poohed his tale, though he described the street exactly as it struck him on reflection, and it bore a curious resemblance to the palace of Aladdin that Reddy had told him about, leaving his imagination to fill in the details, which it promptly did, with a square, a town-house, some outside stairs, and an auld licht kirk.