Part 2

"What are you looking for?" asked Mary Louise, for she was a curious little girl, and forgot one question as soon as she asked another.

"Oh, there it is!" exclaimed the mermaid. "Come with me. Hold your hands out before you like this and dive down!"

"But where are we going?" again asked Mary Louise as they sank lower and lower in the sea.

"Oh, I forgot," answered the mermaid, turning with a smile to her little companion; "I was so busy looking for the subway entrance that I forgot your question."

"Goodness!" cried Mary Louise. "I didn't know there was a subway in the sea!"

"To be sure," answered the mermaid. "The track lies along the bottom of the ocean. It's not a railroad train we're going to take, but a water train that comes all the way from the Northern seas, sweeping on like a river in the sea. Wait till we get down there. You'll see how fast it goes."

Mary Louise was too astonished to speak.

"The Pullman cars," continued the mermaid, "are icebergs. They come from the North every summer to take a trip South."

"Whew!" shivered Mary Louise. "I think we ar near one now, for I feel quite cold."

Sure enough, she was right, for there close at hand was a great white object.

"All aboard!" shouted a big polar bear. "Watch your step!"

The mermaid helped Mary Louise to slide on a projecting ledge, and off they went.

"Now we can enjoy the scenery," laughed the mermaid, as she arranged her tail in an artistic curve and brushed back her hair, which had been swept over her eyes by the swift action of the water.

"The train never stops, you know, until it reaches its destination, but that need not interfere with our getting off any time we please should you wish to visit any pretty spot we pass on our journey."

Just at that moment there was a tremendous crash and Mary Louise found herself thrown off into the water, while a muffled roar rolled through the depths of the ocean.

The Coral Palace

"Why, the ocean is full of cracked ice!" exclaimed Mary Louise, as she and the mermaid rose to the surface and looked about them. "I wonder what it was that caused such a tremendous crash?"

"Perhaps the Whale Ice Trust is after a big ice supply," replied the mermaid with a laugh. "The ocean depths are no longer a quiet place since this dreadful hot weather set in. Just the other day I heard the King of the Mermen say that they were about to send a note of protest to Neptune for violating the laws of Merland!"

"I don't know much about it," said Mary Louise, "except that it's very inconvenient to have one's voyage disturbed in such a way. What are we going to do now?"

"How would you like to visit the Court of the Mer King?" asked the mermaid.

"Oh, lovely!" cried Mary Louise. "I've never met any kinds, although I've read about them in fairy stories."

"Come along then," said the mermaid. "Follow me straight down, for I think we are not very far from the Coral Palace, where King Seaphus holds court."

Placing the palms of her hands together diving fashion, she gave her pretty tail a kick-off, and away she went, head downward, through the water.

Mary Louise followed her example, somewhat surprised at the ease with which she executed this difficult maneuver.

In a short time they found themselves on the bottom of the ocean. In the distance could be seen the dim outline of a magnificent castle of pink and white coral. Leading up to it was a wide highway, flanked on either side with beautiful sea-grass, and dotted here and there, like milestones, stood columns of beautiful coral. Banks of exquisite mother-of-pearl rose at intervals along the way; water plants of various hues grew in wild profusion.

"Why, it's very much like the earth," exclaimed Mary Louise, "only one doesn't walk, and its not dusty, and--and it's not hot and sunny!"

"No, indeed!" said the mermaid. "But sometimes we have a pest of water gnats that are worse than mosquitoes, and we have to put up netting on our bedroom windows to keep them out."

As she finished speaking they approached the door of the castle, on which she knocked with a flap of her finny tail. It was immediately opened by a merman dressed in the uniform of a court page. "What can I do for you, Your Highness?" he asked, bowing low.