"She won't have to do anything of the sort," answered a kind voice and a little white duck in a boat rowed up to the bank.
"Come, jump aboard," quacked Commodore Drake, for that was the name of this duck sailor.
Mary Louise jumped in and away they went down the river to the deep blue sea. And after a while, maybe a mile, and perhaps a little more, they came to the restless ocean.
"Now," said the duck, with a wheezy, breezy quack, "I'll take you to the Hotel Wave Crest."
Presently they came to an island where a lovely coral building shone pinky bright in the rays of the sun. Right in front of it were two bell buoys who rang little bells to tell the man who owned the hotel that somebody wanted a room with a fresh salt water bath.
As soon as Commodore Drake had fastened the little boat to the wharf, he and Mary Louise walked up the steps and into Wave Crest Hotel.
When the proprietor, a nice old Dolphin, saw Mary Louise's lovely sea green coat, he at once asked where she had bought it.
"The King of the Crabs gave it to me."
"You don't tell me," exclaimed the old Dolphin. "Do you know that coat is a magic one?"
"What can it do?" asked Mary Louise, even more surprised than you are.