In this deeper part of the ocean some of the fishes had a phosphorescent light of their own, and these could be seen far ahead as if they were lanterns.  The explorers met a school of argonauts going up to the surface for a sail, and the child watched these strange creatures with much curiosity.  The argonauts live in shells in which they are able to hide in case of danger from prowling wolf fishes, but otherwise they crawl out and carry their shells like humps upon their backs.  Then they spread their skinny sails above them and sail away under water till they come to the surface, where they float and let the currents of air carry them along the same as the currents of water had done before.  Trot thought the argonauts comical little creatures, with their big eyes and sharp noses, and to her they looked like a fleet of tiny ships.

It is said that men got their first idea of boats and of how to sail them from watching these little argonauts.

THE UNDISCOVERED ISLAND

CHAPTER 10

In following the fleet of argonauts, the four explorers had risen higher in the water and soon found they had wandered to an open space that seemed to Trot like the flat top of a high hill.  The sands were covered with a growth of weeds so gorgeously colored that one who had never peered beneath the surface of the sea would scarcely believe they were not the product of a dye shop.  Every known hue seemed represented in the delicate, fern-like leaves that swayed softly to and fro as the current moved them.  They were not set close together, these branches of magnificent hues, but were scattered sparsely over the sandy bottom of the sea so that while from a distance they seemed thick, a nearer view found them spread out with ample spaces of sand between them.

In these sandy spaces lay the real attractiveness of the place, for here were many of those wonders of the deep that have surprised and interested people in all ages.

First were the starfishes—­hundreds of them, it seemed—­lying sleepily on the bottom, with their five or six points extended outward.  They were of various colors, some rich and brilliant, others of dark brown hues.  A few had wound their arms around the weeds or were creeping slowly from one place to another, in the latter case turning their points downward and using them as legs.  But most of them were lying motionless, and as Trot looked down upon them she thought they resembled stars in the sky on a bright night, except that the blue of the heavens was here replaced by the white sand, and the twinkling diamond stars by the colored starfish.

“We are near an island,” said the Queen, “and that is why so many starfishes are here, as they love to keep close to shore.  Also the little seahorses love these weeds, and to me they are more interesting than the starfish.”

Trot now noticed the seahorses for the first time.  They were quite small—­merely two or three inches high—­but had funny little heads that were shaped much like the head of a horse, and bright, intelligent eyes.  They had no legs, though, for their bodies ended in tails which they twined around the stems of seaweeds to support themselves and keep the currents from carrying them away.