WET MAGIC . 
44 What was he King of ? ” the Princess 
asked, anxiously. 
“ He was King of the Barbarians,” said 
the jailer’s son, and the Princess sighed. 
“ I thought it might have been my father,” 
she said. “ He was lost at sea, you know.” 
The Underbid nodded sympathetically and 
went away. 
He doesn’t seem such a bad sort,” said 
Mavis. 
44 No,” said the Princess. “ T can’t under- 
stand it. I thought all the Underfolk were 
terrible, fierce creatures, cruel and impla- 
cable.” 
44 And they don’t seem so very different 
from us, except to look at,” said Bernard. 
44 I wonder,” said Mavis, 4C what the war 
began about ? ” 
44 Oh, we’ve always been enemies,” said the 
Princess, carelessly. 
44 Yes ; but how did you begin being 
enemies ? ” 
44 Oh, that,” said the Princess, <£ is lost in 
the mists of antiquity — before the dawn of 
history, and all that.” 
44 Oh ! ” said Mavis. 
But when Ulfin came with the next meal 
(did I tell you that the jailer’s son’s name 
was Ulfin ?), she asked him the same question. 
44 I don’t know', little land-lady,” said 
Ulfin, 44 but I will find out. My uncle is the 
Keeper of the National Archives, graven on 
tables of stone, so many that no one can count 
them ; but there are smaller tables telling 
what is on the big ones.” He hesitated. 44 If 
I could get leave to show you the Hall of 
the Archives, would you promise not to try 
to escape ? ” 
They had now been shut up for two days, 
and would have promised anything in reason. 
44 You see, the prisons are quite full now,” 
he said, 44 and I don’t see why you shouldn’t 
be the first to get your leave-tickets. I’ll ask 
father.” 
44 I say,” said Mavis. 
44 What do you say ? ” said Ulfin. 
44 Do you know anything about my sister ? ” 
44 The Queen’s new lap-child ? Oh, she’s a 
great pet. Her gold collar with her name on 
it came home to-day. My cousin’s brother- 
in-law made it.” 
44 Her name ? Kathleen ? ” said Mavis. 
44 The name on the collar is Fido,” said Ulfin. 
The next day Uifin brought their tickets- 
of-leave, made of the leaves of the tree of 
Liberty which grows at the bottom of the 
well where Truth lies. 
44 Don’t lose them,” he said, 44 and come 
with me.” 
They found it quite possible to move along 
slowly on hands and tails, though they looked 
rather like seals as they did so. 
He led them through the strange streets 
of massive passages, pointing out the buildings 
and giving them their names, as you might do 
if you were showing the marvels- of your own 
city to a stranger. 
44 That’s the Astrologer’s Tower.” he said, 
pointing to a huge building high above the 
others. 44 The wise men sit there and observe 
the stars.” 
44 But you can’t see the stars down here ? ” 
44 Oh, yes, we can. The tower is fitted up 
with tubes and mirrors and water-trans- 
parence apparatus. The wisest men in the 
country are there — all but the Professor of 
Conchology. He’s the wisest of all. He 
invented the nets that caught you ; or, rather, 
making nets was one of the things that he 
had learned and couldn’t forget.” 
44 But who thought of using them for 
catching prisoners ? ” 
44 I did,” said Ulfin, proudly. 44 I’m to 
have a glass medal for it.” 
44 Do you have glass down here ? ” 
44 A little comes down, you know. It is 
very precious. We engrave it. That is the 
Library — millions of tables of stone. The 
Hall of Public Joy is next it. That garden is 
the Mothers’ Garden, where they go to rest 
while their children are at school. That's 
one of our schools. And here's the Hall of 
Public Archives.” 
The Keeper of the Records received them 
with grave courtesy. The daily sight of 
L T !fin had accustomed the children to the 
appearance of the Underfolk, and they no 
longer found their strange, mournful faces 
terrifying, and the great hall, where, on 
shelves cut out of the sheer rock, were stored 
the graven tables of Under-world records, was 
very wonderful and impressive. 
44 What is it you want to know?” said 
the Keeper, rolling away some of the stones 
he had been showing them. 44 Ulhn said 
there was some special thing.” 
44 Why the war began,” said Francis. 
44 Why the King and Queen are different .’ 
said Mavis. 
44 The war,” said the Keeper of the Records, 
44 began about three million five hundred and 
seventy-nine thousand three hundred and 
eight years ago. An Underman, getting off 
his sea-horse in a hurry, stepped on the tail 
of a sleeping Merman. He did not apologize, 
because he was under a vow not to speak for 
a day and an hour. If the Mer-people had 
only waited, he would have explained ; but 
