ttempt to unfasten the rest
of his sea-suit.

Wells blanched at the sudden realization of how helpless he would be
if the suit were taken from him. He would then not only be a prisoner
of the octopi, but a prisoner of the glass jar, unable ever to leave
it, and more than ever at the mercy of his captor's least whim. Not
that he had any delusion that he would live long in any case: it was
just the simple strong instinct of self-preservation that made him
grab at every chance for life.

This thought flashed through his mind, even while the octopus was
fumbling with the catches of his suit. And along with it was born a
desperate plan of escape. He was in his own element, air; the octopus
out of his. If he could crack the glass of the king's helmet, and let
the water out and air in!... The glass was only twelve inches away.

The commander stopped his resistance, and at the same time felt about
with his legs until he had them well braced against a lower tentacle.
He pushed gently, and came a few inches nearer the glass; a little
more. Then, with a quick, strong jerk of his body he crashed the steel
frame of his helmet square against the cuttlefish's sheathing of
glass.

The creature was taken wholly by surprise. Tentacles whipped out to
tear the rash human quickly away--but not before Keith had pounded
again, and heard the splinter of smashed glass! He had jabbed a hole
in the glass body-piece, and already the life-giving water was pouring
out!

Panic seized the king, and he became a nightmare of tortured
tentacles. Wells was flung wildly away and fetched up against the side
of the jar with a crash that for a second stunned him. More and more
water poured from the octopus' suit, and air at once rushed in to take
its place. The creature's great eyes became filmy, while the revolting
spidery body slewed here and there across the jar, all the time
whipping and thrashing at the strangling air. Keith scurried from side
to side, trying to keep out of reach of the crazy, writhing tentacles.
Once a glancing blow knocked him flat, but the monster was altogether
unconscious of him and he got away.

Little by little the terrific whipping and coiling of the tentacles
quieted down. The drowning king lay in one place now; its loathsome
red body, no longer protected by glass, turned bluish. Keith thrilled
with elation at his victory.

And then, for the first time, he noticed that there was a full three
inches of water on the floo