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"Stop, stop!" cried the monster in a pleading voice. "Do you mean to tell me that
the earth people whom I have always respected compare me to the Stannerd Oil
Company?"
"Yes," said Trot positively.
"
Oh, what a disgrace! What a cruel, direful, dreadful disgrace!" moaned the
Octopus, drooping his head in shame, and Trot could see great tears falling down
his cheeks.
"
This comes of having a bad name," said the Queen gently, for she was moved by
the monster's grief.
"It is unjust! It is cruel and unjust!" sobbed the creature mournfully. "Just
because we have several long arms and take whatever we can reach, they accuse
us of being like--like--oh, I cannot say it! It is too shameful, too humiliating."
"Come, let's go," said Trot again. So they left the poor octopus weeping and wiping
his watery eyes with his handkerchief and swam on their way. "I'm not a bit sorry
for him," remarked the child, "for his legs remind me of serpents."
"So they do me," agreed Cap'n Bill.
"But the octopi are not very bad," said the Princess, "and we get along with them
much better than we do with their cousins, the sea devils."
"
Oh. Are the sea devils their cousins?" asked Trot.
"Yes, and they are the only creatures of the ocean which we greatly fear," replied
Aquareine. "I hope we shall meet none today, for we are going near to the dismal
caverns where they live."
"What are the sea devils like, ma'am?" inquired Cap'n Bill a little uneasily.
"
Something like the octopus you just saw, only much larger and of a bright
scarlet color, striped with black," answered the Queen. "They are very fierce and
terrible creatures and nearly as much dreaded by the inhabitants of the ocean as
is Zog, and nearly as powerful as King Anko himself."
"
Zog! Who is Zog?" questioned the girl. "I haven't heard of him before now."
We do not like to mention Zog's name," responded the Queen in a low voice. "He
"
is the wicked genius of the sea, and a magician of great power."
"
What's he like?" asked Cap'n Bill.
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