blamed light that it always
wants to float. Agga-Groo, the goldworker, has promised me a gold
leg that will stay down, but he never has time to make it. You're
mighty lucky, Bill, to have a merman's tail instead o' legs."

"I guess I am, Joe," replied Cap'n Bill, "for in such a wet country
the fishes have the best of it. But I ain't sure I'd like this sort
o' thing always."

"Think o' the money you'd make in a side show," said Cap'n Joe with
his funny chuckling laugh. Then he pounded his wooden leg against
the hard floor and managed to hobble from the room without more
accidents.

When he had gone, Trot said, "Aren't you glad to find your brother
again, Cap'n Bill?"

"Why, so-so," replied the sailor. "I don't know much about Joe,
seein' as we haven't met before for many a long year, an' all I
remember about our boyhood days is that we fit an' pulled hair most
o' the time. But what worries me most is Joe's lookin' so much like
me myself, wooden leg an' all. Don't you think it's rather cheeky
an' unbrotherly, Trot?"

"Perhaps he can't help it," suggested the child. "And anyhow, he'll
never be able to live on land again."

"No," said Cap'n Bill with a sigh. "Joe's a fish, now, an' so he
ain't likely to be took for me by one of our friends on the earth."

CHAPTER 15

THE MAGIC OF THE MERMAIDS

When Trot and Cap'n Bill entered the Rose Chamber they found the two
mermaids reclining before an air fountain that was sending thousands
of tiny bubbles up through the water.

"These fountains of air are excellent things," remarked Queen
Aquareine, "for they keep the water fresh and sweet, and that is the
more necessary when it is confined by walls, as it is in this
castle. But now, let us counsel together and decide what to do in
the emergency that confronts us."

"How can we tell what to do without knowing what's going to happen?"
asked Trot.

"Somethin's sure to happen," said Cap'n Bill.

As if to prove his words, a gong suddenly sounded at their door and
in walked a fat little man clothed all in white, including a white
apron and white cap. His face was round and jolly, and he had a big
mustache that curled up at the ends.

"Well, well!" said the little man, spreading out his legs and
putting his hands on his hips as he stood looking at them. "Of all
the queer things in the sea, you're the queerest! Mermaids, eh?"

"Don't bunch us that way!" protested Cap'n Bill.

"You are quite wrong," said Trot. "