‘She has gone down home to tell the little mermaids about it,’ thought he. ‘I must go and tell Mother and Sally and all of them about it, too.’
Sally and Alice, surrounded by loaves of Boston brown bread, by pies and cakes, were slowly putting on their shoes and stockings when Andy, hot and out of breath, came running toward them.
‘Oh! Oh!’ gasped Andy, sitting down hard upon the sand. ‘I have seen a mermaid. She saved my boat.’
That was the way Andy began his story.
And when he had finished he said it over again.
‘I have seen a mermaid, all but her tail,’ said Andy.
‘Oh, I do wish I could have seen her tail,’ said he.
CHAPTER VI
MUD PIES
Sally sat out in the back garden making mud pies.
‘Sand pies are cleanest,’ said Sally, ‘but mud pies are rich.’