Part 5

"Am I to have the Magic Circle drawn around me, too?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"Of course," answered Aquareine. "You will need no other protection than that, yet Princess Clia and I will both be with you. For to-day I shall leave Merla to rule our palaces in my place until we return."

No sooner was breakfast finished than Trot was anxious to start. The girl was also curious to discover what the powerful Magic Circle might prove to be, but she was a little disappointed in the ceremony. The queen merely grasped her fairy wand in her right hand and swam around the child in a circle, from left to right. Then she took her wand in her left hand and swam around Trot in another circle, from right to left.

"Now, my dear," said she, "you are safe from any creature we are liable to meet."

She performed the same ceremony for Cap'n Bill, who was doubtful about the Magic Circle, because he felt the same after it as he had before. But he said nothing of his unbelief, and soon they left the palace and started upon their journey.

It was a lovely day, and the sea was like azure under the rays of the sun.

Over the flower beds and through the gardens they swam, emerging into the open sea in a direction opposite that taken by the visitors the day before. The party consisted of but four: Queen Aquareine, Princess Clia, Trot and Cap'n Bill.

"People who live upon the land know only those sea creatures which they are able to catch in nets, or upon hooks, or those which become disabled and are washed ashore," remarked the Queen, as they swam swiftly through the clear water. "And those who sail in ships see only the creatures who chance to come to the surface. But, in the deep ocean caverns are queer beings, that no mortal has ever heard of or beheld, and some of these we are to visit. We shall also see some sea shrubs and flowering weeds, which are sure to delight you with their beauty."

The sights really began before they had gone very far from the palace, and a school of butterfly fish, having gorgeous colors spattered over their broad wings, was first to delight the strangers. They swam just as butterflies fly, with a darting, jerky motion, and called a merry "Good morning!" to the mermaids as they passed.

"These butterfly fish are remarkably active," said the Princess, "and their quick motions protect them from their enemies. We like to meet them; they are always so gay and good-natured."

"Why, so am I!" cried a sharp voice just beside them, and they all paused to discover what creature had spoken to them.

"Take care," said Clia, in a low voice. "It's an octopus."

Trot looked eagerly around. A long, brown arm stretched across their way in front, and another just behind them; but that did not worry her. The octopus, himself, came slowly sliding up to them, and proved to be well worth looking at.

He wore a red coat with brass buttons, and a silk hat was tipped over one ear. His eyes were somewhat dull and watery and he had a moustache of long, hair-like "feelers" that curled stiffly at the ends. When he tried to smile at them he showed two rows of sharp, white teeth. In spite of his red coat and yellow embroidered vest, his standing collar and carefully tied cravat, the legs of the octopus were bare, and Trot noticed he used some of his legs for arms, as in one of them was held a slender cane, and in another, a handkerchief.

"Well, well!" said the Octopus. "Are you all dumb? Or don't you know enough to be civil when you meet a neighbor?"

"We know how to be civil to our friends," replied Trot, who did not like the way he spoke.

"Well, aren't we friends, then?" asked the Octopus, in an airy tone of voice.

"I think not," said the little girl. "Octopuses are horrid creatures."

"Octo_pi_, if you please; octo_pi_" said the monster, with a laugh.

"I don't see any pie that pleases me," replied Trot, beginning to get angry.

"Octo_pus_ means one of us; two, or more are called octo_pi_," remarked the creature, as if correcting her speech.

"I suppose a lot of you would be a whole bakery!" she said, scornfully.

"Our name is latin. It was given us by learned scientists years ago," said the Octopus.

"That's true enough," agreed Cap'n Bill. "The learned scientists named ev'ry blamed thing they come acrost, an' gener'ly they picked out names as nobody could understand, or pernounce."

"That isn't our fault, sir," said the Octopus. "Indeed, it's pretty hard for us to go through life with such terrible names. Think of the poor little sea horse. He used to be a merry and cheerful fellow, but since they named him 'hippocampus' he hasn't smiled once."

"Let's go," said Trot; "I don't like to 'sociate with octopuses."

"Octo_pi_," said the creature, again correcting her.

"You're jus' as horrid, whether you're puses or pies," she declared.

"Horrid!" cried the monster, in a shocked tone of voice.

"Not only horrid, but horrible!" persisted the girl.

"May I ask in what way?" he inquired, and it was easy to see he was offended.

"Why, ev'rybody knows that octopuses are jus' wicked an' deceitful," she said. "Up on the earth, where I live, they call the Stannerd Oil Company an octopus, an' the Coal Trust an octopus, an'----"

"Stop, stop!" cried the monster, in a pleading voice. "Do you mean to tell me that the earth people, whom I have always respected, compare me to the Stannerd Oil Company?"

"Yes," said Trot, positively.

"That's what they do," added Cap'n Bill, nodding his grizzled head.

"Oh, what a disgrace! What a deep, direful, dreadful disgrace!" moaned the Octopus, drooping his head in shame; and Trot could see great tears rolling down his cheeks.

"This comes of having a bad name," said the Queen, gently, for she was moved by the monster's grief.

"It is unjust! It is cruel and unjust!" sobbed the creature, mournfully. "Just because we have several long arms, and take whatever we can reach, they accuse us of being like--like--oh, I cannot say it! It is too shameful--too humiliating!"

"Come; let's go," said Trot, again; so they left the poor octopus weeping and wiping his watery eyes with his handkerchief, and swam on their way.

"I'm not a bit sorry for him," remarked the child; "for his legs remind me of serpents."

"So they do me," agreed Cap'n Bill.

"But the octopi are not very bad," said the Princess, "and we get along with them much better than we do with their cousins the sea devils."

"Oh. Are the sea devils their cousins?" asked Trot.

"Yes; and they are the only creatures of the ocean which we greatly fear," replied Aquareine. "I hope we shall meet none to-day, for we are going near to the dismal caverns where they live."

"What are the sea devils like, ma'am?" inquired Cap'n Bill, a little uneasily.

"Something like the octopus you just saw, only much larger and of a bright scarlet color, striped with black," answered the Queen. "They are very fierce and terrible creatures, and nearly as much dreaded by the inhabitants of the ocean as is Zog, and nearly as powerful as King Anko himself."

"Zog! Who is Zog?" questioned the girl. "I haven't heard of him, before now."

"We do not like to mention Zog's name," responded the Queen, in a low voice. "He is the wicked genius of the sea, and a magician of great power."

"What's he like?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"He is a dreadful creature, part fish, part man, part beast and part serpent. Centuries ago they cast him off the earth into the sea, where he has caused much trouble. Once he waged a terrible war against King Anko, but the sea serpent finally conquered Zog, and drove the magician into his castle, where he now stays shut up. For if ever Anko catches the monster outside of his enchanted castle he will kill him, and Zog knows that very well."

"Seems like you have your troubles down here, just as we do on top the ground," remarked Cap'n Bill.

"But, I'm glad old Zog is shut up in his castle," added Trot. "Is it a sea castle, like your own palaces?"

"I cannot say, my dear, for the enchantment makes it invisible to all eyes but those of its inhabitants," replied Aquareine. "No one sees Zog now, and we scarcely ever hear of him; but all the sea people know he is here, some place, and fear his power. Even in the old days, before Anko conquered him, Zog was the enemy of the mermaids, as he was of all the good and respectable seafolk. But do not worry about the magician, I beg of you, for he has not dared to do an evil deed in many, many years."

"Oh, I'm not afraid," asserted Trot.

"I'm glad of that," said the Queen. "Keep together, friends, and be careful not to separate, for here comes an army of sawfishes."

Even as Aquareine spoke they saw a swirl and commotion in the water ahead of them, while a sound like a muffled roar fell upon their ears. Then swiftly there dashed upon them a group of great fishes, with long saws sticking out in front of their noses, armed with sharp hooked teeth, all set in a row. They were larger than the swordfishes and seemed more fierce and bold. But the mermaids and Trot, and Cap'n Bill quietly awaited their attack, and instead of tearing them with their saws, as they expected to do, the fishes were unable to touch them at all. They tried every possible way to get at their proposed victims, but the Magic Circle was all-powerful and turned aside the ugly saws; so our friends were not disturbed at all. Seeing this, the sawfishes soon abandoned the attempt and with growls and roars of disappointment swam away and were quickly out of sight.

Trot had been a wee bit frightened during the attack, but now she laughed gleefully and told the queen that it seemed very nice to be protected by fairy powers.

The water grew a darker blue as they descended into its depths, farther and farther away from the rays of the sun. Trot was surprised to find she could see so plainly through the high wall of water above her; but the sun was able to shoot its beams straight down through the transparent sea, and they seemed to penetrate to every nook and crevice of the rocky bottom.

In this deeper part of the ocean some of the fishes had a phosphorescent light of their own, and these could be seen far ahead, as if they were lanterns. The explorers met a school of argonauts going up to the surface for a sail, and the child watched these strange creatures with much curiosity. The argonauts live in shells, in which they are able to hide in case of danger from prowling wolf fishes; but otherwise they crawl out and carry their shells like humps upon their backs. Then they spread their skinny sails above them and sail away under water till they come to the surface, where they float and let the currents of air carry them along the same as the currents of water had done before. Trot thought the argonauts comical little creatures, with their big eyes and sharp noses, and to her they looked like a fleet of tiny ships.

It is said that men got their first idea of boats, and of how to sail them, from watching these little argonauts.

In following the fleet of argonauts the four explorers had risen higher in the water and soon found they had wandered to an open space that seemed to Trot like the flat top of a high hill. The sands were covered with a growth of weeds so gorgeously colored that one who had never peered beneath the surface of the sea would scarcely believe they were not the product of a dye shop. Every known hue seemed represented in the delicate fern-like leaves that swayed softly to and fro as the current moved them. They were not set close together, these branches of magnificent hues, but were scattered sparsely over the sandy bottom of the sea, so that while from a distance they seemed thick, a nearer view found them spread out with ample spaces of sand between them.

In these sandy spaces lay the real attractiveness of the place, for here were many of those wonders of the deep that have surprised and interested people in all ages.

First were the starfishes--hundreds of them, it seemed--lying sleepily on the bottom, with their five or six points extended outward. They were of various colors, some rich and brilliant, others of dark brown hues. A few had wound their arms around the weeds, or were creeping slowly from one place to another, in the latter case turning their points downward and using them as legs. But most of them were lying motionless, and as Trot looked down upon them she thought they resembled stars in the sky on a bright night--except that the blue of the heavens was here replaced by the white sand, and the twinkling diamond stars by the colored starfish.

"We are near an island," said the Queen, "and that is why so many starfishes are here, as they love to keep close to shore. Also the little sea horses love these weeds and to me they are more interesting than the starfish."

Trot now noticed the sea horses for the first time. They were quite small--merely two or three inches high--but had funny little heads that were shaped much like the head of a horse, and bright, intelligent eyes. They had no legs, though, for their bodies ended in tails which they twined around the stems of seaweeds to support themselves, and keep the currents from carrying them away.

Trot bent down close to examine one of the queer little creatures, and exclaimed: "Why, the sea horses haven't any fins, or anything to swim with."

"Oh, yes we have," replied the Sea Horse, in a tiny, but distinct voice. "These things on the side of my head are fins."

"I thought they were ears," said the girl.

"So they are. Fins and ears at the same time," answered the little sea animal. "Also, there are small fins on our backs. Of course, we can't swim as the mermaids do, or even as swiftly as fishes; but we manage to get around, thank you."

"Don't the fishes catch and eat you?" inquired Trot, curiously.

"Sometimes," admitted the Sea Horse, "and there are many other living things that have a way of destroying us. But here I am, as you see, over six weeks old, and during that time I have escaped every danger. That isn't so bad, is it?"

"Phoo!" said a Starfish lying near, "I'm over three months old. You're a mere baby, Sea Horse."

"I'm not!" cried the Sea Horse, excitedly. "I'm full-grown, and may live to be as old as you are!"

"Not if I keep on living," said the Starfish, calmly, and Trot knew he was correct in his statement.

The little girl now noticed several sea spiders creeping around, and drew back because she did not think them very pretty. They were shaped not unlike the starfishes, but had slender legs and big heads with wicked looking eyes sticking out of them.

"Oh, I don't like those things!" said Trot, coming closer to her companions.

"You don't, eh?" said a big Sea Spider, in a cross voice. "Why do you come around here, then, scaring away my dinner, when you're not wanted?"

"It isn't _your_ ocean," replied Trot.

"No; and it isn't yours," snapped the Spider. "But as it's big enough for us both, I'd like you to go away."

"So we will," said Aquareine, gently, and at once she moved toward the surface of the water. Trot and Cap'n Bill followed, with Clia, and the child asked:

"What island are we near?"

"It has no name," answered the Queen, "for it is not inhabited by man, nor has it ever yet been discovered by them. Perhaps you will be the first humans to see this island. But it is a barren, rocky place, and only fit for seals and turtles."

"Are any of them there now?" Cap'n Bill inquired.

"I think so. We will see."

Trot was astonished to find how near they were to the "top" of the ocean, for they had not ascended through the water very long when suddenly her head popped into the air, and she gave a gasp of surprise to find herself looking at the clear sky for the first time since she had started upon this adventure, by rowing into Giant's Cave.

She floated comfortably in the water, with her head and face just out of it, and began to look around her. Cap'n Bill was at her side, and so were the two mermaids. The day was fair and the surface of the sea, which stretched far away as the eye could reach, rippled under a gentle breeze. They had risen almost at the edge of a small, rocky islet, high in the middle, but gradually slanting down to the water. No trees, or bushes, or grass grew anywhere about; only rocks, gray and bleak, were to be seen.

Trot scarcely noticed this at first, however, for the island seemed covered with groups of forms, some still and some moving, which the old sailor promptly recognized as seals. Many were lying asleep or sunning themselves; others crept awkwardly around, using their strong fins as legs or "paddles," and caring little if they disturbed the slumbers of the others. Once in a while, one of those crowded out of place would give a loud and angry bark, which awakened others and set them to barking likewise.

Baby seals were there in great numbers, and were more active and playful than their elders. It was really wonderful how they could scramble around on the land, and Trot laughed more than once at their antics.

At the edge of the water lay many huge turtles, some as big around as a wagon wheel and others much smaller in size.

"The big ones are very old," said the Queen, seeing Trot's eyes fixed on the turtles.

"How old?" asked the child.

"Hundreds of years, I think. They live to a great age, for nothing can harm them when they withdraw their legs and heads into their thick shells. We use some of the turtles for food, but prefer the younger ones. Men also fish for turtles and eat them, but, of course, no men ever come to this out-of-the-way place in the ocean, so the inhabitants of this little island know they are perfectly safe."

In the center of the island rose high cliffs, on top of which were to be seen great flocks of sea-gulls, some whirling in the air, while others were perched upon the points of rock.

"What do the birds find to eat?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"They often feed upon seals which die of accident or old age, and they are expert fishermen," explained Queen Aquareine. "Curiously enough, the seals also feed upon these birds, which they are often able to catch in their strong jaws, when the gulls venture too near. And then, the seals frequently rob the nests of eggs, of which they are very fond."

"I'd like a few gulls' eggs now," remarked a big seal that lay near them upon the shore. Trot had thought him sound asleep, but now he opened his eyes to blink lazily at the group in the water.

"Good morning," said the Queen. "Aren't you Chief Muffruff?"

"I am," answered the old seal. "And you are Aquareine, the mermaid queen. You see I remember you, although you haven't been here for years. And isn't that Princess Clia? To be sure! But the other mermaids are strangers to me; especially the bald-headed one."

"I'm not a mermaid," asserted Cap'n Bill. "I'm a sailor, jes' a-visitin' the mermaids."

"Our friends are earth dwellers," explained the Queen.

"That's odd," said Muffruff. "I can't remember that any earth dwellers ever came this way before. I never travel far, you see, for I'm chief of this disorderly family of seals that live on this island--on it and off it, that is."

"You're a poor chief," said a big turtle lying beside the seal. "If your people are disorderly it is your own fault."

Muffruff gave a chuckling laugh. Then, with a movement quick as lightning, he pushed his head under the shell of the turtle and gave it a sudden jerk. The huge turtle was tossed up on edge and then turned flat on its back, where its short legs struggled vainly to right its overturned body.

"There!" snorted the Seal, contemptuously. "Perhaps you'll dare insult me again in the presence of visitors, you old mud-wallower!"

Seeing the plight of the turtle, several young seals came laughingly wabbling to the spot, and as they approached the helpless creature drew in his legs and head, and closed his two shells tightly together. The seals bumped against the turtle and gave it a push that sent it sliding down the beach like a toboggan, and a minute later it splashed into the water and sank out of sight.

But that was just what the creature wanted. On shore the upset turtle was quite helpless; but the mischievous seals saved him. For as soon as he touched the water he was able to turn and right himself, which he promptly did. Then he raised his head above the water and asked:

"Is it peace, or war, Muffruff?"

"Whichever you like," answered the Seal, indifferently.

Perhaps the turtle was angry, for it ran on shore with remarkable swiftness, uttering a shrill cry as it advanced. At once all the other turtles awoke to life, and with upraised heads joined their comrade in the rush for the seals. Most of Chief Muffruff's band scrambled hastily down the rocks and plunged into the water of the sea, without waiting for the turtles to reach them; but the chief himself was slow in escaping. It may be he was ashamed to run while the mermaids were watching, but if this was so he made a great mistake. The turtles snapped at his fins and tail, and began biting round chunks out of them, so that Chief Muffruff screamed with pain and anger, and floundered into the water as fast as he could go. The vengeful turtles were certainly the victors, and now held undisputed possession of the island.

Trot laughed joyously at the incident, not feeling a bit sorry for the old seal who had foolishly begun the battle. Even the gentle queen smiled as she said:

"These quarrels between the turtles and seals are very frequent, but they are soon ended. An hour from now they will all be lying asleep together, just as we found them; but we will not wait for that. Let us go."

She sank slowly beneath the water again, and the others followed after her.

"The sun must be going under a cloud," said Trot, looking ahead.

They had descended far into the ocean depths again--further, the girl thought, than they had ever been before.

"No," the Queen answered, after a glance ahead of them; "that is a cuttlefish, and he is dyeing the sea around him with ink, so that he can hide from us. Let us turn a little to the left, for we could see nothing at all in that inky water."

Following her advice they made a broad curve to the left, and at once the water began to darken in that direction, too.

"Why, there's another of 'em," said Cap'n Bill, as the little party came to a sudden halt.

"So there is," returned the Queen, and Trot thought there was a little quiver of anxiety in her voice. "We must go far to the right to escape the ink."

So they again started, this time almost at a right angle to their former course, and the little girl inquired:

"How can the cuttlefish color the water so very black?"

"They carry big sacks in front of them, where they conceal the ink," Princess Clia answered. "Whenever they choose, the cuttlefish are able to press out this ink, and it colors the water for a great space around them."

The direction in which they were now swimming was taking them far out of their way. Aquareine did not wish to travel very far to the right, so, when she thought they had gone far enough to escape the inky water, she turned to lead her party toward the left--the direction in which she did wish to go. At once, another cloud of ink stained the water, and drove them to the right again.

"Is anything wrong, ma'am?" asked Cap'n Bill, seeing a frown gather upon the queen's lovely face.

"I hope not," she said. "But I must warn you that these cuttlefish are the servants of the terrible sea devils, and from the way they are acting they seem determined to drive us toward the Devil Caves, which I wished to avoid."