Savannah morning news., 1885-06-03
The Fight With the Devil Fish.
Fronl Tletor Ruao,s "7otlera of AZ Sea.U

The Fight With the Devil Fish.
from Victor HUg0s ''ToiLsrs Of the Sea-"
Such was the creature in whose power
Gilliatt had fallen for some minutes.
The monster was the inhabtant of the
grotlO-the terrible genii of the place. A
kind of sOmbrG demon of the water.
All the splendors of the cavern existed
Tor it alone.
On the day of the previous month
when Gilliatt bad first penetrated into
the grottO, the dark outline, vaguely per-
ceiVed by him in the rlpples of the secret
waters, was this monster. 1t was here in
its home.
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 REFUGE. the picuUre
was there lying in wait for prey.
Is it possible to imagine that secret am
bush?
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 influence Of
that appGritiOn of evil watching with sim
lister patience in the dusk.
Gilliatt had thrust his arm deep into
the opening; the monster had snapped at
it. 1t held him fast, as the spider holds
the fly.
naked feet clutching the slippery round
ness Of the huge stones at the bottom; his
right arm bound and rendered 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 hor-
rible bandage.
OF the eight arms of the devil-fish, three
adhered TO the rock, while five encircled
Gilliatt. In this way, clinging to the
sks,1 Il IA on afh
to its human prey, it enchained him to the
rock. Two hundred and fifty suckers were
upon him, tOrmenting him with agony and
lOathing. He was grasped by gigantic
hands, the fingers of which were each
nearly yard long, and furnished inside
with living blisters eating into the flesh.
AS we have said, it is impossible to tear
ones self from the folds of the devil-tish.
The attempt ends only in firmer grasp.
The monster clings with mere determined
force. Its effort increases with that of his
victim; every struggle produces tight
ening of his ligatures.
Gilliatt had but one resource, his 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-fsh cannot be
cut. IL Is Il ltdlUEiH HuUbLduNts DDObblhlt
to divide with the knife; 1t slips under the
edge; its position in attack also is such
that to cut it would be to wound the vic
TINS own flesh.
The creature is formidable, but there is
"A way Of resisting it, The fishermen of
Sark know this, as does any one who has
seen them execute certain abrupt move
ments IN the sea. The pOrpoises know it
also; they have a way of biting the cuttle-
fish which decapitates it. Hence the fire.
Quent sight on the sea of pen fish, poulps
and cuttlefsh without heads.
The cephaloptera, in fact, is only vul-
neTable through the head.
Gilliatt was not ignorant Of this fact.
He had never seen deVll-tish of this
size. His first encounter was with one of
the largest species. Another would have
been pOwerless with terror.
With the deVil-hsh, as with a furious
bull, there is a certain moment in the con-
flict which must be seized. 1t is the i'm
stant when the bull lowers the neck; it is
the instant when the devil-hsh advances
its head. The movement is rapid. He
who loses that moment is destroyed.
The things we have described occupied
only a few moments. Gilliatt. however,
felt the increasing power of its innumera-
BILE suckers.
The monster is cunning; it tries first to
stupefy its prey. 1t seizes, and then
pauses awhile.
Glliatt grasped his knife; the sucking
increased.
He looked at the monster, which seemed
to look at him.
Suddenly it Ioosened from the rock its
sixth antenna. and ,darting 1t 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 fast
ened on his breast. Bleeding in the sides,
and with his two arms entangled, he
would have been dead man.
But Gilliatt WAS watchful. He avoided
the antenna, and at the moment when the
monster darted forward TO fasten on his
breast be struck IL with the knife clenched
in his LETT hand. There were two cOnYul-
sinns in opposite directiOns-that of the
deyil-ish and that Of its prey. The move
ment was rapid as double Hash OF light
ming.
lie had plunged the blade Of his knife
into the flat, Shiny substance, and by Il
rapid movement, like the flourish Of a
whip in the air, describing circle round
the two eyes, he wrenched the head of as
a man would draw tooth.
The struggle was ended. The folds re-
laXed. The monster dropped away, like
the slow detaching Of hauds. The 400
suckers, deprived OF their sustaining
power, dropped at once from the man and
the rock. The mass sank 20 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 cOnyulsiye
return Of his agony he rCcOled 10 avoid
the reach OF the dreadful tentacles.
But the monster was quite dead.
Gilliatt closed his knife.
out Of swamp.
That Is where the influence comes from
which gives people in the country mala-
9 d. ia fin