“Where do they live?” asked the child.

“The oldest one, who is king of this ocean, lives quite near us,” said Clia.  “His name is Anko.”

“How old is he?” inquired Cap’n Bill curiously.

“No one knows.  He was here before the ocean came, and he stayed here because he learned to like the water better than the land as a habitation.  Perhaps King Anko is ten thousand years old, perhaps twenty thousand.  We often lose track of the centuries down here in the sea.”

“That’s pretty old, isn’t it?” said Trot.  “Older than Cap’n Bill, I guess.”

“Summat,” chuckled the sailor man, “summat older, mate, but not much.  P’raps the sea serpent ain’t got gray whiskers.”

“Oh yes he has,” responded Merla with a laugh.  “And so have his two brothers, Unko and Inko.  They each have an ocean of their own, you know; and once every hundred years they come here to visit their brother Anko.  So we’ve seen all three many times.”

“Why, how old are mermaids, then?” asked Trot, looking around at the beautiful creatures wonderingly.

“We are like all ladies of uncertain age,” rejoined the Princess with a smile.  “We don’t care to tell.”

“Older than Cap’n Bill?”

“Yes, dear,” said Clia.

“But we haven’t any gray whiskers,” added Merla merrily, “and our hearts are ever young.”

Trot was thoughtful.  It made her feel solemn to be in the company of such old people.  The band of mermaids seemed to all appearances young and fresh and not a bit as if they’d been soaked in water for hundreds of years.  The girl began to take more notice of the sea maidens following after her.  More than a dozen were in the group; all were lovely in appearance and clothed in the same gauzy robes as Merla and the Princess.  These attendants did not join in the conversation but darted here and there in sportive play, and often Trot heard the tinkling chorus of their laughter.  Whatever doubts might have arisen in the child’s mind through the ignorant tales of her sailor friend, she now found the mermaids to be light-hearted, joyous and gay, and from the first she had not been in the least afraid of her new companions.

“How much farther do we have to go?” asked Cap’n Bill presently.

“Are you getting tired?” Merla inquired.

“No,” said he, “but I’m sorter anxious to see what your palaces look like.  Inside the water ain’t as interestin’ as the top of it.  It’s fine swimmin’, I’ll agree, an’ I like it, but there ain’t nuthin’ special to see that I can make out.”

“That is true, sir,” replied the Princess.  “We have purposely led you through the mid-water hoping you would see nothing to alarm you until you get more accustomed to our ocean life.  Moreover, we are able to travel more swiftly here.  How far do you think we have already come, Cap’n?”

“Oh, ’bout two mile,” he answered.

“Well, we are now hundreds of miles from the cave where we started,” she told him.