"Just now," one replied. "We were lying in the water, talking
quietly together when a spinning, shining thing came along and our
dear Flippity ate it. Then he went shooting up to the top of the
water and gave a flop and--went to glory! Isn't it splendid, Merla?"

"Poor Flippity!" sighed the mermaid. "I'm sorry, for he was the
prettiest and nicest mackerel in your whole flock."

"What does it mean?" asked Trot. "How did Flippity go to glory?"

"Why, he was caught by a hook and pulled out of the water into some
boat," Merla explained. "But these poor stupid creatures do not
understand that, and when one of them is jerked out of the water and
disappears, they have the idea he has gone to glory, which means to
them some unknown but beautiful sea."

"I've often wondered," said Trot, "why fishes are foolish enough to
bite on hooks."

"They must know enough to know they're hooks," added Cap'n Bill
musingly.

"Oh, they do," replied Merla. "I've seen fishes gather around a hook
and look at it carefully for a long time. They all know it is a hook
and that if they bite the bait upon it they will be pulled out of
the water. But they are curious to know what will happen to them
afterward, and think it means happiness instead of death. So finally
one takes the hook and disappears, and the others never know what
becomes of him."