And the last thing I saw before slipping off to quiet sleep was a little bright-haired child on her knees, eyes closed, hands upraised and folded:  a child that was not afraid.

CHAPTER III.

A CORAL GROVE

Perhaps you did not know that the fishes in the sea, both large and small, were playful creatures.  Well, they are.  They can frisk, frolic, play “hide-and-seek”, “catch”, and race and romp at a great rate.

Now I want to tell something of our playground, and if you are surprised at the beauty with which we are surrounded, why should you be?  There surely are lovely things on the earth for all kinds of upper-air creatures, such as Folks, animals, birds, and insects, to enjoy.

Listen, then, while I tell about the “caverns of ocean”.  A cavern, you know, is a hollow or den, and old ocean holds many a cavern or den full of interest and beauty.  But I will take you first to a kind of grove.

My home, where I spend most of my time, is in deep water.  But not in the deepest, oh, no!  That is said to be two thousand fathoms down.  Think of it!  More than two miles below the surface.  There probably is but very little life at that depth.  But when I visit some groves, or the region of a reef, I must first sail and sail until I reach water that is not deep at all.

Do you think you have ever seen coral, real coral?  Yes, doubtless you have, and you may have seen it in various forms.  But I feel sure you have never seen coral to know very much about it, as you have never been to the bottom of the sea.

Ah, here are all kinds of graceful shapes shooting up from the depths, so singular and varied in form, that one would wonder what they are meant to stand for.  Look at these trees, perfect little trees in coral, eight or ten feet high, with branches spreading out from the trunk.  On the branches are delicate sprays of fairylike net or lace-work, all in white, but of various patterns.  Should you get near enough, you would see that these branches, some of which seem to bear flowers in shapes like pinks or lilies, are dented or pitted as if tiny teeth had eaten into them.  This may be partly the work of worms.

Now, this is simply a large piece of white coral, but all around and about are fanciful shapes, nearly as large as the one described.  Here, too, are what might be taken for thick bushes or shrubs, branching out with sprays of fretwork, white and spotless.  Then there are smaller growths like low plants, and curiously colored, some pink, some red, others a yellowish white.  These, too, appear to bear flowers, asters, carnations, or roses.

And for miles at a time we can rove and sport in a beautiful coral grove.