Part 9 (1/2)
”Aha!” said the Phoenix, with a mysterious smile ”All will unfold in time Rest assured that the Plan is brilliant In one stroke of genius it solves everything Tactics,on me”
”But what _is_ it, Phoenix?”
”Tut,way ”Control your is, so we shall need e pots of gold No, I fear they would not part with so htfisted, my dear fellow!--you never saw such ons, of course; they guard heaps of treasure in caves But no--they are excellent chaps in ifts No The Djinn? No, his money is all tied up in Arabian oil speculation Aha! Why didn't I think of that before? The Sea Monster, of course!”
”Do Sea Monsters have money?” asked David
”No, but the Sea Monster should knohere pirate treasure is buried--quite in its nautical line We shall visit the Monster, my boy Tomorrow, of course--I could not fly a foot today to saveme!”
”Oh, poor Phoenix!” David said But he was so excited that he could not feelfor pirate treasure!
”We shall need a spade I trust you will arrange for it,to his feet ”I'll get everything ready right away Don't et back”
”Iroaned as it shi+fted into a more comfortable position
David raced hos for the trip
Re how cold it had been last time, he took his leather jacket out of the closet, and a pair of gloves and a scarf For the Phoenix he borrowed a bottle of liniment and took all the cookies from the cooky jar And he picked the shortest of three spades in the garage
During the rest of the day he s with the lini with curiosity about the Plan, of course But the Phoenix would only sest smile and tell him to ”wait and see, wait and see”--which almost drove David mad
Tomorrow took its time, the way it always does when you are anxious to see it arrive, but it finally cahtly under one arloves on, and scarf knotted, all ready to go
”To the west, this tiot up on its back ”This is the Monster's Pacific season, you know Ready, my boy?
Splendid! We are off!”
Over the mountains and desert they sped, over the shore, out across the ocean For a long tie blue loneliness, dark blue below, lighter blue above Once they passed over a shi+p, a pencil dot trailing a pin-scratch of white Another tihtened squawk and plunged down out of sight with folded wings Aside fro to see until they reached the islands
The Phoenix slowed down to a glide and dropped lower ”These are the coral atolls of the Pacific, my boy,” it called over its shoulder
”That lake in the center of each island is called the lagoon”
David was enchanted by the atolls They were ether like the beads of a necklace And the colors! The dark blue of the sea beca froed with dazzling white surf and beach, and they all had cool green swaths of pal shades of blue, like the outer sea
”I fear we may have trouble, my boy,” said the Phoenix, as they scanned the empty beaches ”The Monster shi+fts about from island to island to avoid discovery We shall just have to search”
And search they did, atoll after atoll, until at the end of an hour they were rewarded David suddenly spotted a dark object stretched out on the beach of a lagoon, and at the saan to spiral down
The Sea Monster was i roo, and so was its tail (which ended in a barbed point) It had huge seal-like flippers, and its polished brown hide wasas dinner plates
”Wake up, Monster!” The Phoenix cried ”We--”
The next instant they were lost in a cloud of flying sand and spray, through which could be heard a prodigious splash When it had cleared, they found then of the Sea Monster was a great furrow in the sand, which led down to the agitated water
”Golly, that was fast!” David marveled, as they shook the sand from themselves ”Do you think it'll come back, Phoenix?”