them inward. Keith, free
of the clasp, yelled: "The eyes! The eyes! Put out its eyes!"

* * * * *

For answer, a yellow arm clutching a helmet-light broke through the
grotesquely milling mass and struck at the cuttlefish's great pools of
eyes. It missed, but the switch flicked on, and there stabbed through
the gloom a broad, glaringly white ray.

Its effect was astounding. The beam smote the octopus squarely in its
huge eyes, and immediately the creature shuddered; writhed with pain.
The tentacles released the men--and the monster fled back into the
protecting shadows!

A shout from the men roared in the commander's earphones. "They can't
stand the light!" he cried. "Thank God! Beams on, everyone! Flash 'em
in their eyes! Forward!"

Fourteen shafts of eye-dazzling light forked through the corridor.
The tiny company, beating their path with criss-crossing shafts of
white, forged ahead. They thrashed the shadows with their beams,
probing each inch of water--clearing their way even as a tank hoses
machine-gun bullets before its clumsy body. Their former slender
chance grew; they filled with hope.

Another swarm of devil-fish, long arms whipping before them, raced
from branching corridors and bore down on the company of humans. The
men were ready, and fourteen tongues of white met them squarely. They
faltered; the weight of their fellows behind shoved them on; but the
rays steadied, and the front row of octopi broke in panic. The others
at once followed in wild retreat.

"Keep together, men!" Keith ordered sharply. "One beam to each
octopus--straight in its eyes till it retreats! Forward!"

* * * * *

They pressed on. The octopi, with eyes used only to the soft blue glow
of the cavern, could not stand against the brilliant rays. Keith
leading, the _NX-1's_ crew stumbled out into the street.

They faltered a moment when they saw each entrance hole of the
mound-buildings shooting out streams of octopi. Hundreds were in sight
already. The whole city was evidently alarmed. Wells at once formed
his men in a circle, so their beams would guard them on every side and
above. Apparently the octopi could not approach within thirty feet of
them, and even at that distance they turned and fled, writhing with
pain, whenever a shaft of light struck full in their eyes.

"The square's just ahead!" the commander roared. "One last rush, now,
and we'll reach the submar