at is your majesty's command?" he asked, bending low before King
Seaphus. The King did not reply for a moment. He was a wise King, and
thought for several minutes before he spoke. This made the Prime
Minister fidget about on his tail. If he had been a Prime Minister of
any land, and not of the sea, he probably would have stood first on one
leg and then on the other, but, as he had no feet, he shifted about
uneasily on his fin-tail until the King spoke.

"I hear there has been another wreck on the Sea Bottom Subway."

The Prime Minister coughed, and little bubbles rose from the end of his
nose, the sight of which almost caused Mary Louise to giggle aloud.
But she remembered her manners in time and saved herself the
mortification of such a breach of etiquette.

"Yes, Your Royal Highness," admitted the Prime Minister, "but I
understand it was not at all serious. One of the Iceberg cars was
demolished, and one of the Polar Bear porters, I believe, although I am
not certain at the moment, was slightly injured. None of the
passengers was hurt, with the possible exception of a Star Fish, who
complained of a slight pain in one of his five fingers--I forget, for
the moment, which finger."

"Is the road again in operation?" inquired King Seaphus.

"Not yet, your Royal Highness," replied the Prime Minister, "but I have
every assurance from the management that trains will be running, at the
very latest, by tomorrow morning."

"You will have to spend the night with us, then," said the Princess,
turning to Mary Louise, with a smile. "You know," she added in a
whisper, "I'm glad there was an accident; otherwise you would not have
come to our castle, and we might not have grown to be such friends."

"Don't whisper, my daughter," said King Seaphus. "Your mother will
think, should she hear that you had been so rude during her absence,
that she cannot leave home to even visit her mother for a week without
your becoming demoralized."

The Prime Minister coughed behind his hand, while the little bubbles
rose again through the pale green of the sea-water. Mary Louise felt
quite embarrassed, and the little Princess blushed. King Seaphus
looked sternly at all three.

Just then a loud knocking was heard on the castle door. "Billows and
breakers!" exclaimed the King, "what is that?"

Damages

King Seaphus waited anxiously as the knocking on the castle door
continued. "Billows and breakers," he exclaimed again, ex