ft my head out of water without bringing down
a perfect rain of shells and bullets."

"The _intelligent_ thing in that case," the Phoenix broke in with a
sniff, "would have been to stay _under_ water."

"Thank you, Phoenix," said the Sea Monster dryly. "But I _do_ like to
breathe now and then. Anyway, I wasn't safe even under water. They'd
drop depth charges on me. One ship even launched a torpedo at me!"

"How awful!" said David.

"Tut! my boy," said the Phoenix. "I have no doubt our friend is
stretching the truth shamelessly. You need not look so smug, Monster.
You were not the only one in the war. _I_ have gone through
anti-aircraft fire a number of times. Some of it was very severe. In
fact, once I--"

"Once I had the whole North Atlantic fleet after _me_," the Sea
Monster interrupted proudly.

"And _I_ remember the Franco-Prussian War!" said the Phoenix. "Which,
I daresay, you do _not_."

"Well--uh--no, I don't."

"There you are!" the Phoenix crowed.

The Sea Monster, looking rather ruffled, pointedly turned from the
Phoenix and said to David, "What should you like to do, David?"

David suddenly remembered what they had come for, and the excitement
rushed back into his heart. He opened his mouth to cry "We want to dig
for treasure!" and then stopped short. Asking for money, he knew, was
an impolite thing to do--especially from someone you had only just
met. And there was no telling how the Sea Monster might feel about
people nosing around for its treasure. So he looked at the Phoenix and
waited for it to speak.

The Phoenix caught David's glance, cleared its throat several times,
and looked apologetically at the Sea Monster. "Monster, old chap," it
said soothingly, "I am deeply sorry for having doubted you just now.
Deeply sorry."

"Quite all right," said the Sea Monster stiffly.

"Yes," the Phoenix continued, "we both know that you have passed
through perilous times, through dangers which (I must confess) would
have left _me_ a shattered wreck."

The Sea Monster sighed sadly, but its whiskers were beginning to rise
again.

"The Monster bears up very well under this fearful strain--don't you
think so, my boy? A splendid example for the rest of us. Magnificent."

The Sea Monster's whiskers were quivering with pleasure.

"Monster, old chap, old friend, you were never one to let a boon
companion down. If I have said it once, I have said it a hundred
times: 'The Sea Monster,' I have said, 'the Se