ago," said the Octopus."

"That's true enough," agreed Cap'n Bill. "The learned scientists
named ev'ry blamed thing they come across, an' gener'ly they picked
out names as nobody could understand or pernounce."

"That isn't our fault, sir," said the Octopus. "Indeed, it's pretty
hard for us to go through life with such terrible names. Think of
the poor little seahorse. He used to be a merry and cheerful fellow,
but since they named him 'hippocampus' he hasn't smiled once."

"Let's go," said Trot. "I don't like to 'sociate with octopuses."

"OctoPI," said the creature, again correcting her.

"You're jus' as horrid whether you're puses or pies," she declared.

"Horrid!" cried the monster in a shocked tone of voice.

"Not only horrid, but horrible!" persisted the girl.

"May I ask in what way?" he inquired, and it was easy to see he was
offended.

"Why, ev'rybody knows that octopuses are jus' wicked an' deceitful,"
she said. "Up on the earth, where I live, we call the Stannerd Oil
Company an octopus, an' the Coal Trust an octopus, an'--"

"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