CHAPTER V

HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT

Raphael and the sea horse swam through the gateway, which was guarded by two gray octopi, and entered a huge amphitheater. On all sides rose black hills covered with brown ooze. The floor was coral, whose pink-and-white branches were laced into miniature caves and grottoes in which lived strange crabs and small beautifully tinted fish. Clinging to the coral, brown sea fans waved in the pulse of the ocean, while here and there sea anemones bloomed like giant white chrysanthemums. Through this garden swam silver moonfish, striped black-and-white angel fish, and the spotted red and green rockhind.

After a quick glance Raphael paid them little attention as he moved across the uneven floor. Instead he stared at the indistinct forms which circled like shadows in the center of the immense arena. He had never seen such gigantic creatures.

‘Come with me,’ said the sea horse, and piloted him toward a magnificent black whale who swam sedately about in the center of a group of admirers. Cabinet ministers, Admiralty, and Senators, thought Raphael. When they were quite close, the sea horse stopped.

‘Mr. President,’ he announced in his thin small voice, ‘may I introduce Mr. Raphael, Commander of the Elements, and General of All the Armies Above and Below the Sea, Emissary Extraordinary of Gæa, the Earth Mother.’

The sea horse paused and asked Raphael in an aside whether he had any more titles. ‘For,’ he said, ‘they are very fond of titles in this democracy.’

The President smiled heavily, dropping his huge lower jaw and exposing the whalebone strainers in his mouth.

‘Pleased to meet you, Mr. Raphael. We have had word about you.’ And he held out an immense fluke toward the boy. Raphael’s hand seemed ridiculously small, but he grasped the outer edge of the rough, oily flipper manfully.

‘Martha,’ called the President to a slightly smaller black whale, ‘meet Mr. Raphael.’

At this the First Lady of the Ocean bustled up, quivering with anxiety to please. ‘Glad to meet any friend of my husband’s,’ she gurgled. ‘You’re a real stranger round these parts.’

Raphael bowed. ‘Mr. President,’ he said, ‘might I have a word with you in private, if Mrs. Whale will excuse us?’

‘Certainly,’ said the President. ‘My dear, will you pardon us?’ Again they bowed to one another.

When Mrs. Whale and the sea horse had withdrawn, Raphael turned to the President. ‘Mr. President,’ he said very fast and without drawing breath, ‘I have come to ask a favor of you as the Leading Citizen of the Ocean.’ His Excellency smiled, flattered.

Then Raphael told him about Cassandra, the Sorcerer, and the blind castle on the island. ‘I have come,’ he concluded, ‘to find a door to the castle and to ask your help.’

‘Since you come from Gæa, the Queen Mother,’ replied the President in his best official manner, speaking very carefully, ‘you are more than welcome to the Sea. But here we are ignorant of the Earth, and such people as this Giant Sorcerer.

‘Besides this you are a man, and man has done us few favors. Instead he has destroyed many of our noblest sea families. For this reason our hearts are hard.’

‘But Mr. President,’ interrupted Raphael excitedly, ‘I don’t want very much help. All I need is a guard placed about the castle rock in case the Sorcerer should escape.’

The President was impressed. ‘Well, well,’ he muttered, ‘what you ask is little. And if we don’t love man, we should probably love a sorcerer even less.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t mean to be discourteous, but political life is full of difficult decisions, and times are not as easy as they used to be. What is more, we have our own wars to fight in the ocean, for most of us feed by war. However, I’ll help you now, if you will help us in the future.’

At this point Mrs. Whale burst in upon the conversation.

‘Oh, Albert,’ she cried, bumping him coyly, ‘you men are always talking business. You’ll forgive my interrupting, won’t you, Mr. Raphael? I’m sure Albert will scold me later. But I do want you to see our son before you leave. Children of the Sea so seldom have a chance to see the strange people who come from the Land. Especially live ones. They tell me that we were land folk at one time. My husband says that if this were known it would do him no end of harm politically.’

‘Now, now, little woman,’ interrupted her husband kindly, ‘run along. We have serious business to attend to.’

The President turned and beckoned with his fluke to the sea horse.

‘Mr. Equerry,’ he commanded, ‘summon the Grand Council.’

At a word from the sea horse, the Grand Council, which was made up of the House of Representatives as well as the Admiralty, gathered and stationed itself in a semi-circle about the President, the big fish nearest the ocean floor, the little fish above them like spectators in a vast theater audience. Raphael saw a porpoise, a manatee, a sawfish, a swordfish, a spearfish, a sailfish, a tarpon, a tuna, several kinds of sharks, besides a dolphin, a turtle, and numerous representative sea creatures he could not name.

When they were all in their places, the President introduced Raphael, who repeated his adventures with the Giant Sorcerer and urged them to aid him.

‘For,’ he said, ‘if my search for an entrance to the castle fails, in the name of Gæa I shall tear apart the ocean floor and bury the Sorcerer beneath the sea which otherwise he would surely dare to make his own.’

‘Ah,’ echoed the multitude, who stared at him out of round unlidded eyes. Raphael was about to continue his speech about the rescue of Cassandra, which secretly he thought very fine indeed, when swarms of little fish suddenly flashed through the assembly and darted into the green weeds that skirted the base of the surrounding cliffs. Several of the larger fish stirred hungrily, while the President looked annoyed.

‘Mr. Equerry,’ he demanded ponderously, ‘what is the meaning of this interruption?’

‘I shall try to find out, Your Excellency,’ answered the sea horse as he was tossed on the wave of the President’s double-chinned displeasure. But even as he spoke more fish streamed through the gateway to the great chamber, and swept the council amphitheater. Then shadows appeared struggling at the entrance, and fine sand clouded the water. No one said a word, but fear spread through the water in mysterious waves.

Suddenly from the shadows between the cliffs, Raphael saw a strange form appear, a creature with massive legs and arms, in whose round head gleamed two goggle eyes. This thing advanced slowly and, bending over, picked up a black cable from the ocean floor.

When the monster saw the gathering, it stopped and peered stupidly about, balancing on one squat, steel-ribbed foot. Then with slow strides it drifted back the way it had come.

‘Mr. Equerry,’ shouted the President in a shrill voice, ‘summon the Admirals of the North and South Atlantic. Instruct Rear Admiral Swordfish and Rear Admiral Sawfish to pursue the enemy and drive him from the sea. In the meantime, the meeting is adjourned.’ He turned nervously to Raphael. ‘I need a good blow of fresh air. I feel as though I had been down at least five hours.’

He lifted his immense head toward the surface, and without another word rose like a black cloud.

[Illustration]