"Lump in his throat" that he could not swallow,
try as hard as he might. Cap'n Bill was glad. He was mostly glad on
Trot's account, for he loved his sweet, childish companion very
dearly, and did not want any harm to befall her.

They were now in the wide, open sea, with liberty to go wherever
they wished, and if Cap'n Bill could have "had his way," he would
have gone straight home and carried Trot to her mother. But the
mermaids must be considered. Aquareine and Clia had been true and
faithful friends to their earth guests while dangers were
threatening, and it would not be very gracious to leave them at
once. Moreover, King Anko was now with them, his big head keeping
pace with the mermaids as they swam, and this mighty preserver had a
distinct claim upon Trot and Cap'n Bill. The sailor felt that it
would not be polite to ask to go home so soon.

"If you people had come to visit me as I invited you to do," said
the Sea Serpent, "all this bother and trouble would have been saved.
I had my palace put in order to receive the earth dwellers and sat
in my den waiting patiently to receive you. Yet you never came at
all."

"That reminds me," said Trot, drying her eyes, "you never told us
about that third pain you once had."

"Finally," continued Anko, "I sent to inquire as to what had become
of you, and Merla said you had been gone from the palace a long time
and she was getting anxious about you. Then I made inquiries.
Everyone in the sea loves to serve me--except those sea devils and
their cousins, the octopi--and it wasn't long before I heard you had
been captured by Zog."

"Was the third pain as bad as the other two?" asked Trot.

"Naturally this news disturbed me and made me unhappy," said Anko,
"for I well knew, my Aquareine, that the magician's evil powers were
greater than your own fairy accomplishments. But I had never been
able to find Zog's enchanted castle, and so I was at a loss to know
how to save you from your dreadful fate. After I had wasted a good
deal of time thinking it over, I decided that if the sea devils were
slaves of Zog, the prince of the sea devils must know where the
enchanted castle was located.

"I knew this prince and where to find him, for he always lay on a
hollow rock on the bottom of the sea and never moved from that
position. His people brought food to him and took his commands. So I
had no trouble in finding this evil prince, and I went to him and
asked the way to Zog's castle.