ATTACKED BY AN OCTUPUS
They walked some distance away from the ship, for the land under the
water was easy to travel on. It looked exactly as if some beautiful
valley had suddenly been submerged in the middle of summer, when
everything was fresh and green.
They had gone perhaps a quarter of a mile from the _Porpoise_ when
Professor Henderson motioned to them that they had better return. On
their way back they passed what looked to be a large cave in the side of
a hill. Wondering what could be in it, Mark and Jack paused to peer into
the black opening.
The next instant two long white things, like slender serpents shot out.
With the rapidity of lightning they wrapped themselves, one about each
boy, and, before the horrified companions of the lads could do anything
the unfortunate youths were whisked out of sight into the cavern.
For a few seconds no one knew what to do. To rush in to the rescue of
the boys would have been foolhardy, as the terrible octupus, which they
knew had grabbed the lads, would have been a match for all of the
adventurers, unarmed as they were.
It would be necessary to return to the ship and come back with some of
the electric guns, which they had neglected to bring with them. In the
meanwhile the beast might, and probably would, kill Mark and Jack. But
there was nothing else to do.
The professor motioned for Andy to remain on the watch at the mouth of
the cavern, so as to be on hand in case he could help the boys, while
the others were hurrying toward the ship. Then, leading the way, the
Professor signalled for Tom and Bill to follow him.
They could not hurry much for the heavy suits and the resistance of the
water impeded their progress. But they made all the speed they could,
urged on by a terrible fear.
Meanwhile old Andy stood in front of the cave, hoping against hope that
there might be some way of aiding the boys. If it had happened above
water he would not have hesitated to rush in and give battle to the
beast, even though he was unarmed. If he had his knife now he would
venture in, at the risk of his life.
"Oh, why didn't I bring my gun along!" thought Andy regretfully.
His hand dropped to his side and his fingers came in contact with a big
knife in the belt of the diving suit. Here was a weapon he had forgotten
all about.
He drew forth the blade. It seemed a small one with which to attack so
large and terrible a creature as the octupus. Yet to remain there,
knowing the boys were being killed was more than old Andy could stand.
Grasping the handle with a firm grip he started toward the cave. His
foot caught in something, and he nearly fell.
Looking down to see what had tripped him he saw a long thin pole,
straight as a lance. It had once been a tree limb, but all the branches
were stripped off.
"Now if I only had an iron point for that," Andy thought. Then he
recollected the knife in his hand.
"The very thing," he remarked aloud, the words sounding startlingly loud
in the confinement of the copper helmet. "If I only had something to
fasten the knife on the pole I could make a spear to attack the
octupus."
Then he saw long streamers of sea weed growing up from the ocean bed.
They were very tough, a kind of wirey grass that was as strong as rope.
Andy cut several streamers and, with a hunter's skill bound the knife to
the end of the staff.
Now he had a weapon formidable enough to venture in and give battle to
the monster. He hesitated no longer, fearing that even the short delay
might have been too much and that the boys were dead. He entered the
cave. At first he could perceive nothing for it was quite dark. Then, as
his eyes became used to the gloom, which the lamp in his helmet faintly
illuminated, he saw, far back in the rear, the horrible octupus.
Two dark objects, around which were wrapped several folds of the
terrible arms, Andy guessed to be Mark and Jack, and when he was a faint
glow coming from them he was sure they were the boys, the gleams coming
from the lamps in their helmets.
Warily the hunter approached the creature. If he had hoped to take it
unawares he was disappointed, for, when he had come within ten feet,
holding his improvised lance outstretched ready for a deadly thrust, the
creature shot out two long arms toward Andy.
Now the battle began. The snake-like feelers, armed with big saucer
shaped suckers, lashed about in the water, seeking to clasp the hunter
in their deadly embrace. But Andy, who had fought many kinds of wild
animals on land, did not lose his presence of mind in confronting this
beast of the sea.
Nimbly, in spite of the handicap of the heavy diving suit, Andy dodged
the arms. Watching his chance he thrust at one, and the sharp knife
severed the end. But another arm shot out, while the wounded one was
drawn in, and the battle was as much against the old hunter as before.
Once more he thrust his lance, and this time he severed one of the arms
close to the ugly body. The creature, in its rage and pain, redoubled
its efforts to clasp Andy.
The hunter decided to try to get to closer quarters where he could use
his spear on the body of the beast. He stooped down and wiggled along on
the bottom of the cave. But the creature saw him, and darted an arm out
to pull the old man in. Andy squirmed to one side, and then, being as
close as he desired, he rose to his feet and, drawing back the pole
thrust it with all his force straight at the centre of the
whitish-yellow body that was like a horrible lump of soft fat directly
in front of him.
At the first touch of the knife the creature squirted out an inky
substance that made the water about it as black as night. Andy could not
see, but he could feel that the lance was still in the body. He pulled
it back a little and thrust again and again, turning it around to
enlarge the wound he had made.
Then, what he had feared all along happened. Two of the creatures arms
found him, and he felt the terrible pressure as they wound themselves
about him, the sucker-plates clinging fast. Yet in it all he did not
lose his presence of mind, nor did he let go of the pole.
Tighter and tighter the arms clasped him. He struggled with all his
strength but he was in a grip more powerful than that of a boa
constrictor. Suddenly the pole he was holding snapped off. He let go the
useless end and pulled the shorter part, to which the knife was bound,
toward him. Andy felt his senses beginning to leave him, but he
determined to make one more effort.
One hand was free, that holding the knife. With his last remaining
strength he cut and slashed at the arms of the creature that were
clasped about him.
Again and again he stuck the blade into the gristle like substance.
Could he win? Could he save his own life, to say nothing of that of the
two boys?
The creature was lashing about now so that the water was a mass of black
foam. The ink-color was beginning to fade away. Andy could dimly observe
the horrible front of the octupus, and see the wound his lance had made.
Then all seemed to grow dark again. He dimly remembered trying to
thrust the knife into one of the saucer-shaped eyes, and then of a
sudden his senses left him.
When Andy came to his senses he found himself lying on the ocean bed
just outside the cave. About him stood the professor, Washington, Tom
and Bill. His head buzzed and he felt weak, but he knew he was
uninjured, and that his diving suit had not been punctured in the fight
with the octupus, for he could feel the fresh air entering from the tank
at the back of his helmet.
Were the boys killed, Andy wondered. Had his fight to save them been in
vain? He managed to stand up, and then, to his relief he saw Mark and
Jack standing behind Tom and Bill. The boys seemed weak but otherwise
uninjured.
The professor motioned to know if Andy could walk and the old hunter
soon demonstrated that he could by stepping forward. Then the party
proceeded slowly to the ship.
Little time was lost by each one in divesting himself of his diving suit
as soon as they had left the water chamber. The first thing Andy asked
when his helmet was off, was:
"Did I kill the beast?"
"Indeed you did," replied the professor. "And just in time, too. You
were about done for when we came back with the guns, but they were not
needed. My! But you must have had a terrible fight!"
"I did, while it lasted," said the hunter. "But were the boys hurt?"
"They can speak for themselves," replied Mr. Henderson. "I guess not,
though."
"Having the wind almost squeezed out of us was the worst that happened,"
said Mark. "The octupus must have recently dined when it grabbed us, for
it didn't offer to eat us. And it didn't grip us as tightly as it might
have or I reckon we wouldn't have come out alive. I thought sure we were
going to be killed, however."
"So did I," put in Jack.
"I don't want any more such fights this trip," said Andy with a weak
smile.