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he had no intention of starving them. Perhaps the magician realized that

Aquareine's fairy powers, if put to the test, would be able to provide food for her

companions, but whatever his object may have been, their enemy had given them

splendid rooms and plenty to eat.

"Isn't it nearly nighttime?" asked the Queen as Tom Atto spread the table with a

cloth of woven seaweed and directed his men to place the dishes upon it.

Night!" he exclaimed as if surprised. "There is no night here."

Doesn't it ever get dark?" inquired Trot.

Never. We know nothing of the passage of time or of day or night. The light

always shines just as you see it now, and we sleep whenever we are tired and rise

again as soon as we are rested."

What causes the light?" Princess Clia asked.

It's magic, your Highness," said the cook solemnly. "It's one of the curious things

Zog is able to do. But you must remember all this place is a big cave in which the

castle stands, so the light is never seen by anyone except those who live here."

"But why does Zog keep his light going all the time?" asked the Queen.

"I suppose it is because he himself never sleeps," replied Tom Atto. "They say the

master hasn't slept for hundreds of years, not since Anko, the sea serpent,

defeated him and drove him into this place."

They asked no more questions and began to eat their dinner in silence. Before

long, Cap'n Joe came in to visit his brother and took a seat at the table with the

prisoners. He proved a jolly fellow, and when he and Cap'n Bill talked about their

boyhood days, the stories were so funny that everybody laughed and for a time

forgot their worries.

When dinner was over, however, and Cap'n Joe had gone back to his work of

sewing on buttons and the servants had carried away the dishes, the prisoners

remembered their troubles and the fate that awaited them. "I am much

disappointed," said the Queen, "to find there is no night here and that Zog never

sleeps. It will make our escape more difficult. Yet we must make the attempt, and

as we are tired and a great struggle is before us, it will be best for us to sleep and

refresh ourselves."

They agreed to this, for the day had been long and adventurous, so Cap'n Bill

kissed Trot and went in to the Peony Room, where he lay down upon his spongy

couch and fell fast asleep. The mermaids and Trot followed this example, and I

The Sea Fairies