28 The Catskill Fairies.

packed as the ‘trepang’ of commerce. If we hide in the
deepest waters, we do not escape; nothing is safe from man.
I left my home one day, with a sudden jerk, just as the tre-
pang did. The mollusk soon died, out of the sea, even as you
would die if your head was held under water. I was left, be-
ing only a shell, and since then I have been a great traveller.
Your mother brought me here in a box. First I was carried
off by a sailor as a gift for his sweetheart at home; yet I never
saw the sweetheart, for the cabin-boy stole me long before we
reached port. The cabin-boy treated me very ill: he traded
me for a gay neck-tie, when I would have really brought him
money if sold for a cabinet. Silly fellow! Then we sailed up
north; I could tell you all about the cold countries.”

“It is cold enough here,” yawned the Angora cat.

“T changed owners half-adozen times among sailors. We
were in the Baltic Sea, and I had been left on deck careless-
ly, when a gull came swooping down on me, made bold by
hunger.

“«VYou are as tough as a Tartar, said the gull, pecking at
me to judge if I was good to eat.

“¢What is a Tartar? I inquired.

“«Don’t be tiresome,’ said the gull, pettishly. ‘My grand-
father knows everything: ask him.’ Then it flew away. I
was glad to have the ship lurch just then, and roll me against
the bulwark out of sight. Presently the gull returned, hopping
along cautiously in the hope of stealing a morsel.

“« Where is your grandfather?’ I asked.

“*Holloa! Are you still there, Mr. Shell?’ cried the gull,

cocking its head over its shoulder.