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"And now," said Aquareine, "I will send you out for a swim with Merla, who will

show you some of the curious sights of our sea. You need not go far this

afternoon, and when you return, we will have another interesting talk together."

So the blonde mermaid led Trot and Cap'n Bill outside the palace walls, where

they found themselves in the pretty flower gardens.

"I'd feel all right, mate, if I could have a smoke," remarked the old sailor to the

child, "but that's a thing as can't be did here in the water."

Why not?" asked Merla, who overheard him.

A pipe has to be lighted, an' a match wouldn't burn," he replied.

Try it," suggested the mermaid. "I do not mind your smoking at all, if it will give

you pleasure."

"It's a bad habit I've got, an' I'm too old to break myself of it," said Cap'n Bill.

Then he felt in the big pocket of his coat and took out a pipe and a bag of

tobacco. After he had carefully filled his pipe, rejoicing in the fact that the tobacco

was not at all wet, he took out his matchbox and struck a light. The match

burned brightly, and soon the sailor was puffing the smoke from his pipe in great

contentment. The smoke ascended through the water in the shape of bubbles,

and Trot wondered what anyone who happened to be floating upon the surface of

the ocean would think to see smoke coming from the water.

"Well, I find I can smoke, all right," remarked Cap'n Bill, "but it bothers me to

understand why."

"It is because of the air space existing between the water and everything you have

about you," explained Merla. "But now, if you will come this way, I will take you

to visit some of our neighbors." They passed over the carpet of sea flowers, the

gorgeous blossoms swaying on their stems as the motion of the people in the

water above them disturbed their repose, and presently the three entered the

dense shrubbery surrounding the palace. They had not proceeded far when they

came to a clearing among the bushes, and here Merla paused.

Trot and Cap'n Bill paused, too, for floating in the clear water was a group of

beautiful shapes that the child thought looked like molds of wine jelly. They were

round as a dinner plate, soft and transparent, but tinted in such lovely hues that

no artist's brush has ever been able to imitate them. Some were deep sapphire

blue; others rose pink; still others a delicate topaz color. They seemed to have

neither heads, eyes nor ears, yet it was easy to see they were alive and able to

float in any direction they wished to go. In shape they resembled inverted

The Sea Fairies