"Look, boys!" cried Gear, "He has his silver armor on again. How is the thing done? It looks like magic!"
"Suppose you dive down and ask the old fellow, dear boy," said Highjinks. "No doubt he will lend you a brand new suit for yourself, if you like."
Dolomede was by this time quite hidden from view, and any attempt to follow would have been vain. So Twadeils ordered all hands aboard, and once more set sail.
Fig. 68.—"The Triple-Decked Tower of Linyphia."
Perhaps we may stop to explain the point that puzzled Gear. The silver armor was nothing, in fact, but bubbles of air that clung to Sixpoint's hairy coat. It is the fashion of water-pixies to spread out the numerous hairs upon their furry skins just as they plunge beneath the surface of the water. Portions of air within the spaces between the hairs cling around the body, held thereto by the pressure of the surrounding water. This air gathers in round bubbles which shine like silver, and have somewhat the appearance of a coat of mail. They probably furnish the air for the creature to breathe while in the water, and they of course disappear into the atmosphere the moment the surface is reached.
Once more the Brownies were afloat, and now they drew near the barricades, and saw the damage wrought by the flood upon the Pixie defences. The water had overflowed the demilune, so that only the end towers showed above the surface; and these swayed to and fro before the force of the rushing current and under the weight of the Pixie sentinels who, as it seemed to the Brownies, must have been driven to refuge within them, so suddenly had the flood broken out. The triple-decked tower of Linyphia was crowded with these fugitives.
"Now, lads," said Twadeils, "here's our chance for fine sport. What say you? Shall we push our raft right over the barricade to the gate of the fort? Or stop and pick up some of the fellows imprisoned here in the towers?"
"It is bad policy to leave an enemy in one's rear," said Rownie.