"Yep. A third arm whipped out o' the water had helt me round the waist
tighter'n any girl of my acquaintance ever lashed her best feller.
Land sakes, that devilfish certainly give me a hi-mighty hug!

"But I had what they call down in the Spanish speakin' islands a
machette--a big knife for cuttin' your way through the jungle. I
hauled that out o' the waistband of my pants and I began slicing at
them snake-like arms of the critter and yelling like all get-out.

"More scare't than hurt, I reckon. I was a young feller, as I tell
you, and hadn't seen so much of the world as I have since," continued
Cap'n Amazon. "But the arms seemed fairly to grow on that devilfish.
I wasn't hacked loose when the second officer come runnin' with his
gun. I dragged the critter nearer inshore and he got a look at it.
Both barrels went into that devilfish, and that was more than it could
stomach; so it let go," finished the captain.

"Mercy! what an experience," commented Louise, wondering rather vaguely
why the minister of the First Church had reminded her uncle of this
octopus.

"Yes. 'Twas _some_," agreed Cap'n Amazon. "But let's step along a
little livelier, Niece Louise. I'm goin' to give you a re'l
fisherman's chowder for dinner, an' I want to git the pork and onions
over. I like my onions well browned before I slice in the potaters."

Cap'n Amazon insisted on doing most of the cooking, just as Cap'n Abe
had. Louise had baked some very delicate pop-overs for breakfast that
morning and the captain ate his share with appreciation.

"Pretty average nice, I call 'em, for soft-fodder," he observed. "But,
land sakes! give me something hearty and kind of solid for reg'lar
eating. Ordinary man would starve pretty handy, I guess, on breadstuff
like this."

The chowder was both as hearty and as appetizing as one could desire.
Nor would the captain allow Louise to wash the dishes afterward.

"No, girl. I'll clean up this mess. You go out and see how fur you
can walk on that hard beach now it's slack tide. You ain't been up
there to Tapp P'int yit and seen that big house that belongs to the
candy king. Neither have I, of course," he added; "but they been
tellin' me about it in the store."

Louise accepted the suggestion and started to walk up the beach; but
she did not get far. There was a private dock running out beyond
low-water mark just below the very first bungalow. She saw several men
coming down the steps from th