doorway. Seemingly undisturbed by the slashings and slicings which some
of them had received, the whole ten squirming horrors now darted at the
doorway. Jan's knife swooped this way and that; but as fast as he
severed one clutch two more would make good. The cut tentacles grew to
be the more terrifying, because their suckers were so big; and they
themselves were so thick and hard to cut. Presently no fewer than three
of the diabolical things laid their loathsome hold upon his right leg,
below the knee, and began to haul it out through the door. Jan slashed
at them madly, but not altogether effectually; for at this moment
another tentacle had laid grip upon his arm below the elbow. He had just
time to shift the knife again to his left and catch the jamb of the
door, when he felt his helmet almost jerked from his head. This grip he
dared not interfere with, lest he should cut, at the same time, the
air-tube that fed his lungs, and drown like a rat in a hole. All he
could do was hold on to the door-jamb, and carve away savagely at the
tentacles which were within reach. If he could get free of those, he
calculated that he could then reach the one which had fastened to his
head-piece by throwing himself over on his back and so bringing it
within range of his vision and his knife. At this moment, however, just
as the pressure upon his neck was becoming intolerable, he felt his head
suddenly released. One of the great sucking disks had crushed in the
glass of the electric lamp and fastened upon the live wire. The
sensation it experienced was evidently not pleasant, for it let go
promptly, and secured a new hold upon Jan's left arm.
This hold left him almost helpless, because he could no longer wield the
knife freely with either hand. He felt himself slowly being pulled out
of the doorway by his right leg. Throwing himself partly backward, and
partly behind the door, he gained a firmer brace and at the same time
brought his knife again into better play. He would fight to the very
last gasp, but he felt that the odds had now gone overwhelmingly against
him. The fear of death itself was not heavy upon him. He had faced it
too often, and too coolly, for that. But at the manner of this death
that confronted him his very soul sickened with loathing. As he thought
of it, his horror was not lessened by the sight which now greeted his
view. A colossal, swollen, leprous-looking bulk, pallid and spotted, was
mounting over the bulwark. Two great oval lenses of clear blackness, set
close together, were in the front of the bulk, just over the spot where
the tentacles started. These gigantic, appalling, expressionless eyes
were fixed upon him. The monster was coming aboard to see what kind of
creature it was that was giving him so much trouble.
Jan saw that the end of the fight was very near. The thought, however,
did not unnerve him. Rather, it put new fire into his nerves and
muscles. By a tremendous wrench he succeeded in reaching with the knife
the tentacle that bound his right arm. This freedom was like a new lease
of life to him. He made swift play with his blade, so savagely that he
was able to drag himself back almost completely into the cabin before
the writhing horrors again closed upon him. But meanwhile, the monster's
gigantic body had gained the deck. Those two awful eyes were slowly
drawing nearer; and below them he saw the viscid mouth opening and
shutting in anticipation.
At this a kind of madness began to surge up in Jan Laurvik's overtaxed
brain. His veins seemed to surge with fresh power, as if there were
nothing too tremendous for him to accomplish. He was on the very point
of stopping his resistance, plunging straight in among the arms, and
burying his big blade in those unspeakable eyes. It would be a
satisfaction, at least, to force them to change their expression. And
then, well, something might happen!
Before he could put this desperate scheme into execution, however,
something did happen. Jan was aware of a sudden darkness overhead. The
monster was evidently aware of it, too, for every one of the twisting
horrors suddenly shrank away, leaving Jan to lean up against the
doorway, free. The next moment a huge black shape descended
perpendicularly upon the fleshy mountain of the monster's back, and a
rush of water drove Jan backward into the cabin.
As the electric lamp had gone out when the glass was broken, Jan could
see but dimly the awful battle of giants now going on before him. So
excited was he that he forgot his own new peril. The danger was now that
in the struggle one or other of the battling bulks might well crush the
cabin flat, or entangle the air-tube and life-line In either case Jan's
finish would be swift; but in comparison with the loathsome death from
which he had just been so miraculously saved, such an end seemed no very
dreadful thing. He was altogether absorbed in watching the prowess of
his avenging rescuer.
Skilled in deep-sea lore as he was, he knew the dark fury which had
swooped down upon the devilfish. It was a "killer" whale, or grampus,
the most redoubtable and implacable fighter of all the kindreds of the
sea. Jan saw its wide jaws shear off three mighty tentacles at once,
close at the base. The others writhed up hideously and fastened upon
him, but under the surging of his resistless muscles their tissues tore
apart like snapped cables. Huge masses of the monster's ghastly flesh
were bitten off, and thrown aside. Then, gaining a grip that took in the
monster's head and the roots of the tentacles, the killer shook his prey
as a bulldog might shake a fat sheep. The tentacles straightened out
slackly. Jan saw that the fight was over; and that it was high time for
him to remove from that too strenuous neighbourhood. He gave the signal
vehemently, and was drawn up, without attracting his dangerous rescuer's
notice. When Captain Jerry hauled him in over the boatside, he fell in
an unconscious heap.
When Jan came to himself he was in his bunk on the _Sarawak_. It was an
utter physical and nervous exhaustion that had overcome him. His swoon
had passed into a heavy sleep, and when he awoke he sat up with a start.
Captain Jerry was at his side, bursting with suppressed curiosity; and
the Scotch engineer was standing by the bunk.
"Waal, partner, you've delivered the goods all right!" drawled Captain
Jerry. "They're the stuff, not a doubt of it. But kind o' seemed to us
up here you were having high jinks of one kind or another down there.
What was it?"
"It was hell!" responded Jan with a shudder. Then he took hold of
Captain Jerry's hand, and felt it, as if to make sure it was real, or as
if he needed the feel of honest human flesh again to bring him to his
senses.
"Ugh!" he went on, swinging out of the bunk. "Let me get out into the
sunlight again! Let me see the sky again! I'll tell you all about it by
an' by, Jerry. But wait. Were all the packages on me, all right?"
"I reckon!" responded Captain Jerry. "There was six of 'em tied on to
you. I reckon they're worth the three hundred an' fifty thousand all
right!"
"Well, let's get away from this place quick as we can get steam up
again!" said Jan. "There's more swag down there, I guess--lots of it.
But I wouldn't go down again, nor send another man down, for all the
millions we've all of us ever heard tell of. Mr. McWha, how soon can we
be moving?"
"Ten meenutes, more or less!" replied the Scotchman.
"All right! When we're outside of this accursed bay, an' round the
'Camel' yonder, I'll tell you what it's like down there under that shiny
green."
THE END.
* * * * *
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