"Cut off the leg!" Lemony yelled, pointing out the porthole at the place where the Octopus was being gripped by the sea monster.
"Right," said Kit. "I'll use our blade on the tentacle!"
"No, that'll just make it mad. Cut the leg off the Octopus!" said Lemony.
"I'll try," said Kit.
She used the controls to bring the flexible mechanical arm down into the water. She slammed it into the captured limb again and again. The metal leg was hard to sever. Finally it broke, just as the blade also snapped in two. As the Octopus darted away, the monster kept mindlessly crushing the piece it had left.
When Lemony got back to the Queequeg he found that Widdershins was white and shaking.
"I saw it! Aye! It was horrible! Horrible! Aye!" said Widdershins.
"I've seen it before," said Lemony. "It belongs to a major new enemy, a cartel of international criminals. They want our secrets, especially the sugar bowl."
"I have to shield Fiona from knowing about this," said Widdershins. "There are secrets too terrible for a young child to know. Aye!"
"There are secrets too terrible for anyone to know," replied Lemony.
Widdershins nodded and headed toward his cabin. Suddenly he gave a roar of rage! The door to the prisoner's room was open, and there was no-one inside.
"Cookie!! Did you open the door to the room I told you was none of your beeswax?"
"Of course not," Lemony lied.
"Then why is it standing open?" asked Widdershins.
"Maybe the marmosets did it. They're curious creatures," said Lemony.
"Curious enough to unlock a door?" asked Widdershins.
"Are you sure it was locked?" Lemony pointed to a tiny screw that he had planted in the corner of the door frame. "Maybe that kept it from locking properly."
"I don't trust you. Aye! And you're a lousy cook, too. Aye! If you can't cook, you joined my crew under false pretenses! Aye! If you joined under false pretenses you must be a traitor and a spy! Aye! If you're a traitor, I'll hand you over to Jacques as a new galley slave! Aye! So prove you can cook!"
"How?" asked Lemony.
"Make me a poached egg, right now! Aye!"
Lemony barely knew how to boil water, but he bravely went into the kitchen thinking "How hard can it be to make a poached egg?"
He soon found out. He managed to get water boiling, and to crack an egg without breaking the yolk after two tries, but as soon as he put the egg into the boiling water the whites turned into stringy strands and went all over the pot.
"Cookie, where's my egg?" Widdershins demanded from the next room.
"Just a minute," said Lemony. He desperately dumped the ruined egg into the sink along with most of the hot water. As he turned back to the stove, he jarred the shelf and an open bottle of vinegar tipped over and poured into the water. He didn't have time to boil more water, so he tried one more egg. Miraculously, this time the egg stayed together. The vinegar in the water had prevented it from separating. He covered the pot and waited a few minutes, producing a perfect poached egg. He brought it to Widdershins.
"All right, you can cook! I apologize! Aye! No, I don't! You can cook, but you haven't been cooking well for me! You're fired! Aye!" said the Captain.
"Who will you get instead?" asked Lemony, glad to be leaving the Queequeg but a little offended anyway.
"A nice young woman named Meg Eigis applied for the job. Aye! I talked to her by phone yesterday. She said she could prepare inn food. Sounds very good. Aye!"
"Inn food or 'in' food? I'd be careful if I were you," said Lemony.
"Oh, you're just jealous over losing your job! Aye!" said the Captain. "I'm sure she's at least as trustworthy as you." (She wasn't.)
It was very late when Widdershins put Lemony ashore at Damocles Dock, along with his luggage and his marmosets. Lemony trudged up the deserted street until he spotted a Chinese restaurant, the "Lau See Luck." He selected a sheer pair of gloves from his bag (not the ones with loud bells) and soon he had in his possession a long pair of chopsticks and a large takeout box containing cold Chop Suey. These were tools he would need for his dangerous mission the next day -- discovering the new secret identity of Beatrice.