er my name?" asked the albatross.

"Oh yes," said Jack; but he was not attending,--he was thinking what a
fine thing it was to have such a curious boat all to himself.

"That's well," answered the bird; "then, in the next place, are those
fairies awake yet?"

"No, they are not," said Jack; and he took them out of his pockets,
and laid them down in a row before the albatross.

"They are certainly asleep," said the bird. "Put them away again, and
take great care of them. Mind you don't lose any of them, for I really
don't know what will happen if you do. Now I have one thing more to
say to you, and that is, are you hungry?"

"Rather," said Jack.

"Then," replied the albatross, "as soon as you feel _very_ hungry, lie
down in the bottom of the boat and go to sleep. You will dream that
you see before you a roasted fowl, some new potatoes, and an
apple-pie. Mind you don't eat too much in your dream, or you will be
sorry for it when you wake. That is all. Good-by! I must go."

Jack put his arms round the neck of the bird, and hugged her; then she
spread her magnificent wings and sailed slowly away. At first he felt
very lonely, but in a few minutes he forgot that, because the little
boat began to swim so fast.

She was not sailing, for she had no sail, and he was not rowing, for
he had no oars; so I am obliged to call her motion swimming, because I
don't know of a better word. In less than a quarter of an hour they
passed close under the bows of a splendid three-decker, a seventy-gun
ship. The gannets who live in those parts had taken possession of
her, and she was so covered with nests that you could not have walked
one step on her deck without treading on them. The father birds were
aloft in the rigging, or swimming in the warm, green sea, and they
made such a clamor when they saw Jack that they nearly woke the
fairies,--nearly, but not quite, for the little things turned round in
Jack's pockets, and sneezed, and began to snore again.

Then the boat swam past a fine brig. Some sea fairies had just flung
her cargo overboard, and were playing at leap-frog on deck. These were
not at all like Jack's own fairies; they were about the same height
and size as himself, and they had brown faces, and red flannel shirts
and red caps on. A large fleet of the pearly nautilus was collected
close under the vessel's lee. The little creatures were feasting on
what the sea fairies had thrown overboard, and Jack's boat, in its
eagern