ng like live coals, upon
the four. "Captives," said he, speaking in his clear, sweet voice,
"in our first interview you defied me, and both the mermaid queen
and the princess declared they could not die. But if that is a true
statement, as I have yet to discover, there are various ways to make
you miserable and unhappy, and this I propose to do in order to
amuse myself at your expense. You have been brought here to undergo
the first trial of strength between us." None of the prisoners
replied to this speech, so Zog turned to one of his slaves and said,
"Rivivi, bring in the Yell-Maker."

Rivivi was a big fellow, brown of skin and with flashing, black
eyes. He bowed to his master and left the room by an archway covered
with heavy draperies. The next moment these curtains were violently
pushed aside, and a dreadful sea creature swam into the hall. It had
a body much like that of a crab, only more round and of a jet-black
color. Its eyes were bright yellow balls set on the ends of two
horns that stuck out of its head. They were cruel-looking eyes, too,
and seemed able to see every person in the room at the same time.
The legs of the Yell-Maker, however, were the most curious part of
the creature. There were six of them, slender and black as coal, and
each extended twelve to fifteen feet from its body when stretched
out in a straight line. They were hinged in several places so they
could be folded up or extended at will. At the ends of these thin
legs were immense claws shaped like those of a lobster, and they
were real "nippers" of a most dangerous sort.

The prisoners knew, as soon as they saw the awful claws, why the
thing was called the "Yell-Maker," and Trot gave a little shiver and
crept closer to Cap'n Bill. Zog looked with approval upon the
creature he had summoned and said to it, "I give you four victims,
the four people with fish's tails. Let me hear how loud they can
yell."

The Yell-Maker uttered a grunt of pleasure and in a flash stretched
out one of its long legs toward the queen's nose, where its powerful
claws came together with a loud noise. Aquareine did not stir; she
only smiled. Both Zog and the creature that had attacked her seemed
much surprised to find she was unhurt. "Again!" cried Zog, and again
the Yell-Maker's claw shot out and tried to pinch the queen's pretty
ear. But the magic of the fairy mermaid was proof against this
sea-rascal's strength and swiftness, nor could he touch any part of
Aq