The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-07-03
FIGHT WITH A DEVIL FISH.

The following extract from { The Toll
ers Of the Sea, by Victor Hugo, shows
the rare descriptive powers of the famous
author;
Such WIS the creature in whose power
Giliiatt had fallen FOR soine minutes
The monster was the iuliai ltant of the
grotto-the terrible genii Of The place A
Kind OF sQmDrc 'enlon o. the water
All the sple..dors Of the cavern existed
for il alone,
.S-n the day OF the previous month whe=
Giliatt had first penetrated into the grot-
to. the-dark outline, vagr:ely perceived ty
him in the ripplcs OF the secret waters.
was this monster, 1t was here In its home.
When, entering For the second time into
the cavern in iiur 'Iit of the crab. he had
observed the crevice in which he supposed
that the crab had taken reftlga. the
pieltrrc was there lying in wait for prey.
Is it possible to imagine that secret am
bush
No bird would brooI, no egg world n urst
to life no AoNver would dare to opeu. no
breast to give milk, no heart TO love. no
spirit TO soar, under The Influence of that
apparition Of evil watching with sinister
patience In the dusk
Gilliatt had thrust his arm deep into the
opening the monster had snapped Mt it.
1t held him fast, as the spider holds the
fly.
He was in the water up to his belt: his
naked feet clutchiug the slippery round
ness OF ne huge stones at the bottom
his right arm bound and rendered power
less by the fat coils OF the long tentacles Of
the creature, and his body almost hidden
under the folds and cross folds of this
horrible bardage.
OF the eight arms of the deviI-fsh three
81 1.
GiIliatt. In tliis. way, cIinging to the
granite on the ore hand. and on the other
to his human prey, It enchained him to
the rock Two hundred and hfty suckers
were upon him, tormenting hius with
agonysand loathing. He was grasped by
gigantic hands, the fingers OF which were
each nearly yard long, and furnished in
side with living blisters eating into the
flesh.
AS we have said, il IS Impossible to tear
ones self from the folds of the devil-fish
The attempt ends ouly in firmer grasp
The monster clings with more determined
force. its effort increases with that of its
victim every struggle produces tighten
ing of his ligat ures.
Gillatt had bat one resource, his knife.
Ills LETT hand only wus 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 it is a leathery substance, impossible
to divide with the knife il 81 ips 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 porpoise know it
also; they have way of biting the cuttle-
fish which decapitates 1t. Hence the fire.
Quent sight on the sea of pen fish, pouIps
and cuttlefish without heads
The cephaloptera, in fact, is only vul-
nerable through the head
Gilliatt was not ignorent of this fact.
he had never seen deyll-f1sh OF this
size. His first encounter was with one of
the larger species. Another would have
been pOwerless with terror.
With the devil-fish, as with furious
bull, there is n certain moment in the con
fiict which must be seized. Il is the in
slant when the bull lowers the neck: ii is
the instant when the devil-fish advances
its head The movement is rapid. He
+ who lO@e that moment Is destroyed
The things we have described occupied
only few moments Gilliats, however,
felt the increasing power of its innumer-
able suckers. -f
The monster is cunning it tries first to
stupefy its prey. 1t seizes, and then
pauses awhile.
Gilliatt grasped his knife; the sucking
increased.
He looked at the monster, which seemed
to look at him.
Suddenly it loosened from the rock its
sixth antenna, and, darting it at him, seized
him by the left arm.
At the same moment it advancedeits
head with u violent movement. In one
second more its mouth would have
1 fastened on his breast. Bleeding in the
| sides, and with his two arms entangled, he
would have been dead man. I'D
But Gilliatt was watchfuL He avoided
| the antenna, and at the moment when tue
! monster darted forward to fast en- on his
! breast, he struck it with the knife
clenched in his left hand. There were two
commissions in opposite directions-that of
! the devil-iish and that of its prey. The
movement was rapid as double fash OF
/ lightning
| He had plunged the blade Of his knife
! into the fat Shiny substance and by
! rapid movement like the flourish of "A
whip in the air, described q circle round
/ the two eyes, he wrenched the head OH as
! man would draw a tooth.
The struggle was ended. The folds re-
! laxed. The monster dropped away, like
/ the slow detaching of hands. The four
I hundred suckers, deprived of their sus-
tanning power. dropped at once from the
! man and the rock. The mass sank to the
bottom of the water. -..-a
Breathless with the struggle, Gilliatt
could perceive upon the stones at his feet
I two shapeless slimy heaps, the head on
/ one side, the remainder of the monster on
| the other -.t. rf.-
| Fearing, nevertheless, some convulsive
return of his agony. he recoiied to avoid
! the reach of the dreaded tentacles-
But the monster was quite dead.
Gilliatt closed his knife.