"Uh--what about--uh--that?" said the Sea Monster hesitantly, pointing one ear at David. "This," said the Phoenix, "is David. He is getting an education. I assure you that he will not bite." The Sea Monster swam toward them, heaved itself out of the water, and offered its huge flipper for David to shake. [Illustration] "Sorry I rushed off like that," it said. "The trouble is, I've had such a bad case of war nerves. Why, sometimes I jump out of my skin at nothing at all." "Were you in the war?" David asked. "Ah, _was_ I," sighed the Sea Monster. It flopped down comfortably on its belly, curled its tail around its front flippers, and sighed again. But David noticed that its whiskers had perked up to a quite cheerful angle. The Sea Monster was obviously delighted to have someone listen to its troubles. "Yes," it said, heaving a third sigh, "I was. From the very beginning, much against my will. Guns all over the place! Terrible!" "Did they shoot you?" David asked, horrified. "Well, _at_ me, anyway. I'm thankful to say they never hit me, but there were some pretty near misses. All the oceans were simply packed with ships. I couldn't lift 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.