w was he to effect his escape? His friends outside could not help
him, for the simple reason that they did not know his whereabouts.
Doubtless they were by this time beginning to feel uneasy about him--
were, perhaps, even instituting a search for him; but such a search as
they were likely to make would not benefit him, for the utmost that they
could ascertain would be that, after entering the cuddy, he had most
mysteriously and unaccountably disappeared. For he was well aware that
there was absolutely nothing to show which way he had gone; more than
that, he had gone by a way that would have been absolutely impossible to
his own unaided efforts. No, he told himself, it was quite useless to
look for help from the others; whatever was to be done he himself must
do.

And then he began to turn over in his mind the possibilities of the
situation. How long would the creature be likely to hold him thus
prisoner? Would it release him when at length it realised the
impossibility of penetrating his armour? And, if so, how long was it
likely to be ere the release came? Failing to make a meal of him, the
thing would undoubtedly be obliged to go forth, sooner or later, to seek
for food. But Mildmay had only the most elementary knowledge as to the
habits of the octopus, and he had a hazy idea that, like certain snakes,
the creature might only feed at more or less long intervals, in which
case he might be held a prisoner for a week or more. This was a
distinctly disquieting reflection while it lasted, but it presently
occurred to him that it was by no means probable that, let the
creature's habits be what they might, it would retain that vice-like
grip upon him for any very lengthened period, and his chance would come
when that grip relaxed. And it was an easy step from that conclusion to
the next, which was that he must do what he could to cause the grip to
relax as quickly as possible. He had already observed that the creature
tightened the clasp of its tentacles about him whenever he moved or
struggled; and the obvious corollary from this was that, the more
quiescent he could remain, the sooner would his opportunity come to
wrench an arm free and use his deadly dagger.

Meanwhile, on board the _Flying Fish_, Lethbridge, intent upon making
the time pass as pleasantly as possible for the ladies, cooped up below
deck in the saloons, conducted them to a window in the dining-saloon,
from which the wreck and the reef were cl