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 Whale and the sea horse had withdrawn, Raphael turned to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]