his standing collar and carefully tied
cravat, the legs of the octopus were bare, and Trot noticed he used
some of his legs for arms, as in one of them was held a slender cane
and in another a handkerchief.

"Well, well!" said the Octopus. "Are you all dumb? Or don't you know
enough to be civil when you meet a neighbor?"

"We know how to be civil to our friends," replied Trot, who did not
like the way he spoke.

"Well, are we not friends, then?" asked the Octopus in an airy tone
of voice.

"I think not," said the little girl. "Octopuses are horrid
creatures."

"OctoPI, if you please; octoPI," said the monster with a laugh.

"I don't see any pie that pleases me," replied Trot, beginning to
get angry.

"OctoPUS means one of us; two or more are called octoPI," remarked
the creature, as if correcting her speech.

"I suppose a lot of you would be a whole bakery!" she said
scornfully.

"Our name is Latin. It was given to us by learned scientists years
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
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 g