"You don't look as much like a fish as Cap'n Bill does," observed
Trot.

"P'raps not," said Cap'n Joe, "but I notice Bill ain't got any gills
an' breathes like you an' the mermaids does. When he gets back to
land, he'll have his two legs again an' live in comfort breathin'
air."

"I won't have two legs," asserted Cap'n Bill, "for when I'm on earth
I'm fitted with one wooden leg, jes' the same as you are, Joe."

"Oh, I hadn't heard o' that, Bill, but I'm not surprised," replied
Brother Joe. "Many a sailor gets to wear a wooden leg in time.
Mine's hick'ry."

"So's mine," said Cap'n Bill with a air of pride. "I'm glad I've run
across you, Joe, for I often wondered what had become of you. Seems
too bad, though, to have to spend all your life under water."

"What's the odds?" asked Cap'n Joe. "I never could keep away from
the water since I was a boy, an' there's more dangers to be met
floatin' on it than there is soakin' in it. An' one other thing
pleases me when I think on it: I'm parted from my wife, a mighty
good woman with a tongue like a two-edge sword, an' my pore
widder'll get the insurance money an' live happy. As fer me, Bill,
I'm a good deal happier than I was when she kep' scoldin' me from
mornin' to night every minute I was home."

"Is Zog a kind master?" asked Trot.