yet he was saved. A swift act of his own, brave and wonderful,
struck the sucker from the limb and set him free. Aye, what a mind to
think of it! What other man, I ask, would have let go his hold of the
rocks when hold meant so much to him and that fish swam below?
Nevertheless, the doctor did so. I see it now--the quick turn--the
knife drawn from its sheath--the severed tentacle cut clean as a cork,
the devil-fish itself drawing back to the depths of the crimson pool.
And then once more I am asking the doctor if he is hurt; and he is
answering me, cheerily, "Not much, captain, not much," and we four are
following after him as white as women, I do believe, our nerves
unstrung, our hearts quaking as we crossed the dreadful pit.

Well, we went over well enough, shirk it as we might. The bullets which
sent the devil-fish to the bottom sent him there to die, for all I
knew. The pool itself was red with blood by this time, and the waters
settling down again. I could see nothing of the fish as I crossed over;
and Seth Barker, who came last and, like a true seaman, had forgotten
his fear already, swung the lantern down to the water's edge, but
discovered nothing. The doctor himself, excited as you might expect,
and limping with his hurt, simply said, "Well over, lads, well over";
and then, taking the lantern from Seth Barker's hands, he would not
wait to answer our curiosity, but pushed on through the tunnel.

"It's not every man who has a back-door with a watch-dog like that,"
said he, as he went; "Edmond Czerny, may-be, does not know his luck;
I'll tell him of it when we're through. It won't be a long while now,
boys, and I'm glad of it. My foot informs me it's there, and I shall
have to leave a card on it just now."

"Then the sooner you let us look at it the better, doctor," said I.
"Aye, but you were nearly gone. My heart was in my throat all the time
you stood there."

"Which is no place for a man's heart to be," said he, brightly;
"especially at the door of Edmond Czerny's house."

He stood a moment and bade me listen. We were in an open place of the
tunnel then, and a ray of light striking down from some lamp above us
revealed an iron ladder and a wooden trap above it. The sea I could
hear beating loudly upon the reef; but with the sea's voice came
others, and they were human.

"Yes," said the doctor, quietly, "we are in the house all right, and
God knows when we shall get out of it again!"

And then, with a c