ed out ten
feet toward us.

The Marquesans retreated precipitately, and I led them, laughing
nervously, but not joyously. The son of Ugh! stopped first.

"_Ta! Ta! Ta! Ta!_" he cried. "Are we afraid of that ugly beast? I
have killed many. _Pakeka!_ We will eat him, too!"

He turned with the others and advanced toward the _feke_, shouting
scornful names at him, threatening him with death and being eaten,
warning him that the sooner he gave up, the quicker ended his agony.
But the devilfish was not afraid. His courage shamed mine. I was
behind the barrier of the boatsmen, but once in the throes of the
fight a slimy arm passed between two of them and wound itself around
my leg. I screamed out, for it was icy cold and sent a sickening
weakness all through me, so that I could not have swum a dozen feet
with it upon me. One of the natives cut it off, and still it clung to
my bloodless skin until I plucked it away.

The son of Ugh! had two of the great arms about him at one time, but
his companions hacked at them until he was free. Then, regardless of
the struggles of the maimed devil, they closed in on him and stabbed
his head and body until he died. During these last moments I was
amazed and sickened to hear the octopus growling and moaning in its
fury and suffering. His voice had a curious timbre. I once heard a
man dying of hydrophobia make such sounds, half animal, half human.

"That _feke_ would have killed and eaten any one of us," said the
son of Ugh! "Not many are so big as he, but here in Hana Hevane,
where seldom any one fished, they are the biggest in the world. They
lie in these holes in the rocks and catch fish and crabs as they swim
by. My cousin was taken by one while fishing, and was dragged down
into the hidden caverns. He was last seen standing on a ledge, and
the next day his bones were found picked clean. A shark is easier to
fight than such a devil who has so many arms."

The boatsmen gathered up the remnants of the foe and brought them to
the beach, where the elder Ugh! was tending the fire. Crabs were
broiling upon it, and the pieces of the _feke_ were flung beside
them and the smaller octopi.

When they were cooked, a trough of _popoi_ and one of _feikai_, or
roasted breadfruit mixed with a cocoanut-milk sauce, were placed on
the sand, and all squatted to dine. For a quarter of an hour the
only sounds were the plup of fingers withdrawn from mouths filled
with _popoi_, and the faint creaming of