ave everything they want, I know." And she
turned round, displaying to my view a superb tail of seaweed, fastened
to her sash, and trailing upon the ground.

"Well," said Nibble, "it is a lovely tail, after all. But we must take
off our shoes and stockings, and put them in the fort for safe keeping.
Then we can play 'wild white horses' and 'mermaid' too."

The shoes and stockings were soon off, and safely hidden in a sand fort
of very superior construction. Then began a wild rushing up and down the
smooth sandy beach, with much neighing and kicking on Nibble's part,
while Brighteyes waved her seaweed tail in a graceful and effective
manner, and sang her song of the mermaids.

"On wild white horses they ride, they ride,
And in chairs of pink coral they sit,
They swim all the night, with a smile of delight,
And never feel tired a bit."

"Look!" said Nibble, "at that line of rocks running out into the water.
What fun to jump from one to the other! come on, Brighteyes!" No sooner
said than done. It was no easy matter to jump from one smooth slippery
rock to the next, without losing foothold, but that made it all the more
exciting.

"I am the Nixie!" said Brighteyes, "and you are the knight who caught
her asleep and cut off one of her golden ringlets, so that she could not
disappear or turn into a fish. Sing, now, and catch me if you can!"

[Illustration: ON THE BEACH.]

She sprang lightly to the next rock, and thence to the next, while
Nibble, pursuing her, sang:

"Nixie, white Nixie, I have you now!
The magic ringlet is clipped from your brow.
You vanish no more 'neath the shining tide,
And I have you and hold you, my snow-white bride!"

Brighteyes sang again:

"Hunter, rash hunter, your triumph's not long,
Your arm drops down 'neath the spell of my song.
You turn to ice and you turn to stone,
And the sea-waves laugh as they hear you moan."

Here the Nixie waved her tail triumphantly, and flirted it in the
hunter's face in a way that was too provoking to be endured. The rash
youth sprang forward, alighting on the rock and on the Nixie's toe at
the same instant. There was a moment of shrieking and clutching at the
air, as they tried to regain their balance, and then with a loud splash,
pursuer and pursued disappeared beneath the water.

This was really past a joke, and I became much ala