The Washington herald., 1914-04-05

Its dark purple head was dimly suggest
i've of a chameleon, but If had such a
high forehead and such a brain case as
no reptile ever displayed before; the
vertical pitch of its face gave it most
extraordinary resemblance TO human
being.
| Two large and protruding eyes pro-
! jected from sockets in chameleon fashion,
and it had broad reptiEan mouth with
horny lips beneath its little nostrils. In
rae position of the ears were two huge
| gill covers, and out of these foated a
branching tree of coralline filaments. al
| most like the treelike gills that very
young rays and sharks possess.
But the humanity of the face was not
the most extraordinary thing about the
creature. 1t was a biped, its almost
globular body was poised on a tripod of
TWO froglike legs and long, thick tail,
and its fore limbs, which grotesquely
caricatured the human hand much as a
frogs do. carried long shaft of bone
tipped with copper. The color of the
creature was variegated; its head, hands
and legs were purple; but its skin. which
hung loosely upon it, even as clothes
might do, was a phOsphOrescent gray.
And it stood there, blinded by the light.
At last this unknown creature of the
abyss blinked its eyes open, and, shad-
ing them with its disengaged hand,
opened its mouth and gave vent TO a
shouting noise, articulate almost as
speech might be, that penetrated even
the steel case and padded jacket of the
sphere. How a shouting may be ac-
complished without lungs. Elstead did
not profess to explain. 1t then moved
sideways out OF the glare into the mys-
terry of the shadow that bordered it on
either side, and Elstead felt rather than
saw that it was coming toward him.
Fancying the light had attracted it, he
turned the switch that cut off the cur
rent. In another moment something
soft dabbed upon the steel and the globe
swayed.
Then the shouting was repeated, and
it seemed to him that distant echo an
swered it. The dabbing recurred, and
the globe swayed and ground against the
spindle over which the wire was rolled
He stood in the blacknesS, and peered
out into the everlasting night OF the
abyss. And presently he saw, very faint
and remote, other phosphorescent quasi
human forms hurrying toward him.
Hardly knowing what he did, he felt
about in his swaying prison for the stud
OF the exterior electrict light, and came
by accident against his own small glow
lamp i'll its padded recess. The sphere
twisted and then threw him down; he
heard shouts of surprise, and when he
arose to his feet he saw two pairs of
stalked eyes peering into the lower win
dow and refecting his light.
In another moment hands were dab
bling vigorously at his steel casing, and
there was sound. horrible in his DO
sition, Of the metal protection OF the
clockwork being vigorously hammered
That. indeed, sent his heart into his
mouth, for if these strange creatures
succeeded in stopping that his release
would never occur. Scarcely had he
thought as much when he felt the sphere
sway violently, and the floor OF it press
hard against his feet. He turned off the
small glow lamp that lit the interior,
and sent the ray of the large lights in
the separate compartment out into the
water. The sea floor and the manlike
creatures had disappeared, and a cou-
pie of fish chasing each other dropped
suddenly by the window.
lie thought at once that these strange
dcnizens OF the deep sea had broken
the wire rope. and that he had escaped. !
He drove up faster and faster. and then
stopped with a jerk that sent him flying
against the padded roof OF his prison. +!
For hall a minute perhaps he was too
aStoniShed TO think.
Then he felt that the sphere was spin
ming slowly, and rocking, and it seemed !
to him that it was also being drawn
through the water. BY crouching close
TO the window he managed to make his /
weight effective and roll that part OF the .
sphere downward, but he could sec
nothing, save the pale ray of his light
striking down ineffectively into the
darkness. 1t occurred to him that he
would see more if he turned his lamp
off and allowed his eyes to grow ac-
customed to the profound obscurity.
In this he was wise. After some min
utes the velvety blaCkness became a
blackness. and then far away
and as faint as the zodiacal light OF an
English summer evening, he saw shapes
moving below. He judged these crea-
tures had detached his cable and were
towing him along the sea bottom. /;
And then he saw something faint and
remote across the undulations OF the
submarine plain, broad horizon OF pale l.