Evening star., 1924-06-15
ters Decoy Angry Octopus Into the Open for Combat

inches wrought in it by the action
Of the water.
In one OF these / saw two fiery eyes
with white rims as big as dinner
plates. and Nohea said to beware.
that they belonged to an enormous
fee. Nohea had a mighty spear or
grain with three points of solid iron
and a heavy, long shaft, on a rope
attached to the prov of the canoe
Better still, l carried u rifle with
bullets that would kill wild bull.
Nohea steered the canoe up to the
nook and thrust out a long, light
cuttieffsh threw out one tentacle
upon it. Nohea teased him as one
might tease cat, and another ten
tacle took hold. Again the stick was
manipulated and finally, after half
an hour, ten arms were fastened
tightly upon the rod. Nohea gently
drew the rod toward him and the fee
emerged from his den. so that, though
the light was growing dim, l was
able for a minute to survey him in
the fullest detail, as l sat with my
rife to my shoulder.
His body, bigger than a barrel, was
like dirty gray bag, with one end
three-cornered for use as a steering
lin, or rudder. His mouth was like
an opening in a sack, with a thick,
circular lip and a great parrot-like
beak. which was almost hidden at the
moment His tentacles We're in a cir
Gle around the mouth and were large
at the trunk and tapering to the ends.
TWO main arms with which he sup
ported himself against the rock were
twice as long as the others, and diff
ierently formed. The fiery eyes were
Serpent-like and set back of the arms
II he were not so strong, l would
jump on him, now that l have his
tentacles engaged, and would bite
the back of his neck till he died"
said Nohea with anger II have slain
many that way, but this one would
destroy me in a moment Once we
hooked one by mistake when we were
nshing for barracuda from a canoe
My companion hauled him to the side
If the canoe, when the octopus threw
his arms about him and pulled him
into the sea / Sprang after him and
put my thumbs in the eyes of the
beast He poaned and cried and COW
cred us with his black fluid. But he
let go and fed. blinded"
x x
>HE octopus was regarding US with
apparent calm. The rod he held
was twenty-five feet in length, so
that our canoe was more than twenty
feet from his eyes. Nohea now agi-
tated the rod. and the fee retained
his grasp, but began to change from
slaty gray to red with black mot
things
He is enraged," said Nohea warn
ingly. Prepare to shoot if the
tavero fails"
He stood up in the canoe, and. rest
Ing the bamboo rod in the gunwale.
poised his spear. The devilfish felt
the menace of his attitude. and his
two longest tantacles began to writhe
in the air as he measured our dis
tanCe. Then Nohea, with a step back,
launched the grain, and with so true
an aim that it penetrated the eye of
the grisly creature and half unbal-
anced him. Instantly the air was
filled with the cloud of sepia he
ejected-a confession of defeat-and
the terrible arms, with their twisting,
coiling tips, were thrust at us in
lightning movement.
But Nohea had seized a paddle and
parted US by thirty feet. The fee was
pulled into the water, but was not
yet dead. He struggled as if drown
ing, the great arms rising and fall
ing upon the surface and a direful
groaning issuing with the bubbles
that covered the surface.
| fired twice at his bulk seen
clearly in the water, and after ten
minutes it relaxed utterly. A musky,
delicious odor filled the air
With immense difficulty we brought
his abhorIent corpse partly upon the
ledge to measure it and to cut off
some of the tentacles for broiling.
Nohea said it weighed 1000 pounds,
but that he had seen one that weighed
two tons and whose arms stretched
seventy feet.
The longest two limbs of our octo-
pus were rounded from the body to
within two. feet of their tips, when
they flattened out like blades. Along
the edges were rows of suckers, each
with a movable membrane across 1t.
When these suckers fastened on an
object the membrane reacted and
made vacuum under each sucker.
Nohea explained that wherever the
suckers touched ones flesh it puck
cred and blistered and two months
would elapse before it healed. He
showed me scars upon his own skin.
Our octopus had 1000 and more suck
ers on its tentacles.
After light breakfast of bread
and savory fried fish, to which
added jam and coffee for myself, one
morning Nohea and / pushed of for
wonder-fshing. In the canoe we had,
besides paddles, two titea mata, the
glass s-bottomed boxes for seeing un-
der the surface of the water; long
rope, an iron-hooped net, a smaller