“I think it would be pretty low down to go without saying goodbye to the Princesses,” said Francis. “Still, there’s no harm in looking for the door.”
They did look for the door. And they did not find it. What they did find was a wall—a great gray wall built of solid stones—above it nothing could be seen but blue sky.
“I do wonder what’s on the other side,” said Bernard; and someone, I will not say which, said: “Let’s climb up and see.”
It was easy to climb up, for the big stones had rough edges and so did not fit very closely, and there was room for a toe here and a hand there. In a minute or two they were all up, but they could not see down on the other side because the wall was about eight feet thick. They walked toward the other edge, and still they could not see down; quite close to the edge, and still no seeing.
“It isn’t sky at all,” said Bernard suddenly. “It’s a sort of dome—tin I shouldn’t wonder, painted to look like sky.”
“It can’t be,” said someone.
“It is though,” said Bernard.
“There couldn’t be one so big,” said someone else.
“But there is,” said Bernard.
And then someone—I will not tell you who—put out a hand, and, quite forgetting the Princess’s warning, touched the sky. That hand felt something as faint and thin as a bubble—and instantly this something broke, and the sea came pouring into the Mer-people’s country.
“Now you’ve done it,” said one of those whose hand it wasn’t. And there was no doubt about it; the person who owned the hand had done it—and done it very thoroughly. It was plain enough now that what they had been living in was not water, and that this was. The first rush of it was terrible—but in less than a moment the whole kingdom was flooded, and then the water became clear and quiet.
The children found no difficulty in breathing, and it was as easy to walk as it is on land in a high wind. They could not run, but they walked as fast as they could to the place where they had left the Princess pouring out the water for all the rivers in all the world.
And as they went, one of them said, “Oh don’t, don’t tell it was me. You don’t know what punishments they may have here.”
The others said of course they wouldn’t tell. But the one who had touched the sky felt that it was despised and disgraced.
They found the pedestal, but what had been the pool was only part of the enormous sea, and so was the little marble channel.
The Princess was not there, and they began to look for her, more and more anxious and wretched.
“It’s all your fault,” said Francis to the guilty one who had broken the sky by touching it; and Bernard said, “You shut up, can’t you?”
It was a long time before they found their Princess, and when they did find her they hardly knew her. She came swimming toward them, and she was wearing her tail, and a cuirass and helmet of the most beautiful mother-of-pearl—thin scales of it overlapping; and the crest on her helmet was one great pearl, as big as a billiard ball. She carried something over her arm.
“Here you are,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you. The future is full of danger. The water has got in.”
“Yes, we noticed that,” said Bernard.
And Mavis said: “Please, it was us. We touched the sky.”
“Will they punish us?” asked Cathay.
“There are no punishments here,” said the pearly Princess gravely, “only the consequences of your action. Our great defense against the Under Folk is that thin blue dome which you have broken. It can only be broken from the inside. Our enemies were powerless to destroy it. But now they may attack us at any moment. I am going to command my troops. Will you come too?”
“Rather,” said Reuben, and the others, somewhat less cordially, agreed. They cheered up a little when the Princess went on.
“It’s the only way to make you safe. There are four posts vacant on my staff, and I have brought you the uniforms that go with the appointments.” She unfolded five tails, and four little pearly coats like her own, with round pearls for buttons, pearls as big as marbles. “Put these on quickly,” she said, “they are enchanted coats, given by Neptune himself to an ancestor of ours. By pressing the third button from the top you can render yourself invisible. The third button below that will make you visible again when you wish it, and the last button of all will enable you to become intangible as well as invisible.”
“Intangible?” said Cathay.
“Unfeelable, so you’re quite safe.”
“But there are only four coats,” said Francis. “That is so,” said the Princess. “One of you will have to take its chance with the Boy Scouts. Which is it to be?”
Each of the children always said, and thought that it meant to say “I will,” but somehow or other the person who spoke first was Reuben. The instant the Princess had said “be,” Reuben shouted: “Me,” adding however almost at once, “please.”
“Right,” said the Princess kindly, “off with you! The Sea Urchins’ barracks are behind that rock. Off with you! Here, don’t forget your tail. It enables you to be as comfortable in the water as any fish.”
Reuben took the tail and hastened away.
“Now,” said the Princess. And they all began putting on their tails. It was like putting both your feet into a very large stocking. Then came the mail coats.
“Don’t we have swords?” Francis asked, looking down at his slim and silvery extremity.
“Swords? In the Crustacean Brigade? Never forget, children, that you belong to the Princess’s Own Oysters. Here are your weapons.” She pointed to a heap of large oyster shells, as big as Roman shields.
“See,” she said, “you hold them this way as a rule. A very powerful spring is
