to
it, and as I continued to swallow the anchor I continued to eat the
chain. I never realized what I had done until I found a ship on the
other end of the chain. Then I bit it off."

"The ship?" asked Trot.

"No, the chain. I didn't care for the ship, as I saw it contained
some skippers. On the way home the chain and anchor began to lie
heavily on my stomach. I didn't seem to digest them properly, and by
the time I got to my palace, where you will notice there is no
throne, I was thrown into throes of severe pain. So I at once sent
for Dr. Shark--"

"Are all your doctors sharks?" asked the child.

"Yes, aren't your doctors sharks?" he replied.

"Not all of them," said Trot.

"That is true," remarked Cap'n Bill. "But when you talk of
lawyers--"

"I'm not talking of lawyers," said Anko reprovingly. "I'm talking
about my pain. I don't imagine anyone could suffer more than I did
with that stomach ache."

"Did you suffer long?" inquired Trot.

"Why, about seven thousand four hundred and eighty-two feet and--"

"I mean a long time."

"It seemed like a long time," answered the King. "Dr. Shark said I
ought to put a mustard poultice on my stomach, so I uncoiled myself
and summoned my servants, and they began putting on the mustard
plaster. It had to be bound all around me so it wouldn't slip off,
and I began to look like an express package. In about four weeks
fully one-half of the pain had been covered by the mustard poultice,
which got so hot that it hurt me worse than the stomach ache did."

"I know," said Trot. "I had one, once."

"One what?" asked Anko.

"A mustard plaster. They smart pretty bad, but I guess they're a
good thing."

"I got myself unwrapped as soon as I could," continued the King,
"and then I hunted for the doctor, who hid himself until my anger
had subsided. He has never sent in a bill, so I think he must be
terribly ashamed of himself."

"You're lucky, sir, to have escaped so easy," said Cap'n Bill. "But
you seem pretty well now."

"Yes, I'm more careful of what I eat," replied the Sea Serpent. "But
I was saying when Trot interrupted me, that you all belong to me,
because I have saved your lives. By the law of the ocean, you must
obey me in everything."

The sailor scowled a little at hearing this, but Trot laughed and
said, "The law of the ocean isn't OUR law, 'cause we live on land."

"Just now you are living in the ocean," declared Anko, "and as long
as you live here, you mu