ng him at the same time.

A fifth long, slimy, riband-shaped strip issued from the hole. It passed
over the others, and wound itself tightly around his chest. The
compression increased his sufferings. He could scarcely breathe.

These living thongs were pointed at their extremities, but broadened
like a blade of a sword towards its hilt. All belonged evidently to the
same centre. They crept and glided about him; he felt the strange points
of pressure, which seemed to him like mouths, change their places from
time to time.

Suddenly a large, round, flattened, glutinous mass issued from beneath
the crevice. It was the centre; the five thongs were attached to it like
spokes to the nave of a wheel. On the opposite side of this disgusting
monster appeared the commencement of three other tentacles, the ends of
which remained under the rock. In the middle of this slimy mass appeared
two eyes.

The eyes were fixed on Gilliatt.

He recognised the Devil-Fish.

II

THE MONSTER

It is difficult for those who have not seen it to believe in the
existence of the devil-fish.

Compared to this creature, the ancient hydras are insignificant.

At times we are tempted to imagine that the vague forms which float in
our dreams may encounter in the realm of the Possible attractive forces,
having power to fix their lineaments, and shape living beings, out of
these creatures of our slumbers. The Unknown has power over these
strange visions, and out of them composes monsters. Orpheus, Homer, and
Hesiod imagined only the Chimera: Providence has created this terrible
creature of the sea.

Creation abounds in monstrous forms of life. The wherefore of this
perplexes and affrights the religious thinker.

If terror were the object of its creation, nothing could be imagined
more perfect than the devil-fish.

The whale has enormous bulk, the devil-fish is comparatively small; the
jararaca makes a hissing noise, the devil-fish is mute; the rhinoceros
has a horn, the devil-fish has none; the scorpion has a dart, the
devil-fish has no dart; the shark has sharp fins, the devil-fish has no
fins; the vespertilio-bat has wings with claws, the devil-fish has no
wings; the porcupine has his spines, the devil-fish has no spines; the
sword-fish has his sword, the devil-fish has none; the torpedo has its
electric spark, the devil-fish has none; the toad has its poison, the
devil-fish has none; the viper has its venom, the devil-fish has no