The Sea Fairies

lemnly, "ever sawr a mermaid

looking earnestly up in

the great Pacific. A little way behind them was the house, a neat frame cottage painted white and surrounded by huge eucalyptus and pepper

wo. Once Cap'n Bill had commanded and owned the "Anemone," a trading schooner that plied along the coast; and in those days Charlie Griffiths, who was Trot's father, had been the Captain's mate.

al name was Mayre, but when she grew big enough to walk, she took so many busy little steps every d

ost as much as he and her father did, and these two, who represented the "

een a mermaid and liv

' ain't meant to be seen by us

ppens to see 'em,

"the mermaids give 'em a smile an' a wink, a

new how to swi

t. The mermaids live deep down, an'

t. "But why do folks dive in the water whe

ther. You know what they're like, Trot, they's got a lovely lady's form down to the waist,

got arms, C

ter out'n their hair and sing songs that go right to your heart. If anybody is unlucky enough to be 'round jes' then, the beauty o' them mermaids an' their sweet songs charm 'em like magic; so's they plunge into the waves to get to the m

?" aske

dy a

asked the little girl, looking up

andkerchief and wiped his bald head with it, rubbing hard so as to make him think clearer. "

if those who have seen them never live

t about '

pink scales and prett

aids jes' natcherly has to be like

Cap'n Bill," she declared positively. "Other fai

ut I never stopped to inquire into the matter so close before. Seems like folks wouldn't know so much abou

softly, "someone found a

rot, that might o' bee

llar, and his blue trousers were very wide at the bottom. He always wore one trouser leg over his wooden limb and sometimes it would flutter in the wind like a flag because it was so wide and the wooden leg so slender. His rough kersey coat was a pea-jacket and came down to his waistline. In the big pock

whisker around the edge of his face, running from ear to ear and underneath his chin. His eyes were light blue

istles and toys with that marvelous jackknife of his. In the village were many boys and girls of her own age, but she never had as

l had been everywhere in the world, almost, on his many voyages. He had been wrecked on desert islands like Robinson Crusoe and been attacked by cannibals,

sked. "Are they in caves, or just

ivers about that, but none of 'em ever run a

she said, "their homes

damp. They are sure t

maid, Cap'n Bill," sai

t drownded?"

e beautiful, and laughing, and sweet, the

ll in his most solemn voice. "It wouldn't

" called a voice

, Ma

n Bill come i