“Flippity has gone to glory!” said another, and then they swam away in haste to tell the news to all they met.

“I never heard of anything so foolish,” remarked Trot as she swam slowly on through the clear, blue water.

“Yes, it is very foolish and very sad,” answered Merla.  “But if the fish were wise, men could not catch them for food, and many poor people on your earth make their living by fishing.”

“It seems wicked to catch such pretty things,” said the child.

“I do not think so,” Merla replied laughingly, “for they were born to become food for someone, and men are not the only ones that eat fishes.  Many creatures of the sea feed upon them.  They even eat one another at times.  And if none was ever destroyed, they would soon become so numerous that they would clog the waters of the ocean and leave no room for the rest of us.  So after all, perhaps it is just as well they are thoughtless and foolish.”

Presently they came to some round balls that looked much like balloons in shape and were gaily colored.  They floated quietly in the water, and Trot inquired what they were.

“Balloonfish,” answered Merla.  “They are helpless creatures, but have little spikes all over them so their enemies dare not bite them for fear of getting pricked.”

Trot found the balloonfish quite interesting.  They had little dots of eyes and dots for mouths, but she could see no noses, and their fins and tails were very small.

“They catch these fish in the South Sea Islands and make lanterns of ’em,” said Cap’n Bill.  “They first skin ’em and sew the skin up again to let it dry, and then they put candles inside, and the light shines through the dried skin.”

Many other curious sights they saw in the ocean that afternoon, and both Cap’n Bill and Trot thoroughly enjoyed their glimpse of sea life.  At last Merla said it was time to return to the palace, from which she claimed they had not at any time been very far distant.  “We must prepare for dinner, as it will soon begin to grow dark in the water,” continued their conductor.  So they swam leisurely back to the groves that surrounded the palaces, and as they entered the gardens the sun sank, and deep shadows began to form in the ocean depths.

A BANQUET UNDER WATER

CHAPTER 8

The palaces of the mermaids were all aglow with lights as they approached them, and Trot was amazed at the sight.

“Where do the lamps come from?” she asked their guide wonderingly.

“They are not lamps, my dear,” replied Merla, much amused at this suggestion.  “We use electric lights in our palaces and have done so for thousands of years—­long before the earth people knew of electric lights.”

“But where do you get ’em?” inquired Cap’n Bill, who was as much astonished as the girl.