tail, while another held the crown down on his royal head, to
prevent it from slipping off, the rest of the audience swimming behind
at a respectful distance, forming a sort of procession.

"Well," began the thin fish, after the others had all gone, "I
congratulate you. His Majesty had been good enough to place the Royal
Dolphins at your disposal, and if the Dodo you are searching for is
anywhere on, or in, the sea you ought to have no difficulty in finding
him, for the Dolphins swim very quickly indeed, and can take you
anywhere you like in a jiffy. Please follow me to the royal stables, and
we will harness them."

The children passed out after their kind little friend, and followed
him into the gardens of the Palace, which they had to cross in order to
reach the stables.

Marjorie was enraptured at the sight of the beautifully-arranged
gardens, in which brightly-colored anemones took the place of flowers.

On a lawn of the finest short green seaweed, a number of globe-shaped
fishes, with striped bodies, were playing football, and the children
stopped a few minutes to watch the game.

They were very much surprised to find that the football itself was a
fish--a little round chap, just the shape of a football--who, on the
players giving him a smart kick with their tail, shot up through the
water and over the goal in no time.

"Doesn't he object?" said Dick, after they had watched this performance
for some time; "I know I should."

"Oh, dear, no!" exclaimed their guide, "he enjoys it quite as much as
the others do. You see, it's such a delightful sensation to be shot
through the water without the effort of swimming; but, come along, we
must be off if you are going to start to-day."

"There's one little piece of advice I should like to give you in your
search for the Dodo," he continued, kindly, as they swam along. "If you
don't succeed in catching him one way, try another. Remember the bear
with a cold."

[Illustration: "And now he's quite well, thanks."]

"What do you mean?" asked the children.

"Don't you know the story of the bear with a cold?" was the reply.

"No; do tell us!" they cried.

[Illustration: "Come on, Marjorie, let's have a race."]

"Why, you see," said the fish, "there was once an old bear, who had a
dreadful cold, and his friends all advised him to try different things
to cure it. One said one thing, and one another, and although he tried
them all, one after the other, he didn't get any