"But he said he'd never seen such eyes on any sea beast he knew of,
and he's read as much as you have; that's sure."

"That treasure! Oh, my eye!" Jerry sighed. "Do you suppose he
brought home hunks of it?"

"Just the same hunks that we dig up on Wecanicut, I suppose," I
said.

"You mean you think he's making up the whole yarn?" Jerry asked.
"Well, even if he is, it's a mighty good one, and it might have
happened to him, at that."

Greg looked up suddenly from beside me, and said:

"_I_ think the thing what stared at him was a mer-person."

"My child," said Jerry, "I believe you're right."




CHAPTER VI


Next day Jerry was well enough to walk around with a cane, and when
he'd broken Father's second-best malacca stick by vaulting over the
box border with it, we decided that he was quite all right, and the
summer went on again as usual. Of course we wrote to the Bottle Man