gave a whistle, and they were off. The carriage
had the appearance of a superb shell lined with mother-of-pearl, and
studded all over with the most costly and lustrous jewels, and soon
passing out from the limits of the aquarium, Jimmieboy found himself
bounding over a great body of water, drawn by a pair of gayly
caparisoned dolphins, which the smiling merboy guided with two golden
ribbons.

"How do you feel?" asked the merboy, as, after driving along for several
minutes, the travellers passed out of sight of land.

"First rate," said Jimmieboy. "This is lots of fun."

"I'm glad you find it so," returned the merboy, with a smile of relief.
"I was afraid you were not enjoying yourself very much. You looked a
little anxious. Were you anxious?"

"Not exactly," replied Jimmieboy. "But it did sort of bother me when I
thought of what might happen if this wagon should upset."

"Don't see anything you need to bother about in that," said the merboy,
giving the near dolphin a flick with his whip for shying at a buoy.
"It's twice as safe as driving on land. The land is hard, and if you
were thrown out of a wagon there the chances are you'd be hurt; but here
it is very different. Falling out here would be like tumbling into a
feather bed. The water is very soft."

"I understand that, of course," said Jimmieboy, with a smile. "But what
I was worrying about chiefly was that the water here is very deep. It
must be two or three times over my head, and I can't swim. I can only
wade."

"What of it? I don't see anything in that to worry about," retorted the
merboy. "I might just as well get timid when we are near the shore
because I can't wade."

"Wouldn't I be drowned?" asked Jimmieboy.

The look which the ex-goldfish gave Jimmieboy as the latter said this
was one of reproach. He was evidently deeply hurt by Jimmieboy's remark.

"You aren't a polite boy, I think," he said. "The idea! Wouldn't you be
drowned! Let me ask you a question. If you were invited out to dinner by
a person you knew, do you think while you were sitting at his table
you'd go hunting about in your head for some _if_ that would end in your
starving to death? Wouldn't you know that being invited to eat with that
man you'd get your dinner all right?"

"Certainly," said Jimmieboy. "But what has that got to do with it?"

"Plenty," snapped the merboy. "You are my guest, and I look after all
the details, such as swimming and so forth, just as your other host