tended to do to them, he had no intention of starving them.
Perhaps the magician realized that Aquareine's fairy powers, if put
to the test, would be able to provide food for her companions, but
whatever his object may have been, their enemy had given them
splendid rooms and plenty to eat.

"Isn't it nearly nighttime?" asked the Queen as Tom Atto spread the
table with a cloth of woven seaweed and directed his men to place
the dishes upon it.

"Night!" he exclaimed as if surprised. "There is no night here."

"Doesn't it ever get dark?" inquired Trot.

"Never. We know nothing of the passage of time or of day or night.
The light always shines just as you see it now, and we sleep
whenever we are tired and rise again as soon as we are rested."

"What causes the light?" Princess Clia asked.

"It's magic, your Highness," said the cook solemnly. "It's one of
the curious things Zog is able to do. But you must remember all this
place is a big cave in which the castle stands, so the light is
never seen by anyone except those who live here."

"But why does Zog keep his light going all the time?" asked the
Queen.

"I suppose it is because he himself never sleeps," replied Tom Atto.
"They say the master hasn't slept for hundreds of years, not since
Anko, the sea serpent, defeated him and drove him into this place."

They asked no more questions and began to eat their dinner in
silence. Before long, Cap'n Joe came in to visit his brother and
took a seat at the table with the prisoners. He proved a jolly
fellow, and when he and Cap'n Bill talked about their boyhood days,
the stories were so funny that everybody laughed and for a time
forgot their worries.

When dinner was over, however, and Cap'n Joe had gone back to his
work of sewing on buttons and the servants had carried away the
dishes, the prisoners remembered their troubles and the fate that
awaited them. "I am much disappointed," said the Queen, "to find
there is no night here and that Zog never sleeps. It will make our
escape more difficult. Yet we must make the attempt, and as we are
tired and a great struggle is before us, it will be best for us to
sleep and refresh ourselves."

They agreed to this, for the day had been long and adventurous, so
Cap'n Bill kissed Trot and went in to the Peony Room, where he lay
down upon his spongy couch and fell fast asleep. The mermaids and
Trot followed this example, and I think none of them was much
worried, after all, beca