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"That don't make any diff'rence, Trot. The mermaids live deep down, an' the poor
mortals never come up again."
The little girl was thoughtful for a moment. "But why do folks dive in the water
when the mermaids smile an' wink?" she asked.
"Mermaids," he said gravely, "is the most beautiful creatures in the world--or the
water, either. You know what they're like, Trot, they's got a lovely lady's form
down to the waist, an' then the other half of 'em's a fish, with green an' purple an'
pink scales all down it."
"Have they got arms, Cap'n Bill?"
"'Course, Trot; arms like any other lady. An' pretty faces that smile an' look
mighty sweet an' fetchin'. Their hair is long an' soft an' silky, an' floats all around
'em in the water. When they comes up atop the waves, they wring the water out'n
their hair and sing songs that go right to your heart. If anybody is unlucky
enough to be 'round jes' then, the beauty o' them mermaids an' their sweet songs
charm 'em like magic; so's they plunge into the waves to get to the mermaids. But
the mermaids haven't any hearts, Trot, no more'n a fish has; so they laughs when
the poor people drown an' don't care a fig. That's why I says, an' I says it true,
that nobody never sawr a mermaid an' lived to tell the tale."
"
"
"
Nobody?" asked Trot.
Nobody a tall."
Then how do you know, Cap'n Bill?" asked the little girl, looking up into his face
with big, round eyes.
Cap'n Bill coughed. Then he tried to sneeze, to gain time. Then he took out his
red cotton handkerchief and wiped his bald head with it, rubbing hard so as to
make him think clearer. "Look, Trot; ain't that a brig out there?" he inquired,
pointing to a sail far out in the sea.
"
How does anybody know about mermaids if those who have seen them never
lived to tell about them?" she asked again.
"
"
"
Know what about 'em, Trot?"
About their green and pink scales and pretty songs and wet hair."
They don't know, I guess. But mermaids jes' natcherly has to be like that, or they
wouldn't be mermaids."
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