's
why I don't take much comfort in our fine surroundin's, Trot. This
Zog is a pagan, if ever there was one, an' he don't mean us any
good, you may depend on 't."

"No," replied Trot soberly, "I'm sure he does not expect us to be
happy here. But I'm going to fool him and have just as good a time
as I can." As she spoke they both turned around--an easy thing to do
with a single flop of their flexible tails--and Cap'n Bill uttered a
cry of surprise. Just across the room stood a perfect duplicate of
himself. The round head, with its bald top and scraggly whiskers,
the sailor cap and shirt, the wide pantaloons, even the wooden leg,
each and every one were exact copies of those owned by Cap'n Bill.
Even the expression in the light-blue eyes was the same, and it is
no wonder the old sailor stared at his "double" in amazement. But
the next minute he laughed and said, "Why, Trot, it's ME reflected
in a mirror. But at first I thought it was someone else."

Trot was staring, too. "Look, Cap'n!" she whispered. "Look at the
wooden leg."

"Well, it's MY wooden leg, ain't it?" he inquired.

"If it is, it can't be a reflection in a mirror," she argued, "for
YOU haven't got a wooden leg. You've got a fish's tail."

The old sailor was so startled by this truth that he gave a great
flop with his tail that upset his balance and made him keel a
somersault in the water before he got right side up again. Then he
found the other sailor man laughing at him and was horrified to find
the "reflection" advancing toward them by stumping along on its
wooden leg. "Keep away! Get out, there!" yelled Cap'n Bill. "You're
a ghost, the ghost o' me that once was, an' I can't bear the sight
o' you. Git out!"

"Did you ring jes' to tell me to git out?" asked the other in a mild
voice.

"I--I didn't ring," declared Cap'n Bill.

"You did. You pulled that bell cord," said the one-legged (one or
more lines missing here in this edition)

"Oh, did pullin' that thing ring a bell?" inquired the Cap'n, a
little ashamed of his ignorance and reassured by hearing the "ghost"
talk.

"It surely did," was the reply, "and Sacho told me to answer your
bell and look after you. So I'm a-lookin' after you."

"I wish you wouldn't," protested Cap'n Bill. "I've no use fer--fer
ghostses, anyhow."

The strange sailor began to chuckle at hearing this, and his chuckle
was just like Cap'n Bill's chuckle, so full of merry humor that it
usually made everyone laugh with