‘And didn’t you die?’ asked the Piskey innocently.
‘You must have lost your wits, as well as your laugh, to ask such a stupid question,’ said the Tiny Bargeman. ‘I did not die, or I should not be sitting in this Barge now. But I grew down to the tiny old fellow you now see me through working my way out of that dreadful stone. My magical powers have also dwindled, I fear; for they are as nothing to what they once were. Therefore I am no longer Merlin the Magician, but only Merlin the Bargeman of Dozmare Pool.’
‘And can’t you tell me where my laugh is?’ asked the little Piskey wistfully. ‘I am a miserable, poor thing without my laugh.’
‘I’m sure you are,’ said the Tiny Bargeman, ‘and I’ll do what I can to help you to find it. I wasn’t shut up in a stone all those centuries for nothing, as, perhaps, you have not lost your laugh for nothing. I’ll tell you at once that your laugh has never been near this desolate spot, but it is possible that Giant Tregeagle may have seen it on his wild flight down to St. Minver sand-hills, or maybe he has seen it on the golden dunes. I advise you to go there and ask him.’
‘How can I get to the sand-hills?’ asked the poor little Piskey. ‘It would take me such a long time to get there with no dance in my feet; and there is no little Lantern Man here to give me a lift in his Lantern.’
‘You need not trouble your head how you are to get to the sand-hills. I’ll take you near there in my Barge.’
‘In your Barge?’ echoed the little Piskey, looking over his shoulder to the long stretch of country between him and the sea, and then at the great pool set like a cup on the top of the moors, with no visible outlet.
‘You are wondering how I can take you to the great outer sea,’ said the Tiny Bargeman. ‘For your satisfaction I will tell you that there is an underground waterway that leads down to Trebetherick Bay, close to St. Minver sand-hills. I will take you there in my Barge.’
‘Why are you so kind?’ asked the little Piskey, looking gratefully at the little old Bargeman. ‘My brothers were not nearly so kind.’
‘I saw you helping the wicked Giant to dip this great mere dry, and I thought so kind a deed deserved another,’ answered the Little Bargeman lightly; ‘and I told myself as I watched you that I would do you a kindness, if you needed a kindness. Will you let me take you to Trebetherick Bay?’