“Yes,” said Charlie, thoughtfully.
“Oh,” cried Walt, “will you do it again some time?”
Ingomar laughed.
“It all depends,” he said.
A beautiful night now. They must have been a full hour in that cave and didn’t mark time.
The moon had arisen, stars were bright and sparkled in the sea.
It was a night for thought more than talking, and no one did talk.
Nothing indeed was heard, save the chunk-chunk, chunkitty-chunk of oars in rowlocks, until the boat grated against the ship’s side.
“Wherever have you been, boys?” said Mayne Brace. “I was just going to sound the syren to say supper was ready.”
“Ah, Captain Brace, we’ve had a wonderful time of it, all among the mermaids, though at first we saw a terrible apparition.