ee
her."

"So I will!" answered the water beetle, good naturedly.

"So we will!" chirped all his companions. Turning suddenly the whole
party plunged into the water, every one carrying down with him on the
tip of the abdomen a bubble of air to supply him with breath while under
water. They made their way straight to a stone of quartz whose
crystallized sides glittered in the light that penetrated the stream.

"Sprite Scaly, Sprite Scaly!" called the beetles in chorus, while they
held fast to the rock with their claws.

A form slowly lifted itself from the shadows under the edge of the rock
and rose higher and higher until it was quite on a level with the top
whereon Whirligig and his friends sat. It was a fish, with silver-white
scales and red eyes. She floated in the water, which she lazily beat
with her fins and tail, opening and shutting her gills, looking all the
while very sedate indeed.

"Sprite Scal_ee_! Ah! here you are!" cried the beetles as they caught
sight of the fish poised above them. "Brownie Policy sent us down to
tell you that he claims your service. He waits on the shore above. Good
bye!" Up they went without more ado, and in a moment were again circling
around upon the surface of the lake.

Scaly was not far behind them. Lazy as she looked, she could dart
through the water like an arrow, and sooner than we tell it, had reached
the bank and thrust her face close to the feet of the Corporal. Policy
repeated his plan and got as hearty assent from Scaly as from Twist.

"What shall we do to support you?" asked Policy.

"Well, there's nothing very 'special," said Scaly, spitting out half a
dozen mouthfuls of water. "The Natties had better follow up my attack in
their own way. They'll not have much to do but gather up drowned Pixies,
I reckon; or maybe capture some of their boats as the Stygies make off
from their damaged ships."

The Sprite and the Corporal agreed upon the time for the attack, and
thereupon Scaly turned, gave her tail a few self-satisfied flops, and
dived out of sight.

The third party to the proposed alliance was Slymousie the Quadruped.
"We shall find her in the field," said Corporal Policy, and sent off
several men to hunt for her. The Brownies climbed the hill back of the
Mansion and by and by found the cave, just on the edge of the orchard,
where Mrs. Slymousie had her nest. It was quite hidden away beneath the
overtopping meadow grass. A round bunch of chopped and twisted