affected individuals among various species, in such a way
that they moved upward, into a twilight where they were aliens and
intruders. Among those so stung with unrest were several of the
gigantic, pallid cuttles. Far offshore, one of these monsters came up
and sprawled upon the surface in the unfriendly sun, his dreadful arms
curling and uncurling like snakes, till a great sperm-whale, of scarcely
more than his own size, came by and fell upon him ravenously, and
devoured him.

Another of the restless monsters, however, kept his restlessness within
the bounds of discretion. Slowly rising, a vast and spectral horror as
he came up into the green light, he reached the rim of the ledge. The
growing light had already made him uneasy, and he wanted no more of it.
Here on the ledge, where food, though novel in character, was unlimited
in supply, was variety enough to content him. Gorging himself as he went
with everything that swam within reach of his darting tentacles, he
moved over the rocky floor till he came to the wreck of the junk.

[Illustration: "FAR OFFSHORE, ONE OF THESE MONSTERS CAME UP AND SPRAWLED
UPON THE SURFACE."]

To his huge unwinking eyes of crystal black, which caught every tiniest
ray of light in their smooth, appalling deeps, the wreck looked strange
enough to attract his attention at once. It was quite unlike any
rock-form which he had ever seen. Rather cautiously he advanced a giant
tentacle to investigate it. But at the touch of the unfamiliar and alien
substance the tentacle recoiled in aversion. The pale monster backed
away. But the wreck made no attempt to pounce upon him. It seemed to
have no fight in it. Possibly, on closer investigation, it might prove
to be good to eat; and he was hungry. In fact, he was always hungry, for
the irresistible corrosives in his great stomach--and he was nearly all
stomach--were so swift in their action that whatever he swallowed was
digested almost in the swallowing. Since coming upon the ledge he had
clutched and devoured two small basking sharks, from six to eight feet
long, and a sawfish fully ten feet long, who had not been on their guard
against the approach of such a peril. Besides these substantial victims,
countless small fry, of every kind, had been drawn deftly to the
insatiable vortex of his maw. Nevertheless, his appetite was again
crying out. He tried the wreck again, first carefully, then boldly, till
the writhing tentacles, with their sensitive tip