to see 'em, what then, Cap'n?"

"Then," he answered, slowly wagging his head, "the mermaids give 'em
a smile an' a wink, an' they dive into the water an' gets drownded."

"S'pose they knew how to swim, Cap'n Bill?"

"That don't make any diff'rence, Trot. The mermaids live deep down,
an' the poor mortals never come up again."

The little girl was thoughtful for a moment. "But why do folks dive
in the water when the mermaids smile an' wink?" she asked.

"Mermaids," he said gravely, "is the most beautiful creatures in the
world--or the water, either. You know what they're like, Trot,
they's got a lovely lady's form down to the waist, an' then the
other half of 'em's a fish, with green an' purple an' pink scales
all down it."

"Have they got arms, Cap'n Bill?"

"'Course, Trot; arms like any other lady. An' pretty faces that
smile an' look mighty sweet an' fetchin'. Their hair is long an'
soft an' silky, an' floats all around 'em in the water. When they
comes up atop the waves, they wring the water out'n their hair and
sing songs that go right to your heart. If anybody is unlucky enough
to be 'round jes' then, the beauty o' them mermaids an' their sweet
songs charm 'em like magic; so's they plunge into the waves to get
to the mermaids. But the mermaids haven't any hearts, Trot, no
more'n a fish has; so they laughs when the poor people drown an'
don't care a fig. That's why I says, an' I says it true, that nobody
never sawr a mermaid an' lived to tell the tale."

"Nobody?" asked Trot.

"Nobody a tall."

"Then how do you know, Cap'n Bill?" asked the little girl, looking
up into his face with big, round eyes.

Cap'n Bill coughed. Then he tried to sneeze, to gain time. Then he
took out his red cotton handkerchief and wiped his bald head with
it, rubbing hard so as to make him think clearer. "Look, Trot; ain't
that a brig out there?" he inquired, pointing to a sail far out in
the sea.

"How does anybody know about mermaids if those who have seen them
never lived to tell about them?" she asked again.

"Know what about 'em, Trot?"

"About their green and pink scales and pretty songs and wet hair."

"They don't know, I guess. But mermaids jes' natcherly has to be
like that, or they wouldn't be mermaids."

She thought this over. "Somebody MUST have lived, Cap'n Bill," she
declared positively. "Other fairies have been seen by mortals; why
not mermaids?"

"P'raps they have, Trot, p'raps they have," he answered mu