“Come along, dear friends; but let us clasp hands and keep close together.”

They obeyed her commands and swam swiftly out of their prison and into the clear water before them, glad to put a distance between themselves and the loathesome sea devils.  The monsters made no attempt to follow them, but they burst into a chorus of harsh laughter which warned our friends that they had not yet accomplished their escape.

The four now found themselves in a broad, rocky passage, which was dimly lighted from some unknown source.  The walls overhead, below them and at the sides all glistened as if made of silver, and in places were set small statues of birds, beasts and fishes, occupying niches in the walls and seemingly made from the same glistening material.

The queen swam more slowly now that the sea devils had been left behind, and she looked exceedingly grave and thoughtful.

“Have you ever been here before?” asked Trot.

“No, dear,” said the Queen with a sigh.

“And do you know where we are?” continued the girl.

“I can guess,” replied Aquareine.  “There is only one place in all the sea where such a passage as that we are in could exist without my knowledge, and that is in the hidden dominions of Zog.  If we are indeed in the power of that fearful magician, we must summon all our courage to resist him, or we are lost!”

“Is Zog more powerful than the mermaids?” asked Trot anxiously.

“I do not know, for we have never before met to measure our strength,” answered Aquareine.  “But if King Anko could defeat the magician, as he surely did, then I think I shall be able to do so.”

“I wish I was sure of it,” muttered Cap’n Bill.

Absolute silence reigned in the silver passage.  No fish were there; not even a sea flower grew to relieve the stern grandeur of this vast corridor.  Trot began to be impressed with the fact that she was a good way from her home and mother, and she wondered if she would ever get back again to the white cottage on the cliff.  Here she was, at the bottom of the great ocean, swimming through a big tunnel that had an enchanted castle at the end, and a group of horrible sea devils at the other!  In spite of this thought, she was not very much afraid.  Although two fairy mermaids were her companions, she relied, strange to say, more upon her tried and true friend, Cap’n Bill, than upon her newer acquaintances to see her safely out of her present trouble.

Cap’n Bill himself did not feel very confident.

“I don’t care two cents what becomes o’ me,” he told Princess Clia in a low voice, “but I’m drea’ful worried over our Trot.  She’s too sweet an’ young to be made an end of in this ’ere fashion.”

Clia smiled at this speech.  “I’m sure you will find the little girl’s end a good way off,” she replied.  “Trust to our powerful queen, and be sure she will find some means for us all to escape uninjured.”