CHAPTER VI
OFF TO WAR
Raphael followed the President as quickly as he could to the top of the ocean. The afternoon sun was descending when he lifted his head above water. Far away to the west he thought he could see the castle of the Sorcerer, but it was difficult to be sure with the sun shining in his eyes. He swam slowly toward the President, who was spouting feathery plumes of vapor as he circled about.
‘Goodness, that creature gave me a start,’ said the President when Raphael paddled up. And he blew a jet of vapor over the boy.
‘My nerves are not what they used to be,’ he confided. ‘It comes from being hunted. Anything that looks like a man makes me jump, with exceptions, of course. What did you make of it?’
‘It was a diver, I think,’ answered Raphael importantly. ‘A diver looks very terrible,’ he added, to save the President’s feelings. ‘I’ve often seen them in the movies at home when Aunt Mary let us go.’
‘Well, well,’ sighed the President, ‘if it’s only a diver. I thought that....’
Just then Mrs. Whale appeared blowing nervously, followed by an ugly, freckled, snub-nosed little whale some twenty feet in length.
‘Oh, Albert,’ she wailed, ‘what was it? Do you think there is any danger? I can’t bear the suspense. I don’t care for myself, but Junior will be frightened out of yards of growth.’
‘It was nothing, dear. Only a diver,’ replied her husband. ‘I don’t believe there is any danger.’
At this Junior playfully butted his mother.