The midland journal., 1917-10-19

and he heard the thud of a soft body
against the bottom.
The thing-whatever it was-was in
the boat!
Donald leaped forward and clasped
Ida about the waist. She writhed in
the clutch of the monster, and there
was look of intense horror upon her
face. She seemed to be lifted bodily
toward the water. Donald felt the
slippery fingers of the invisible being
elude his grasp. His hands moved up
and down over a smooth, blubbery
body.
And then he knew what it was. It
was such a creature as he had seen
in the glass tank in Masterman's
house, but larger and more powerful.
And, glaring into his eyes, were the
two eyes, seemingly poised in the air,
two pupils of the size Of currants, and
animated by a diabolical intelligence.
The sun dipped down, and in an in
slant the fog, only partly dispersed,
closed in again. And as Donald
watched, he saw the pupils slowly di-
late in the dim light until they be-
came as large as saucers.
Then, regaining courage, he dashed
the struggle began. He felt the inn
pact of his knuckles on flesh, and it
gave him new heart. At least he was
fighting a thing of flesh and blood, and
not demon.
Ida lay swooning across the seat,
where the monster had dropped her as
it turned to face it's new adversary.
And in the rocking boat Donald fought
for his own life and that of the girl
he loved.
For the first time he understood that
Masterman's story was not the dream
ence of one who had striven to warn
a skeptical world.
And afterward he understood why
the boat had spun so dizzily long after
the vortex created by the sinking of
the Beotia had subsided. Even then
the swarm of monsters must have dis
covered their prey.
Perhaps it was the plankton in the
water, the jellylike infusion on which
they fed, that had brought them there I;
perhaps the presence of drowning
men. Perhaps they had brought the
plankton with them, equipped for
some dreadful journey.
Donald tried to lock his arms about
the Shiny thing, but he could get no
firm grasp of it. And each touch of
the fiippers drew the blood to the sur
face of his skin by suction, bringing
out rows of reddening spots that
stung. He was fighting devil fish
with the intelligence of man, armed
with invisibility, creating overwhelm-
ing horror by its presence alone.
He felt his strength failing him, He
was dragged toward the edge of the
rocking boat.
He stumbled and fell. He felt him
self held fast; he felt his ribs were
compressed in stinging wise.
But as he fell his hand grasped one
of the oars. Donald snatched it up
and, with a last effort of desperation
freed himself for an instant. He
raised the oar and sent the sharp
edge of the blade crashing forward.
He heard the sound as of a torn bal
loon. The squirming flippers uncoiled.
The boat tipped to the edge and right
ed itself. A splash followed. Donald
sank down upon the seat.
Then gradually q milky cloud began
to diffuse itself upon the face of the
waters, till it acquired the shape of a
dwarflike body, supine upon the
waves, with the short limbs, terminal
ing in the webbed hands, budding at
obtuse angles to the trunk.
Donald sprang toward Ida, to shield
her from the sight of it. He knew
that if she awoke and looked she
would go mad. But she lay uncon-
scious across the seat and did not stir.
The boat stopped. There was con-
fused splashing in the water. The
dead sea-beast was rent asunder under
Donald's Mortified eyes; torn limb
from limb by that abominable swarm.
A mottled, pinkish ichOr spread itself
upon the face of the sea.
Donald plunged in his oars and be-
gan to pull with all his might, driving
the heavy boat through the water. The
pIanktoD gave place to clean ocean
again. The sun had set, and it was
growing Gark: with the fall Of night
gentle wind came up that began to dis
sipate the fog.