Unrest on the Lower Decks

Trouble began when the crew decided they needed to deal with the man who had been spying on them for Enoch Guth. There was no consensus on what punishment would be appropriate. Queequeg wanted to question him and let him go, finally cutting all ties with the Aigéan Trading Co., but Old Bill acted on his own before he could be stopped and executed the spy.

Upon hearing about this, the rest of the sailors objected and showed their dissent by quitting. Only two remained: The Captain and one other, both with some uncertainty and each with their own reason for staying. Needing new sailors to crew the boat, the crew went to the taverns to recruit. In order to assuage the fears of prospective sailors, Old Bill stepped down as captain of the Fisher Price My First Taupe Clipper and was replaced by Queequeg.

While in Areen Port, they also investigated the Old Mariner’s Library, a collection of all manner of writings relating to the sea and those who traverse it. The library is divided into two sections, “Truth” and “Tales”, and the crew found promising information in both, including a treasure map. With a little more investigation and the help of a cartographer’s daughter, they located the treasure on a beach on Oileán Beag, not far from one of the thins on Oileán Mór.

They retrieved the treasure, having to deal with a snake and a boar to do so, and then went to investigate the thin. There, in a lagoon of inky water, they encountered the guardian of this thin, a colossal octopus. They fought off the octopus’s tentacles and forced it to withdraw, but during the battle they glimpsed the thin within the octopus’s beak.