spade held tightly under one arm, his jacket zipped up to his chin,
gloves on, and scarf knotted, all ready to go.

"To the west, this time," said the Phoenix, as David got up on its
back. "This is the Monster's Pacific season, you know. Ready, my boy?
Splendid! We are off!"

Over the mountains and desert they sped, over the shore, out across
the ocean. For a long time they hurtled through a huge blue
loneliness, dark blue below, lighter blue above. Once they passed over
a ship, a pencil dot trailing a pin-scratch of white. Another time
they startled a high-flying albatross, which gave a frightened squawk
and plunged down out of sight with folded wings. Aside from that,
there was nothing to see until they reached the islands.

The Phoenix slowed down to a glide and dropped lower. "These are the
coral atolls of the Pacific, my boy," it called over its shoulder.
"That lake in the center of each island is called the lagoon."

David was enchanted by the atolls. They were made of tiny islets,
strung together like the beads of a necklace. And the colors! The dark
blue of the sea became lighter around the islands, melting from
sapphire to turquoise to jade. The atolls were ringed with dazzling
white surf and beach, and they all had cool green swaths of palm trees
and underbrush. And each lagoon also had its varying shades of blue,
like the outer sea.

"I fear we may have trouble, my boy," said the Phoenix, as they
scanned the empty beaches. "The Monster shifts about from island to
island to avoid discovery. We shall just have to search."

And search they did, atoll after atoll, until at the end of an hour
they were rewarded. David suddenly spotted a dark object stretched out
on the beach of a lagoon, and at the same time the Phoenix said "Aha!"
triumphantly. They began to spiral down.

The Sea Monster was immense. Its body could have filled the living
room at home. Its neck was twenty feet long, and so was its tail
(which ended in a barbed point). It had huge seal-like flippers, and
its polished brown hide was made up of scales as big as dinner plates.

"Wake up, Monster!" The Phoenix cried. "We--"

The next instant they were lost in a cloud of flying sand and spray,
through which could be heard a prodigious splash. When it had cleared,
they found themselves alone on the beach. The only sign of the Sea
Monster was a great furrow in the sand, which led down to the agitated
water.

"Golly, that was fast!" David marv