"Later on, somebody who heard about it brought him an octopus that was lying dead on the water, whose reach was forty feet from tip to tip."
"How do they catch the octopus for bait?" asked Harry.
"It's exciting work. You see, besides having arms like a windmill, with curious sucking saucers on them, the octopus has a beak like a parrot, with awful teeth, and it can bite like anything.
"You'll see a cluster of rowboats anchored close together, and the fishermen are jigging up and down a little bright red leaden weight, bristling with spikes.
"Suddenly there's a stir. The squids have come rushing in, and they bite at those jiggers like a terrier after a rat.
"When the squids get those spiked weights in their mouths and are being hauled aboard—look out!
"All of a sudden—just the way people squirt things in the movies—they shoot out jets of ink at the fishermen.
"It stings like anything if it gets into your eyes and it ruins your clothes."
"How much do the squid cost when you buy them for bait?" asked Harry, who had a practical mind.