“Have you a suggestion, Clia?” inquired the Queen.

“I have thought of an undertaking,” replied the pretty princess, “but it is a bold plan, your Majesty, and you may not care to risk it.”

“Let us hear it, anyway,” said Aquareine encouragingly.

“It is to destroy Zog himself and put him out of the world forever.  Then we would be free to go home whenever we pleased.”

“Can you suggest a way to destroy Zog?” asked Aquareine.

“No, your Majesty,” Clia answered.  “I must leave the way for you to determine.”

“In the old days,” said the Queen thoughtfully, “the mighty King Anko could not destroy this monster.  He succeeded in defeating Zog and drove him into this great cavern, but even Anko could not destroy him.”

“I have heard the sea serpent explain that it was because he could not reach the magician,” returned Clia.  “If King Anko could have seized Zog in his coils, he would have made an end of the wicked monster quickly.  Zog knows this, and that is why he does not venture forth from his retreat.  Anko is the enemy he constantly dreads.  But with you, my queen, the case is different.  You may easily reach Zog, and the only question is whether your power is sufficient to destroy him.”

For a while Aquareine remained silent.  “I am not sure of my power over him,” she said at last, “and for that reason I hesitate to attack him personally.  His slaves and his allies, the sea devils, I can easily conquer, so I prefer to find a way to overcome the guards at the entrances rather than to encounter their terrible master.  But even the guards have been given strength and power by the magician, as we have already discovered, so I must procure a weapon with which to fight them.”

“A weapon, ma’am?” said Cap’n Bill, and then he took a jackknife from his coat pocket and opened the big blade, afterward handing it to the queen.  “That ain’t a bad weapon,” he announced.

“But it is useless in this case,” she replied, smiling at the old sailor’s earnestness.  “For my purpose I must have a golden sword.”

“Well, there’s plenty of gold around this castle,” said Trot, looking around her.  “Even in this room there’s enough to make a hundred golden swords.”

“But we can’t melt or forge gold under water, mate,” the Cap’n said.

“Why not?  Don’t you s’pose all these gold roses and things were made under water?” asked the little girl.

“Like enough,” remarked the sailor, “but I don’t see how.”

Just then the gong at the door sounded, and the boy Sacho came in smiling and cheerful as ever.  He said Zog had sent him to inquire after their health and happiness.  “You may tell him that his water became a trifle too warm, so we cooled it,” replied the Queen.  Then they told Sacho how the boiling water had made them uncomfortable while they slept.

Sacho whistled a little tune and seemed thoughtful.  “Zog is foolish,” said he.  “How often have I told him that vengeance is a waste of time.  He is worried to know how to destroy you, and that is wasting more time.  You are worried for fear he will injure you, and so you also are wasting time.  My, my!  What a waste of time is going on in this castle!”