an she had seen the day before,
and she said to herself, "I wish he would come and take me down to the
bottom of the ocean!" when, lo! just as she had wished it, the queerest
little man came walking out of the water to where she stood. He was the
funniest looking little man, I'll be bound, you ever saw. He was not
more than three feet high, and he had a hump-back--so humped that it
looked almost like a wide horn coming out of his back. And he was
dressed entirely in green; just as green as sea-weed, and to tell the
truth, his clothes were made of sea-weed when you came to look at them
closely; all woven of green sea-weed, and on the hump, his coat, which
was made to fit it, was stuffed with soft sea grass so that it looked
like a cushion. His feet were great flat feet, and his hands were
almost as large as his feet; and as for his legs, they were so crooked
and so covered with barnacles, that you never would have known them for
legs anywhere else. He had on a cap made of seal-skin with two ends
bobbing behind.

He came right out of the water and stood before Effie, dripping with
wet, and bowing, and smiling, and scraping and twitching his cap, as
much as to say, "Your most obedient servant, Miss, and what can I do for
you this morning?" and he did say out aloud, "It's all right! Get up
there"--pointing to his hump--"and I will carry you down safely, little
maiden!"

"But I shall get wet!" laughed Effie.

"Oh, no!" said he, "I'll cover you up." So he stooped down, but he
didn't have very far to stoop, he was so short; and she got on top of
the hump and held on by the ends of the seal-skin cap that were dangling
behind. The little man put his hands in his pockets and pulled out
bunches of sea-weed and covered her up with it, and tied her on with
long string of sea-grass, until she was quite safe, and then waded
straight into the water.

The beach sloped quickly and the little man was short, so that in a few
strides the water was up to the hump on which Effie was sitting. Then
the little girl began to be frightened and shut her eyes tight, and when
she heard the water splashing about them, she wanted to cry out, but she
couldn't and held on tight to the bobs of the seal-skin cap. Then she
felt the water rushing over their heads, but still the little sea-green
man went striding over the ground, putting out his flat hands at his
side, as if they were oars, and seeming to push the water away as he
went swiftly forward. A