Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-07-01
Fight with a Devil Fish.

The following extract from "Tht
ToilerS of the Sea-" by Victor Hugo
shows the rare descriptive powers of tn,
author recently dead:
Such was the creature in whose pow
er Gilliatt had fallen for some minutes
The monster was the inhabitant OF
the grOtto terrible genii of the
place. A kind of sombre demon of tn,
water.
All the splendors of the cavern exist.
ed for it alone.
On the day of the previous month
when GillIatt had first penetrated int
the gr0ttO, the dark outline, vaguely
perceived by him in the ripples of the
secret waters, was this monster. 1t was
here IN its hCme.
When, entering for the second time
into the cavern in pursuit of the crab,
he had observed the crevice in which he
supposed that the crab had taken ref
uge, the piceIUre was there lying in wait
for prey.
Is it possible to imagine that secret
ambush2
No bird would brood, no egg would
burst to life, no flower would dare to
open, no breast to give milk, no heart
to love, no spirit to soar, under the in
fuence of that apparitiOn of evil watch
Ing with sinister patience in the dusk.
GIlliatt had thrust his arm deep into
the opening; the monster had snapped
at it. II held him fast, as the spider
holds the fly.
He was in the water up to his belt;
his naked feet clutbing the slippery
roundness of the huge stones at the
bottom; his right arm bound and rem
dered pOwerless by the fiat coils of the
long tentacles of the creature, and his
body almost hidden under the folds and
cross folds of this horrible bandage.
or the eight arms of the devll-fish,
three adhered TO the rock, while five en-
cIrcled Gilliatt. In this way, clinging
to the granite on the one hand, and on
the other to his human prey, it enchain-
ed him to the rock. Two hundred and
fifty suckers were upon him, tOrmenting
him with agony and lOathing. He was
grssped by gigantic hands, the fingers
of which were each nearly yard long,
and furnished inside with living blisteIs
eating into the flesh.
As we have said, it is impossible to
tear ones self from the folds of the
devil fish. The attempt only ends in
firmer grasp. The monster clings with
more determined force Its effort in
creases with that of its victim; every
struggle produces Tightening of his
ligatures.
Gilliatt had but one resource bis
knife.
His left hand only was free, but the
reader knows with what power he could
use it. 1t might have been said that he
had two right hands.
His open knife was in his hand.
The antenna of the devil fish cannot
be cut; it is a leathery substance, i'm
possible to divide with the knife; it
| slips under the edge; its position in
attack also is such, that to cut it would
be to wound the victims own flesh.
The creature is formidable, but there
is way of resisting 1t. The fisherman
of Sark know this, as does any one who
has seen them execute certain abrupt
movements in the sea. The porpoise
know it also; they have a way of biting
the cuttle-fsh which decapitates it.
Hence the frequent sight on the sea of
pen fish, pOlyps and cuttlefish without
heads.
The cephalOptera, in fact, is only vul
nerable through the head.
Gilliatt was not ignorant of this fact.
He had never seen a devil-fish of this
size. His first encounter was with one
of the larger species. Another would
have been pOwerless with terror.
With the devil-tish, as with furious
bull, there is a certain moment in the
conflict which must be seized. 1t is the
instant when the bull lowers the neck;
it is the instant when the devil-fish ad-
vanceS its head. The movement is
rapid. He who loses that moment is
destroyed.
The things We have described Occu-
pied only a few moments. Gilliatt,
however, felt the increasing power of
its innumerable suckers.
The monster is cunning; it tres first |
to stupefy its prey. 1t seizes, and then
pauses awhile.
Gillatt grasped his knife; the sucking
increased.
He looked at the monster, which |
seemed to look at him.
Suddenly 1t lOOsened from the rock |
its sixth antenna, and, darting it at
him, seized him by the left arm.
At the same moment it advanced its
head with violent movement. In one
second more its mouth would have fas-
tened on his breast. Bleeding in the
sides, ard with his two arms entangled,
he would have been a dead man.
But Gilliatt was watehful. He avoid
ed tie antenna, and at the moment
when the monster darted forward to
fasten on his breast, he struck it with the
kni clenched in his left hand. There
were two eOnvulsions IN opposite direc-
of the devil-flsh and that of
its prey. The movement was rapid as
double flash of lightning.
lie had plunged the blade of his knife
into the fat Shiny substance, and by a
rapid movement like The flourish of a
whip in the air, described circle round
the two eyes, he wrenched the head off
as man would draw tooth.
The struggle was ended. The folds
relaxed. The monster dropped away,
like the slow detaching of hands. The
four hundred suckers desrived of their
power, dropped at once from
the man and the rock. The mass sank
10 the bottom of the water.
Breathless with the struggle. Gilliatt
could perceive upon the stones at his
feet two shapeless, Shiny heaps, the
head on one side, the remainder of the
monster ON the other.
Fearing, nevertheless, some cOnvul-
,ive return of his agony, he recoiled to
avoid the reach of the dreaded tenta-
:les.
But the monster was quite dead.
C;II;att cIoSaS bfc Inifa ,