obey. "Are the outer passages well guarded?" asked
the monster.

"Yes, as you have commanded," said the boy.

"Then you may allow the prisoners to roam at will throughout the
castle. Now, go!"

The prisoners followed Sacho from the room, glad to get away. The
presence of this evil being had grown oppressive to them, and Zog
had himself seemed ill at ease during the last few minutes. The robe
so closely wound around his body moved jerkily, as if something
beneath disturbed it, and at such times Zog shifted nervously in his
seat.

Sacho's thin little legs trotted through the water and led the way
into a different passage from the one by which they had entered.
They swam slowly after him and breathed easier when they had left
the golden domed chamber where their wicked enemy sat enthroned.
"Well, how do you like him?" asked Sacho with a laugh.

"We hate him!" declared Trot emphatically.

"Of course you do," replied Sacho. "But you're wasting time hating
anything. It doesn't do you any good, or him any harm. Can you
sing?"

"A little," said Trot, "but I don't feel like singing now."

"You're wrong about that," the boy asserted. "Anything that keeps
you from singing is foolishness, unless it's laughter. Laughter, joy
and song are the only good things in the world."

Trot did not answer this queer speech, for just then they came to a
flight of stairs, and Sacho climbed up them while the others swam.
And now they were in a lofty, broad corridor having many doors hung
with seaweed draperies. At one of these doorways Sacho stopped and
said, "Here is the Rose Chamber where the master commands you to
live until you die. You may wander anywhere in the castle as you
please; to leave it is impossible. Whenever you return to the Rose
Chamber, you will know it by this design of roses sewn in pearls
upon the hangings. The Peony Room where the man-fish is to live is
the next one farther on."

"Thank you," replied Queen Aquareine. "Are we to be fed?"

"Meals will be served in your rooms. If you desire anything, ring
the bell and some of the slaves will be sure to answer it. I am
mostly in attendance upon my master, but whenever I am at liberty I
will look after your comfort myself."

Again they thanked the strange boy, and he turned and left them.
They could hear him whistle and sing as he returned along the
passage. Then Princess Clia parted the curtains that her queen and
companions might enter the Rose Chamber.