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The sea devils made us," explained Clia.

Well, I'm sorry for you, I'm sure," remarked the Greg, and with a flash of his tail,

he disappeared among the sea foliage.

Let us go to the castle," said the Queen in a determined voice. "We may as well

boldly defy our fate as to wait until Zog seeks us out."

So they swam to the entrance of the castle. The doors stood wide open, and the

interior seemed as well lighted as the cavern itself, although none of them could

discover from whence the light came.

At each side of the entrance lay a fish such as they had never seen before. It was

flat as a doormat and seemed to cling fast to the coral floor. Upon its back were

quills like those of a porcupine, all pointed and sharp. From the center of the fish

arose a head shaped like a round ball, with a circle of piercing, bead-like eyes set

in it. These strange guardians of the entrance might be able to tell what their

numerous eyes saw, yet they remained silent and watchful. Even Aquareine gazed

upon them curiously, and she gave a little shudder as she did so.

Inside the entrance was a domed hall with a flight of stairs leading to an upper

balcony. Around the hall were several doorways hung with curtains made of

woven seaweeds. Chairs and benches stood against the wall, and these

astonished the visitors because neither stairs nor chairs seemed useful in a

kingdom where every living thing was supposed to swim and have a fish's tail. In

Queen Aquareine's palaces benches for reclining were used, and stairs were

wholly unnecessary, but in the Palace of Zog the furniture and fittings were much

like those of a house upon earth, and except that every space here was filled with

water instead of air, Trot and Cap'n Bill might have imagined themselves in a

handsome earthly castle.

The little group paused half fearfully in the hall, yet so far there was surely

nothing to be afraid of. They were wondering what to do next when the curtains of

an archway were pushed aside and a boy entered. To Trot's astonishment, he had

legs and walked upon them naturally and with perfect ease. He was a delicate,

frail-looking little fellow, dressed in a black velvet suit with knee breeches. The

bows at his throat and knees were of colored seaweeds, woven into broad ribbons.

His hair was yellow and banged across his forehead. His eyes were large and

dark, with a pleasant, merry sparkle in them. Around his neck he wore a high

ruff, but in spite of this Trot could see that below his plump cheeks were several

scarlet-edged slits that looked like the gills of fishes, for they gently opened and

closed as the boy breathed in the water by which he was surrounded. These gills

The Sea Fairies