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see. Perhaps they talked together, for the brown-haired mermaid soon came back to the side of the boat and asked, “Would you like to visit our kingdom and see all the wonders that exist below the sea?”

“I’d like to,” replied Trot promptly, “but I couldn’t. I’d get drowned.”

“That you would, mate!” cried Cap’n Bill.

“Oh no,” said the mermaid. “We would make you both like one of ourselves, and then you could live within the water as easily as we do.”

“I don’t know as I’d like that,” said the child, “at least for always.”

“You need not stay with us a moment longer than you please,” returned the mermaid, smiling as if amused at the remark. “Whenever you are ready to return home, we promise to bring you to this place again and restore to you the same forms you are now wearing.”

“Would I have a fish’s tail?” asked Trot earnestly.

“You would have a mermaid’s tail,” was the reply.

“What color would my scales be—pink, or purple?”

“You may choose the color yourself.”

“Look ahere, Trot!” said Cap’n Bill in excitement. “You ain’t thinkin’ o’ doin’ such a fool thing, are you?”

“‘Course I am,” declared the little girl. “We don’t get such inv’tations every day, Cap’n, and if I don’t go now I may never find out how the mermaids live.”

“I don’t care how they live, myself,” said Cap’n Bill. “I jes’ want ‘em to let ME live.”

“There’s no danger,” insisted Trot.

“I do’ know ‘bout that. That’s what all the other folks said when they dove after the mermaids an’ got drownded.”

“Who?” asked the girl.

“I don’t know who, but I’ve heard tell—”

“You’ve heard that no one ever saw a mermaid and lived,” said Trot.

“To tell the tale,” he added, nodding. “An’ if we dives down like they says, we won’t live ourselves.”

All the mermaids laughed at this, and the brown-haired one said, “Well, if you are afraid, don’t come. You may row your boat out of this cave and never see us again, if you like. We merely thought it would please little Mayre, and were willing to show her the sights of our beautiful home.”

“I’d like to see ‘em, all right,” said Trot, her eyes glistening with pleasure.

“So would I,” admitted Cap’n Bill, “if we would live to tell the tale.”

“Don’t you believe us?” asked the mermaid, fixing her lovely eyes on those of the old sailor and smiling prettily. “Are you afraid to trust us to bring you safely back?”

“N-n-no,” said Cap’n Bill, “‘tain’t that. I’ve got to look after Trot.”

“Then you’ll have to come with me,” said Trot decidedly, “for I’m going to ‘cept this inv’tation. If you don’t care to come, Cap’n Bill, you go home and tell mother I’m visitin’ the mermaids.”

“She’d scold me inter shivers!” moaned Cap’n Bill with a shudder. “I guess I’d ruther take my chance down below.”

“All right, I’m ready, Miss Mermaid,” said Trot. “What shall I do? Jump in, clothes and all?”

“Give me your hand, dear,” answered the mermaid, lifting a lovely white arm from the water. Trot took the slender hand and found it warm and soft and not a bit “fishy.”

“My name is Clia,” continued the mermaid, “and I am a princess in our deep-sea kingdom.”

Just then Trot gave a flop and flopped right out of the boat into the water. Cap’n Bill caught a gleam of pink scales as his little friend went overboard, and the next moment there was Trot’s face in the water among those of the mermaids. She was laughing with glee as she looked up into Cap’n Bill’s face and called, “Come on in, Cap’n! It didn’t hurt a bit!”

 

THE DEPTHS OF THE DEEP BLUE SEA

CHAPTER 3

Cap’n Bill stood up in the boat as if undecided what to do. Never a sailor man was more bewildered than this old fellow by the strangeness of the adventure he had encountered. At first he could hardly believe it was all true and that he was not dreaming; but there was Trot in the water, laughing with the mermaids and floating comfortably about, and he couldn’t leave his dear little companion to make the trip to the depths of the ocean alone.

“Take my hand, please, Cap’n Bill,” said Princess Clia, reaching her dainty arm toward him; and suddenly the old man took courage and clasped the soft fingers in his own. He had to lean over the boat to do this, and then there came a queer lightness to his legs and he had a great longing to be in the water. So he gave a flop and flopped in beside Trot, where he found himself comfortable enough, but somewhat frightened.

“Law sakes!” he gasped. “Here’s me in the water with my rheumatics! I’ll be that stiff termorrer I can’t wiggle.”

“You’re wigglin’ all right now,” observed Trot. “That’s a fine tail you’ve got, Cap’n, an’ its green scales is jus’ beautiful.”

“Are they green, eh?” he asked, twisting around to try to see them.

“Green as em’ralds, Cap’n. How do they feel?”

“Feel, Trot, feel? Why, this tail beats that ol’ wooden leg all holler! I kin do stunts now that I couldn’t o’ done in a thousand years with ol’ peg.”

“And don’t be afraid of the rheumatism,” advised the Princess. “No mermaid ever catches cold or suffers pain in the water.”

“Is Cap’n Bill a mermaid now?” asked Trot.

“Why, he’s a merMAN, I suppose,” laughed the pretty princess. “But when he gets home, he will be just Cap’n Bill again.”

“Wooden leg an’ all?” inquired the child.

“To be sure, my dear.”

The sailor was now trying his newly discovered power of swimming, and became astonished at the feats he could accomplish. He could dart this way and that with wonderful speed, and turn and dive, and caper about in the water far better than he had ever been able to do on land—even before he got the wooden leg. And a curious thing about this present experience was that the water did not cling to him and wet him as it had always done before. He still wore his flannel shirt and pea jacket and his sailor cap; but although he was in the water and had been underneath the surface, the cloth still seemed dry and warm. As he dived down and came up again, the drops flashed from his head and the fringe of beard, but he never needed to wipe his face or eyes at all.

Trot, too, was having queer experiences and enjoying them. When she ducked under water, she saw plainly everything about her as easily and distinctly as she had ever seen anything above water. And by looking over her shoulder she could watch the motion of her new tail, all covered with pretty iridescent pink scales, which gleamed like jewels. She wore her dress the same as before, and the water failed to affect it in the least.

She now noticed that the mermaids were clothed, too, and their exquisite gowns were the loveliest thing the little girl had ever beheld. They seemed made of a material that was like sheeny silk, cut low in the neck and with wide, flowing sleeves that seldom covered the shapely, white arms of her new friends. The gowns had trains that floated far behind the mermaids as they swam, but were so fleecy and transparent that the sparkle of their scales might be seen reaching back of their waists, where the human form ended and the fish part began. The sea fairies wore strings of splendid pearls twined around their throats, while more pearls were sewn upon their gowns for trimmings. They did not dress their beautiful hair at all, but let it float around them in clouds.

The little girl had scarcely time to observe all this when the princess said, “Now, my dear, if you are ready, we will begin our journey, for it is a long way to our palaces.”

“All right,” answered Trot, and took the hand extended to her with a trustful smile.

“Will you allow me to guide you, Cap’n Bill?” asked the blonde mermaid, extending her hand to the old sailor.

“Of course, ma’am,” he said, taking her fingers rather bashfully.

“My name is Merla,” she continued, “and I am cousin to Princess Clia. We must all keep together, you know, and I will hold your hand to prevent your missing the way.”

While she spoke they began to descend through the water, and it grew quite dark for a time because the cave shut out the light. But presently Trot, who was eagerly looking around her, began to notice the water lighten and saw they were coming into brighter parts of the sea. “We have left the cave now,” said Clia, “and may swim straight home.”

“I s’pose there are no winding roads in the ocean,” remarked the child, swimming swiftly beside her new friend.

“Oh yes indeed. At the bottom, the way is far from being straight or level,” replied Clia. “But we are in mid-water now, where nothing will hinder our journey, unless—”

She seemed to hesitate, so Trot asked, “Unless what?”

“Unless we meet with disagreeable creatures,” said the Princess. “The mid-water is not as safe as the very bottom, and that is the reason we are holding your hands.”

“What good would that do?” asked Trot.

“You must remember that we are fairies,” said Princess Clia. “For that reason, nothing in the ocean can injure us, but you two are mortals and therefore not entirely safe at all times unless we protect you.”

Trot was thoughtful for a few moments and looked around her a little anxiously. Now and then a dark form would shoot across their pathway or pass them at some distance, but none was near enough for the girl to see plainly what it might be. Suddenly they swam right into a big school of fishes, all yellowtails and of very large size. There must have been hundreds of them lying lazily in the water, and when they saw the mermaids they merely wriggled to one side and opened a path for the sea fairies to pass through. “Will they hurt us?” asked Trot.

“No indeed,” laughed the Princess. “Fishes are stupid creatures mostly, and this family is quite harmless.”

“How about sharks?” asked Cap’n Bill, who was swimming gracefully beside them, his hand clutched in that of pretty Merla.

“Sharks may indeed be dangerous to you,” replied Clia, “so I advise you to keep them at a safe distance. They never dare attempt to bite a mermaid, and it may be they will think you belong to our band; but it is well to avoid them if possible.”

“Don’t get careless, Cap’n,” added Trot.

“I surely won’t, mate,” he replied. “You see, I didn’t use to be ‘fraid o’ sharks ‘cause if they came near I’d stick my wooden leg at ‘em. But now, if they happens to fancy these green scales, it’s all up with ol’ Bill.”

“Never fear,” said Merla, “I’ll take care of you on our journey, and in our palaces you will find no sharks at all.”

“Can’t they get in?” he asked anxiously.

“No. The palaces of the mermaids are inhabited only by themselves.”

“Is there anything else to be afraid of in the sea?” asked the little girl after they had swum quite a while in silence.

“One or two things, my dear,” answered Princess Clia. “Of course, we mermaids have great powers, being fairies; yet among the sea people is one nearly as powerful as we are, and that is the devilfish.”

“I know,” said Trot. “I’ve seen ‘em.”

“You have seen the smaller ones, I suppose, which sometimes rise to the surface or go near the shore, and are often caught

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