"Sure," said the Villain. "He's got to be. Heroes are all handsome."
"But why are you so ugly?" asked Kernel Cob.
"Ha, ha," laughed the Villain, "why bless your heart, I'm not a real villain, I only play the part of a villain in the play. My real self is something very different. But what, may I ask, are you doing out here in the harbor of Valparaiso?"
"Is that where we are?" asked Sweetclover.
"Sure," said Kernel Cob, for he didn't want the Villain to think he wasn't smart. "Didn't you know we were in Italy?"
"Ha, ha," sneered the Hero, and from that moment Kernel Cob disliked him.
"But you haven't told me how you got into the water," persisted the Villain.
"We came on a sea-horse from Cuba," said Sweetclover.
"That must have been an exciting adventure," said the Villain. "Tell me all of it."
And Kernel Cob told him how they had been to the Moon on a parasol and all that. When he had finished, he asked the Villain to tell them some of his adventures.