"_Got_ to! Now, let's see: what the
hell's this thing for?... What the--"

He broke off short, and his eyes went wide. He had heard a noise!

Yes--there it was again! The same peculiar scraping at one of the exit
ports! He glanced fearfully at the teleview. "Oh, Lord!" he yelped.
"They're comin' in to get me!"

He started to dive back behind the instrument panel, but stopped, drew
two guns, and in an agonized muddle trotted back and forth for a
moment, waving them. Another look at the screen showed that an exit
port was open, admitting two metal-scaled octopi. McKegnie couldn't
stand it any longer: he wedged himself behind his panel again. Soon
sounds of the metal tentacles on the deck below told him that one of
the creatures was coming up the ramp--then slithering into the control
room itself. The cook was a lather of cold perspiration.

For a few minutes there was silence. The octopus was apparently
surveying this new part of the submarine. Then, without warning, the
tip of a metal-scaled tentacle felt around the panel and crept,
exploring, up Angus McKegnie's leg--which leg was again suddenly
afflicted with St. Vitus' dance. The tentacles coiled, pulled
hard--and the cook with a yowl was yanked out into the room.

* * * * *

Dangling upside down, high in the air, he submitted to the fishy stare
of the great eyes under the sheathing of glass. But soon he started to
squirm, and his violent contortions brought a rush of blood to his
head, making him quite dizzy. It was while he was in that state that
things started to happen.

First, a great roar rolled through the _NX-1_, and McKegnie found
himself flat on the floor with his breath knocked out. Then, while
this was registering on his mind, he discovered himself the center of
a madly milling set of tentacles, and instinctively scrambled out of
the way. From a distance he saw that the tentacles belonged to the
octopus that had held him, and that their coilings and threshings were
gradually dying down, until only a quiver ran through them from time
to time. While McKegnie was trying to figure this all out he noticed
that the monster's glass sheeting was shattered, that it lay in a pool
of water, and that the odor of burnt powder was in the air. Looking
down he found that he had a gun in his hand. A thin wisp of smoke was
curling from the barrel.

"Gee whiz!" he ejaculated. "Gee _whiz_!"

As he stood there recovering from his surp