It was nighttime up on the earth's surface, so the
little girl became drowsy and soon fell asleep. After a
time the old sailor slumbered on the sands beside her.
It was very still and nothing disturbed them for hours.
When at last they awoke the cavern was light again.

They had divided one of the biscuits and were
munching it for breakfast when they were startled by a
sudden splash in the pool. Looking toward it they saw
emerging from the water the most curious creature
either of them had ever beheld. It wasn't a fish, Trot
decided, nor was it a beast. It had wings, though, and
queer wings they were: shaped like an inverted
chopping-bowl and covered with tough skin instead of
feathers. It had four legs -- much like the legs of a
stork, only double the number -- and its head was
shaped a good deal like that of a poll parrot, with a
beak that curved downward in front and upward at the
edges, and was half bill and half mouth. But to call it
a bird was out of the question, because it had no
feathers whatever except a crest of wavy plumes of a
scarlet color on the very top of its head. The strange
creature must have weighed as much as Cap'n Bill, and
as it floundered and struggled to get out of the water
to the sandy beach it was so big and unusual that both
Trot and her companion stared at it in wonder -- in
wonder that was not unmixed with fear.