ttle white duck in a boat rowed up to the bank.

"Come, jump aboard," quacked Commodore Drake, for that was the name of
this duck sailor.

Mary Louise jumped in and away they went down the river to the deep
blue sea. And after a while, maybe a mile, and perhaps a little more,
they came to the restless ocean.

"Now," said the duck, with a wheezy, breezy quack, "I'll take you to
the Hotel Wave Crest."

Presently they came to an island where a lovely coral building shone
pinky bright in the rays of the sun. Right in front of it were two
bell buoys who rang little bells to tell the man who owned the hotel
that somebody wanted a room with a fresh salt water bath.

As soon as Commodore Drake had fastened the little boat to the wharf,
he and Mary Louise walked up the steps and into Wave Crest Hotel.

When the proprietor, a nice old Dolphin, saw Mary Louise's lovely sea
green coat, he at once asked where she had bought it.

"The King of the Crabs gave it to me."

"You don't tell me," exclaimed the old Dolphin. "Do you know that coat
is a magic one?"

"What can it do?" asked Mary Louise, even more surprised than you are.

"Why, anybody who wears it can swim like a fish," answered the
good-natured Dolphin. "It's better than a pair of water wings," and he
turned over three times and began to sing,

"Oh, many a mile I've swum in the sea
Like a hoop that rolls on the ground,
Over and over and over again,
Round and around and around,
But I always come right side up at last,
Out in the deep blue sea,
You bet I can do the loop de loo
High diddle diddledy dee."

As he finished speaking, the good-natured Dolphin turned a somersault,
and after that I guess he thought he'd done enough to amuse Mary
Louise, and the little white sailor duck, so he went inside the hotel
and stood at the desk behind the big register book.

Just then a great whale came swimming by, blowing a stream of water
high in the air. Maybe a piece of seaweed had tickled his nose, for
when a whale spouts he's really sneezing, I'm told.

And after that a pretty Cat Fish began to purr, and I guess she would
have asked Mary Louise a lot of questions if all of a sudden a Dog Fish
hadn't barked, which so frightened the pussy cat fish that she went
into her room and locked the door, dropping the kin in her vanity bag
which she hid under her pillow.

"If you'll stay awhile," said the old Dolphin, "I'll give you the
finest fish d