David and the Phoenix

by Dr Edward Ormondroyd

  “Oh, that,” said the Phoenix. “I was coming to that, my boy. The battle is already half won. I have a Plan.”

  “Good for you, Phoenix! What is it?”

  “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, my boy! Napoleon had nothing on me.”

  “But what is it, Phoenix?”

  “Tut, my boy,” said the Phoenix in a maddening way. “Control your impatience. You will see. Now, we shall have to buy some things, so we shall need money. Let me see.... Several of the Leprechauns have large pots of gold.... No, I fear they would not part with so much as a penny. Tightfisted, my dear fellow!—you never saw such misers. Hmmm.... Well, there are the Dragons, of course; they guard heaps of treasure in caves. But no—they are excellent chaps in most respects, but frightfully stuffy about loans and gifts. 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 know where 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 save my life. My muscles are killing me!”

  “Oh, poor Phoenix!” David said. But he was so excited that he could not feel much pity. Pirate treasure! They were going to dig for pirate treasure!

  “We shall need a spade. I trust you will arrange for it, my boy?”

  “Of course, Phoenix,” said David, jumping to his feet. “I’ll get everything ready right away. Don’t move till I get back.”

  “Impossible, my boy.” The Phoenix groaned as it shifted into a more comfortable position.

  David raced home to collect the necessary things for the trip. Remembering 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 massaged the Phoenix’s back and wings with the liniment. He was exploding with curiosity about the Plan, of course. But the Phoenix would only smile its smuggest 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 came. And David found himself with the spade held tightly under one arm, his jacket zipped up to his chin, gloves on, and scarf knotted, all ready to go.

  “To the west, this time,” said the Phoenix, as David got 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 time they hurtled through a huge blue loneliness, dark blue below, lighter blue above. Once they passed over a ship, a pencil dot trailing a pin-scratch of white. Another time they startled a high-flying albatross, which gave a frightened squawk and plunged down out of sight with folded wings. Aside from that, there was nothing 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 made of tiny islets, strung together like the beads of a necklace. And the colors! The dark blue of the sea became lighter around the islands, melting from sapphire to turquoise to jade. The atolls were ringed with dazzling white surf and beach, and they all had cool green swaths of palm trees and underbrush. And each lagoon also had its varying 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 shifts 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 same time the Phoenix said “Aha!” triumphantly. They began to spiral down.

  The Sea Monster was immense. Its body could have filled the living room at home. Its neck was twenty feet long, and so was its tail (which ended in a barbed point). It had huge seal-like flippers, and its polished brown hide was made up of scales as big as 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 themselves alone on the beach. The only sign 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?”

  “Of course, my boy. Curiosity, if nothing else, will bring it up again. In the meantime, we might as well sit down and wait.”

  They sat down and waited. David took off his jacket. For fifteen minutes they heard nothing but the murmuring of the surf and the rustling clatter of palm fronds. At last there was a slight splashing noise from the lagoon.

  “There,” David whispered, pointing.

  Thirty feet offshore, an ear was being thrust cautiously above the rippled surface. It twitched once or twice, then pointed quiveringly in their direction.

  “Come out, Monster!” the Phoenix shouted. “It is I, the Phoenix.”

  The Sea Monster’s head appeared slowly, followed by several yards of neck. It peered at them short-sightedly, weaving its head from side to side to get a better view. David saw that it had two short, straight horns just in front of its ears, eyes that were soft and cowlike, and a most expressive set of whiskers. The whiskers were now at a doubtful, half-mast angle.

  “Ah, Phoenix,” said the Sea Monster at last in a mild voice. “Can’t you remember to wake me a bit more gently? I thought you were–”

  “Come on out,” said the Phoenix firmly, “and stop looking like a lost sheep.”

  “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.

  “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 t
he 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 Sea Monster is the helpful sort. Mention the words Staunch Friend,’ I have said, ‘and immediately the Sea Monster comes to mind.’”

  The Phoenix reached up one wing and began to pat the Sea Monster’s flipper.

  “Monster, old chum, we—ah—we—Well, the plain fact is that we—ah—we have need of—such a trifling matter” (here the Phoenix gave a careless laugh) “that I should not really bring it up at all. Ah—we need a bit of money.”

  “Oh,” said the Sea Monster. Its whiskers sagged.

  “Now, please do not be offended, Monster,” said the Phoenix hastily. “After all, you have no need for the treasure, and it does absolutely no good buried under the ground.”

  “It doesn’t do any harm there, either,” said the Sea Monster. “Really, Phoenix, I never thought you–”

  “Monster,” said the Phoenix solemnly, “this—is a matter of life or death.”

  “Life or death—ha!”

  “Please, Monster,” said David. “It really is life or death, because the Scientist is chasing the Phoenix, and the Phoenix has a plan to escape him, and we need some money to carry out the plan so the Scientist can’t hurt the Phoenix.”

  “A few small coins will do,” added the Phoenix, with a winning smile. “A louis d’or, for example, or some pieces of eight. After which you may bury the rest again.”

  “Please, Monster!” David begged.

  The Monster looked at David, and at the Phoenix, and then at David again, and then at the lagoon. It sighed a very doubtful sigh.

  “Oh ... all right,” it said reluctantly. “But for goodness sake, don’t go telling anyone where you found it.”

  “Of course not,” said the Phoenix. And David leaped up and shouted “Hooray!” and grabbed the spade and his jacket.

  “The stuff is on the next island,” said the Sea Monster. “I can swim over with you two on my back. This way, please—we have to leave from the outer beach.”

  The Sea Monster was a magnificent swimmer. Its neck cut through the water like the stem of a Viking ship, and it left a frothing wake behind. Every once in a while it would plunge its head into the water and come up with a fish, which it would swallow whole.

  “Should you like some breakfast, David?” said the Sea Monster.

  “No, thank you,” David answered, “but you go right ahead. Phoenix,” he added, “what are you doing?”

  The Phoenix, which had been walking up and down with its wings clasped behind its back, stopped and gazed over the sea. “Pacing the quarter-deck, my boy. Scanning the horizon. That is what one usually does at sea, I believe.”

  “You’ll be wanting us to call you Admiral next,” said the Sea Monster acidly.

  They steamed on. Twenty minutes and seventy-six large breakfast fish later they sighted the island—a little smudge on the horizon, dead ahead.

  “Land ho!” a voice croaked. “Thank heavens.”

  David turned in surprise. The Phoenix was no longer pacing the quarter-deck and scanning the horizon. It was sitting limply with its head down and a glassy stare in its eyes.

  “You had better hurry up,” David said to the Sea Monster. “I think the Phoenix is seasick.”

  “Am not,” the Phoenix gasped. “Merely (ulp!) temporary.”

  The Sea Monster turned and smiled sweetly at the Phoenix. “You’ll get used to it in no time, Admiral.”

  When they landed, however, the Phoenix recovered rapidly and even began to put on a slight nautical swagger. The Sea Monster humped off down the beach, followed eagerly by the two treasure hunters. In a few minutes it came to a halt and sniffed the sand very carefully, swinging its head snakelike to and fro. It settled on one spot, sniffed it thoroughly, felt the sand with its whiskers, and then solemnly announced: “Here.”

  “Ahoy, me hearties!” the Phoenix shouted. “Turn to and stand by to splice the main brace! Steady as she goes, mates!”

  David needed no encouragement from anyone. He began to dig furiously. Flashing in the sun, the spade bit into the beach, and coarse white sand spurted in all directions. The Phoenix was quite as excited as David. It danced around the deepening hole with eyes asparkle, shouting such piratical terms as “Shiver me timbers!” “Strike your colors!” and “Give ‘em no quarter, lads!” Suddenly it began to beat time with its wing and to sing in a raucous voice: “Cut the King’s throat and take the King’s gold— Heave ho, bullies, for Panama! There’s plenty of loot for the lad who is bold— Heave away, bullies, for Panama!”

  “You’re flat on that last note,” said the Sea Monster.

  “My dear Monster, I have perfect pitch!”

  “Oh, yes—you have perfect sea legs, too.”

  “Well, ah—How are you coming along, my boy? Any signs of treasure?”

  David did not hear. In fact he heard nothing from the first crunch of the spade onward. His education was now richer by this fact: once you start out after treasure, you can think of nothing else until it is found. The sun was beating hotly on him, little rivulets of sweat poured down his face and arms, his muscles ached, blisters were beginning to form on his hands. Heedless of all, he dug on. He had settled into the rhythm of it now, and nothing could distract him.

  “Tell you what’s a good thing for seasickness,” said the Sea Monster slyly. “You take a–” Pretending not to hear, the Phoenix stood first on one leg and then on the other and stared into the sky. David dug tirelessly.

  Suddenly the spade grated on something solid, and they all jumped. David shouted “Here it is!” and shoveled up sand frantically. The Phoenix danced

  around the hole, also shouting. Even the Sea Monster arched its neck to get a better view. They could see a brass ring, crusted with verdigris, fastened to a partly-exposed piece of wood. The sand flew. Now they could see studded strips of metal bound to the wood, and a rusty padlock. And in a few minutes a whole chest, with slanting sides and a curved lid and tarnished brass hinges, was uncovered. David threw the spade on the beach, seized the brass handle, and tugged. It came off in his hand.

  “Here, let me,” said the Sea Monster. David
got out of the hole, and the Sea Monster worked one flipper carefully under the chest. “Look out,” it said, and heaved its flipper up. The chest shot into the air, tumbled down end over end, and split wide open on the beach.

  David gasped. A dazzling, sparkling heap spilled out on the sand. There were heaps of gold and silver coins, the silver black with tarnish but the gold still bright. There were pearls, rubies, diamonds, beryls, emeralds, opals, sapphires, amethysts. And bracelets, necklaces, pendants, sunbursts, brooches, rings, pins, combs, buckles, lockets, buttons, crucifixes. And carved pieces of jade and ivory and coral and jet. And coronets, crowns, tiaras, arm bands. And jeweled daggers, picture frames, vases, silver knives and forks and spoons, sugar bowls, platters, goblets.

  For an hour they examined the treasure. David fairly wallowed in it, exclaiming “Look at this one!” or “Oh, how beautiful!” or just “Golly!” The Phoenix muttered such things as “King’s ransom” and “Wealth of the Indies.” The Sea Monster was not interested in the treasure, but kept glancing nervously out to sea.

  At last the Phoenix said, “Well, my boy, I think we had better make our choice. Three or four coins should do it.”

  The Sea Monster gave a relieved sigh. “Let’s get the rest of it underground right away. You have no idea what trouble it can cause.”

  The choice was difficult. There were so many coins, all of them with queer writing and heads of unknown gods and kings. David finally picked out four gold pieces and tied them up in his handkerchief. Then the Sea Monster swept the rest of the treasure into the hole. They all pushed sand in on top of it and jumped on the mound till it was level with the rest of the beach.

  The Phoenix turned to the Sea Monster and said solemnly: “Monster, old fellow, I knew you would not fail us. You stood forth in our hour of need, and we shall not forget.”

  And David echoed, “Thank you, Monster.”

  The Sea Monster ducked its head and blushed. A wave of fiery red started at its nose, traveled rapidly back over its ears, down its neck, along the body, and fanned out to the tips of its flippers and the extreme end of the barb in its tail.