aid Sacho, "but it is reasonable to guess that, being evil,
he intends evil. He never intends to do good, I assure you." Then
the boy went away.

"I am no longer afraid," declared the Mermaid Queen when they were
alone. "When I have bestowed certain fairy powers upon this golden
sword, it will fight its way against any who dare oppose us, and
even Zog himself will not care to face so powerful a weapon. I am
now able to promise you that we shall make our escape."

"Good!" cried Trot joyfully. "Shall we start now?"

"Not yet, my dear. It will take me a little while to charm this
golden blade so that it will obey my commands and do my work. There
is no need of undue haste, so I propose we all sleep for a time and
obtain what rest we can. We must be fresh and ready for our great
adventure."

As their former nap had been interrupted, they readily agreed to
Aquareine's proposal and at once went to their couches and composed
themselves to slumber. When they were asleep, the fairy mermaid
charmed her golden sword and then she also lay down to rest herself.

CHAPTER 18

A DASH FOR LIBERTY

Trot dreamed that she was at home in her own bed, but the night
seemed chilly and she wanted to draw the coverlet up to her chin.
She was not wide awake, but realized that she was cold and unable to
move her arms to cover herself up. She tried, but could not stir.
Then she roused herself a little more and tried again. Yes, it was
cold, very cold! Really, she MUST do something to get warm, she
thought. She opened her eyes and stared at a great wall of ice in
front of her.

She was awake now, and frightened, too. But she could not move
because the ice was all around her. She was frozen inside of it, and
the air space around her was not big enough to allow her to turn
over.

At once the little girl realized what had happened. Their wicked
enemy Zog had by his magic art frozen all the water in their room
while they slept, and now they were all imprisoned and helpless.
Trot and Cap'n Bill were sure to freeze to death in a short time,
for only a tiny air space remained between their bodies and the ice,
and this air was like that of a winter day when the thermometer is
below zero.

Across the room Trot could see the mermaid queen lying on her couch,
for the solid ice was clear as crystal. Aquareine was imprisoned
just as Trot was, and although she held her fairy wand in one hand
and the golden sword in the other, she seemed una