As soon as Sunny Boy and Mother entered the park at the Battery the following morning, the glint of water in the sun attracted him.
"Why is it the Battery?" he asked. "Are there guns?"
"There used to be," said Mother. "Long ago, when instead of a park, this end of New York was high rocks, a water battery guarded the town and was used a little in the Revolution. That is where the Battery gets its name. The aquarium is housed in the old fort."
"I see Alice," cried Sunny Boy.
"Yes, here they all are," said Mother.
The Kennedy family came up to them, and together they walked toward the dingy building where the queer fish, Sunny had been told, lived.
"It doesn't look much, but think who's been in it," remarked Alice. She went to school and liked history. "After it stopped being a fort, they called it Castle Garden, and three presidents of the United States held receptions there. 'Sides Lafayette landed there when he came to this country to visit. Didn't he, Mother?"
"Yes," agreed Mrs. Kennedy. "But I think Sunny Boy is more interested just now in seeing the fish. Here we are, and please, children, don't all talk at once and do try to keep together."
Sunny Boy stared about him in amazement. Huge glass tanks with the queerest fish he had ever seen swimming in them were on all sides of him. A sudden noise, like a harsh cough, startled him.
"That's a seal," laughed Dick. "Come on over here, Sunny, and see them."