* * * * *

The water became an inferno of whipping and lashing movements, of
whitish fibers and spearing thrusts of a glistening black electric
body. Unquestionably the eel was using its numbing electric shock on
its foe. Time and time again Phil felt the amoeba grasp him,
searingly, only to be wrenched free by the force of the currents the
combat stirred up. Once he thudded into the bottom of the river, and
his lungs seemed about to burst before he was again shot to the top
and managed to get a breath. At last the water quieted somewhat, and
Phil, at the surface, saw the eel bury its head in a now apathetic
mound of flesh.

It tore a portion loose with savage jaws, a portion that still writhed
after it was separated from the parent mass; and then the victor
glided swiftly downstream, and disappeared under the surface....

Holmes floated helplessly on the inky water. He could see the amoeba
plainly; it was still partly paralyzed, for it was very still. But
then a faint tremor ran through it; a wave ran over its surface--and
it moved slowly towards him once again.

Desperately Phil tried to retreat. The will was there, but the body
would not work. Save for a feeble flutter of his hands and feet, he
could not move. He could not even turn around to bid Sue and David
Guinness good-by--with his eyes....

Then a fresh, loved voice sounded just behind him, and he felt
something tighten around his waist.

"It's all right, dear!" the voice called. "Hang on; we'll get you
out!"

Sue had come in after him! She had grasped the rope tied to his belt,
and she and her father were pulling him back to the bank!

He wanted to tell her to go back--the amoeba was only feet away--but
he could only manage a little croak. And then he was safe up on the
ledge at the other side of the river.

* * * * *

A surge of strength filled his limbs, and he knew the shock was
rapidly wearing off. But it was also wearing off of the monster in the
water. Its speed increased; the ripplings of its amorphous
body-substance became quicker, more excited. It came on steadily.

While it came, the girl and her father worked desperately over Phil,
massaging his body and pulling him further up the bank. It had all but
reached the bank when Holmes gasped:

"I think I can walk now. Where--where did Quade go to?"

Guinness gestured over to the right, up a dim winding passage through
the rocks.