So down, down I went, until I reached a cell in a coral grove, and in I popped his Majesty, and sat down and grinned at him. My turn to show a wide mouth now.
Did you know a fish could tremble? That fellow trembled and shook as if he had a fishy fit when he found himself in that den, with a great Dolphin's eye on him. Perhaps it was indeed "an evil eye" to him. He could have slipped out and away would I only move and give him room. Oh, no, not just yet! I lashed the water with my strong tail, and "made up eyes" at him, I am afraid, in a truly evil way.
Then I began to feel that it was neither kind nor noble to carry my punishment too far, so off I slowly sailed, and out from his tight corner slid my slippery prisoner. And he tormented me no more. I did not mean to harm him, and do not think I did, but he slipped sideways through the water ever after that.
It must be that he jammed a fin in his haste to escape from his cubby, but I see him often, and always with that sideways gait. I hope he is cured forever of making of himself a pester and a plague.
I was glad to see that he still could fly, and that swift as an arrow he could dart over and under, through and across, the thousand winding ways of our coral groves.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MERMAID'S CAVE