Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1924-06-13

He felt as some primeval man might
have done when he looked into the
face of the mastodon.
The creature did not pursue him,
but stood, swaying gently, dreadfully
human. Donald snatched at Ida and
tried to run. he trlpped and fell.
He dragged himself to his feet again.
He became aware of barrier between
the monster and himself, which had,
perhaps, saved them. He had stumbled
upon a spiny substance, a coralloid
growth that proved to be the outpost
of q submarine forest. II was q field
of crinoids, the yellow lilies Of the sea.
Beautiful plants with branching
arms, they bent and swayed before
DonaId's eyes as they drew in the mi
mute forms of life on which they sub
sisted. They were vegetable octopods,
carnivorous scavengers of the deep,
which Toasted on the small fish that
they entangled In their waving
branches, and drew by the ciliary
movements of the lining of their ten
tacles toward the central stomach.
sweep down toward him. He tore at
it with his fingers. To his surprise,
the brittle branch broke loose and
settled slowly in the ooze, there to be-
come the embryo of a plant. From
every quarter the tentacles, as If APP
priced of their presence, came swoop-
ing slowly toward them.
Donald saw Ida grasped In their
clinging clutch. Madly he tore at the
graceful, shrinking forms, until he had
cloven a wide swath before him, and
the arms, baked and baffled of their
prey, withdrew.
Donald turned and began skirting
the crinoid bed. The sea devil had
disappeared. The water was like a
thin, unstable jelly. AS they made
their way along the bottom of the sea,
the feshy lily arms reached out
toward them like children's plucking
fingers. At last the bed of crinolds
ended. They trod on firmer ground.
Their pace became accelerated.
He had lost all sense of time. He
did not know whether he had jour
neyed one hour or three. He halted
because there seemed nothing to do.
Then he began to lead the way back
between the two crinoid beds, with the
intention of reaching the clear ground
near the entrance to the cave.
There, there might be chance Of
picking up Davies and Clouts; or, at
least it might be possible from there
to return to the submarine with Ida
to replenish their oxygen reservoirs.
These still seemed ample, but it was
impossible to determine how much
oxygen remained.
They threaded the mazes of the
winding path between the beds, while
from either side the fieshy arms
stretched out to grapple them. The
touch of them was like fiery velvet.
The suction Of the branches made
them cling, and Donald had to exercise
all his might to break away. Some
times their ankles became entangled
and they would stumble. Always the
arms had formed a network above
their heads before they could regain
their feet, and these had to be broken.
Under their feet the ooze was white
with the skeletons of small fish which
the lilies had rejected after devourlng
the substance that covered them.
At length the crinoid beds ended
abruptly. They rested on the bottom,
seating themselves side by side. Don
aid felt confident that he could find the
submarine. But the delay was sweet,
because the disappoin' ment in store
for them might prove unbearable.
Death or little life would be the al
tentative, and the difference was hard
ly perceptible.
Donald raised Ida's hand to his glass
mask and pressed the fingers against
it.
She let her hand fall caressingly
upon his shoulders. She rose to her
feet, and he followed her. They looked
into each others eyes, and, though
they could read nothing there, some
message of hope seemed to pass.
They plunged together into the sea
of jelly again It chung to them, as
If it, too, sought to suck them down.
The light of the electric lamps was
growing obscure. They wandered blind
ly, struggling In a medium that was
almost impermeable.
Donald began to realize that the ac-
tion of the caustic alkali within the
metallic chamber was becoming ex-
hausted. He was beginning to choke.
His breath came in deep signs, and he |
gulped in the thickening atmosphere.
Their steps grew slower. Ida could |
hardly raise her feet. Once she STUN
bled and fell, picked herself up, and |
started beside Donald again; then she |
sank down exhausted. She could not |
go farther.
Death, horrible In form, awaited |
them. 1t was becoming imminent.
Donald was growing delirious, and In
fancy he was strolling with Ida
through meadows, plucking flowers
They were to be married on the NOR !
row, and he was going to get leave Of
y.