"Oh! don't be frightened," bellowed the Whale, good-naturedly. "I don't mean live boys. I mean the little red things that float about in the water. Some of 'em have lights on 'em, and _them_ are particularly nice and crisp." "Is it nice being a Whale?" said Davy, who was anxious to change the subject. [Illustration: "'I'M AS NIMBLE AS A SIXPENCE,' SAID THE WHALE."] "Famous!" said the Whale, with an affable roar. "Great fun, I assure you! We have fish-balls every night, you know." "Fish-balls at night!" exclaimed Davy. "Why, we always have ours for breakfast." "Nonsense!" thundered the Whale, with a laugh that made the beach quake; "I don't mean anything to eat. I mean dancing parties." "And do _you_ dance?" said Davy, thinking that if he did it must be a very extraordinary performance. "Dance?" said the Whale, with a reverberating chuckle. "Bless you! I'm as nimble as a sixpence. By the way I'll show you the advantage of having a bit of whalebone in one's composition;" and with these words the Whale curled himself up, then flattened out suddenly with a tremendous flop, and, shooting through the air like a flying elephant, disappeared with a great splash in the sea. Davy stood anxiously watching the spot where he went down, in the hope that he would come up again; but he soon discovered that the Whale had gone for good. The sea was violently tossed about for a few moments, and then began circling out into great rings around the spot where the Whale had gone down. These soon disappeared, however, and the water resumed its lazy ebb and flow upon the shore; and Davy, feeling quite lonesome and deserted, sat down on the sand, and gazed mournfully out upon the sea. CHAPTER XIII. THE TALKING WAVES, AND THE OLD SEA-DOG. "I wonder why the ocean doesn't keep still sometimes, and not be moving its edge about all the time," said Davy, after watching the waves that constantly rolled up on the beach and then rolled back again, looking like creamy soap-suds. "That wouldn't do at all!" said a Wave that rolled almost up to his feet. "The beach gets mussed, you see, and we have to smooth it off again. The sea is always tidy;" and here the Wave broke with a little, murmuring laugh, and rolled back again, all in a foam. Davy was so astonished that it almost took away his breath. A talking Wave was certainly the most marvellous thing he had met with, and in an instant he was lying flat on his face, trembling with eagerness, and waiting for the next Wave to roll up on the shore. It came in a moment, and gently whispered, "If we didn't wet the sand once in a while there wouldn't be any nuts on the beach-trees,--no nuts on the trees, and no shells on the shore;" and here this Wave broke in its turn into foam, and ran back into the sea. "This is perfectly delicious!" said Davy, joyfully, and as the next Wave rolled up to him he softly asked, "Do you know the Whale?"