“Oh, now I understand. You have to deal with an octopus.”

“What’s that?”

“A mollusk.”

“Oh, if that’s what it is, I’m not afraid. I know them well.”

“‘Marsovino! Oh! Oh! Oh!’”

“Yes, but not this one. This is the greatest mollusk known. It is a near relation of the calamary, but much larger. There are some even five or six yards long.”

“Oh!” shivered Pinocchio, looking around.

“The one in the captain’s room must be a small one, though. If I were with you, I should free you in a second. There is nothing a dolphin likes better than an octopus or a calamary.”

“But the ink?”