ed as though it would take her only
a few moments to get to the moon. But the farther she went, the
farther from her the doorway seemed to go. But she did not mind that
the walk was so long because it was so pretty. Looking over the edge
of the Wake of Gold, deep down in the water, she could see all kinds
of strange sights.

"At one place a school of little fish swam up to the surface of the
water. Klara knelt down and watched their pretty, graceful motions.
The longer she gazed the more fish she saw and the more beautiful
they seemed. Pale-blue fishes with silver spots. Pale-pink ones with
golden stripes. Gorgeous red ones with jewelled black horns.
Brilliant yellow and green ones that shone like phosphorus. And here
and there, gliding among them, were what seemed little angel-fish
like living rainbows, whose filmy wing-like fins changed color when
they swam.

"Klara reached into the water and tried to catch some of these
marvelous beings.

"But at her first motion--bing! The water looked as if it were
streaked with rainbow lightning. Swish! It was dull and clear again,
with nothing between her and the quiet, seaweed-covered bottom.

"A little farther along Klara came across a wonderful sea-grotto.
Again she knelt down on the Wake of Gold and watched. At the bottom
the sand was so white and shiny that it might have been made of
star-dust. Growing up from it were beds of marvelous seaflowers,
opening and shutting delicate petals, beautiful seafans that waved
with every ripple, high, thick shrubs and towering trees in which
the fishes had built their nests. In and out among all this
undergrowth, frisked tiny sea-horses, ridden by mischievous
sea-urchins. They leaped and trotted and galloped as if they were so
happy that they did not know what to do. Klara felt that she must
play with them. She put one little foot into the water to attract
their attention. Bing! The water seemed alive with scuttling things.
Swish! The grotto was so quiet that she could not believe that there
was anything living in it.

"A little farther on, Klara came upon a sight even more wonderful
than this--a village of mer-people. It was set so far down in the
water that it seemed a million miles away. And yet the water was so
clear that she felt she could touch the housetops.

"The mer-houses seemed to be made of a beautiful, sparkling white
coral with big, wide-open windows through which the tide drifted.
The mer-streets seemed to be cobbl