Chapter 22 - Page 2

meat one, an' one hick'ry one. That's the same as belongs to me!"

"Will you lift Mayre aboard?" asked Princess Clia.

The old sailor aroused himself, and as Trot lifted up her arms, he seized them and drew her safely into the boat. She was dressed just as usual, and her chubby legs wore shoes and stockings. Strangely enough, neither of them were at all wet or even damp in any part of their clothing.

"I wonder where our legs have been while we've been gone?" mused Cap'n Bill, gazing at his little friend in great delight.

"And I wonder what's become of our pretty pink and green scaled tails!" returned the girl, laughing with glee, for it seemed good to be herself again.

Queen Aquareine and Princess Clia were a little way off, lying with their pretty faces just out of the water while their hair floated in soft clouds around them.

"Goodbye, friends!" they called.

"Goodbye!" shouted both Trot and Cap'n Bill, and the little girl blew two kisses from her fingers toward the mermaids.

Then the faces disappeared, leaving little ripples on the surface of the water.

Cap'n Bill picked up the oars and slowly headed the boat toward the mouth of the cave.

"I wonder, Trot, if your ma has missed us," he remarked uneasily.

"Of course not," replied the girl. "She's been sound asleep, you know."

As the boat crept out into the bright sunlight, they were both silent, but each sighed with pleasure at beholding their own everyday world again.

Finally Trot said softly, "The land's the best, Cap'n."

"It is, mate, for livin' on," he answered.

"But I'm glad to have seen the mermaids," she added..

"Well, so'm I, Trot," he agreed. "But I wouldn't 'a' believed any mortal could ever 'a' seen 'em an'--an'--"

Trot laughed merrily.

"An' lived to tell the tale!" she cried, her eyes dancing with mischief. "Oh, Cap'n Bill, how little we mortals know!"

"True enough, mate," he replied, "but we're a-learnin' something ev'ry day."

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THE END.

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