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."