“Outrageous! Preposterous!” she spluttered. “Just as I was catching a fish for my dinner. How was I to know that tart had a hook on it! You villains!” She shook her fist at the Anglers. “I shall write to The Times! I shall have you fried!”
“Look at her writhing!” crowed the Salmon. “She’s a whopper! She’ll wriggle for hours and hours.”
Jane felt that Miss Andrew deserved all she got, but she looked at the other strangers anxiously. How terrible, she thought to herself, if she had been caught – or Michael.
“What will the Anglers do with them?” she asked the Salmon earnestly.
“Oh, throw them back again, of course! We only catch them for sport, you know. They’re far too tough for eating.”
“Hey! Come along, Salmon!” called the Seal from the distance. “We can’t let the children miss the Greeting. And she’s due to arrive any minute.”
Jane looked at Michael in silent question. Who could she be? An important Mermaid? Or perhaps the Queen of the Sea!
“Kippers and Catfish! I’d forgotten! Come on, you two!” cried the Salmon.
He went before them, leaping and curving, a silver shape in the silver water. Beside them a Sea-horse trotted swiftly. And fish swam in and out among them as they hurried towards the lawns.
“Hullo, Jane and Michael!” piped a friendly voice. “Remember me – in your goldfish bowl? I’m back at home now. Give my love to your Mother!” The Goldfish smiled and darted away before they had time to answer.
The music was louder than ever now. Each moment the crowd on the lawns grew thicker, as fish and mermaids, urchins and seals went meeting and greeting each other.
“What a crush! One might as well be tinned!” said the Salmon, threshing his tail.
“Refreshments! Refreshments!” the Pike called hoarsely.
“Yo, ho, ho! And a bottle of rum!” a familiar voice answered. And Admiral Boom came plunging past and seized a glass from the tray. Beside him swam Mrs Boom’s dove-like figure. And, floundering in their wake, came Binnacle.
“Shiver my timbers! Ahoy there, messmates! For I’m bound for the Rio Grande!” bawled the Admiral.
The Pike stared after him, shaking his head. “’Ooligans – that’s what they are!” he said gloomily. “I h’really don’t know h’what the h’Ocean’s coming to!”
“Ah, there you are, children!” the Bronze Seal cried, as he shouldered his way through the shouting throng. “Hang on to my tail and I’ll pull you through. Excuse me! Let me pass, please, fish! These are Jane and Michael, the Guests of Honour!”
The fish drew back and stared at them. Polite murmurs of welcome sounded amid the noise. The Seal pushed the crowd aside with his flippers and dragged the children after him to the rock of shining pearl.
“We’re just in time for the Greeting!” he panted. They could hardly hear his booming voice because of all the shouting and laughter.
“What greeting?” Jane was about to ask, when, all of a sudden, the shouting ceased. The music and laughter died away and a deep hush fell upon the sea. Each fish in the crowd was as still as stone. The swaying flowers stood quiet in the water. Even the tide itself was still.
“He’s coming!” said the Seal in a whisper, as he nodded towards the cave.
“He’s coming!” the watching creatures echoed. And Jane and Michael held their breath and watched with the waiting fish.
Then, out from the black mysterious cave, a withered head emerged. A pair of ancient sleepy eyes blinked at the dazzle of lights. Two wrinkled flippers stretched from the darkness and a domed black shell heaved up behind them.
The children clutched the Bronze Seal’s flippers.
“Who is it?” whispered Jane in his ear. She thought it might be a tortoise, perhaps, or a strange kind of turtle.
“The Terrapin,” the Seal replied gruffly. “The oldest and wisest thing in the world.”
Inch by inch on trembling flippers the Terrapin crept to the pearly rock. His eyes beneath the half-closed lids were like two small black stars. He gazed at the assembled creatures for a moment. Then lifting his withered, ancient head, the Terrapin smiled, and spoke.
“My friends,” he began majestically, in a voice like an old, cracked bell, “I greet you, creatures of the Sea! And I wish you a happy High-Tide Party!”
He bowed his withered head to the rock and all the fish bowed humbly in the water.
“This is a great occasion for us all,” the Terrapin went on quietly. “I am glad indeed to see tonight so many old acquaintances.” His black-star gaze swept the crowded lawns, as though in one glance he recognised every creature in the sea. “But surely,” the wrinkled brows went up, “there is one of us missing!”
The Seal glanced round towards the tunnel and his voice boomed out with a cry of triumph.
“She is here, my lord! She has just arrived!”
As he spoke a clamour of voices rose and the creatures clapped and cheered. At the same moment, to the children’s amazement, a figure that was strangely familiar appeared at the edge of the tunnel. There it stood, dressed in its best blue coat and the straw hat trimmed with daisies. Then, dainty and graceful, neat and prim, it swooped across the shining gardens. The cheering rose to a roar of joy as it landed upon the Terrapin’s rock.
“Welcome, Mary Poppins!” cried a thousand happy voices.
She waved her parrot umbrella in greeting, then she turned and curtsied to the Terrapin.
For a long moment he gazed at her, as though his ancient glittering eyes were looking into her heart. Then he waved his little naked head and gave her a friendly smile.
“My dear young relative!” he said graciously. “This is indeed a pleasure. It is long since I had a visitor from the world above the water. And long too since your Second Thursday fell upon our High Tide. Therefore, in the name of the creatures of the deep, I bid you welcome, Mary!” And, blinking, he offered her a small withered flipper.
Mary Poppins took it and bowed respectfully. Then the china-blue eyes looked into the black ones and a strange smile passed between them. It was as though neither of them had any secrets from the other.
“And now, dear Mary,” the Terrapin continued, “since nobody comes down to the depths of the sea without taking something away with them, let me give you a little present.”
He reached his flipper back into the cave and brought out a small bright object. “Take this to remind you of your visit. It will make a nice brooch, or perhaps a hatpin.” And, leaning forward, he pressed a starfish on Mary Poppins’ coat. It shone and twinkled upon the blue like a little cluster of diamonds.
“Oh, thank you!” she said, with a cry of delight. “It’s exactly what I wanted!”
She smiled at the Terrapin and then at the star, and her glance slid away to the children. The smile faded instantly. She gave a disgusted sniff.
“If I’ve told you once, Jane, not to gape, I’ve told you a thousand times! Close your mouth, Michael! You are not a Codfish!”
“I should think not!” muttered the Cod indignantly, from his place behind the children.
“So – these are Jane and Michael!” said the Terrapin, as he turned his sleepy eyes upon them. “I am very glad to meet you at last. Welcome, my children, to our High-Tide Party!”