"Here's me in the water with my rheumatics! I'll be that stiff termorrer I can't wiggle." "You're wigglin' all right now," observed Trot.

"That's a fine tail you've got, Cap'n, an' its green scales is jus' beautiful." "Are they green, eh ?" he asked, twisting around to try to see them.
"Green as em'ralds, Cap'n.

How do they feel ?" "Feel, Trot, feel?
Why, this tail beats that ol' wooden leg all holler! I kin do stunts now that I couldn't o' done in a thousand years with ol' peg." "And don't be afraid of the rheumatism," advised the Princess.

"No mermaid ever catches cold or suffers pain in the water." "Is Cap'n Bill a mermaid now ?" asked Trot.
"Why, he's a merMAN, I suppose," laughed the pretty princess.

"But when he gets home, he will be just Cap'n Bill again." "Wooden leg an' all ?" inquired the child.
"To be sure, my dear." The sailor was now trying his newly discovered power of swimming, and became astonished at the feats he could accomplish.