"Don't get careless, Cap'n," added Trot.

"I surely won't, mate," he replied. "You see, I didn't use to be
'fraid o' sharks 'cause if they came near I'd stick my wooden leg at
'em. But now, if they happens to fancy these green scales, it's all
up with ol' Bill."

"Never fear," said Merla, "I'll take care of you on our journey, and
in our palaces you will find no sharks at all."

"Can't they get in?" he asked anxiously.

"No. The palaces of the mermaids are inhabited only by themselves."

"Is there anything else to be afraid of in the sea?" asked the
little girl after they had swum quite a while in silence.

"One or two things, my dear," answered Princess Clia. "Of course, we
mermaids have great powers, being fairies; yet among the sea people
is one nearly as powerful as we are, and that is the devilfish."

"I know," said Trot. "I've seen 'em."

"You have seen the smaller ones, I suppose, which sometimes rise to
the surface or go near the shore, and are often caught by
fishermen," said Clia, "but they are only second cousins of the
terrible deep-sea devilfish to which I refer."

"Those ones are bad enough, though," declared Cap'n Bill. "If you