at a pup sea-lion who was asleep on a rock close by.

But the boy was utterly unprepared for the result, for no sooner did the
huge sea-lion realize his advance as he strode forward to throw the
stone, than it was smitten with panic. When, moreover, it heard the
'crack' of the pebble as it hit a rock behind him, the cowardly creature
went wild with fear, and made convulsive and clumsy efforts to reach the
water ten feet away, tumbling down twice in doing so, and finally
plunging into the ocean trembling as though with ague. At the alarm,
the entire rookery took flight, leaving the pups behind, sprawling on
the rocks. The parents ranged up in a line about fifty feet from shore
and remained at that safe distance as long as Colin was in sight. He
watched the pups for a little while, but they were not nearly as
interesting as seals, and he was quite ready to go when his friend
hailed him from the top of the hill.

"Sea-lions look sort of human in the water, don't they?" remarked Colin
as he rejoined his friend, and turned for a farewell glance at the
creatures with their upright heads and shoulders and inquisitive look.

"The Aleuts say they are," his friend replied. "They declare their
ancestors were sea-lions or seals. That's a general belief on the north
coast of Scotland and in the Hebrides, too."

"That men came from seals?"

"Certainly. What do you suppose started all the mermaid stories? Round
head, soft tender eyes, and a fish's tail? Seals! Obviously! And, if you
notice old pictures of mermaids the tail is drawn as if it were split in
two, just like the two long flippers of the seal."

"I never thought of that before," said the boy.

"You've heard of the Orforde merman, of course, haven't you?"

Colin admitted his ignorance.

"Queer yarn. Quite true, though," the agent said. "Documents show it. It
happened off the coast of Suffolk, England. About the end of the twelfth
century, I think. Some fishermen caught a creature which they described
as being like an old man with long gray hair, but which had a fish's
tail. It could live out of the water just as well as in it. They brought
it to the Earl of Orforde. In spite of all their efforts they could not
teach the merman to speak. Naturally! So the priest of the parish
suggested that perhaps the creature had something to do with the devil.
Characteristic of the time! So they took the 'merman' to church. But it
showed no sign of adoration and didn't seem to und